Soap of the Week: Island Baby

Island Baby is a delicate soap, specifically formulated for baby's delicate skin.

 Babies in a Pot: They'll need a bath after this!

Why do we care about pH? Human skin is protected by a "mantle" of essential fatty acids.  Soap and other cleansers remove this protective later as they clean. Your body then gets busy replacing the oils and restoring natural balance to our skin.
Baby's skin is slightly more acidic (i.e. has a lower pH) than adult skin. Island Baby is formulated to have a lower pH, closer to baby's own skin so that this balance is disrupted as little as possible while cleaning. Gentle soaps such as Island Baby clean gently without over-drying the skin.
On a simpler note, Island Baby is made with numerous fabulous oils and butters. Avocado oil has a particularly small molecule, allowing it to penetrate and nourish the skin; shea butter and sweet almond oils are delightful additions to a base of coconut and palm oils.

Supermodels Already!

Island Baby is a wonderful facial cleansing bar. I use it daily to remove dirt, grime, and make-up. It cleans gently, never over-drying.
For adult faces or the youngest babies, Island Baby is a rich, luxurious way to clean!

**Free Shipping through June 10, 2010**

Party Favors: Part 3

For the assembly photos, I am switching to the samples for the Little Black Boxes. I thought you might like a change of color!
Citrus Shoreline is a customer favorite: Bergamot, Chamomile, Coconut, and Lemongrass with Lemongrass added to the soap for gentle exfoliation. 

To assemble, we take the lovely, labeled soaps:

 

Add a touch of crinkle paper for even more color:

Add Free Shipping as a special thanks:

 Then wrap it all up in a cellophane bag (which refuses to photograph well!)

Repeat 50 times ...

 

... and we are ready to party!

Party Favors: Part 2

Please forgive me: this is a very photo-heavy blog. I wish you could see the "flip-show" that I have in my Photoshop when I roll through the photos of the mold filling - I could flip through those for hours!

When we left off, the black pieces were cut and shaped and curing. Today we pick up with the body of the soap and the careful placement of the pieces in the soap base. Enjoy!

Creamy, raw soap ready to fill the mold. It's about the consistency of pudding but not nearly as nice: it is caustic and requires gloves and safety goggles even now. 

Note that the spirals are carefully placed for maximum exposure when the soaps are cut! There's a lot of planning that goes into this. Finally I get to the final layer: 

... and there is nothing to do but cover it and wait 24 hours for cutting time! 

Luckily, I won't keep you in suspense! 

The finished loaf came out just like this:

Then the first cut gives us towers:

Which is cut into bars: 

Which make me happy!! 

My First Shawl

Lest you think I'm all about soap these days ... may I introduce my Travelling Woman shawl? (I may have to call it a "wrap".)

Take a moment to follow that link - you'll see where I'm headed with this!

Party Favors: Part 1

Otherwise known as: When You Really Like Your Wedding Guests ...
We have a family wedding coming up and the beautiful bride will be remembered for her thoughtfulness and good taste, I'm sure! Jordan almond party favors are being replaced by soap favors. Here's a quick look at how they're made.

The Gray Batter:

Which is blended then unceremoniously poured into a makeshift mold and allowed to set over night:

The next day is when the real work occurs. This isn't particularly fun - I don't know of any short cut to getting round shapes other than just rolling, rolling, rolling them by hand.

Slowly but surely, progress is made and the loaf transforms and (thankfully!) disappears!

Now the shapes will cure for a day or two. It turns out that the amount of curing time required is exactly the same amount of time that it takes for me to be in the mood to mix another batch of soap. I love soap that way!

Soap of the Week: DazzleBerry Disco

Grab a bar and lather up - the first thing you will notice is the bubbles! Big bubbles come from the Coconut oil; the denser, foamy bubbles are a gift from the Castor Bean oil.

Lather up with this scent and you might agree: it could just as well be called "Midnight Summer Sangria" or "Sultry Summer Night. The fragrance is light and fruity but its the spicy under-notes that are intriguing and complex.

With a light, exuberant lather, a complex scent that doesn't take itself too seriously, DazzleBerry Disco is the perfect soap to kick off summer!