RamsdenDesigns

Soap In Full Gel

While making some soap today I quickly peeked under the insulating sheets and discovered my block of soap in the middle of a wonderful gel. So I quickly took a picture of it to show you some of the soap making process.

When the soap is poured into the molds and it’s pretty decorative top put on (the handle of a spatula is my favourite method of moulding the top) it’s covered in a sleeping bag and woollen blanket to help get it nice and hot. You can see the clear strips of tape I put over it to stop the blankets touching the soap. This block will yield me 48 bars of soap and weighs almost nine kilos.

I like my soap to gel, it makes for more vibrant colours, goes harder quicker and I’ve discovered it’s almost impossible to stop gelling in this climate so I don’t bother. Some people stick their poured soap in the snow or a freezer to stop gelling, preferring it to be ungelled. Or even freeze it half gelled so there is two distinct colours in the finished soap.

In the pic above you can see the soap in almost full gel. The duller edges are what the soap looks like when it’s made and the vibrant middle, all glossy and darker is the soap in gel. Gel starts from the middle and moves out, eventually turning the whole block glossy and hot.

If you stuck your hand in the middle of the soap right now (it’s still soft enough to do that), not only would it be very hot but the lye in the soap would start to burn your hand and you’d find yourself running off to the nearest tap to wash it off or blisters would start to appear. This is the chemical process and magic of soap; two things (oil and lye) that you would never put on your body work together to create the most wonderful, moisturising, cleansing and foaming products.

This stuff never gets old for me.

I Had One Of Those Days

You know those days? The ones that are so momentous because a problem which has been driving you crazy for what feels like an eternity has finally been solved.

Flat bottomed bath bombs.

It doesn’t sound like a big deal, really, it kinda sounds like a solution could easily be found in mid-morning infomercials, or your neighbour could have the solution if you just asked them. But it wasn’t like that.

It was a tough problem and my little perfectionist self just wouldn’t let it rest, just wouldn’t say “Meh! Near enough is good enough”.

So now I have a solution, and I get perfect bath bombs every time. I won’t bore you with the details or post photos of my self-made bath bomb nesting boxes but trust me, it’s awesome.

Now that I’m feeling invincible and on top of the world I’m busy thinking of other serious problems I could possibly solve next. Inventing calorie free chocolate perhaps? Or how to get a figure like Elle Macpherson without dieting or exercising? Or perhaps how to help Kevin Rudd use coherent sentences and stop making up words?

Nah! That last one is a mission impossible.

Product Spotlight – Buff Country

Buff Country is an exfoliating salt bar plus a unique luxurious rich layer of soap on top. Use in the shower or bath for an amazing spa treatment. Buff Country will polish and moisturise your skin until it’s silky smooth.

Made with the most moisturising ingredients including Macadamia Oil and Mango Butter which is so rarely used in soap.

A mild, yet delightful sweet smelling fragrance. A wonderful combination of the coolness of a cucumber with a delightfully sweet melon.

Made in small batches, it takes several days to make one batch due to the differing qualities of each layer. Each bar is shrink wrapped, then hand wrapped and packaged in a sturdy clear plastic soap box. This protects it in transit, helps stop moisture problems and makes it very easy to store or gift wrap.

It is natural for the soap layer to be used quicker than the salt layer due to the incredible hardness of the salt layer. The salt layer will last much longer than a regular soap bar and due to the high salt content will produce fewer bubbles. This does not alter its wonderful polishing ability.

Ingredients
Sodium Chloride: increases hardness and acts as a gentle exfoliate and skin polisher. Gentle, but not recommended for the face.

Coconut oil: an effective moisturiser for very dry skin.

Olive Oil: creates an extremely mild soap with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Sodium Hydroxide: the ingredient that turns oil into soap. While used in soapmaking there is never any left in the finished product.

Palm Kernel Oil: adds hardness to the soap. Our Palm Kernel Oil is sourced from a sustainable plantation.

Castor Oil: a wonderful moisturiser and produces an amazing lather in soap.

Fragrance oil: only the highest quality fragrance oils are used. They must be skin safe and made in controlled environments that promote safety.

Macadamia Oil: a moisturising and soothing oil.

Mango Butter: packed full of anti-oxidants and has healing properties.

Titanium Dioxide: is a neutral, very white powder and is considered food and skin safe. It is used to whiten and brighten products.

Silk Powder: makes the lather feel silkier and leaves skin feeling smooth and soft.

Cosmetic Grade Colour: we use colour specifically designed for cold process soap.

Procrastinating

I should be working on the media packs that are needed for Monday morning but instead I’m writing a little blog post.

Two new soaps are ready to go into the shop. They are Adore and Devour (oatmeal milk and honey scented) and Buff Country (cucumber and melon salt bar).

mmmmm they smell so yummy.

Also going in the wholesale website (ah I bet you didn’t know I had one of them did you. It’s invitation only and super secret) is a bulk batch of Solid Body Bars. Each little one is one use only and they are designed for B & Bs (as mini gifts for the customers) and/or for spas that offer massages.

I do love them, stacked on top of each other like that.

Now, back to making media packs and writing on and on about me.

It’s Getting Busy Around Here

Which is really exciting.

Do I feel like a bona fide business woman yet? Not while the kids are still on holidays.

Does it make me a bad mum to be happy the Christmas holidays are almost over? Whilst I love their adorable little faces I feel I may have to smother them with a pillow if I hear one more high pitched scream. Little J is getting particularly hard to deal with as she gets more bored over the holidays. This should be no surprise to anyone (she is female after all) but shopping is her favourite activity at the moment.

She recently acquired a Wayne Cooper jacket from Myer for a special event coming up and this is the problem…should an eight year old be allowed to have designer clothes before her mother? And should an eight year old have designer clothes full stop? Did I just create the next Paris Hilton?

I’m proud of her though, the girls got style and takes risks. I’ll take a picture as soon as I can because she’s got that certain something.

In soap making news, I’m still at it and the other day produced the best Modern Antiquity of my life.

The picture isn’t the best but I love the modern sculpture look to it. This block of soap will produce 48 individual soaps.

We’ve also been busy making more bookmarks for Little J’s Etsy store. Unfortunately…or perhaps not, they never make it as they keep selling before we put them on the internet.

She’s enjoying herself immensely making them and also making money. So far she’s made the equivalent of over seven weeks of pocket money doing less than a days work.

The little one is raking it in.

Subi Upmarket Special

My discontinued lines are selling fast but there is still soap and bath bombs available at fantastic prices.

Stock up on Christmas gifts or treat yourself to great, moisturising handmade soap for as little as $1 to $3.50 each.

Buy in bulk and save even more.

Each soap is handmade by me in Byford using the finest quality oils such as olive oil, rice bran oil, shea butter and caster oil for extra bubbles.

When: Thursday 10th December 2009

Where: Rokeby Rd, Subiaco (between Hay St and Roberts Rd)

Time: 5-9pm

 

FAQ

Q. Do cheap prices mean cheap quality?

A. Not in this case. My soap is moisturising, luxurious and great quality. But I only have a few soaps left of each line, some as little as five soaps in a particular scent which is the ONLY reason I’m selling them for so little. My bath bombs have the exact same ingredients you’ll find in the bombs I’m selling in shops next year. The only difference is the size, which is why they’re on special this Christmas.

 

Q. But I love this particular scent. Will you be making more?

A. Probably not. Some I’ll be bringing back at a later date but not at these prices, so get them now while you can. I just recently sold all of my remaining Baby Powder soaps to a customer who loves them.

 

Q. Are these really handmade?

A. I’ll let you in on a little secret to tell if a soap is handmade or not. Look at the ingredients list and if you see the items glycerine, sorbitol and/or sorbitan oleate on the list then what you’re looking at is mass produced soap. Nothing wrong with these soaps, some of them are divine but the seller bought the soap already made or bought a soap base ready made then added fragrance and colour. My soap is made by mixing oils/butters with sodium hydroxide which produces a soap naturally high in glycerine and is why the ingredients list for each type of soap is different…because I can mix and match oils.

 

Q. Oooerr, sodium hydroxide sounds awful. What is it? I don’t want it on my skin.

A. And so you shall not. Sodium hydroxide is what is used to make all soap, it creates a reaction with the oils and produces soap. There is NEVER any left in the soap (and you would know straight away as it would make your skin burn) and in fact most handmade soap makers put in slightly less sodium hydroxide than is needed so not all the oils turn to soap. What this means is some oil is left in the soap which moisturises your skin as you wash…this is the beauty of handmade soap.

 

Q. Will you gift wrap for me?

A. Absolutely. You can either buy a selection of ready made gift wrapped soaps and soap dishes I’ll be displaying. Or if you like I’ll gift wrap your selection in either a box or wrapped with a soap dish included for just $5. Here’s an example:

Q. What else will you be selling?

A. You can expect to find body butters, balms and scrubs in limited quantities at Upmarket. I’ll also be selling my luxury line of handmade soaps with totally decadent ingredients like jojoba oil, mango butter, Australian clays and silk.

See you there.

Empire of Delight Officially Launching

It’s coming, this Monday 7th December at 9am.

Sure, some of the packaging won’t be ready (Sydney, just how far away are you? And why do things take so long to arrive from you?) but it’ll all be up on the website awaiting your orders.

Until then I have a mountain of work…advertising to organise, press releases to write up, a market to do and of course the final products to make.

It’s a Pretty Joyous Occasion Here Tonight

And that's because I got an enormous parcel in the mail today. It’s my super dooper, flash as anything bath bomb maker.

That’s right, all it makes is bath bombs. But oh the bath bombs I’ll be making. They will be perfectly round, all exactly the same size and all the same weight, fizzing in your baths and making your skin as smooth as silk. Laden with jojoba oil and shea butter they’ll be far too decadent for the kids…but you’ll let them have them anyway as it’ll keep them quiet for a while…and we all know how wonderful that is.

So tomorrow, as well as visiting printers I’ll be bath bombing to my hearts content, getting ready for markets this month as they are always a runaway success.

What’s Hot + What’s Not

Business wise things are ramping up. The launch date of the product line has been decided and it will be 7th December 2009. Freaking me right out!

As things are made and ready I’ll be adding them to the web shop and I have a feeling it’ll all be happening the week before launch.

Hot

The woman above – is my style icon. She’s so amazingly chic and fresh. I have no idea how old she is but her daughter is about 18 yrs old which makes me like her even more.

Christmas shopping – is there anything better? Spending money on stuff I HAVE to have makes me so happy.

This picture – it makes me want to get married right now.

People art – this art installation has apparently been annoying people. But I can’t see what they wouldn’t like about it.

Soap making – making soap makes me happy. And that makes me happy!

Bella Sara – is back on the what’s hot list for Little J.

Not

Shoe shopping – which sounds like I’m betraying all women but you’d hate it too if you had feet like mine. What I need to do is pretend I’m a drag queen and go shop there because I’m sure a shop like that will have my size.

Children making a mess – it’s been pretty rampant this week but really I should just put this on the list for every week.

The heat – is blah! No other descriptive words needed.

I’m Trying Out New Lip Balm Recipes

Problem is I don’t really have chapped lips. Mine are usually great so it’s hard to tell if it’s doing a good job or not. Luckily Big B is a fan of lip balm. He works out doors so uses it a lot.

Look at my pots. Aren’t they fabulous? Big 25ml lip balm pots that will hold heaps of product. This lip balm contains Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Beeswax, Macadamia Oil and Rice Bran Oil. Tomorrow I’ll try another one and add some extracts, more yummy butters and oils and a dab of Vitamin E to really up the lux factor. Then comes the hard part, trying out different flavours to get one I like.

I know, it’s a tough job but someone has to do it.

I can’t wait to launch my products out there. I’ve got a banging coffee and salt scrub that I’m just in love with. It took a LOT of trial and error but the final product is awesome, loaded with coffee, salt and glycerine to wake up the skin and hydrate it with moisture.

Tomorrow is also going to be spent discussing packaging and finalising my prices.