Tag: natural

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Zombies in the soap

I had planned a regular posting about some of the soaps that are curing right now but, as is normal around here, something came along that cracked me up.

This week I’m writing about the straight Olive Oil Castile soap that was made about three weeks ago. We used a blend of regular and pomace olive oils and avoided any scents or colorings this time to create a clean, gentle soap. (This was part of my inspiration from our brand new nephew Lex and my cute-baby-obsessed brain.) It is very mild, moisturizing, and is as well-loved by sensitive and mature skins as it is by the wee ones in our lives.

I had made a large batch this time in hopes that I might be able to stash some away for the holidays but was really, really unhappy with the texturing of the top when I unmolded it. Now, if you are a new reader, you may not know that I am one of those soapers who owns a block grater and is not afraid to use it. Luckily, this soap was still very young and I was able to chop it up quickly with my favorite big knife. Lots of little olive oil bits went back into the soaping pot for another round until they melted into submission. I remolded the entire batch and was very pleased once it came out the next morning. These were cut into large bars with a few sample scraps so I made them a home on the curing racks. Sure that I was once again the queen of my soapy domain, I lined up all my beautiful soap bars to cure. I admired their greenish gold tint and made myself swear I wouldn’t start putting any of them to use until they were fully cured, or maybe three weeks, or maybe just one for now…… I mentioned I can be impatient about waiting to quality control each batch, right?

I promise I behaved and left them alone until hubby came home that night. He was checking out everything I had cooked up that day and was intently staring at the olive oil soaps. Confidant I had totally rocked that batch, I waited to hear any questions, comments, or praise he might have. No worries, right? He floored me completely with his reply: “You know, this looks like zombie soap.” Huh?!?! It still makes me laugh but I had to agree once I heard him out.

Soapers can tell you how colors will morph some as they cure and certain oils will give you certain colors in your soap. This olive oil blend has a light green gold hue but as it was curing it made some slightly darker spots that had a brownish tinge too. Dunno how much your family is into zombies but this batch provided us a few giggles for about a week as it settled itself down. I am sad to say that I no longer see the zombie resemblance but now I have some inspiration for another batch of soap. If I can get it to work, we will add “Zombie Soap” to the silly soap line along with the “Cow Pattie” and “Mud Balls.” I’ll make a blog post about those another time; let me find some good pictures of them so I can put it in there, ok?

This batch of no-longer-zombie-looking soaps will be ready to go to new homes around September 25th. I hope to have some good pictures up soon of everything on the rack for all of us who enjoy staring at soap pics. If you are in the Houston area, you can catch us at Donna’s Market on October 13th. Please stop by and say hello, tell a good joke, or just have a chat! I shall sign off here for the week as the sky’s just opened up and the rain is pouring down. Time to go get dirty for an excuse to try out the new experiments!

Happy Washing!

Dorothy

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Green Tea Sand Soap

Green Tea Sand Soap

For this week, we’re highlighting the Green Tea Sand Soap I made last week.  Sand soap is very popular around here for cleaning off the dirt and grime we cover ourselves in while playing in the gardens, repairing the homestead, and working in the garage.  The picture above was while the bars were being cut and you can still see the swirling from when it was poured into the mold.

What on earth would possess me to add sand or green tea to my soaps?  Well, I don’t do it for all the soaps and I can’t honestly claim the idea of either to be my own invention.  I know a few mechanics and construction workers and they know I make soap.  One day during a conversation, someone brought up the old Lava soap hand scrub they used to use and how they’d had problems with finding it or a good replacement.  The substitute ones used at work weren’t doing the job anymore.  My gardening friend also lamented about the ground-in dirt from her spending all day working hard.  Long story short, I was fascinated with the idea of making a mechanic’s scrub for them that was gentle enough for the gardener’s mature skin.    I have mentioned before I’m a researching geek, right?

I spent a bit of time pouring over old recipes I could get my hands on, info on degreasing skin without stripping or destroying it, and testing different recipes built from my notes.  I created a soft scrub like they asked and I was on top of the world.  My hubby here discovered it also removed the mess off of him he had made while doing home repairs.  I was a happy girl!  Then came the best sand I had ever felt from a fellow local soaper named Denise.  She had the finest, softest sand I had ever played with and she had made her sand soaps into hard bars.   (Yeah, I played in the dirt as a kid.  Occasionally still do as an adult!)  It meant tweaking the recipe for me to do it but it was so worth it.  Now, we offer both a soft scrub and the firmer bars for you to choose from.  Denise, thank you again and again!

I do use real green tea in this soap, as usual for any of our tea soaps. The water for the lye solution was replaced with extra-strong tea that had been brewed the day prior and allowed to cool overnight.  The tea provides a little color to the soaping pot so I didn’t add any more color to this batch.  It has also added a light scent that the boys here deemed “manly enough” to pass muster.  These bars are a minimum of 6oz each and there are a few still available that are over 7oz.  Email me soon if you want them though because these are going fast.  I do get asked about the health benefits of using green tea soap and I have to be honest in my answer.  It is widely known that green tea is awesome for your body- as a drink.  How much of the antioxidant power survives the soaping process is still being debated.  I would love to think that washing in this soap will provide all the same benefits but the jury is out still.  To be safe, I have to say that it won’t cure those health problems you might want addressed any more than sleeping with your calculus book under your pillow allowed you to absorb everything for midterms in school, you know?  I will say that I do love how it feels on my skin though!

I will now sign off for the week so that I can go clean the soap pot.  Up next week will be some of the other soaps that are on the rack with many more pictures.  I hope that you and yours have had a safe week and enjoy your Labor Day weekend.  For our readers who are military, both active and retired, I wish to say thank you.  For our parent readers, especially the moms who understand that some labor never ends, may you enjoy at least a few minutes of peace and rest!

Happy Washing!

Dorothy

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Mad Scientist’s Stock Update

Well, the racks are all overflowing again with new soaps and the stick blender has begged for mercy.  All possible soaping pots came out for work this week and I was caught cackling and dancing more than once over a bubbling stock pot.  Love my job!  Most of this week’s soaps were heavily olive oil based so expect them to be very mild, smooth, and creamy when you get your hands on them!  Thanks again to cute Baby Lex for inspiring some new soaps.

As promised, here is the in-stock update.  The website is still in progress (one of the hazards of being a chronic do-it-yourself-er who has a habit of researching things almost to death) so I apologize that we haven’t gotten a shopping cart set up yet or launched the site.  If required, I’ll go stand in the corner once I finish this post 🙂  All bar soaps are currently priced at $4.25 each, plus any shipping costs or sales tax if you are in Texas.  If you are local to the Cypress, TX area, we can be caught at Donna’s Market in October or arrange a pickup to save you shipping costs.  All others can order by emailing us directly at txpioneercreations@yahoo.com or contacting us thru this blog and Facebook.  And yes, we can always create a gift set for you- just drop us a line and let’s brainstorm!

Ready to ship/pick up:  Chocolate (both Vegan and Old Fashioned), Sage & Citrus with Shea Butter, Rain, and our regular Sage & Citrus.

Ready by Sept 30th (currently preorder only):  Moroccan Mint, Indonesian Teakwood, Unscented Olive Oil, a vegan Sage and Citrus , and a vegan Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey Scrub Bar.  The Green Tea Sand Scrub will also be ready by then but was made in oversized bars so they have a separate price of $5.25 each.

Samples:  Ginger Peach Tea, Texas Suds (the beer soap), Vanilla, Chocolate (both kinds), Olive Oil, and Moroccan Mint are currently ready to go home with someone.  We will have a few of the Moroccan Mint, Unscented Olive Oil, Indonesian Teakwood, and the Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey Scrub at the end of September also.

I do get the question about letting people have soaps before they are done “curing”, also known around here as “their month on the rack.”  The short answer is no, we can not let you have any cold processed soaps until they are done.  They need that time to mellow out and we need some time to make sure they pass our quality control testing.  Yes, we check our soaps by the batch, even if it’s a recipe I’ve made so often I can make it in my sleep.  Never know when a scale will be off in measuring or the mad scientist soaper will get so into the song playing that she forgets to add the fragrance so we make it a policy to double check each batch.  Please help me practice being patient and I will gladly keep you updated on your soaps.

Also asked is about our samples since we don’t always have samples on hand for every soap on display.  There are a few reasons for that.  First, there are only a limited amount of samples so when they’re gone, they’re gone.  I don’t make soap specifically for samples; they come from any extras leftover from the larger batch.  It is one way I have found to help keep our costs down which allows us to keep our prices lower for you.  Secondly, Texas considers samples to be sales taxable which means we have to decide between charging customers for them or we pay it.  Currently, we do not charge anything for samples and we try to include a few samples with shipments whenever possible.  If you are interested in having only samples mailed directly to you, please contact me directly so we can find a cost-effective way for both of us.  I realize that not everyone is interested in the motives behind why a company charges for things, but I believe some are and I try to be completely honest about how we calculate the prices as we do.

Over the next few weeks, I will post some of the pictures of the new soaps along with information about each so everyone can see.  Hope all of you have a great weekend in your neck of the woods and I will now step out to clean out my cauldron for the last time this week.  Oh yeah, then I guess I might be off to stand in the corner for not finishing our website……

Happy Washing!

Dorothy