Talkin' Melt & Pour Soap

It's been a long two weeks since last I wrote. Sorry about that. School's started and we've had the Labor Day holiday in between, too. At this time of the year, I often think it's kind of like wiping the slate clean, tidying up and starting all over again -- my version of New Year's, I suppose.

Taking stock in our formulary, I noted that we are a little light on the melt and pour recipes, especially when you contrast it to the numbers of cold process soap recipes provided. Granted, I am a cold process soap queen -- even referred to as a master batcher (that's "batcher", not
"b-tcher") -- but there's a lot to be said for making melt and pour. Our friends at the Handcrafted Soapmaker's Guild will bestow a certificate of mastery upon both Cold Process and Melt and Pour afficiandos.

To that end, our Accounting Manager, Kaye, has undertaken the reworking of our melt and pour instructions as well as creating new melt and pour soap kits. Why our Accounting Manager? Besides accounting, Kaye has a Master's Degree in Art Education (and a degree in Phys. Ed, too). She's already devised our newest kit, Halloween Soap. The kit is available in two versions: Autumn Pumpkin and Boo Bar. Kaye has painstakingly rewritten our melt and pour instructions, including tips on advanced techniques. Take a look at Kaye's work here, on our Pumpkin Rustica soap recipe. (photo below)

Kaye has also been tooling around with some gorgeous glittery oxides we received from Englehardt and Rona, lo these many years ago. To me, they seemed like eye make-up. Bill got these samples about 5-6 years ago, and while I experimented with them in cold process soap (what haven't I put into cp soap?) and lotions, I am not a big fan of make-up, so skipped over the mineral make-up thing. Kaye found them in one of my drawers and has been creating these gorgeous melt and pour soaps, coloring them with the glitz and glamour of these oxides. I think they look terrific, but I ask you, who would ever use them? They look like works of art. Kaye's convinced we need to include these in an upcoming soap kit. So, stay tuned and look forward to more new melt and pour soap kits from Snowdrift Farm. We'd love to hear your suggestions, too.

Back to Central

I love the scent of freshly made soap, especially if it contains essential oils -- or fragrance oils. The right fragrance oils. Even though I am committed to making a batch of soap with each new fragrance oil we bring on at Snowdrift Farm, I am partial to essential oils in cold process soap.

We've had a slew of new fragrance oils lately, so I have to admit that my production of cold process soaps containing essential oils has been wanting. I was reminded this week just how much I miss the essential oils while making private label batches for a local customer I'll call "V".

V's company provides "green housecleaning" services, but she loves the soap, and peddles it at every chance. She just doesn't want to make the soap. That's where I come in. V and I have spent many hours determine exactly what she wants in her soaps, and she wants everything to be natural. The first two batches contain Sencha and Gemaicha Teas, amongst a litany of other yummy ingredients, and have decidedly citrusy essential oil blends in them.

When I formulated these soaps with V, I kind of turned my nose up at her essential oil blend suggestions. After all, they were not the Oriental/Floriental blends of which I am enamored. In the end, V won out. They are her soaps. I just had it in my head that I would not like the smell of them. Boy, was I wrong.

Batch no. 1 contains a preponderance of lemongrass topped off with a splash of Roman Chamomile. Batch No. 2 is scented with a citrus accord of tangerine, pink grapefruit and bergamot with an inference of Chinese ginger in the background. Paired with the teas and a few other natural texturizing and coloring ingredients, they are beautiful. They smell beautifully, too.

This experience has brought me back to central. I like FO's, but I love EO's. And that's just the way it is for me.