New Soaps and lots of New Ideas...

The swirl in this soap is made by taking some of the soap and
 adding Vanilla fragrance to it. The rest is colored with Titanium Dioxide

I'm back, with some new soaps and lots of new ideas. I hope I'll manage to give life to those ideas and share some of my enthusiasm for handmade soaps and soapmaking with you.

These are two new soaps I made couple of days ago. I've changed the dimensions of soap so it would fit better in hand. New dimensions range from 5cm x 2.5cm x 6cm to 6cm x2.5cm x 7cm, and they weigh 90-100 gramms each. These soaps need to cure for at least 4 weeks, but I was pleased that someone couldn't wait to get their hands on it, so I've already sold some of them.

Lavender & Mastic Soap: First time doing a Secret Swirl

Hello everyone! I've been busy soaping lately and I didn't have much time to blog about it. This is the soap I made back in March and it was the first time I tried the secret swirl or the so called "hanger swirl". It was also the first time I used Mastic in soap, but since then I wrote about couple of other soaps I made with Mastic, but forgot to write about this one that was actually the first.

I used Olive oil, Palm oil, Coconut oil, Shea butter and Castor oil for this batch of soap.

Mastic resins in the mortar

So, the first thing I did was to ground the Mastic resins in the mortar until it turned into powder. Then I set it aside and prepared my oils and lye.

Rose and Mastic Soap

Many months have passed since my friend Carolyne sent me a package of dried rose buds from London, allong with some beautiful hand-dyed silk crepe, and hinted that I might make some rose soap for her, but I was a bit anxious about this project and didn't really feel ready to give it a try until now.

Carolyne likes earthly, natural colors and fragrances, so I've been contemplating how to go about making a rose fragranced soap, how would I structure it, which colours should I use, which oils and butters, which essential oils etc.

Finally, I decided to use Rose Perfume Oil that contains some Rose essential Oil in it (because Rose E.O and Rose Absolute were way to expensive to use), Palmarosa E.O. and finally (after I tested the combination in my whipped body butter) Chios Mastic. 

Rose and Mastic Body Butter

For English, scroll down

Βούτυρο Σώματος με Τριαντάφυλλο & Μαστίχα 

Η εμμονή μου με Μαστίχα Χίου συνεχίζεται ... Σήμερα έφτιαξα λίγο βούτυρο σώματος με λάδι Καρύδας, βούτυρο Καριτέ, Αμυγδαλέλαιο και Καστορέλαιο, αρωματικό έλαιο Τριαντάφυλλου, αιθέριο έλαιο Palmarosa και Μαστίχα Χίου. 

Μαστίχα έχει τόσα πολλά οφέλη για το δέρμα, έχει αντι-μικροβιακή (υπό τη μορφή αιθέριου ελαίου) και αντι-φλεγμονώδη δράση, και είναι φυσικό αντιοξειδωτικό. Η έρευνα έχει δείξει ότι η μαστίχα Χίου συμβάλλει στην επούλωση των τραυμάτων και την ανάπλαση της επιδερμίδας.

Πέρα από όλα αυτά, έχει ένα πολύ ωραίο, φρέσκο ​​άρωμα που, κατά τη γνώμη μου, λειτουργεί συμπληρωματικά με το άρωμα Τριαντάφυλλου ή Λεβάντας.

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My obsession with Chios Mastic continues... Today I made some Rose & Mastic body butter with Coconut oil, Shea butter, Almond oil and Castor oil, Rose perfume oil, Palmarosa essential oil and Mastic from Chios.

Greek Mastic, a natural fragrance for handmade soap

Handmade Soap with Chios Mastic
 Χειροποίητο σαπούνι με μαστίχα Χίου

I've been on a roll these last couple of weeks. Lots of ideas, energy and several batches of soap set to cure. What I want to write about today is my current obsession with Mastic and the first time I used dividers to make some color swirls.

Other than for its lovely fresh fragrance, using Chios Mastic (Mastiha) has some amazing benefits:

"Ever since antiquity, Chios mastiha has been well known for its medicinal and pharmaceutical properties. 
Nowadays, it has been gradually revealed by the scientific community, through accurate and scientifically acceptable methods based on laboratory research and clinical studies carried out by independent researchers in Greece and abroad, that natural Chios mastiha is gifted with unique beneficial and therapeutic properties, thus confirming what has been historically recorded over the past. 
To be more precise, scientific evidence has confirmed Mastiha’s beneficial action against disorders of the peptic system, its contribution to oral hygiene, its significant antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory action, as well as the fact that it constitutes a natural antioxidant agent. In addition to that, Chios mastiha contributes to wound healing and skin regeneration. " [LINK]

And it smells great! All in all - an ideal, natural addition to handmade soaps.

I purchased 10 g. package of mastic resins in my local super-market for aprox. 3.5 EUR.

First time I used Chios Mastic resins in cold process soap was a week ago, in my Lavender & Mastic Soap and I was very happy with the result. Although I used both Lavender and Palmarosa e.o., the aroma of Mastic was very distinct after the soap was unmolded.

Rebatching the Whipped Soap

As you could see in my previous post, I made a whipped soap, for the first time, couple of days ago. 

Due to different consistencies of white and pink part of the batch, I wasn't able to mix and swirl them as I intended, so I was not very happy with the result. 

I was afraid how the bar might behave once we use it, because those white pieces didn't look that well incorporated in the rest of the batch.

I figured the bar may crumble to pieces soon after being used for the first time and I didn't want all those precious oils and butters to go to waste, so I decided to rebatch.

My little girl liked how the first batch looked, so I saved a couple of bars for her and grated the rest of them in a big stainless steel pot. 

First Time Making Whipped Soap

Couple of days ago I decided to try making whipped soap. I read all about it on Nizzy's website, figured out a recipe that had 75% sold oils and had my old hand mixer ready. Because it was the first time I used that technique, I had my hands full and I didn't dare taking time to get my camera, so I had my 7 year old daughter come and take a couple of photos with my cell phone. I think she did a marvelous job, all things considered :) 

About the Recipe 

I Used 101 g. of NaOH and water 2.5 times the amount of NaOH. I added Strawberry FO and Coco butter FO for fragrance and used white Kaoilin and pink French clay for colour. I was going for light, dusty pink and I used one table spoon of pink clay and one tea spoon of white clay for aproximately 1 pound of soap. This was also the first time I used pink clay in my soap and I must say I liked the results.

Sapun od maslinovog ulja

Sapun od maslinovog ulja sa Halkidikija

Kada je reč o sapunu koji se pravi isključivo od maslinovog ulja, takozvanom Castille sapunu, mišljenja su podeljena. Neki se kunu u njegove prednosti i blagotvoran uticaj na kožu. Preporučuju ga bez rezerve za upotrebu čak i kod nege nežne dečje kože.

Drugi opet ne vole ovaj sapun zbog toga što nije dovoljno penušav, a u našem društvu penušavost je sinonim za dobar sapun. Neki ga opisuju kao gnjecav jer kada se voda ne iscedi dobro sa posude na kojoj ga držite, sapun omekša i deluje nekako gnjecavo. Međutim, iz mog iskustva to je nešto što se dešava sa većinom čvrstih sapuna, bilo fabrički bilo ručno pravljenih. Jako je bitno da se sapun drži na suvom kada se ne koristi. 

Сапун са босиљком, белом глином и есенцијалним уљем лимуна

Превод на српски чланка из 2013

Сапун са маслиновим уљем Халкидикија, кокосовим уљем, палминим уљем, есенцијалним уљем лимуна, сушеним листовима босиљка и белом глином.

Пронашла сам мало Есенцијалног уља лимуна и беле (каолин) глине у новој локалној продавници и желела сам да их искомбинујем са неким сувим зачинским биљем, па сам дошла на идеју да искористим босиљак, јер мислим да су лимун и босиљак просто као створени једно за друго. 

Остало је основни рецепт за сапун са маслиновим, кокосовим и палминим уљем који сам правила већ пар пута и била сам више него задовољна резултатима. Можете га пронаћи овде.

Сакупила сам мало кишнице пар дана раније и искористила
 је уместо дестиловане воде

Нисам до сада користила толико есенцијалног уља у сапуну, јер је прилично скуп додатак, али нисам могла да одолим идеји свеже, цитрусне мирисне ноте лимуна, када размишљам о савршеном сапуну за лето.

Soap Making Nightmares: Separation, Ricing, Accelerating and Seizing

I haven't been soaping lately. Never enough time, peace and quiet, energy or money for the recipes I wanted to try. Somehow I forgot that it doesn't have to be complicated. It's supposed to be fun. Even the good old Castille soap is still much better option than using a commercial shower gel and I was now left with only a couple of bars of soap. It was time to make something, anything. I was itching to put my gloves and goggles again...

I took out the last of my supplies, measured the oils and sat out to write a recipe. Let's see...this is what I used:

• Palm oil
• Olive oil
• Sunflower oil
• Cocoa butter
• Sesame oil
• Almond oil
• Coco butter FO 
• White kaolin clay
• red pepper for color

Following the usual procedure I added lye to the oils and when the mixture reached light trace i added white clay, mixed it lightely and then poured Coco butter fragrance. And then something happened that has never happened to me before, soap started to get a bit grainy and I still had to separate one third of it and add red pepper to it for color, because I wanted to make 3 layered soap, with a bit of red in between.

 I worked quickly and mixed it some more with my stick blender in hope it would get smoother, but not much could be done. It was grainy, sort of like mashed potatos and oily, as if FO was not fully incorporated in the soap. So I poured it in the mold, insulated it and still hoped for the best. 

Сапун од маслиновог уља са какаом и циметом

Халкидики је чувен по зеленим маслинама и овде где ја живим маслиново уље се не сматра луксузном робом и људи, осим у салати, најчешће користе своје маслиново уље и за кување, печење, чак и за пржење у тигању. Тако да увек имам квалитетног, здравог маслиновог уља за прављење сапуна. 

Углавном користим маслиново уље произведено од маслина са наших фарми. Преостало ми је и нешто мало палминог уља, па сам одлучила да га додам у рецепт. Хтела сам да направим нешто што ће лепо да изгледа и да мирише божанствено. Нешто што би подсећало на чоколадни колач.

Шта боље него искористити какао?

Шта све треба да знате пре него што почнете израду сапуна

Ја сам одлучила да започнем своју авантуру израде сапуна учећи како да направим сапун хладним процесом. Успут су ме неки пријатељи које то такође интересује питали за упутство и иако ја не мислим о себи као неком ко је спреман да даје другима упутства, почела сам овај блог као дневник где желим да једноставним речима опишем своје искуство у изради сапуна надајући се да некоме може бити од користи.

У овом првом посту, ја ћу покушати и указати на неколико ствари које треба да урадите и купите пре него што почнете да правите своје сапуне.

Ако сте попут мене, вероватно сте прво прочитали све што сте могли наћи на тему израде сапуна пре него што сте се одлучили да желите да се опробате у томе. Ја сам провела много времена истражујући пре него што сам се усудила да почнем. Када кажем много, мислим мнооого - месеце претраживајући Интернет, гледајући видео упутства за све од основа прављења сапуна до идеја за паковање готовог производа.

Коначно, супруг ми је рекао: Када ћеш већ једном почети да га правиш?

То ме је покренуло.

Hello again...

Wooden setting carved with knife by Giannis and earrings by Stella

Hello again. It's been so long since I wrote anything here...I don't know quite where to begin. In the summer it gets so hot here in Halkidiki that I really didn't feel like making soap that often. I made a couple of batches of soap that were intended, as usual, for our personal use and as gifts to friends and there were even some soaps left for the local arts & crafts fair.

I took part in it for the first time last year, with my friend an fellow crafter Stella and her mom who is a painter and a crafter too. Since my last post, I was more involved with my other hobbies - crochet, tatting and jewellery making, so it was my handmade, crochetted jewellery that I took with me to the fair, allong with some castille soap which has cured in time for the show.