Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Soapmaking pics with Video of a volcano too!

This is my video I just made showing the "volcano" process that occurs sometimes during hot process soap making. I apologize for the uber BAD lighting. its raining AGAIN TODAY here in Louisville Kentucky so all I have to work with is the kitchen light.

ANYHOO, In this video you see a normal calm pot of soap start to rise! WOW! And then I have to lay the smack down at one point cause its gonna crawl out of the pan if I dont LOL. But this shows the most fascinating part of soapmaking for me. The stage where so many chemical reactions occur and the batch heats up and as the heat tries to escape its taking the soap with it! LOL





The stages of my soap go like this: I mix the oil and lye water, I get it to a thick trace with the hand blender, then I let it sit. Its like thick pudding at this point, then it gets super hard like concrete you cannot stir it at this point, you can pick up chunks with a spoon but stirring is impossible...
















then comes the volcano, and the last stage is the vaseline oily looking soap that is easy to stir...kinda like vaseline


Then as it cooks more and then cools down it turns into something like play doh...for me. I use a water discount so if you go by the rules you will get a different product,hopefully pourable! LOL A pourable but thick soap is the usual desired outcome of hot process soap.

Hope this has been educational and fun for ya. I would LOOOVE to do a video on how to do soap start to finish. It would make me a youtube star I bet! LOL I will talk to Tyler and see if he will be my video guy one day. I have yet to see a video showing this process from start to finish, and I think it would inspire others to get into soapmaking. I enjoy making my own soap. Its profitable, and its fun and I save a ton of money. I would love to share the joy and wonder I have when making a batch of soap with the world! For me as a big time nerd its still as fascinating to watch as it was the first time I made soap.

Thanks Jesse!


I wanted to give a huge thank you to Jesse of KyndCoastalCreations for making me and Maylee this awesome set of matching skirt and dress!
















Maylee is so adorable in her dress! You may notice something not quite right about her hair...well lets just say I got some tips on cutting a squirmy toddlers hair and hopefully we wont look like a dork again...yes I did tell Maylee I was sorry for making her look dorky...then she karate kicked me...so we are even.


This dress fits her so good! It was a bit cool outside the day we got it so I put this on her over a shirt. Its still adorable!

I keep looking at ALLLL the tiny little patches in these garments. I have no idea how she has the patience. When I do patchwork like this its usually a train wreck cause it wants to not lay flat...so I am really admiring the craftsmanship here big time

I have another of Jesses creations, a Hoodie she made. I wore it ALLLL winter long. It was my constant companion and you know it still is in great shape after being washed a zillion times. The quality is outstanding!

So again THANK YOU JESSE! You made mine and Maylees Monday a lot brighter for sure with this generous gift. I cant thank you enough! And its in our favorite colors too! Pink and green! YAY! I will get pictures of me and her together in this set and post them. I know we are cute together LOL

TeamBluegrass May Giveaway

hey guys a quick post tonight.

My street team is still having our giveaway contest for May! All you have to do to win a kickass mini pouch from VernonAve is check out her shop, and go back to the Team Blog and post a comment to enter!

Her stuff is to die for,seriously. She is MAJORLY talented with the handbags!

Also check out my teams featured seller for the week! SewCuteByKatie!

I love my street team!

I have been updating the team blog more than my own. I will be back soon I promise! I have pretty stuff to show you! I hope to get pictures posted here tomorrow...well wait its 1:30 AM...today later I will post! LOL