Getting back to the soap: I bought this fragrance Grapefruit Lily on a whim from Brambleberry about a year ago, not knowing if I'd love it or hate it. I'm not a floral gal at all. I like earthy, fruity, or foody scents. Anyway, I was still very new to making cold processed soap, and this was probably my third or fourth batch, but only my second successful one. I did no research on color or anything. I had some pink Peacock Dye and said to myself, okay, grapefruit is pink, so I'll go with pink. I attempted to do a swirl which looked great on the top, but I didn't hold my pour high enough, so it didn't go all the way to the bottom. When I cut the soap, only the bottom of it was swirled. It's quite hilarious now that I've gotten better and more confident in my soapmaking, but a year ago, I thought this was the best looking soap on the planet!
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I actually have a few small wedges of this batch left. I absolutely love this scent! It's so fresh and not overly-floral. It's definitely more flowery than grapefruit-y, but it's the perfect balance. So how could I possible improve on perfection? Remember those oxides I told you about a few posts ago? I decided to try them, and I actually had a plan, but of course I screwed it all up! When I think of lily, two things come to mind: my grandmother, Lily, and Calla Lily. I think those are the most beautiful flowers ever, but I didn't want another pink and "white" soap. I googled "lily" and found this beautiful tiger lily. BINGO! Not only was a beautiful shade of orange, but it would be the perfect excuse if my colorant speckled. I'd pass it off as Grapefruit Tiger Lily Soap. I can barely contain myself as I write this because I goofed this soap up so badly...
First of all, I stirred too long, so my trace was a lot thicker than I wanted it to be before I separated the batch in two. I chose a brick red oxide and a pink oxide-I love pink, and I love pink grapefruit. When I reached the desired trace, I separated the batch so that I color one half reddish-orange, and the other half pink. Being the overzealous person that I am, I colored half of my batch and proceeded to stir it in, when "#(#*(*&!%" I FORGOT TO ADD THE MICA!!! I knew I was doomed because my soap was already at a decent trace, and I knew once I added that mica I would have to zap it some more with my stick blender, but I did it anyway. I was determined to have two-toned soap! All it took was about 3 zaps, and half of my soap batch was as thick as cake frosting. I glopped it in my mold and spread it evenly as if I were frosting a cake because that's basically what it was at this point. I colored the other half of the soap which was still pretty liquid and very pourable. I never scent my accent color. When I poured it over the soap "frosting", it was disastrous. I made the further mistake of trying to swirl it. What I should have done was left it as it by having the red/orange soap sit on top of the pink soap to give it a layered look. Well, here's the finished result:
In my defense, it looks a lot better in person than it does in these pics. I also used a straight cutter (why?) to detail my swirl-challenged skills. You know what though? I kinda like it. It smells really good. The grapefruit is really strong, but I expect it to mellow out once it's fully cured. I also have to say that I'm really liking these oxides and ultramarines. They didn't really speckle, and had I done the right thing, the colors would have been a lot prettier. The first batch was made with palm, coconut, olive, and castor oils. The new batch was made with olive, rice bran, sweet almond, and coconut oils, and shea, mango, and cocoa butters. These are the most ingredients I've ever used in a soap. I can't wait to try this one. I'll keep you posted!
3 comments:
Who cares what it looks like, it's what's on the inside that counts. This baby has alot on the inside-Im buying~Keep me posted when it goes on sale.
if only soap would come out as good as it is in our heads!
I know I start out with good plans many times and end up having to do something totally different.
At least it smells great so it can still be used, that is way better then one that doesn't smell good any day
My whole family enjoyed this. I love when I am able to find good recipes and articles on line. I get most of mine on Wacanai.com(http://www.wacanai.com/intro). They have really great searching capabilities and a lot of good articles. People link their own page to wacania so you can find some other great sites too. You should think about posting this article on it, I think a lot of people would enjoy it.
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