RamsdenDesigns

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.

Day 68 - 70

Thirty days to go.

My blogging has slowed down…that's because my money has run out for a bit as I mentioned in this post Big B has put the brakes on it for just a little while, and so I’m not making as much right now. Just a couple more days to go and I’ll be in full swing again.

Today was supposed to be a triumphant day at the Mundaring markets but actually was not so. Mostly because I didn’t go. A raging headache for the last two days and sick family members made me think it was better to not subject myself or Little J to the rainy conditions, or expect Big B to look after a two year old while not feeling the best. The wonderful sunny conditions ALL day left me kicking myself that I just didn’t take the kids and go anyway.

Next time I won’t be such a sook.

I’m still excited about finishing my 100 days. I think about it constantly, what to make, how to package things, solutions to problems I have. The end product is beginning to take shape and it’s just a matter of pushing myself to finish those last pieces and get it all done. If i work at it now, and put my head down I’ll have it finished before the 100 days. That would be awesome because then I’ll know I can achieve whatever I put my mind to and will feel very confident about the future.

Monday:

1. Make 4 Solid Body Bars – 12 each
2. Fill in more market applications

Tuesday

1. Make two Delight Collection soaps: Monkey Farts and Vanilla/Cocoa

Wednesday

1. Work on Website: adding content

Thursday

1. Make 4 bath bombs – 24 each

Day 62 - 63

Slightly disappointing day today. My gorgeous Strawberry soap has almost no scent, which would have been fine if I wanted it to be plain but I actually was hoping it would smell of sweet divine strawberries.

It’s very disappointing because I was thrilled with how it turned out, just not so happy with the lack of smell. After a bit of research I discovered that brand of strawberry fragrance oil is very fleeting in soap. So Strawberry soap is off the list and I won’t be making it again. I will still make strawberry bath bombs and bubble bars because the scent was such a resounding success at markets and because I still have 400mls of the stuff left.

The Unscented soap of course smells as it should…just like soap. I’m looking forward to trying it out for myself.

I’d have got more done today but my brother came over and made me redesign his business pamphlet and letterhead for him, then spent the rest of the day watching YouTube with me.

As you do.

Day 61

To make sure I was staying on task and not letting things slide I went through all my 100 Days Action Plan posts and wrote down the things I mentioned I was going to do or wanted to do and didn’t finish. There’s 31 things on the list, which shows I’ve been letting things go a bit and if I don’t sort it out now I may not finish my plan properly.

Today was a weird day. I got very little sleep last night and have spent most of the day in a bit of a daze. I am very pleased though with how my textures are going on my Lavish Collection soaps. I’m learning to read the soap and am beginning to know when to pour to get the smoothest texture and when to texture the top to get the finish that I want.

This is a perfect example of how my soaps are turning out at the moment. Pictured are the Strawberry and Unscented soaps and I’m very happy with them. The Strawberry soap has a layer of white and a layer of pink and I’m interested to see how the two look together. I’ll be judging whether the layers need a sharper separation or more of a mix-up, or if they are perfect just as they are. The Unscented? All white and just gorgeous.

I’m desperate to get a good nights sleep tonight. I’m eager to finish the designing of my Delight Collection labels and spend the day labelling soap, and make a dent on my list of unfinished tasks.

Day 59 – 60 A Day Late

I’m only 40 days away from the finish line and I think I’m going to make it too. To remind myself of where I want to be I revisited my 100 Days goals:

By the end of the 100 days I aim to:

• Develop and have ready to sell to shops – 10 Lavish Collection soaps, 7 bath bombs, 7 bubble bars and a collection of Delight soaps.
• Have web shops up and running and fully stocked.
• Create a professional looking market display.

My 10 Lavish Collection soaps:

1. Vanilla - made
2. Dazzling Citrus - made
3. Yuzu
4. Strawberry and Champagne salt bar - made
5. Chocolate - made
6. Red Clover and Tea - made
7. Amber and Oakmoss - made
8. Unscented - made
9. Strawberry - made
10. Japanese Cherry Blossom

7 bath bombs:

1. Strawberry
2. Dazzling Citrus
3. Banana Split
4. White Chocolate
5. Monkey Farts
6. Cucumber and Melon
7. Sugar Plum Fairy

7 Bubble bars

1. Strawberry
2. Dazzling Citrus
3. Banana Split
4. White Chocolate
5. Monkey Farts
6. Cucumber and Melon
7. Sugar Plum Fairy

Delight soaps

1. Oatmeal Milk and Honey
2. Baked Apple Pie - made
3. Coffee - made
4. Peppercorn
5. Cucumber and Melon salt bar
6. Gingersnap Cookies - made
7. Rose - made
8. Baby Powder
9. 100% Olive Oil
10. Patchouli

I don’t intent to have the whole 10 Delight soaps done by the end of the 100 Days but I’m confident I’ll get most done. The bath bombs and bubble bars I’ll start work on this week to get them done and finished, then I can concentrate on finishing the soaps.

There’s also the plan to get rid of all the soaps I made months ago and won’t be making again. So I’ll be offering them for sale at bargain basement prices to get money into the bank and to also sell them off. So from now on at markets, there will be a big collection of soaps for sale for $2.00 until all gone. They won’t be labelled but will still be excellent soaps, I just need them to move to make way for my two collections I want to focus on.

Day 56 - 58

Image by • Eliane •

Big B has put me on a financial diet. A few unexpected household and car expenses have sent us scurrying to regain back our savings. So a few soap making purchases I’ve wanted to make have been put on hold for a few weeks. Luckily it’s not a disaster of any sorts and won’t slow down my soap production. I’ve worked out two more wonderful sounding recipes for soaps, a delicious Strawberry soap and a luxurious unscented soap for people who want luxury but not a scent. I’ve also got loads of soap I could be selling at markets and will be doing as many as I can for the next month to earn some cash for the business.

I’m very happy with my Solid Body Bars and the packaging, the first now in my Etsy shop.

I’m happy with the name for it too…Dazzling Citrus. It used to be called Yuzu after the scent but I like this name better.

My labels for the Delight Collection are coming along nicely too. I was going to do another colourful label similar to the Lavish Collection but went in a totally different direction. It gives the two collections completely separate identities. They’ll be printed on Kraft paper and I’m putting a band of coloured paper underneath for each soap so they have their own colours to identify their scent.

The website is coming along great too, I’ve finished the nuts and bolts of it and all it needs now is to have the products put in and it’s ready to go live. Google Adwords is getting better, I’m getting a steady stream of viewers to the website, all I need is stock for them to buy. Tomorrow, if it’s not the coldest day on the planet like it has been all week, I’m back into the studio to make more soap.

Day 55

A terrific day today. I spent most of it in my jammies reading. Although I did manage to get some work done as well. For starters I cut up the logs of soap I’d poured a day or two ago.

This is an Amber and Oakmoss clay soap log, just before I cut it. It has a wonderful silky smooth texture and I love the smell; a little bit dusty and quite masculine…err. It does smell nice, even though that description didn’t sound the best.

This is Red Clover soap. The fragrance oil caused the soap to harden faster than I was prepared for so the textured top isn’t as nice as the clay soap but I’ll remember that for next time. What I like most about this particular bar is the little white ‘flower’ there in the red layer. I saw it just after I cut it and thought it delightful.

Every time I cut new logs I always make sure to cut some smaller bars. These will go in the sampler gift boxes. I’m only cutting 8 samplers of each type as I’m not sure how many gift boxes I’ll actually sell but have a feeling the other gift boxes I make up will be more popular.

Today I also made the labels for my solid body bars. These are like big lip balms you rub on dry skin to give it an extra moisture boost. I’ve printed them out and will label the tins tonight but there wasn’t enough good sunlight to get a pic. Tomorrow, I’ll photograph them and add them to the Etsy shop.

Day 53 - 54

This is dedication for you. Wednesday night I was wondering down to the shed/studio when I fell down the steps. Well, missed the last step and twisted my ankle.

After lying on the wet grass (it was raining…this is winter) in terrible pain (over-exaggeration…I’m a wimp) I got up and made my way to the shed to finish my task.

That's right, round of applause people…I’m fabulous.

Part of my tasks that night was to mix all the oils for the second layer of my salt bars. These bars are very pretty but are turning out to be more difficult than I expected.

 

Soap making 101:

They contain a layer of soap on the top and a layer of salt soap on the bottom. Salt bars are tricky because you have to cut them within two hours of pouring into the mold or they go too hard to cut. But of course the normal soap layer doesn’t work like that so things must be reversed, the soap layer done first and the salt layer poured only after the first layer has set.

The problem I found with this particular pouring is it was too cold for the soap to gel (gel is a term for soap to get very hot and take on an almost translucent quality as the chemical processes work, it also causes the soap to harden quicker). So not knowing this I unwrapped my salt bar and realised it hadn’t hardened as planned. This is not a huge disaster, ungelled soap is still soap but it was too soft to cut, hence the ragged edges in the photo.

Without the gel happening my soap is weeks and weeks away from hardening rather than the usual two or three weeks.

I’ve also got two more soaps down in the studio that I poured at the same time and I’m worried haven’t gelled either.

If they didn't gel I’ll have no choice but to bring the soaps into the house where it’s warmer…or buy them and electric blanket. Which would be hilarious.

Day 49 - 50

The half way mark passed me by in a flurry of coloured paper and labels labels labels. I’m thrilled with my Lavish Collection soap labels. Very simple but not too plain. The main difference between each type of soap is the colour behind the logo and name. I’ve got 10 different but complimenting colours which will look divine all lined up together.

Labels all ready to be cut and put in the packaging.

This is the first look of what my Lavish soaps will look like. The two piece box is pricy compared to a cigar band but I just love how it looks. The soaps are protected from the elements, are less likely to get damaged but you can still see what you’re buying.

Behind the soap you can see some of my Delight Collection soaps with one cigar band on them. This is just a nice coloured paper and another cigar band will be put on horizontally with all the info. It’ll help protect the soap and the different coloured paper will identify each type.

All in all I’m happy with today. Later, when the kids are in bed I’ll sneak down to the shed and pour the first layers of my new salt bars. They’ll be ready to cut tomorrow.

Day 47 - 48

Oh man I have totally slacked off this week. Slap back of hand!

Sometimes life just completely takes over and there’s been a few family things happening, some fun, some not so fun and they’ve all sapped the hours away like there’s no tomorrow.

Tomorrow I’m going to see what I can do from my weekly to-do list to try and salvage my dwindling work ethic.

Today I spent  a fair bit of time playing with recipes for a solid lotion bar. It’s a totally great idea, you take some wonderful moisturising butters and oils, mix them with antioxidants and vitamin E and some super delicious fragrances and you have a moisturiser which is hard like a lip balm. But the best bit is it melts on body contact so you can rub all the bits that need extra moisture like your elbows and heels and you get the perfect amount. Then you just keep the rest in a container for later.

So here is a pic of two different recipes. The one on the left has more butters and contains vitamin E and an antioxidant but it too soft. The one on the right is just right but hasn’t as many nice ingredients. I’m going to remelt the too soft recipe and add more beeswax and we’ll see what we get.

But I’m going to keep one of the gooey balms and try it out, it could work wonderfully as a less solid balm as it has the consistency of Petroleum Jelly and we all know how nice that is. I’ve got some botanical extracts on a future order from a supplier and think they’d be great to add to it. Then it’d have the added benefit of soothing the skin, promoting skin elasticity and having astringent properties.

It would make a great pregnancy/sunburn balm.

I love it when accidents turn out to be blessings.