Liliya Soapworks

Garden Scrubbie

2012-02-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Another batch of my favourite soap - Garden Scrubbie! The essential oil blend of cloves, lemongrass and sweet orange is warm and refreshing. The addition of ground apricot shells creates enough exfoliation for hard-working hands.

Ready to go March 15th.

Pumpkin Soap Trial #3

2012-02-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

I believe it has now become a bit of an obsession! Here's a refresher of the previous two trials:

Added 6% purred pumpkin at trace - result was pale yellow soap
Added 12% pumpkin at trace - result was brighter yellow, but still not what I wanted.

I replaced 83% of the water in a 5 oz batch with pureed pumpkin and added the NaOH. Why 83%? Saw it done as HP on the LovinSoap blog, so went with it. This was done in an effort to get an orange colour out of the pumpkin soap. I didn't try replacing 100% of the water because of the small solid pieces in the puree, but hey, I could do some new calculations and try it next time...

After adding the lye, the colour was a lovely dark orange and oddly enough didn't smell horribly. The temp climbed quickly to 50C from zero, but I didn't have this baby batch in a cold water bath (which I always do for milk soap).

I combined the oils and pumpkin at 34 C (I always forget how quickly teeny batched cool down!!) and whisked, and whisked, and whisked... It was taking forEVAH to trace. I didn't want to get out my stick blender for a batch that small, but ended up having to do just that. Transferred the 5 oz of craziness into a larger pot and splashed my way to trace many minutes later.

There is no way it gelled. Too cold by the time I poured it.

And THEN I unwrapped it. No colour change. No orange. Just yellow. Annatto seed powder anyone??? SO frustrating.

Here's the pics!

Pumpkin with added lye.

Soap refusing to trace.

The result. Bah.

Anise Soap & The Thin Black Line

2012-02-01T19:57:00.001-07:00

After falling in love with the black liquorice scent of my star anise and clove essential oil blend, I made a full batch last week.

I wanted to put some colour blocking into it so I left the top unscented. The bottom is tan owing to the anise oil. I put in a thin black line of cocoa powder, which I have been wanting to do for a while now.

The line was a bit tricky, but totally worth it.

The Anise & Clove soap will be ready for sale after March 15th.

Pumpkin Soap - take 2

2012-01-29T15:06:00.002-07:00

New Year's Resolution # 2: I promise to use better lighting.

Above is a trial-size of 12% pumpkin soap.

Previously, I've tried adding 6% pureed pumpkin at trace. The colour was a very light yellow compared to my regular unscented bars. I was confused as to why the colour of the 12% was not darkening like I expected. Then I read Lovin Soap's Hot Process Pumpkin Soap blog post. By the way, LUV this blog. Very well done.

Next soap trial will be replacing water with the pumpkin, then making Cold Processed soap as usual. This is the same way I make my cow milk soap. It's a little more tricky, but worth the effort.

On Trial - 6 new scents

2012-01-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

The other day I took six essential oil scent blends that I'd been working on and tried them in a batch of soap. I liked these scents on the cotton balls, but you never know what soap will do with the essential oils.

I made 6 4-oz bars of soap in my handy silicone cupcake mold and here's what they looked like after 2 days:

1) 12% pumpkin
2) anise & clove
3) mint, rosemary and lime
4) vanilla, patchouli & lavender
5) mint, sage and rosemary
6) eucalyptus, tea tree, sage and mint

I think I need to get a tiny whisk, because I'm not happy with how well No. 3, 5, and 6 had their EOs blended in. Not too worried, though - this is only a smell test!

After a week the best scent is #2. My daughter threatens to eat it. It smells like the best kind of Jubejube - black liquorice, but so mellow. Absolutely mouth-watering. It's darkened a bit so is now a dark taupe.

Anise and Clove

Waiting on how the others will tone down. #4 was a lovely earthy lavender on cotton, but still waiting for patchouli and vanilla to come through lavender. #3, 5 and 6 and smelling so much alike right now! Lots of refreshing minty-herbal scent, but still waiting for the Oh Yeah.

Hope to get time next weekend to make a couple full batches!

Pumpkin Soap - Curing

2012-01-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

Two days in, it looks like I was a bit overenthusiastic when blending - I can see teeny bubbles in the bars. Not thrilled with the look, but that's why we have trials!

Okay, so I can't get enough of this batch's scent. I am forever taking a quick sniff as I walk by. It is starting to warm up to a slight orange colour, but the pumpkin fragrance has me hooked. I can hardly believe that just pureed pumpkin smells this way in soap. Go figure.

Pumpkin soap curing - 2 days

Pumpkin Soap Trial #1

2012-01-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

After hearing from a good friend that she has benefited from pumpkin soap, I started trials on my own version. I started with 6% pumpkin per oil weight. This pumpkin was grown in my garden until September and I processed it yesterday! That's a testament to the amount of antioxidants in a pumpkin!

Dead Pumpkin: Peeled, seeded and cubed

Pumpkin Puree: smells yummy!

Added pumpkin at trace.

Trial batch in the mold

After unmolding the soap, there was no significant colour difference than in plain unscented soap. It smells lovely and turned out beautifully - I'll keep working on this with different percentages.

Ready for Spring 2012

2011-12-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

After a hectic year with some big life changes, I am looking forward to making soap again.

I have had to put soaping on hold for the better part of 2011 due to a busy home and work life. My husband is now working up north for 8 days out of every 14 so I am single-parenting during that time, as well as keeping my head above water teaching. After finding my new "normal", I am excited to bring out the big stainless steel pot and get creative once again.

Soaps that will be ready for March, 2012:

Rosemary
Garden Scrubbie
Cow Milk

New Vibe

2011-01-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

Do you like the wallpaper? I love it - it reminds me of mature dill weed from the garden. I had so much growing this year that I had to wage war against it. Not too many survived to produce seed heads... Anyway, I am enjoying the new vibe the blog has given me and Liliya Soapworks.

I am slowly bringing things over here from my "website-with-a-blog" to this "blog-with-webpages" because the Blogger interface is much more user-friendly. I'm looking forward to a refreshed online presence!

How Do You Use Your Handmade Soap?

2011-01-07T07:03:00.002-07:00

I hope all those that purchased or received Liliya Soapworks soaps over the holidays have started using them! My favourite part about new soaps is the first lather! The bar has a wonderful slip and throw out a marvelous lather. I may sound like a nut, but I LOVE a new bar of soap.

I've been asked where I use my bars at home. I have to say, I have a different bar at each sink and in the shower. At the kitchen sink: Spiced Apple. Upstairs bathroom sink: Ground Oatmeal. Guest bath sink: Sapphires in Amber. Shower? Rosemary - though my hubby is waiting patiently for a new batch of Pirate Pete.

We have gone away with any shower gels and pump soaps completely. There is nothing like a quality bar of bubbly soap for a fantastic wash!

Soap Listing

2010-11-12T21:59:00.001-07:00

I have started to compile a current listing of all our soaps here. I have been busy labeling all day today, so have finally had a chance to snap some pictures of my final products. I will try to add more photos in the next little while.

Christmas Gifts

2010-11-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Looking for a little tangible to say thank-you? Have you considered giving a bar of handmade soap? It is true, great things come in small packages. It's a small gesture, but beautifully-scented handcrafted soap will surely bring a smile from your recipient.

Or, what the heck, buy one for yourself. You can always send chocolates.

2010-10-09T19:44:00.002-06:00

While the rest of my family is thinking about Thanksgiving Day turkey tomorrow, I am in full swing soaping for the Christmas season.

I am attending three craft shows this November and am really excited about the opportunity to share my soapy art with the masses!

November 13 - Vegreville Christmas Arts & Crafts Sale

November 20 & 21 - St. Albert Country Craft Fair

November 26, 27, & 28 - Camrose Spirit of Christmas Craft Sale

Now I do need to plan for tomorrow's big meal - I am making nachynka!

My New Molds

2010-09-28T17:19:00.000-06:00

My dear sweet hubbie made me two beautiful 5-log molds last week. I got to try them out with my Champaka and my "yet un-named" soaps. The molds have nicely fitted lids and I was very happy with how the pours and gelling went. I'm waiting a couple more days to cut the bars - hubbie is making me a one-of-a-kind cutter too!

New tools are so exciting.

Moo Soaps

2010-09-16T21:24:00.000-06:00

Not quite sure how to name my cow milk soaps. I sure like their colour now, though they do lighten over time. That gorgeous caramel colour and unmistakable toasty scent need to be honoured with a decent name, don't they?

I have a plain, an oatmeal and a lavender line of cow milk soaps. So would Moo do? Certainly gets the point across... Have to sleep on that one.

Custom Bars

2010-09-16T20:46:00.000-06:00

One new thing I did this year was create custom bars for local businesses. The bars here are for a Heritage Village where everything is as it was 100 years ago. My challenge was to come up with soap that reflected that time period.

I could have thrown together lard soap made with ashes, but considering that the village wanted to sell the soap, I opted for a true oatmeal, milk and honey soap.

I decided to go with cow milk, ground oatmeal, and honey from a local producer. I also designed old-fashioned labels printed on unbleached paper. The whole process took some time, but was a lot of fun.

Soaping in Progress

2010-09-06T00:04:00.000-06:00

I got my hubby to take a few pictures of me soaping. I get many customers asking "Do you make this?" and then they ask, "From scratch?" Of course I reply "Yes!" but I understand that the whole process of soap-making is a little mysterious to most.

Here I was making my laundry soap. I was just finishing adding the orange essential oil at mid-trace.

September Market

2010-09-05T23:53:00.000-06:00

I hope to see you Saturday September 11th at the Downtown Market in Vegreville! I'll be there between 10 am and 3 pm. It's my last summer market before the Christmas season winds up. It's a great chance to stock up on my summery scents to keep the warmth in the air!

Calendula Harvest

2010-09-05T22:35:00.000-06:00

With a slight nip in the air, I'm starting to take in my garden. This year, as well as potatoes and tomatoes, I've been harvesting calendula petals and rosemary leaves. Thanks to an incredibly rainy summer, growing herbs and flowers was a breeze.

I've already dried three batches of calendula petals and am looking forward to making my calendula soap batches next week.