Four Thieves Soap

I'm sure everyone has heard The Legend of The Four Thieves but in case you haven't.

The legend is that during the Bubonic Plague in Europe the homes of stricken or dead people were robbed. It seems that the people who committed the theft didn't get sick. When they(four alchemist)were caught and asked to divulge their secret in exchange for leniency, they said they used a formula consisting of essential oils, herbs and spices.

My recipe consists of the following essential oils: lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, clove and rosemary. I also add eucalyptus leaves. Every winter I make soap and room spray using the recipe.

New York State Novelty Soap

I guess you could say that I'm in a New State of mind. I purchased these molds from Chase Molds and couldn't resist using them for one of my cp soap recipes. I used rose fragrance because the Rose is the official flower of NY.

Rosemary Mint Soap

This classic aromatherapy blend is made using my own blend of spearmint and rosemary essential oils. I'm trying to use more natural colorants so I've experimented with spinach power in this soap. It came out rather nice. Thanks to Essential Wholesale for the essential oils.

Eucalyptus Soap

Some people like Eucalyptus all year long but I tend to make it in the fall because it gives me a comforting feeling. Probably because it reminds me somewhat of the camphor fragrance my mother used when I had a cold. The essential oils I used came from Rainbow Meadows and Majestic Mountain Sage. I have a habit of blending oils from different suppliers to get just the right aroma. I also used ground eucalyptus to help carry the fragrance.

Bubbly & Blue

I made this soap from a fragrance sample I received and it smelled sort of like Seven Up or Sprite but in a very nice way. It just made me think of bubbles. I used 92 degree coconut oil instead of 76 and it came out very white. I decided it needed a little bit of color so I added a little Ultramarine blue that didn't dissolve but I think it looks great.

Calendula Soap

Calendula often called pot Marigold makes a beautiful soap. I love the way the petals turn the soap a beautiful golden color. I also like the way it makes my skin feel. I make my soap after soaking the petals in the olive oil portion of my formula. I also used Calendula Essential Oil from Essential Wholesale. Since Calendula has such a pungent spicy aroma I masked it with Orange from Sweetcakes.

Peaches & Cream Soap

What do you do with left over cream from a tea party? Do you continue to use it in your tea or coffee and pack on more calories? I think not! I know, I'll make soap with it. How will that turn out? Only one way to find out and find out I did. It came out beautiful, not brown at all. Thanks to information I received at the workshops I attended at the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild Conference this May. I used a peach fragrance from Brambleberry. My soap smells fantastic and has just the look I was going for. I did use a bit of Coral Peach colorant from kangaroo Blue to give it a slight blush.

This Time, Lotion

A few weeks ago I took a lotion making class at The NY Open Center with La Shonda Tyree from Homemadesoapcoach.com It was a fabulous class and her instructions were so thorough that I was able to go home and make lotion right away. Of course I had bought most of the ingredients before hand but just didn't know how to start nor did I have any idea about preservatives.

I whipped up a 32 oz batch for my own personal use. I used sweet almond oil, Shea butter, hemp seed oil, castor oil and Optiphen as a preservative. Lime essential oil from Brambleberry and coconut fragrance oil to scent. It turned out thick, rich and creamy. I tell you it is out of this world, but before I market it for public use I will first have it tested at a lab.

Cabernet Grape Soap

If you are a soapmaker, or know a soapmaker personally, you know how we can sometimes get a little bored with making the same soap over & over. Well, I'm one who comes up with crazy ideas all the time. This time I was sitting around drinking some delicious grape juice and thought what a great soap this will make. I know I wouldn't mind taking a shower with it. But what would I do about fragrance.

I know, I had received a 1 oz. sample of Cabernet F/O from Lebermuth that smells like grapes. I've been waiting for the opportunity to use it and now was the time. I didn't use any colorants because I wanted to see what color the juice would give. The result is a nice tan shade of brown. I guess mainly because of the sugar content of the grape juice. It's been two weeks now and the fragrance is actually reminiscent of fruity grape wine. Can't wait to test it out.

Soap Filled Loofah Sponges

Just before Christmas Brooklyn CP Soapmakers' soap project was how to make soap filled loofah sponges. This is a result of how the sponges turned out. A fresh smelling wintery fragrance was needed so we used Spruce Essential Oil from Essential Wholesale.

Egg Shampoo Soap Bar

My soapmaking group, Brooklyn CP Soapmakers, will be meeting on January 17 to watch a demonstration on how to make soap using whole eggs. I had never made this soap so decided that I would give it a test run before hand. It actually turned out pretty good.

I got the inspiration from the Yolk recipe in Merilyn Mohr's book The Art Of Soapmaking but tailored it to my own ingredients. This recipe has no colorants and gets those green specks from the herb horsetail. It's fragranced with a free sample of Moroccan Mint I received from Brambleberry.

Rose Petal Soap

There is no better time to blog about rose soap than now, New Year's Day, when the Rose Bowl Parade is on TV and roses are fresh in our minds.

A definite bouquet of roses comes to mind when using this soap. A layer of baby rose petals have been infused in the top layer. The aroma is derived from a combination of two different rose fragrances.