The Waiting Game

Just the other day I placed a massive supply order with 2 of my favourite suppliers Bramble Berry and Canwax. I was mainly restocking on oils but on a whim decided that I'd like to try making lip balms, as stated in my previous post Lip Care.  So now I have to play the waiting game until everything arrives, which suprisingly should be before the end of the week!!  So this weekend I'll be shuffling around a lot of stuff in my "Soap Lab" to make room for all my new goodies.  Then I'll get down to the nitty gritty and bust out some samples of Lip Balm.
I figured I better start getting organized on what I want to make and when I want to make it.  My creative juices get out of control once an order arrives.  I want to make everything in the same day! And it's hard to prioritize and decide what comes first.  I never got as carried away with scents on this order as I have in the past. But here is the list of some new scents:

Eucalyptus (trusty stand by)
Almond Biscotti (very excited about this one)
Kumquat
Lily of the Valley
Pearberry (for Kirb's wedding favour soaps)
Karma Synergistic (which is an identical replica to Lush's Karma Komba scent ~ my favorite scent from them)
Peppermint

So as you can see, not a huge list of new scents but a start none the less.  I luv buying fragrances from Bramble Berry because they take the guess work out of how the scents react in the soap.  As you soapers know, knowing how your scents behave in soap is VERY important.  Especially if you are planning on doing any sort of swirl.  For you non soapers out there, some fragrances will speed up "trace" (Trace is the so-called "point of no return" in soap making. It is the point where the oils or the fats in your soap have successfully mixed with your lye solution. More appropriately, this is the point where your oils and your lye turn into soap.) which makes it that much harder to do any sort of swirling or other techniques with soap.

There's your soap lesson for the day haha.  So back to how fantastic Bramble Berry is.  They not only double check, but TRIPLE check all their essential oils and fragrances before they list them for sale.  They tell you what type of soap they work best in and how they react.  This is one thing that I've noticed a lot of other online suppliers don't tell you.  So Kudos to you BB

Another thing I purchased on a whim was Potassium Hydroxide which is the main ingredient for making Liquid Soap, not unlike Sodium Hydroxide (or lye) which is what you use for making Solid Soap.  Believe it or not soap is all chemistry, which I dig :)  A lot of people get really scared when they hear that my soap is made from lye but I assure you, it is a necessary evil in soap making.  Sure lye is EXTREMELY caustic and will burn the hell out of you but when used properly (and measure precisely) it is the powerhouse of the soap. Actually, without the lye the soap would just be melted oils. You see the lye is what makes the soap.
Check out this link for a super cute explanation of how soap is made (includes a story about wolves, bunnies, dogs and sheep)
 Every oil has a different value (SAP value, saponification value) and this value tells you how it reacts with the lye.  I have a trusty program called Soap Maker where I can make my own recipes and it figures out exactly how much water and lye I need to use in order to get an awesome bar of soap.  It's all a little bit complicated if you're new to this stuff.  But again, this is where the Science Nerd in me gets to come out and play.  Then the Artist in me takes over will all the wonderful colours and scents.  I luv the fact that no 2 batches will be identical and every bar is unique.  Soaping is my "therapy" and my way of unwinding after a hectic day at my "day job".

Stay tuned for the next post where I will undoubtably be gushing over my goodies when they arrive.

~Lindsay