14 May 2008
"Shea Garden"
Every once in a while, a soap is made that hits the "Ah..." in me. This is it.
I needed to add a scrubby soap to the family for garden tired, dirt laden hands.
Around here, we call it Central OR "moon dust".
The soap had to be green, but green is hard to get past the lye monster when using
natural colorants, as I try to do. In my gleanings on the
Soap Dish Forum, one
of the "dishers" tried infusing cut and sifted comfrey leaves in olive oil with
stunning results. I gave it a go, heating comfrey gently in the crock pot. I let
stew for a few days, checked it and found a deep rich green.
Deciding on scrubbies was easy, especially since a kind friend just bestowed plump
dried juniper berries on me, and I have ground pumice on hand. Juniper is everywhere here, but not the culinary kind. I'd like to say that I harvested it 15ft
from the Savonnerie, but that would be untrue. Our local juniper berries are
oozing sticky sap right now and would not treat my coffee grinder kindly!
The final kind touch for hands is lots of shea butter, which, incidentally, comes
from an African women's coop called Agbanga Karite. The coop provides the women and
their families a living wage. In this sense, it is a Fair Trade product and worthy
of as much support as we can give. The butter is unrefined and retains a nutty
scent that doesn't stay in the soap, but is pleasant to work with. My skin thinks
it's amazing!
12 May 2008
"Lavender Rustique"
Here's a new offering of the botanical topped log soaps, similar in style to our
rose, jasmine and calendula flower topped logs. This one, of course, is topped
with lavender flowers.
I've had a lavender goat's milk soap in mind for some time, and got to work on it
directly after the Garden Fair. I made a trip back to Juniper Grove Farm for the
goat's milk and started work on the essential oil blend and color.
Time for alkanet root. Alkanet is a most intriguing plant. It is grown in Central
and Southern Europe, mainly in France, but is found in Central and other parts of
Asia. It is in the borage family and has been used as a colorant probably
as long as time itself. The root is a blackish reddish purple. Having worked with
it, it is no surprise that it has come in handy to doctor the color of wine and
port, and the corks, to give the appearance of "age".
In soap, it acts as a primitive pH meter! The color will vary from blue to purple
to grey, depending on pH levels. Soap is more alkaline than acid, and in the
presence of alkanet, can come out anywhere from denim colored, to burgundy purple.
I've even seen it pass through a green stage! I mixed a small amount in oil and
used it as a swirl in the pot, before pouring into the molds.
At first I wasn't sure I liked the results in this batch, but the swirl is a deepening
shade of purple and is a great compliment to the lavender tops. There is nothing
particularly refined about Lavender Rustique, thus the name!, but it is appealing
and smells wonderfully of various lavenders, bergamot and a smidge of clary sage.
We'll see how the market customers feel about it! I haven't tried a little sample
yet, but goat's milk, as the liquid in handmade soap, makes a reliably mild and
creamy soap. I think Lavender Rustique will be no exception.
10 May 2008
"A First for the Savonnerie"
We set up shop at the Sisters Elementary School Garden Fair today in a 10 x 10
tent next to others selling plants, eggs, baked goods etc... The Garden
Fair is a fixture in town now, and many come to buy the beautiful, herbs, tomatoes
and perennials the kids have raised in the school greenhouse over the end of
this long winter, particularly the hanging baskets (the best price in town!).
Since I had no idea what to expect, having never run a booth before, we were late (!),
but it was no problem...the event is informal and relaxed.
The Garden Fair is the precursor this year to the first Annual Sisters Farmers
Market, which starts Sunday, May 25th. The Little Soap Factory has a proud
spot in it, so this was just the thing to iron out booth lay out and display for
the bigger market to come. The Farmers Market will attract the many tourists that
flood this little town on weekends every weekend of the summer. (I hope, I think!?).
5 May 2008
"Fresh"
Hard to name, but not hard to love, this one was inspired by a
Soap Dish Forum
Lemongrass Swap, (short for sharing your stuff with fellow soap makers). This
time I wanted a clean understated look and scent. I reached for the French
Green Clay and a titch of gold sparkle mica. The swirl needed to be "feathery",
diffuse, ethereal.
I made a thinner than usual slurry some of my soap oils with the green clay, and
mixed the gold mica separately with oil, as well. I soaped cool and started working the
color at thin trace. I swirled the green clay in the pot and began pouring into
the mold. Then came the mica with the last fourth of the soap to keep it from
sinking. You never know how the swirl will come out until the soap is cut. That
is part of the delight with this technique. I cut in about 24 hours. Lovely...
couldn't have asked for a better result.
Essential oil blending with Lemongrass has been tricky for me. I have often ended
up with "Pledge" scented soap...hard to get past that in the shower. I would
sooner wash the stall with it, than my body! A light hand is called for here.
I have recently been intrigued by Elemi, a resinous essential oil which
also has a lemony scent, but I was concerned about making furniture polish again.
After a few experiments, I liked what my nose was telling me, so I added some
Lavender...even better! Then the muse said: "Vetiver for grounding".
I never argue with the muse. She was right, of course. The result: a subtle,
fresh, slightly warm scent.
I am the proud Mama of "Fresh". Just hoping I'm not the only one who's in love
with it!
25 April 2008
"Mandarin Heaven"
Always pushing into uncharted territory, I made a foodie soap. I'm personally
not a fan of food smelling soap, but there are always exceptions. This may be one.
Dark chocolate, vanilla and a bit of mandarin to cut the sweetness. This
combination is intoxicating. Hard not to lick the soap spoon! Eewww!
"Mandarin Heaven" is the name of a line of
Angelina's products. We teamed up
to create a bar soap to match Shea Body Milk and Shea Souffle of the same name.
With her scent inspiration, I created a layer soap, with the two thirds bottom
of chocolate and an orangey mandarin layer on the top. The bottom layer has
actual organic baking chocolate melted in with the oils before the lye addition.
It is a dead ringer for a hunk o' chocolate.
The altering presence of lye on any color found in nature, or even in a lab, can
make the most intrepid of soapers, well...humble. So, I've come to
accept that I can't always have what my mind's eye wants. True in the case of the
deep earthy orange that emerged from the soap pot for the mandarin layer. I
still can't account for how I got it, but that's soap for you!
My kids' comment: "why can't you ever make something like this that we can eat!"
20 April 2008
"Wildwood"
I've had this particular soap in mind for months. Color experiments were done
weeks ago, yet I could not get motivated to soap it. Color intimidation strikes
again! The bergamot patchouli blend was straightforward enough, but how to get
just the right shade of burgundy/purple? I was after "red wine stains white
tablecloth". Pink had to be in there too, but where? And a splash of sparkle.
I wasn't really wanting to swirl it, the picture in my head said pink blobs with
streaks of merlot mica running through pink. I soaped cool, but still had a
quick trace. In spite of it, the blob happened. I got what I wanted...random
pink blobness...with sparkle. The scent is fresh and sensuous.
I love
it when the soap goddesses are watching over me!
16 April 2008
"EarthyMan"
This is the newest addition to the soap family. It was invented to celebrate
Earth Day. This is my first "landscape" soap, an attempt to capture land/sky/earth
/water in a bar of soap! In soap speak, it's a layer/swirl. What is in the mind and nose, doth not
a reality make! In other words, nice try!
The layer section is the bottom, representing Earth, and a pretty good likeness,
if I do say so myself...even down to the scent! The Sky Water Green swirl is
passable, but the blue too dark, and the green too light. Speaking of scent...
I was after something earthy, obviously, woodsy and green. I played for
a long time with my various essential oils, a favorite time burner, and came up with
what seemed like a good blend. I did not take into account, however, that I was
also working with neem oil and a little coffee and cocoa for color in the Earth layer.
I knew something was off right away. If you've ever taken a deep breath of straight
neem, you know what I'm talking about. Shall we say it's an acquired scent. I'm
being generous...the scent of neem oil is just blech! But in small amounts may not
show up after a good cure. The full cure is almost here, and it is fading, but
unmistakable to my nose. Add a hint of coffee and cocoa, and well...it's just wrong.
Strangely enough, it does smell like dirt! So, goal met. A good experiment that
only a mother will use! And maybe a brave EarthyMan...thus the name.
16 March 2008
Welcome to the "little soap factory" in Central OR, USA. The Savonnerie is
actually my little log house in the middle of five acres of land just east of
the Oregon Cascade Mountains, and west of the high desert, outside the town of Sisters.
It's a fledgling operation with hope and a big heart.
Last week, I visited
a local artisan goat farmer not far from here. I purchased enough milk to make
a few batches of Goat's Milk Soap. One day, I envision my own small group of lady
goats on my acreage who assist me in soap as well as cheese making. Until then,
I like to support local farmers who are doing wondrous work
in my area. Homage to fromage and other fresh homegrown ingredients!
The
savon made last evening was Unadorned Goat's Milk with ground oatmeal and red clover
leaf. When it was all poured out, and spent a little time outside in the cold air
I thought I'd bring it in to sit uncovered for the night. When I checked on it
this morning, it had partially gelled. Grr...just what I was trying to avoid.
So, I am forcing it to gel in a warm oven now. We'll see! I don't have a digital
camera (huh?) yet, but soon I'll post pictures of what I'm making.
It is not ready to cut yet, but is looking pretty with its wavy top and tiny flecks
of green. The overall color is creamy, but will probably darken with gel. It will be
lovely nevertheless.
Dawn Mead
PO Box 795
Sisters, OR 97759
541-548-6424