Sun Basil Garden Interview

It's time for another Soap Queen Interview! Woohoo!

Today I'll be sharing an interview with Lauren Miller, the owner of Sun Basil Garden Soap Company. Her handcrafted soaps are designed to bring a smile to your face and leave your skin feeling juicy clean. Lauren takes pride in using top of the line, quality and all natural ingredients.

Let’s find out a little bit more about Lauren, shall we?

Soap-Queen: Lauren, your soaps are so creative with a clean and modern look. I’ve already gushed about how much I love them. So tell us…why Soap?

Lauren Miller: I have always adored bath and beauty products. Something about the feeling and the scent just makes me feel like I’m taking care of myself. But after becoming a full time mom, bath time became my only real alone time. Ten minute showers, in those early days with toddlers, was all I could fit in. So about a year ago over breakfast, I declared I was going to start making soap- And that was it! I did a Google search and luckily found Bramble Berry. I got my first delivery and have not stopped since.

Soap is such a fascinating medium. It’s a practical way to express your creativity since everyone needs to use it. There is so little waste. If you make a mistake it’s still something you can use. I love that. Using your imagination and a few basic supplies, the possibilities are endless.

Soap-Queen: I couldn’t agree more! I like to call soapmaking a consumable art form. OK, next question: Your soap is cutting edge design; before you came on the scene, I had not seen anyone focus primarily on cut outs as their main design. How did you come up with this focus?

Lauren Miller: I love to challenge myself and began with very few supplies. I’m always thinking about using what I already have which often becomes like a game. I started pouring color boards from soap and using what I had around the house. I favor bold colors, simplicity and clean lines so the cut outs match my personal style. I discovered this inlayed process guaranteed my design to last more than one use and not rub off as more traditional molded soaps. The challenge and the practicality hooked me.

Soap-Queen: As a current customer (of Sun Basil Garden), I can attest that your designs can get truly intricate. How long do you spend on your most difficult soap?

Lauren Miller: I grew up in a creative family and learned early how to work well with my hands. I’m pretty practiced and can work fast once I’m happy with my finished product.
Now, I’m a still a full time Mom, so interruptions are coming at me constantly. But because soap needs to harden it lends it self well to pouring in stages. I often have trays of bacon and eggs drying while I‘m also making our real breakfast. I never have a long stretch of time but 10 minutes here and there lends itself well to my schedule. I once made a pizza soap that I have not repeated in awhile as it almost broke me.

Soap-Queen: You have an Etsy shop. Do you sell anywhere else? If you do, what are the pros/cons of keeping the Etsy shop in conjunction with the other sales outlets?

Lauren Miller: Right now, as a Mom, Etsy works best for me. I can spend weekends living life with my kids and husband and have control over my inventory. If I’m out of a fragrance oil, I can hold off on listing that line until I reorder and have time to recreate the soap. If school demands take off, I can put my shop on vacation. Not to mention I love the community and the worldwide audience Etsy pulls. I recently opened a shop on Art Fire and have done a few craft shows. I’m launching into wholesale this September and getting ready for the Holiday season.

Soap-Queen: Oh boy! I can't wait to see what you come up with for the Holiday season! On that note, let's take a little break. Stay tuned for part 2 of the Sun Basil Garden Interview. We'll be back tomorrow!

Above is Lauren's famous Full Breakfast Soap Package including coffee, toast with butter, bacon & eggs (and a lemon square for desert). What a great way to wake up in the morning! Grab your breakfast soap here. I purchased the Toast with Butter Soap. It smells like fresh baked bread. You won't be disappointed. YUM!

Yup. You guessed it! My other favorite soap from Sun Basil Garden: A cupcake, of course!

Episode 13: Embedding Layers

Can you believe it's Thursday already? Time for another fun episode of Soap Queen TV!

This week’s episode takes embedding to the next level. I make a fun and bubbly soap using a unique ice cube tray and fun colors like teal, pink and yellow.


Soap Queen TV Episode 13: Embedding Layers from Soap Queen on Vimeo.



Here’s what you’ll need for this project:
Clear Melt and Pour
Pomegranate and Black Currant Fragrance Oil
Non-Bleeding Liquid Red
Liquid Blue
Liquid Yellow
Hydrated Chrome Green
Super Pearly White Mica
Plastic Loaf Mold
Water Bottle Ice Cube Mold

Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Heat safe container for melting soap
Stir stick or spoon

New York Adventures

Yesterday was a jam packed day that had all the best elements New York City has to offer. I spent the day talking to magazine editors about how they could utilize Bramble Berry products and projects in upcoming editions of their magazine. It's hard to know how those went because they're a little like job interviews; you bring samples, you put your best foot forward and then you hope they call.


What I know went well was Martha Stewart Living Radio. I was on with host Mario Bosquez from Living Today. He's been gracious enough to have me on the show three times now and it felt like coming to visit a good friend. We talked about Flexy Fast (I even made some on the air) and upcoming episodes of SoapQueen.TV He was pretty excited about what I have in store for you this week. The best part of the show for me was that 7 soapmakers called in with questions. It was so gratifying to have people call in to talk about soap. We had questions on essential oil usage, safe disposal of lye, non-bleeding colors and Gillian (the winner of the 'Best in Show' at the Soap Guild Conference this year) even called in with a question on combining melt and pour and cold process. The 30 minute segment went by in the blink of an eye. I am so thankful for the opportunity to talk to more soapers and hopefully introduce a wider audience to the joys of soap.

I ended the evening with an amazing show - Billy Elliot, the Musical. Elton John wrote the music for this powerful and moving story about a young boy following his dreams. It received 10 Tony Awards. It was a totally packed house and the audience gave the actors a standing ovation several times; the show was that good.

Finally, I neded the evening in traidtional tourist way - in Times Square getting a dorky photo of myself taken. It's very warm and humid.

Today, I'm headed to New Jersey to meet with some teen magazine editors to talk about our DIY Eye Shadow, Foundation and Lipstick kits. The combination of those plus the DIY Perfume kits would make a great slumber party.

At an Undisclosed Location

Greetings from an undiscolosed location on the East Coast. Since I'm here for the Martha Stewart Radio Show on Tuesday, I flew in a day early to start planning our Fall and Christmas 2010 line (can you believe it?! Fall lines already?!). I spent a full 8 hours learning and working on the building blocks for the perfumery and am completely euphoric about the entire planned 2010 line.

First we went through and smelled the individual fragrance building blocks, comparing base notes like Tonka Bean, Madagascar Vanilla and Indian Sandalwood. Then, we started creating from the ground up.

My nose was definitely fine tuned with the entire day of sniffing and I smelled individual notes that I've never smelled one-off - the most exquisite jasmines, the most ethereal roses and rare wild mugeut.

I had help for the day; a wonderful friend and early Bramble Berry tester came in from Conneticut to help me sort through all the fragrance options. I was lucky to have her because my nose needed a rest after a hundred plus sniffs.

Tonight I head into the heart of the city where I stay just a few blocks off of Broadway. Tomorrow is Martha Stewart Radio (call in at 1:30 EST with any questions you have about soaps and toiletries). After the workday, I have a super fun evening planned with a good friend (and Bramble Berry customer) to go see the musical 'Billy Elliot.' I listened to the soundtrack for most of the plane ride and am interested to see the choreography to go with it.

Martha Stewart Radio Show

I'll be on Living Today on Sirius Radio on Tuesday at 1:30 EST. You can get a free 7 day trial and listen on your computer by signing up here. If you have soapmaking questions about melt and pour, herbs and additives in soap, using Flexy Fast, or creating soap in layers a la SoapQueen.TV tutorials, please call me live at 1-866-675-6675.

I made some fun exclusive projects just for the show and I am excited to share them with you on air.

Gettin' my Geek On

I recently had my iPhone replaced after it mysteriously quit working at peak performance. The technician suggested that I get a case to house my precious connectivity device in to save it from wear, tear and general destruction that dropping causes. I got what he recommended: a boring black plastic protector. But secretly, I chafed at the big bulky case. It ruined the lines of the gorgeous and shiny iPhone.

Tonight, my Dad sent me a link to Ultra-Case and I couldn't be more enchanted. I want several of the cases and in fact, am now envisioning myself as some sort of iPhone fashionista - changing my case to match my outfit.

While I'm at it, I'd like to customize my laptop. Its fine deep navy blue color doesn't really say 'fun! bubbly! happy!' (which are the personality characteristics I'd like my laptop to convey to random passerby in coffee shops and airports). LaptopSkins.net has a wide variety of colorful and whimsical designs to make my laptop pop. And should I really decided to go all technista fashionista? I can coordinate my laptop skin and my iPhone case.

Frozen with Indecision

Yesterday, I spoke at the Women Business Owner's monthly luncheon for a panel focused on driving a growth oriented business in a difficult economy. The Women Business Owner's group meets at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle on the last Thursday of the month and exists to "propel resolute women entrepreneurs to embrace their fullest vision of success"

The panel primarily focused on the realities of doing business in an economy with sticky credit markets (banks aren't lending without lots of hoop jumping), scared customers (people aren't spending money because they're worried about stability), and jumpy vendors (vendors are requesting pre-payment for orders when typically Net 90 would have sufficed).

Some really great advice came out of the panel discussion:

1. Run the numbers - Assuming you can find a bank to lend to you, don't take money that you're not 100% sure you can pay back. Funding losses through a credit line has never been wise and it's especially unfortunate in our current economy.

2. Keep an eye on the Cost of Goods Sold - Watch your margins. Don't sell for a loss. You're not Wal-Mart and can't afford to have loss leaders.

3. Marketing matters - Ignore social media at your peril. Reach out to customers any and every way that they will have you.

4. Don't cut across the board - Foolish companies cut across the board. Really foolish companies cut where their customers notice. Be strategic with your cuts thinking 2 to 4 years ahead of time.

5. No one is going to save you - If you're waiting for your white horse & handsome prince to come in and look at your books, tell you what to do and hold your hand through the whole business process, Dede Henley told us, 'Don't hold your breath. He's not coming.' Take charge of your destiny. Learn how to run your company. Do the stuff you don't want to do. Find a mentor to guide you through the rest.

6. Action Matters - My strong belief and the message I tried to convey is that action - any action - is better than no action. Do not look out into the world at large and fret about things that you cannot control (the economy, peak oil, rising sea levels etc...). Focus on the things you can control in your sphere of influence.

You can take charge of your destiny by creating a small business that you build one customer at a time. You can take charge of your quality of life by committing to a fitness routine. You can take charge of the depth of your relationships by committing to authenticity and deep connection with your family and friends. You can take charge of how you react to outwardly disappointing circumstances.

If you want to have a great business in two years, what steps do you need to start taking right now to create a stable and predictable sales cycle? Do you have your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (a la Jim Collins)? Have you broken it down? What are you doing right now, today, to make sure that you're successful and rising above the rest in the future. Don't be frozen with indecision. Take small baby steps until you reach your first workable goal. Then, just like a mountain climber going from camp to camp, start putting one foot in front of the other until your next goal is achieved. You can do it. The secret to success isn't a secret at all - it's try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try again. And then, try some more.

Don't be a time manager, be a priority manager. Cut your major goals into bite-sized pieces. Each small priority or requirement on the way to ultimate goal become a mini goal in itself.

--Denis Waitley

I've posted many blogs on setting and achieving goals. You can review them all here.

Layers Made Easy

Yes, it's that time once again! Soap Queen TV is here.

This week's episode is all about layers. I make a very boldly colored soap to show how you can take a plain mold and spice it up.

Soap Queen TV Episode 12: Basic Layers from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here's a link to the bleeding colors post I mentioned.

And here's what you'll need to make this project:
Clear melt & pour soap base
Liquid red oxide
Liquid black oxide
Liquid green oxide
Sparkle gold mica
Mango Peach Salsa fragrance
Loaf mold
Basic shapes mold

Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Heat safe container for melting soap
stir stick or spoon

Woof! Woof! Walking the Dog Soap

Curious about how that gelled Periwinkle and Hyacinth High pH Labcolor soap turned out yesterday? Here it is in all it's purple splendor. WOW! I had forgotten how strong those colors go after the gel phase morph. The soap does lather colored so it's going to be turned into a confetti bar or given away to children who will love the idea (though their parents probably won't be).


The big success of the day was this Dog Bone Soap. I made the mold with our Flexy Fast Molding Putty. The soap is not the ideal color yet but we'll get there. It's a special project for the Martha Stewart Radio Show next week. I dare you to try and figure out which is the real dog bone and which one is the soap impostor.


Tomorrow, I'll be in Seattle speaking on a panel at the Women Business Owners group on building a growth-driven business. But I haven't forgotten tomorrow is SoapQueen.TV release day and am excited to post a new episode for you on making layered melt and pour soap.

Soap Intensive Weekend Hangover

Amber and I still feel a bit like we've been beaten soundly about the neck and shoulders with a cold, wet steak but we're coming out of our intense weekend rarin' to go with more soapy projects for you. It's hard to believe but we're finalizing our Christmas line (as I write) and are planning out Christmas projects.

First up, I spent the day in the testing lab designing and finalizing two new colors for the Labcolors Line (Pool Blue in middle & Sky Blue on bottom and top layers). This is a photo of them in Cold Process soap.

I added a bunch of Pearly White Mica to the Perfect Teal and made the unique texture on top using a spatula at the end. And that strange drag in the middle is from sifting Pearly White on to form a clear layer. Obviously, not my best attempt.

Next, I started a test batch of Hyacinth and Periwinkle High pH Labcolors. It is so warm in the soap studio that the soap is gelling without any sort of insulation.

Here is a photo of the 'Floap' soap I made two weekends ago, unmolded and cut. It's getting surprisingly hard and I can hardly wait to use it in the shower to see how long it lasts. It's getting yellow as it is exposed to air longer. I hope it doesn't end up going brown. Fingers crossed.

I also did a horrific experiment with yogurt and cold process soap where I was trying to find the max amount of yogurt you could add to soap before it broke down. I've found that saturation point and my soap is a separating, brown stinking mess.

Finally, I spent around 4 hours designing projects for Martha Stewart Radio. I'll be on next Tuesday, taking live calls, talking about Flexy Fast as well as some upcoming SoapQueenTV episodes.

Here's a preview of the project. Expect more details in the next week of what we came up with.

Plaid, Tarts, Colors & Cupcakes

The final day of our Otion Soap Intensive ended yesterday and I'm already getting excited about planning our next one. Have suggestions on what you'd like to see at the next one or a special instructor that you'd love to see at Otion? Let me know! Class is limited to 12 people and we already have one person on the sign up list for next year. You can get on the sign up sheet by calling Otion at 360.676.1030

Sunday started with an Intro to Melt and Pour. I crammed as much information on the basics in as I could in one short hour so that Debbie from SoapyLove would have the maximum time possible to showcase the versatility that melt and pour provides.

She taught two of her signature projects: Perfect Plaid and Soap Tarts.

Despite the complexity of the projects, every single student came away with amazing soaps to take home and recreate themselves.

Debbie's teaching style is easy to follow and every student left with many ideas on how they could take the techniques she taught and apply them to their own soap projects to give their businesses a unique and personalized twist.

Lori Nova from The Nova Studio finished our day of instruction off with the ever-so-helpful, 'Color with Confidence' class.

She has tested over 70 colorants in cold process soap and saved everyone hours of testing by showing us the colors in soap and explaining how and why the colorants act the way that they do. It was a useful class that illuminated the mystery of colorants in a easy to understand way.

The big soapy reveal happened at the very end of class when we unmolded our layered and swirl soaps. Lori's precise method of soapmaking produced gorgeous bars with perfect layers and swirls. Everyone got a chance to try three different beveling tools to give their soap the final professional touch.

We wrapped up with a sweet treat dessert and graduation. All of the students received certificates of completion and a cupcake to send them on their soaping journeys.

It was an enjoyable weekend for everyone and we are excitedly planning Otion Soap Weekend Intensive 2010!

Mad for Plaid

Me being silly around Debbie's (Soapylove) in-process soap pieces for plaid soap! Debbie's fun and amazing projects are coming soon to SoapQueen.TV as a special project tutorial - I can't wait to share the process with you.

The Soap Intensive finished this evening with cupcakes, laughter and chaos. I'll post photos and a full run down tomorrow. Until then, happy soaping!

How Much Can You Learn in One Day?

The second day of the Soap Weekend intensive was... well, intense! There was so much information and hands-on projects that we are all exhausted. The students all seemed a little shell-shocked by the end of the jam-packed day.

Here were the highlights:

First I discussed and demonstrated the basics of Cold Process Soapmaking. Yes, I know I should be wearing long sleeves - but it was so hot. We were so lucky to have my husband's borrowed air conditioner form his office but the temperatures still got above 80 degrees in the Soap Instructional Lab; thus the short sleeves.


For the second part of my class each student was able to come up and weigh out one of the ingredients or try their hand at stick blending the soap. Notice the bag they are pouring out of. They are the Bramble Berry boilable fixed oil bags so that you can melt solid oils in the microwave or boil them. Plus, they are space saving from a shipping standpoint saving money and saving the planet through less packaging.

Every student ended up with 2 bars of soap that they fragranced and colored themselves. The bars use the nearly same recipe with the only difference being one had a superfat of 1% and the other 10.5%.

Next up, was Lori Nova sharing her incredible swirling and layering techniques.

Lori generously shared her award winning and precise way of swirling soap perfectly. Her method of soaping is detail oriented and she keeps copious notes for every batch, assuring that she can replicate every success, every time.

Here is one of the completed soap batches getting ready to be covered and insulated. Can you believe she actually made this gorgeous soap while 15 people watched? Lori is the consumate professional who kept cool and delivered a perfect batch of soap, even with questions being fired at her from left and right.

Finally, Jill ended the day with a hands-on lotion making class. She has a wonderfully organized way of teaching lotion making in stations all around the class room. We had a bit of a kerfuffle when beeswax was put out instead of emulsifying wax. No one could figure out just why our perfect, fail-safe lotion recipe wasn't turning out until we realized that the emulsifying wax container was filled with bleached beeswax. Whoops. We quickly reset and everyone made perfect lotions with just a little delay. The mishap proved two things: beeswax isn't the best emulsifier and that everyone makes mistakes. So, if you want to lessen your chance of mistakes, do the Lori Nova method of taking copious notes and follow a preparation check-list, each and every time.

Fany and Audrey working together to weigh out their oils for lotion.

Check back tomorrow night or Monday morning to get the Sunday wrap up. Debbie from SoapyLove is going to be teaching us her fabulous Soap Tarts and Plaid Soap.

Soap Intensive Weekend Starts

Greetings from a packed and thrilling kick-off day for the Second Annual Otion Soap Intensive Weekend. We have a full class with 12 students who have flown in from all over the nation to learn from the best soap and business minds in the nation.

Today, we did a mini business boot camp taught by Ron Huntington, from Executive Mentors and Trainers. He covered important business basics such as:

Defining Vision

Determining Annual Priorities

Defining your Values

If you'd like to learn more about what he covered, buy the book "Mastering the Rockafeller Habits" by Verne Harnish. It's a great primer for all businesses.

Then tonight, we started work on two very special episodes of SoapQueen.TV with special guest Debbie Chialtas from SoapyLove. She's up here for the Soap Intensive Weekend (to teach her original Plaid Soap project and Jelly Donut Soap project). While she's here, we started brainstorming on how we can bring more of the Soapmaking Weekend Intensive to you. Last year, you asked for a way to bring more of the classes to you and I think we have a great solution.

Shhhh ... I'll let you in on a BIG secret: we're going to do a super duper, awesome, incredible paid tutorial fusing the best of 'Let's Get Soapy', SoapQueen.TV and SoapQueen.com Expect a the details and sign up to start the first week of August.

I can't wait to start TwitPic'ing photos tomorrow from The Soap Intensive Weekend at Otion. Be sure to check the blog or my TwitPic stream for lots of fun photos from the day. And, of course, there will be a blog round up tomorrow night (late) after the classes and clean up are done. Until then, happy soaping!

Soap Queen TV Cute Packaging Ideas

In this week's episode I show you how important it is to wrap your soap to prevent dew or sweat from forming on your soap. I also show how to assemble Bramble Berry's soap boxes and some other ideas for wrapping your soap. While this episode has no explosions or fireworks, it's an important episode to watch if you'd like to give your soap away or package for sale.

Soap Queen TV Episode 11: Packaging Ideas from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here's what you'll need:

Beautiful finished soap bar
Plastic wrap
Heat or embossing gun

Optional:
Clear tape
Label
Ribbon
Decorative paper
Soap box
Organza bag

Creamy Mango, Mango Lassi ...

What's in a name? Perhaps everything. Joanna over at The Soap Bar blog and the ultra fab Product Body loves our Limited Edition Mango Lassi so much she'd like to 'drink it through a straw through her nose'. While I'd not advise going quite that far, her enthusiasm is not misplaced. It's a delightful fragrance which didn't sell terribly well (much to my surprise and chagrin). Joanna believes it was my poor choice of a name. Either way now we only have it via special order (10 pounds) but we recently ordered a drum for a customer and have some left over.

I've put it up for sale in 1 pound sizes so you can try this fabulous fragrance and not have to get the full hefty 10 pounds (though, once you smell it, you'll probably want to bathe in it so you'll need 10 pounds). And, if you trust Joanna, you too will be looking for stray straws to enhance your Mango Lassi ('creamy mango') experience. Get your Mango Sensation/Sweet Mango/Creamy Mango/Mango Milkshake here.

Packaging Your After Sun Care Products

Day One: Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Day Two: Making an easy Spritzer & Skinsicles

Day Three: Infusing Oils

Day Four: Soothing Skin Oil

You can package your products in anything you'd like. For the healing essential oils, a solid bottle that does not let in light is more stable than a clear bottle or jar that is opened and exposed to air. If you missed the basic labeling instructions for what you need on the labels, you can find them at the bottom of the Soothing Skin Oil post.

Soothing After Sun Oil

Check out my other summer and skin friendly lotions and potions...

Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Making an easy Spritzer

Skin Soothing Oil and Infusing

Soothing After Sun Oil

To make this into a soothing after-sun exposure oil, add 30 drops German Blue Chamomile, 15 drops Lavender EO, and 15 drops Egyptian Geranium Essential Oil to 2 ounces of infused oil, shake well and apply to painful skin.

Remember, if you are planning on selling these products, you must follow all applicable laws about labeling your product. Click here for more information.

I’ve copied the most relevant information below. Making a claim that your lotion will soothe skin is different than the claim that this product will heal sunburn. Be sure to read over the ‘Compliance Guide for labeling Drugs’ before you go down that labeling route and here.

What labeling information is required?

The following information must appear on the principal display panel:

• An identity statement, indicating the nature and use of the product, by means of either the common or usual name, a descriptive name, a fanciful name understood by the public, or an illustration [21 CFR 701.11].

• An accurate statement of the net quantity of contents, in terms of weight, measure, numerical count or a combination of numerical count and weight or measure [21 CFR 701.13].
The following information must appear on an information panel:

• Name and place of business. This may be the manufacturer, packer, or distributor. [21 CFR 701.12].

• Distributor statement. If the name and address are not those of the manufacturer, the label must say "Manufactured for..." or "Distributed by..." [21 CFR 701.12].

• Material facts. Failure to reveal material facts is one form of misleading labeling and therefore makes a product misbranded [21 CFR 1.21]. An example is directions for safe use, if a product could be unsafe if used incorrectly.

• Warning and caution statements. These must be prominent and conspicuous. The FD&C Act and related regulations specify warning and caution statements related to specific products [21 CFR part 700]. In addition, cosmetics that may be hazardous to consumers must bear appropriate label warnings [21 CFR 740.1]. An example of such hazardous products is flammable cosmetics.

• Ingredients. If the product is sold on a retail basis to consumers, even it it is labeled "For professional use only" or words to that effect, the ingredients must appear on an information panel, in descending order of predominance. [21 CFR 701.3]. Remember, if the product is also a drug, its labeling must comply with the regulations for both OTC drug and cosmetic ingredient labeling, as stated above.

Making Skin Soothing Oil - Infusion

Infusing Oil

Infusing oil can be done with a warm method and a cold method. This tutorial will cover the stove top warm method.

• Cut the Calendula into small pieces.
• Put into a double boiler (double boiler bottom pan is filled with water first)
• Cover with oil over the top of the herbs but no more than just covering the petals. I used jojoba for this project but you can use any liquid oil.
• Heat gently on low to medium for 4 hours (minimum) up to 2 days (turning stove off when left unattended)
• Strain Calendula Oil through a cheesecloth or coffee filter. It will be a little cloudy. It's practically impossible to strain every teensy little bit of herb out.
• Bottle and use within 6 months to 1 year (depending on the shelf life of your oil of choice)

This oil alone is skin soothing, moisturizing, healing and excellent for your skin. It's a great way to add a healing twist to any oil. Tomorrow, I'll help you put the finishing touch on your infused oil to make a soothing skin oil.

After Sun Care Spritzer & Skinsicles

Day One: Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Day Two: Making an easy Spritzer & Skinsicles

Day Three: Infusing Oils

Day Four: Soothing Massage Oil

Making an Easy Spritzer

There are a variety of ways to make a spritzer to spray on sunburn relief.

1. You can go the all natural, but sometimes separates route

2. You can go the mostly natural and doesn’t separate route

A note about Aloe Vera 'Gel' - When you crack open an aloe vera plant, a gel comes out. However, within a few minutes, the enzymes in the gel break down into a watery substance.. The product Bramble Berry sells is this final product - a watery aloe vera substance. In order to get an aloe vera gel, thickeners are always added. If you have an aloe vera gel-gel, check the ingredients and see what thickener is in there. Because aloe vera gel is 95-99% water and the 'gel' present immediately after cutting is a complex web of polysaccharides that breaks down without a synthetic gelling agent, natural aloe vera 'gel' is a liquid as shown above in the photo.

All Natural, sometimes separates:

4 oz. Aloe Vera Water

2 oz. Witch Hazel

1 oz. Distilled Water

30 drops German Blue Chamomile

15 drops Lavender Essential Oil

15 drops Egyptian Geranium Essential Oil

Optional: Germaben II preservative .3 oz.

Examples are packaged in Bramble Berry Brushed Aluminum Bottles

Instructions: Add all the ingredients together. Whisk together to emulsify the mixture. Pour into sprayable containers.

You an also add some baking soda to this mixture to make a thin soothing mixture to apply like a cold poultice.

Mostly Natural, won’t separate

4 oz. Aloe Vera Water

2 oz. Witch Hazel

1 oz. Distilled Water

30 drops German Blue Chamomile

15 drops Lavender EO

15 drops Egyptian Geranium Essential Oil

.5 oz. Polysorbate 20

Optional: German II Preservative .35 oz.

Examples are packaged in Bramble Berry brushed aluminum bottles.

Mix the Polysorbate 20 with the essential oils. Add to Aloe Vera and water mix. Stir well. Mixture may get cloudy and tends to stay cloudy.

You can also use Peppermint Essential Oil to make a cooling spray. Some people find this soothing (not so much myself).

See that all natural blue color? It's the azulene content in the Blue Chamomile (German) Essential Oil. It's healing goodness to the nth degree.

For extra cooling goodness, pop these recipes into the freezer and making a soothing ice cube with the skin loving ingredients. They both freeze to a mostly-solid. They don't pop out of ice cube containers well but larger containers, like small flexible tupperware, are great for making Skin Soothing Popsicles.

Check in tomorrow to learn how to infuse oil using calendula petals to create a healing skin oil.

After Sun Care Recipes

It is summer time. One the best parts about summer is sun and spending time outside. We all know that it’s best to wear sunscreen and a hat when you are outside but sometimes, the best intentions go out the window when the sun appears. If you over indulged a little, I’m going to spend the next 4 days going over practical and effective sunburn aftercare recipes. Please note that these are good for mild sunburns, not the blistering charred kind. If you have that severe of a sunburn, please go see your Doctor to get something stronger.

Day One: Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Day Two: Making an easy Spritzer

Day Three: Infusing Oils

Day Four: Soothing Skin Oil

Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Ingredients (by weight):

18 oz. Aloe Vera Water
1.2 oz. Shea Butter
1.7 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
1 oz. Avocado Oil
1.2 oz. Emulsifying Wax
1 oz. Stearic Acid

.2 oz. Phenonip
.1 oz. German Chamomile

.1 oz. Lavender Essential Oil

You can also buy the Lotion Kit here and substitute the water portion with Aloe Vera (gel) Water.

Tools:

Digital scale
Stick Blender
one 16 oz. wide-mouth container
one 32 oz. wide-mouth container
Five 4 ounce bottles

Why German Chamomile? German Chamomile has a high azulene content. Azulene helps calm skin inflamation and decrease redness. Lavender is useful for helping to reduce the sting in the burn and the aromatherapy properties may help to provide emotional stability during the painful sunburn recovery period. Aloe Vera Gel (water) is a well known healing and soothing plant for all kinds of common skin issues, from cuts to bruises to sunburns.

step 1 Sterilize all of your tools and containers by dunking them in 5% bleachwater solution and drying them with fresh, off the roll, paper towels.

step 2 In the large 32 oz. container, add the Sweet Almond oil, Avocado Oil, Stearic Acid and Emulsifying wax. Make sure this is all weighed out using a handy dandy digital scale (no volume measurements). Put in the microwave on 30 second bursts to melt the E-Wax and Stearic Acid. Despite the scary name, Stearic Acid is derived from Palm Oil and isn't acidic or scary. It actually adds to the fluffiness factor of the lotion.

step 3 Add the Shea Butter to the hot mixture and stir to melt.

step 4 Warm up the Aloe Vera Liquid and add it to your oil mixture. Why do you need to warm it? Because if it is too cold, it will harden the waxes directly upon mixing. Vigorously stir with a spoon by hand to start. Then switch to the hand blender.

step 5 Once the mixture is fully mixed and emulsified (usually about 2 to 3 minutes), take the temperature and add the preservative and fragrance. For Germaben II, Optiphen and Phenonip preservatives, you want the temperature to be below 140 degrees. Usage rates of all three of these preservatives start at .5% by weight. Fragrance and essential oil usage for lotions is very low (remember, you don't want to inadvertently make a perfume!) so start small. This recipe literally calls for .2 ounces of essential oil and that is more than enough to make a lovely smelling lotion and get the therapeutic benefits of all the oils. Notice the blue color of the azulene in the powerful German Chamomile? That's some pure healing goodness.

step 6 Pour into prepared bottles while the mixture is still warm. If the mixture is too thick to pour, heat it up for 30 seconds in the microwave and stir. Repeat as needed until it's thin enough to pour. If the temperature during re-heating goes above 140, you'll need to add an additional .5% preservative.

step 7 Allow to cool with the lids off. Then put on lids and label and impress your friends and loved ones with your handmade goodness. Remind them to wear sunscreen next time.

Check back tomorrow for after sun care spritzers.

Making Wedding Favors on Soap Queen TV!

In this episode, I demonstrate a variation on the silhouette soap project taught by Soapylove at last year's Soap Weekend Intensive. By the way, we just had a cancellation and there are 2 places open for this year's Soap Weekend Intensive coming up next weekend!

Soap Queen TV Episode 10: Wedding Favors from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here's what you'll need:

Clear melt & pour soap base
Merlot mica
Light Gold mica
Champagne fragrance
4 in 1 Basic Shapes mold

Craft knife (like and exacto)
Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Heat safe container
Stir stick or spoon

Using the Bramble Berry Lye Calculator

I love creating and customizing my own cold process soap recipes. There is a lot of joy in experimenting and finding just the perfect combination of ingredients that make your skin feel great. Using a lye calculator is a lot easier than figuring out how much lye you need in your soap recipe the 'old way'. Excited? Ready to get started? Yay! If you're a new soaper, please read this important post on handling lye correctly and get the beginner's DVD here.



Step 1: Find the oils you are going to use in your recipe
Step 2: Enter in the ounces of each oil
Step 3: Decide what superfat amount you are going to use on the drop down menu. Our calculator goes from 2% to 10%.*
Step 4: Click 'Calculate' button
Step 5: Presto! The 'Lye amount' & the 'liquids suggested amount' appear for you to use in ounces

* Why does the lye calculator only go down to 2%? Because there are slight variations in saponification values based on which book or expert the information comes from and because each slight variation has a range for a saponification value, to be on the extra safe side, we've given a 2% margin of error and will not allow the recommended lye amount to fall under the 2%.

* Why does the lye calculator only go up to 10%? When you have a superfat amount higher than 10%, there is literally 10+ percent of your soap bar that is now oil. While this makes for a moisturizing bar and a extremely luxurious bathing experience, bars made with more than 10% of superfat develope DOS (Dreaded Orange Spots) more quickly than lower superfat and (generalizing) have a lower lather and bubble size because of the excessive oil in the bar.

This is the 2nd iteration of our Lye Calculator. I hope you enjoy using it. If you have any helpful suggestions for how to improve on it, please let me know. I already have some ideas and am excited to develop them for an even better Bramble Berry experience for you.

Realistic Citrus Soaps

Click here to be taken to Part A of these instructions.

1. Pull out a piece of saran wrap long enough to hold all of your citrus slices. Carefully position your "rind" soap on the saran wrap. Pull the wrap tight to make sure there are no wrinkles under the "rind". Do the best you can - the wrap never quite gets straightened or perfect.


2. Spritz the "rind" and inside of the rind (onto the plastic wrap) with rubbing alcohol. Pour a thin layer of clear soap into the rind.


3. Spritz the thin layer of clear soap with rubbing alcohol. Place the "slices" into the clear layer of soap, before it hardens. Wiggle them into the perfect positioning. Have your paring knife handy just in case you need to slice off a too-large slice piece to ensure evenly spaced out soap.


4. Spray the entire set up with alcohol. Alcohol is your friend in this case. It helps with adhesion of the soap pieces.

5. Allow this clear layer to harden up prior to the next step. This usually takes 3 to 5 minutes at the most. If you do not allow your clear layer to harden up, the Lemon Slice below is a good example of what happens - the white soap will leak out the sides of the slice.


6. Melt White melt and pour soap in the microwave, double boiler or whatever method you prefer. Make sure the white soap is not steaming or else it will melt your slices. For the Bramble Berry House Bases, 120 to 130 degrees is the best option for the overpour.

7. Spritz with alcohol. Using either a steady hand, you can pour directly into the middle of the soap slices from your heat safe container. The Melt & Pour Injector Tool is fabulous for this because it allows precision targeting with the white soap base. Using the Injector is my preferred method for this soap. It has less mess and trimming to work with after the soap hardens.

8. Give one final spritz and you're all done. Allow the soap to harden. Peel the soap off the plastic, cut into slices or wrap whole.

Voila - you're done! Realistic Citrus Slices that are easy and fun to make.

New & Improved Bramble Berry Website

We are so excited about our redesigned website and shopping cart and we hope you will be too.

Upgrades:

• Wishlist – We now have a Wishlist so you can save your favorite items
• Reorder button – Always order the same thing from us? You can reorder entire orders with just one button
• Item Suggestions – We know we have a lot of products so our new cart will suggest things that other customers always have bought when they were buying the same thing you are

And of course, there’s the facelift. We hope you like how we’ve integrated SoapQueen.com, Teachsoap.com and SoapQueen.TV into the Bramble Berry site.

When you come to the site, the first thing you’ll notice are the big buttons at the top. They are a paired down selection of products we carry in each category. They are designed for new crafters who might need some suggestions on how to get started. If you’re an expert soaper or have been to Bramble Berry more than once and know our product line, just head straight down to the left hand side. We've kept our categories pretty much the same with just a few tweaks. The biggest change is that we've integrated the Cybilla fragrances into our regular line. When you scroll over categories, a pop up comes up to take you even closer to the item that you’re looking for. Or you can just click on the Category to see everyhing it has.



To order something, click either the ‘Add to Cart’ button or the ‘More Details’ button. The ‘More Details’ button often has notes, like how a fragrance acts in cold process soap or how to use a special colorant.



Once you have the ‘Add to Cart’ button clicked, you go to your cart. You can click off of the cart by using the left hand navigation products or by hitting the ‘Continue Shopping’ button.

Once you are ready to check out, you can click on the ‘My Cart’ button on the top left or ‘Basket’ button on the very top right. Type in your address and shipping information. Hit the ‘Continue’ button.

A shopping cart option shows up, giving you the chance to enter a coupon code, use the ‘gift’ option, and choose your shipping. You have three options for shipping: Fed Ex Ground, Priority Mail or Fed Ex 2 Day Air. If you’d like another option, please mention it in the NOTES section on the next screen or call us at 1-87-SOAP-STUFF to place your order with a special shipping method (pallet options, barge or UPS).

Hit the Pay with Credit Card button, or the PayPal button depending on which method you are checking out with. You can also check out with a Money Order option or by calling in your credit card. Use the buttons to choose one of these options. Enter your credit card or PayPal information and hit ‘Pay with XXXXX’ (credit card, PayPal, Money Order or Pay Via Phone).

Your order confirmation screen appears. You can add any notes on this screen for your order. If you'd like to make a change to your order, please call us no later than 4 hours after you've placed your order. We will do everything we can to get that change made if your order hasn't already been packed.

I can hardly wait to get your feedback on our new cart. Please let me know what you think and how you'd like me to improve on it to make your Bramble Berry shopping experience more seamless.

Solid Bath Sugar Cubes Tutorial

4th of July bath sugar cubes – single use body scrubs

By Erin Pikor owner of Naiad Soap Arts

These easy to make, festive scrubs combine cleansing glycerin soap with exfoliating sugar to make perfect single use solid sugar scrubs! Erin was generous enough to share it with SoapQueen.com readers. It can be done in all sorts of colors, not just patriotic seasonal ones.

This recipe makes approximately 24 ounce-ounce single use sugar scrubs.

What you’ll need:

4 oz. by weight clear glycerin soap (for the red and blue scrubs)

2 oz. by weight white glycerin soap (for the white scrubs)

6 oz. by weight grape seed oil (jojoba, sweet almond or olive oil may be substituted)

18 oz. by weight white sugar

Milk Way basic square mold

Pinkberry sherbet lab color

Red Apple Fragrance for your red scrubs

Brilliant blue lab color

Sun-Ripened Raspberry Fragrance for your blue scrubs

White Tea & Ginger Fragrance for your white scrubs

Blunt edge soap cutter or knife

2-cup glass measuring cup or melting soap

Spoons

Cutting surface

Wide mouth jars or plastic food containers for storage

These ingredients will be split into three batches - one each of red, white and blue!

Step one: Melt 2 oz. of clear soap in the microwave using your 2-cup glass measuring cup. This should take about 30 seconds.

Step two: Mix 2 oz. of your oil with the melted soap and stir until blended. The mix should still be liquid at this point. If it starts to thicken pop back in the microwave for a few seconds until your soap/oil mix is liquid.

Step three: Add color, pinkberry sherbet lab color to your liking and mix thoroughly. For this project I diluted the 10ml bottle of lab color in 2 oz. of water and used 4 drops. (skip this step for the white scrubs)

Step four: Add 20 drops of fragrance oil and mix thoroughly.

Step five: Add 6 oz. of the sugar and stir rigorously until completely blended.

Step six: Pour or spoon into you mold cavities. You should have a thick yet pourable mixture at this point. If it is too thick to spoon or pour into your mold you may heat for a few seconds in the microwave, but don’t heat it for too long as the sugar will begin to dissolve.

Each color will make enough to fill 2 of the 4 cavities of the mold. Let harden to room temp and pop out of the mold! Note you may have to pat down the mixture with your fingers as it may thicken quickly.

Repeat steps one through six for your blue and white scrubs, making sure to use the white glycerin soap for the white scrubs.

Step seven: After you have all of the scrubs unmolded, cut them into quarters using a knife or soap cutter.

Store in an airtight container such as a wide mouth jar until you are ready to use them. The glycerin soap in the recipe makes for a creamy emulsified scrub when mixed with water. To use, just take one scrub into the shower, knead with a little water in the palm of your hand and scrub over your skin! These will stay fresh for 3 months and be sure to keep them away from moisture so they don’t melt. Enjoy!

Big thanks to Erin from Naiad Soap Arts You can always buy her pre-made sugar scrubs at her Etsy shop if you don't have the time or inclination to make them yourself. Happy Fourth of July! Have a safe and happy holiday celebration with your families.

Funnel Soap

I'm excited about what Kat did at Otion this week - tried making Funnel Soap. I can't wait to cut it!

Credit Card Processing at Bramble Berry

10:58 AM - Yay! Real time credit card processing is back up at www.brambleberry.com Place orders with credit cards, PayPal & money orders. Thanks for your patience. And, thank you to Authorize.net team for getting everything back on line so quickly.

5:51 AM - Credit card processing is down temporarily due to a fire at the data processing center at Authorize.net As always, you can order via PayPal, money order or call in your credit card to 1-87-SOAP-STUFF

PS - You can always get me @brambleberry on Twitter too.

Soap Queen TV Episode 9: Water Soluble Paper

Water Soluble Paper is an incredibly easy way to customize soaps without investing in custom -made molds. In this episode, I share my favorite tips and techniques for using this incredibly versatile product. Enjoy!

Soap Queen TV Episode 9: Water Soluble Paper from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here's what you'll need to make this soap with me:

• Clear melt & pour soap base
• White melt & pour soap base
• Liquid blue color
• Moroccan Mint fragrance
• Basic Shapes Mold
• Water Soluble Paper

Soapmaking Video Clip

It's always exciting to see a soapmaking business getting good press. Tracey does a good job in this video, talking and making soap at the same time. I recognized some of the goodies she was using to make her soap:

'Waffle Crinkle Cutter' here
Lime Essential Oil here
Spirulina Colorant here

Check out Tracey's site here.

As for me, I'm going to be out of the office for the rest of the day preparing for the Soap Weekend Intensive. Right now, the class is totally full but if you'd like to get on the waiting list, you can call Otion at 360-676-1030. We're putting the finishing touches on a new SoapQueenTV episode for tomorrow on working with Water Soluble Paper so be sure to check in tomorrow for that new tutorial.