Why l only use essential oils

My collection of soap making essential oils

I once was the person who could spend hours in a Yankee Candle store. I loved all the different fragrances, the strawberry, pumpkin, lemon chiffon, milk and honey, winter snow, ocean mist and baby powder.  And walking into Lush was like walking into heaven. So when I first started to make soap, I used fragrance oils. I had so much fun ordering them.  They all sounded delicious. I couldn't wait till they arrived so I could smell them. Soon though, I started getting headaches.  The debilitating kind of headache where I couldn't eat, think, or function. I would have to go straight to bed. And sometimes, even after I woke up, the pain was still there.  It didn't take me long to realize the headaches were caused by fragrance oils, and they had to go. Using them in such a concentrated form was no good for me. I started playing around with the essential oils and found they didn't bother me at all. So that is why I use them exclusively.  When people request/suggest I make a soap made with a fragrance oil, I will refer them to one of my soap maker friends who can use them. That way, we all win.




 Lavender, Lemongrass, Geranium, Orange and Peppermint



Grapefruit, Ylang Ylang, Anise and Rosemary



Some samples of Spearmint, Wintergreen and Carrot Seed



Clary Sage, Clove, and Beragmot

Tea Tree, Coriander and Camphor

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

My TA bag

I have lots of bags.  I have a pocketbook, a yoga bag, a lap top bag, a beach bag, an evening bag (not that I need one too often!), a travel bag, an indoor craft fair bag, and an outdoor one.  But one of my favorite bags is what I call my "Marla" bag, or my TA bag.  If you read one of my previous post, you can see that I travel to the city to help Marla with her Bath & Body University. I find it helpful to have this bag packed and when she has a class, I just grab my bag and go.  I keep it filled with everything I'll need to help Marla and her students.

In this bag I keep

Dawn dish washing detergent-the only soap that will clean up all those rich oils and butters
Rubber gloves-to protect my hands from the raw soap
Sponge-
Masking tape-to label things once they are weighed out
Apron (from the Handcrafted Soap Guild, of course!)
Ziploc bags
Plastic grocery bags-in case someone needs a bag to carry home all the goodies they made
Paper towels-for spills
Terry cloth towels-to dry glassware
Hair clip-to keep my hair out of my face and out of the product we are making
Extra pens and pencils-there is always one or two people in class who forget to bring them

I like having everything in one place, it makes things simpler, don't you think?

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Soap University

I had the good fortune to work with Marla Bosworth from Boston, Amanda Griffin from Texas and Holly Port of Colorado at Soap University in NYC. We did 3 full days of soap making classes from beginner classes to advanced. It's always an amazing experience to network with other soap makers and immerse myself in an entire weekend of soap.  But I think my favorite part is watching the friendships develop between all of us. 

Marla teaching an introduction class

Chatting with the students 

Holly and Amanda

Some of the students advanced soap work from Amanda's class

Soap bon bons from Holly's cupcake class

Here I am, scooping out some oils

Amanda, me, Holly and Marla

What a blessing to see my old soaping friends from past classes and conferences, and to meet new friends. Thank you all!

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Gratitude List 3.26.13

Here I am mixing oils for a batch of soap at Soap University in NYC

1-My dad's fifth uneventful chemo treatment, one more to go!!
2-A great weekend at Soap University in NYC seeing some old friends.
3-A great weekend at Soap University in NYC meeting some new friends.
4-The first cardinal of the season feeding from my bird feeder.
5-My husband's safe return from a business trip.

My soap studio

I thought you might like a look into my soap studio. I enjoy showing it off!

This is the awesome stainless steel table I bought off Craig's List where I make my soap, and the stove my niece gave to me when she remodeled her kitchen.

This is where the soap sits for 24-48 hours in the molds after I first make it. Sorry, no soap there now!

Here are the drying racks my dad made for me. (He made all my soap molds too! Thank you Dad!)  The soap sits here for 4 weeks so water can evaporate and the soap can continue to cure.

Once it has finished curing, I label and wrap my soaps here. For those of you who noticed the Everclear on the shelf, no, it is not for drinking.  It's for perfume making!

My soaps that are finished and waiting to be sold.

More drying racks and the shelves where I keep the orders that going out.

A shelving unit where I keep my supplies, molds, and batches ready to be made. My husband helps me pour the organic olive oil into cleaned and dried orange juice containers so I can pour it easily. Those oils are Heavy!

My desk area for computer work, and the dreaded Quickbooks.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Yours in Gratitude,
 Angela

Victoria's science project

Victoria is a student at Holy Trinity High School.  She told me she had a science project and she wasn't sure what to do for it. I suggested she do a project on the different properties of oils in soap making. She decided to focus on lather. We made two batches of soap, one was a pure olive oil soap and the other was a blend of olive, coconut and palm.  Victoria gave samples of each soap to friends and family to wash with, and compiled data by giving them all a questionnaire to answer. She found out that the soap make with the coconut, palm and olive oil produced more bubbles than the soap made only with olive oil.

Victoria and her science project

You can see the picture of the 2 different soaps

The bar graph showing her results

And here is the close-up of the two of us, after we finished making both soaps

I think Victoria enjoyed this science project and I know I enjoyed working with her. Victoria I see amazing things for you in your future! You rock!

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Snow Soap- part 2

The sidewalk is clear, cars are snow-free and there is a pot of chili on the stove for dinner.  I'm ready to go play in the soap studio.

My oils are melting.

Weighing the snow in my lye pitcher.

Mixing the snow and lye.

Combining the oils and snow-lye.

Snow Soap!

This morning I used the seaweed-seawater soap I made last summer and remembered the beach. This soap will remind me of the blizzard and the sparkling snow.

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Snow soap

There was a blizzard in New York last night.

Brian cleans off my car

As I was shoveling snow off the porch, I look at the snow.  I mean I really look at it.  It sparkles, and is white and fluffy. I get an idea.

My pitcher of snow

I go back into the house, get a pitcher and scoop up some snow. Why?  I'm going to make snow soap.  Stay tuned, I need to go back outside and dig before I get time to play in my soap studio...

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Back Porch Soap's NYC teaching assistant

A few years ago, I was on the Internet and saw that Marla Bosworth of Back Porch Soap taught some soap making classes in Boston. I was wishing I could travel there to meet her and take some of them, but my schedule didn't allow it. I connected with her on Facebook and encouraged her to come to NYC to do some classes. Marla decided to come for a weekend to teach. And she came back a few months later.  Each time she came to NYC I would take a different class. We got to know each other and she asked me to be her NYC teacher assistant.  I jumped at the chance to work with her.

Marla

Melissa of Naturally Good Soaps and Marla

Marla and Erin of Soapsmiths



Me and Sue of You Scent Me

Marla offers a program called Bath and Body University, which is "an exciting, all inclusive four-day bath and body intensive program", both in NYC and in Boston.  She teaches classes in cold process soap making, liquid soap making, anti-aging classes, creams and lotions, body balms and butters, anything you can think of in the sphere of bath and body.  Her students come from all over the world and as her assistant I get to meet and work with them. It's been such a positive experience for me.  I've grown as a soap maker and a person.  I'm more comfortable speaking to groups and meeting new people. Every time I watch her teach a class I learn something new. I've gained confidence in myself, in my soap making abilities and in all aspects of running my business. Meeting and working with Marla has been such a great experience for me. I look forward to working her classes every other month.  Thank you Marla!

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela