Cold Process Gets Hot!

Where has the time gone! I have one more big show in December till it's time to chill out, but until then it's been a flurry of soap wrapping, labeling and selling for the season. Here's a few of my latest cold process soaps:

Eucalyptus, Tangerine, & Rosemary

This one is my new favorite although it smells exactly like a Halls Lemon cough drop, so while everyone loves the design, combined eucalyptus, rosemary and tangerine evokes either a smile or frown depending on their particular past relationship with Halls. After making a ridiculous number of batches, I've finally formulated a recipe that brings out everything I like in a soap. Isn't she pretty?  Here's another one, orange spicy clove soap, using a variation of my new recipe.

Orange Spicy Clove

Here's one which didn't turn out quite as I envisioned, but maybe my vision a bit off considering how the soft wispy swirls compliment this tea tree, lavender and rosemary soap.

I have plenty of cold process soap...surely can't make more, but you know what? I don't have any hot process soap...matter of fact, I've never even tried it once during the last 6 months of cold process making fury. Enter husband. "Really, you're going to make MORE soap?" "Yes, I said, justifying quite brilliantly  that I can't study for my soap making certification without ever actually making a batch. I'm big about certification. I'm a certified resume writer (day job) and now I want to be a certified soap maker through the the Handmade Soap Makers Guild. Certification shows passion and sets a standard of excellence for your craft. I know, just studying for my resume certification taught me all kinds of stuff...hoping the same is true for soap making

Bergamot, Rose, and Vetiver Hot Process

I wanted to do a soap I couldn't do with cold process like one with exotic essential oils that would otherwise  cook off and end up costing a fortune. I just bought some Bergamot from a fabulous women near Kent State and I could combine that with a touch of Rose Absolute rounded out with a few drops of smokey Vetiver. Since essential oils are added after the soap has fully sopanified, just a fraction of what you'd need for cold process is required. Now, hot process yields a different texture, and frankly I've seen some real ugly hot process along with some real beauties. I watched a ton of You Tube videos. I did a rose cold process soap some time back that was a beautiful rose color, made from rose clay, however, the rose petals daintily applied on top ended up looking like burned flesh. So, there you  have it, another advantage to hot process...no burned botanicals. I was overjoyed at how much cleaner hot process is. I didn't have half my dining table covered in caustic lye blobs! I mixed in rose clay into a depression made in the "fluffy like cake batter" stage and swirled it all together. Since hot process is rustic looking, I made the tops all fluffed up in rugged rustic spirit.

Wow, the next morning it was DONE.Wow...not even cool to touch...it was rock solid done...and I loved it!! Not better or worse than cold process....just different. My impatience appeased, I transported one of those beauties to my shower for product testing....ahh...a keeper! Smells divine.