The next batch is coffee and bergamot with a hint of lavender. Both turned out fine, though the coffee scent is very light, since I used no additional fragrance. Since everybody and their dog will be getting soap this Christmas, I also wanted some more neutral scents, because for reasons I don’t understand not everybody likes fruity scents.
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The “cream” is just unscented soap from the other batch. For some reason that turned out to be softer and a bit grainy and I have no idea why. But now it’s drying. One advantage to sticking it in the oven is that you get it to gel phase beautifully and also it cures a bit faster.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Bergamot. You can see the “grainy” parts here as well. I can only speculate that it’s too much air in the soap mass before filling it into moulds.
I made another batch that is currently resting, and I’ll make one more batch and then I#m finished for this year,since anything I make later would not be finished in time for Christmas and I DO need to give as much of it away as possible, because soap making is an easy way top make lots of stuff, which is probably ideal if you want to make something with great chances of success but not too much effort, but if you’re like me, and want to try as many things as possible, you end up with several kilograms of soap…
The huge advantage is that your whole house smells nice because there’s soap drying everywhere…
Coffee essential oil would probably give you the scent but it might contain vanillin and stain the soap.
This is making me want to dust off some of my recipes. I forgot how much fun soaping can be.
A standing frame with fiberglass window-screens riding on L-brackets makes a great soap dryer. Mine has a 40w incendescent bulb in the bottom to move the air.