Salt Bar

We're on Week 8 of the soap challenge set by Amy Warden of Great Cake Soapworks.
This week it's a Salt Bar, and it's ....made in Portugal! (Shelley).
The reason I'm doing the challenge again is because Ishbel has already made salt bars and had a lovely one in her range previously, so I just wanted to have a go really! Only one problem- I have never seen a salt bar, used a salt bar or made a salt bar, so I have apsolutely no idea what it's supposed to turn out like!
Ishbel passed on her recipe to me- it was basically about 66% Coconut Oil, 11% Castor Oil, and about 22% Palm Oil (we dont use palm oil in any of our ranges any more, but i have a small  amount of old stock- it's organic and sustainably sourced from a small RSPO approved producer).
I used about the same amount of salt (ordinary fine table salt) as coconut oil (it seemed like alot!) and more fragrance than I would normally add- around 6% fragrance to base oils (we usually use 3%).
Ishbel instructed me to add the salt to the melted oils and mix well, and then add the fragrance, and finally the lye mixture (I just used water for this)- it took a while to trace (surprisingly) but was a gorgeous consistency.  I chose a fragrance of Bay Rum, and Peppermint Essential Oil- (the peppermint being the major part), and coloured it with a pale bluey sea green. The whole room took on an amazing aroma- the peppermint being so zingy and invigorating!
I was intending to do a small loaf mould- and add a layer of ground dried seaweed I had found in my box of goodies, but in a last minute change of heart I poured the mixture into chunky heart moulds and left them plain!
So here's the result- sorry there aren't more photos- my hubby has had the camera with him for the last few days, so I was unable to photograph the making process. Also these photos don't really show the colour very well- it's a lovely pale duck-egg blue/green.

I'm still uncertain if it's how it should be- I have to admit I imagined a more glassy bar. I will have another go with this method, but add more dimensions- maybe include some botanicals and layers of colours, but I really wanted to strip it down this time and keep it simple. Can't wait to see the other results of the challenge- I've been making soap for several years now and the challenges have shown me there's still loads to learn! It's been a brilliant process- thanks Amy, and thanks to everyone else who's taking part and giving everyone such positive comments and encouragement every week.

A quick P.S!i just wanted to add- i've just tried a little bit of this (it should be cured first- but I was curious!) and it does turn very smooth and glossy once it is in use- the only thing I wish I had done differently is added some texture - I feel like it should be scrubby!  Overall I'm impressed (and converted- i was dubious!) and I love the peppermint- I will definately be doing a new and improved version soon!

Shell

Gradient Colour Soap!

We're on Week 7 of the soap challenge set by Amy Warden of Great Cake Soapworks- Gradient colored soap! This week it's ....made in Portugal! (Shelley)
I've had friends here from the UK for the last week so I thought it was a good opportunity to invite them to join in, and make a really fun bar which they can take back as a souvenir of their trip! Plus it's been raining all week so what's better to do when its grim outside- make soap!!
Some of our soaps do have simple layers in, but not quite to the degree which we have been asked to do in the challenge this week!
We've used our usual recipe which has lovely Portuguese olive oil and Goats Milk (this time from my neighbour Glorias goat!), but we only made a small 2lb/1kg loaf sized batch.

My friend Kate chose the fragrance we would use- it's called Tropicana, and it's a lovely blend of fresh tropical fruits-  papaya, succulent peach, crisp melon, dry pear and strawberry. This immediately made us want to choose bright, fruit-inspired colours, and feeling brave we thought we'd do two colour gradients- red/pink and yellow/orange. The only problem was I couldn't remember if it was fast tracing so we made sure the temperatures were low and kept the soap in a very liquid state!

We started off with the bright red at the bottom (which actually came out a fabulous hot pink!) and whizzed up each layer just before pouring it, so we wouldn't be waiting too long for the layer to set. We added the titanium dioxide and made paler pink layers, and then we went onto the orange layers, which we did in reverse- so we started with the pale creamy yellow and then a bright yellow, and then an orange (i did add a little bit of red to the very last layer to get a good papaya colour!).

I just couldn't wait to turn the soap out the next day to see how it had worked- and was so pleased with the result- i LOVE it!!

Amy's soap challenge has really pushed our soapmaking skills and I can't wait to try this technique out again!

The finished bars cut and stamped with our logo

                     If you want to have a look at all the other challenge results please visit this page

                                                                                                                                          Shell

Cutting Bridge Inn Beer Bar natural soap with new wires on the cutter

I did promise after the last video that I would remember to order new wires for my old and well used cutter.  The problem I have found with it, and I know others in the soap world have too, is that wire cutters work very differently from knives when it comes to cutting soap.

If the wire is fairly thick, mine came with 2mm stainless wires fitted, they do not actually cut the soap bars, they seem to push curls of soap out of the way on their journey through your soap loaf. This leaves a rough, kind of bobbley surface on the finished soap bars, which does not look nice and means you have to scrape the soap off before packaging.

I got fed up with this so I investigated the thinnest wires I could use on my cutter and ordered stainless steel guitar E strings from Amazon.  Now they come very cheap (£1.24 for a set of 5) so I ordered 3 sets thinking that I was bound to break a few when setting up the cutter.

In fact I only broke one, carefully tightened the others and this video shows you how good the result was.  I am thrilled, I can't tell you how much nicer, and quicker, it is now to cut a huge loaf of soap up.  These Bridge Inn Beer Bars (a big favorite here in the UK) are going to look so good in our new boxes too, I cant wait to see them.

Our new packaging is looking really great.  We have new boxes for our soap bars:

and lovely new cupcake pods which should really protect them as well as allowing customers to see how beautiful they look.

So, as always, let us know what you think of both the new video and our packaging.  We really love to hear your comments.  Please feel free to share this too.  You can visit our new You Tube Channel and if you do please be sure to subscribe.  We hope to be making many more.
IshbelXXX

Swirly Wurley Psychedelic Sixties Soap!!

Strange title but true..  This is Week 6 of the Soap Challenge organised by Amy Warden from Great Cakes Soapworks, I cant believe we have already got to Week 6 and there are now over 90 soap makers across the globe taking part, what a fabulous soap making party we are all having!!

Seriously, the challenge has been great, testing skills, making us think and, most of all, great fun.  The best thing for both us as makers and you (I hope) as watchers is that it is to continue. So below are the next few dates and the challenges we have to rise to:

Week 6 (starting April 22): Faux Funnel pour soap
Week 7 (starting April 29): Gradient colored soap
Week 8 (starting May 6): Salt Bars
Week 9 (starting May 13): Peaked Tops
Week 10 (starting May 20): Landscape soap
Week 11 (starting May 27): Making soap with natural ingredients

As before, we make the soap during the week and then on Saturday Amy posts the link to which we post our photos, videos, blogs etc.

So, what have Puro Soaps done this week?  We have decided to split the challenges up, as we did before. This gives us both the chance to play and expand on our skills.  Week 6 was Ishbels week...........'made in Devon'

Well the challenge was to make a soap using the Faux Funnel technique, don't ask, if I tried to explain this to you I would be here all week!  So instead I have made a video (with the help of my lovely son Ryan who is an excellent graphic designer), both of the making and then the next day cutting so you get to see the whole process and the final bars of soap.  It is shorter than the last one, honestly.  I hope you stick with it and watch until the end, the music is great (I would say that as its my choice) and you do get to see the whole soap making process in its entirety.  this soap is our really fabulous 'Beijinhos' which means in English 'Little Kisses', it's fragranced with Kismet - (Lush Karma Type) Patchouli, orange, lemongrass, lavender, pine, gardenia, sandalwood, and musk - Its gorgeous!! and, more importantly, behaves very well in cold process soap.

OK, so click and watch, please remember to leave us comments, we LOVE them, and do visit and sign up to our facebook site too, thats where you get to hear about all the special offers and new products first.

If you want to have a look at all the other challenge results please visit this page, I hope you do and if you like what you see do leave a comment.  We soap makers work very hard to design and produce what we do and to hear that you like it too makes all the difference.

'Scent'sational Soap Challenge Wk5!

This weeks soap challenge set by Amy Warden of Great Cake Soapworks is all about blending your own fragrance. It's something we have done in the past but I've not thought about it quite so scientifically before.

After doing a bit of reading about the different 'notes' of essential oils I thought I'd try and make my blend with the recommended mixture of three parts from the top note group, two parts from the middle group and one part from the base note group. I noted down all the oils which work well together and came up with a formula of complimentary scents.

Less is more I told myself- or KISS- 'Keep It Simple Stupid'! Only problem with this was that just using three essential oils just wasn't daring enough this time, and I saw this as an opportunity to have some fun! So... I went to town!!
For the top notes I used three parts of each bergamot and orange,  for the middle note two parts of each geranium and  lavender, and for the base, one part of each rose and geranium. These were all essential oils I had in my fragrance stock, including...gasp..actual rose otto essential oil- well in for a penny, in for a small fortune! The essential oils were weighed to make up 3% of the soap base oils.

My next decision was to keep it plain and natural or...wait for it... Go to town!!! I just thought well, hey, its gonna smell extravagant (hopefully), it should look extravagant! So I added a bit of colour to turn it a lilac colour (representing the lavender) and added toppings of bright pink roses (the rose bit) and dark purple butterflies (don't ask- I'm just into butterflies at the moment!)

You can see the colour of the blended oils in the small pot in front of the pan above- it was really dark and thick!

I added one last little white swirl just to bring in some contrast to the lilac colour (getting a bit carried away by this point!), added the toppings and then kept my fingers crossed it would work as this is probably one of the most expensive soaps I have ever made!

 I removed the block from its mold this morning- it was very soft but looked and smelt wonderful- I can't wait for it to cure to see what its like to use.

 I have to say the whole scent is stunning- but I am finding it hard to pick up all the elements. I can't smell the orange for instance, and the lavender and geranium are definitely more recognisable. I asked my husband what he thought it smelt of- his answer was 'mmm nice Bubble Bath' !!! (not sure if that was a good answer or not!)

This really should be a luxurious bar to use- it's made with our usual recipe with Portuguese Olive Oil and Goats Milk and is totally Natural and Palm oil free.

If you want to see all the other soaps created in this challenge click this link.  We both hope it will go on as we have enjoyed that challenge of trying something new and pushing our boundaries - Thank you Amy for this wonderful opportunity.

  

                                                                                                     Shell.

Wine O'clock! (Week 4 of the Soap challenge)

Week 4 of The Soap Challenge set by Amy Warden of Great Cake Soapworks is to create a soap made using alcohol. We currently list a lovely beer soap but we have been recently trialing a wine soap, as there is no shortage of good local red wine in our area!

To see all the other soaps in Week 4 of the challenge go to this link.

All our neighbours make their own wine and we get given a lot (mainly red), so it seemed like the perfect thing to include in our range of Natural Portuguese Soap. I personally love the whole process and always get involved in the the grape harvest and pressing and, as some of you know already, we are both partial to a drop of the old vinho tinto!

I can't tell you how brave I had to be to post this photo of me pressing the grapes with my neighbour last autumn- but I thought it important that you know we at Puro will always go the extra mile when it comes to making our soap!!

Having done a little bit of research- I thought it best to simmer the wine first  to reduce the alcohol as I had read about explosive results when mixing the lye and alcohol. While the wine was simmering away I felt inspired to add some other ingredients into the pan - slices of lemon and orange peel and a stick of cinnamon- I just fancied making the wine a little fruity and spicy- almost like a mulled wine or sangria.

 

After it had cooled down I bagged it up and popped it in the freezer ready for when the both of us could get soap making!
We added the caustic soda to the frozen wine which meant it didn't immediately get too hot. It didn't smell too bad either! but it did go a dark sludgy brown, so we added a small amount of red soap colouring to the batch which turned the soap a rich shade of cinnamon. We made the toppings to continue with the fruity theme and added soap citrus slices and cinnamon curls. The smell was absolutely wonderful!

After unmolding the following day, the soap mellowed to the warm wine red you see below.

 The resulting soap which we are calling 'Sweet Vine' (Vinha Doce in Portuguese) is beautiful and smooth and surprising creamy and luxurious. You can see more pictures of this lovely soap and full ingredients by visiting this link to our website.  If you missed the line up of Week 3 outcomes you can still see them here, there are some wonderful ideas, all based on piping cold process soap, along with our video entry, piping roses.

We'll leave you with a photo of one of our lovely neighbours Gloria, who in the typical Portuguese hospitable manner, is never far away with a jug of the local wine!

Soap Display Stand Challenge!!

Phew!! It's finally done!

After our success of making the trugs last year I thought I'd have a go at building a display stand for one of the shops we supply here in Portugal. The trugs we have are lovely- especially for things like markets and fairs, but we'd had some feedback from friends that in this particular shop display it was hard to see the soaps properly.
Right! Display Case-  'How hard can it be?'  (our normal answer to a new challenge!!) The truth is that actually this time it was quite hard!  Once we'd got the basic unit together (I have to admit to having a bit of help from the hubby for this bit!), it became apparent that the shelves weren't all that strong. Easy solution- we'll put some dowel up at the front of each shelf for extra support.

 The only problem with this idea was that Dowel is very hard to get in rural Portugal! We tried making the struts with pieces of wood which had been routed to make them less square but it felt too chunky. Had I thought about it I could've gone into Ishbels house here and nicked her curtain poles (just kidding Ish!), but i ended up having to bring them back in my luggage from B&Q in the UK!!

After fitting some corner triangles at the back of the shelves, and the dowel struts, the stand felt really sturdy  (hubby said 'thats strong enough to sit on, that is!' but I'll take his word for that!)
I blended some paint to get some nice fresh Spring colours, and got the local printers in the village to make up some vinyl banners with our lovely logo.
One final coat of varnish and it was finally ready for some soap!

This is what it looks like in situ, and it just happened to be the same colours as the spring display which was being put together as I arrived- result!!

                                                 You can find it in http://www.deklomp.pt/