Support our Local Market 5 February

Technorati Tags: Riverlea Soap,soap,cupcake soap

The Dargle supply/ general store is having a local market on Sunday 5 February 9-11:30am. Drive along the R103, past Midmar Dam and continue to the Dargle rd, turn left and drive until you get to the Dargle store on the left hand side.

They are hoping to make people more aware of our local areas and to support local businesses. Riverlea Soap will be there – please come and support us. You can also have a lovely lunch at Ill Postino Pizzeria or Piggly Wiggly on the R103

 

Riverlea Soap

Soapylove Valentine hearts

Technorati Tags: Riverlea Soap,M&P soap,Soapylove

I recently bought a book called SoapyLove. It is written by a lady called Debbie Chialtas who lives in the States. She is the most approachable famous person I know. I mailed and asked if I could copy the projects in the book and she mailed me right back. I was not expecting an answer from her at all! You can find her on Facebook or her blog. Thanks Debbie – you are a genius!
I immediately had to try some of the projects and I decided to do her “cut-out cookies”

     

  

 

You will need:

• A mould – I used a silicone one
• Clear Glycerine soap base – M and P. The amount is determined by how many you will make and the size of your moulds
• Opaque/white soap base - M and P
• Red colouring
• Spraying alcohol
• Fragrance oil – I used a HS
• Jugs, stirrers and or spoons, mini heart shaped cookie cutter

Method:

• Melt your opaque soap base in a jug in the microwave in short bursts, making sure it is not too hot
• Add your red colouring to the melted soap and pour into the mould to set.
• Once the soap is hard (it may still be a little warm) remove it from the mould and cut out the hearts with the mini cutter in one whole sheet – it is not easy trying to make sure the hearts are evenly spaced

     

 

• Melt the clear M&P and wait for it to cool slightly. If it is too hot you will melt
• the hearts when you pour it into the mould
• Add your fragrance oil and stir, avoiding making bubbles (you can use 1-2% of your soap weight) i.e. if you have a 100g of soap you will use about 1-2ml/g of fragrance
• Pour some clear soap base into your mould and then spritz to remove any bubbles – you just want a thin layer
• Spray the cut out sheet with alcohol and place it into the clear soap you have just poured
• Wait for a while until you have a thick skin on the soap
• While you are waiting for the above to go hard, melt your white soap and wait for this to cool
• Spritz the whole soap again and then gently pour the white clear soap into your mould over the hearts trying not to make too many bubbles
• Spritz the soap again and then wait for the soap to harden – approximately 30 – 40 minutes, depending on how large the soap is

 

  

 

Professional AMAZING looking soap, thanks Debbie

 

  

 

www.riverleasoap.com

Bombs Away–Valentine heart fizzies

Technorati Tags: riverlea Soap,fizz bombs

You may have seen an earlier fizzy post that Linda did – here

 

You will need:-

• Mould – I used a heart-shaped 3d  mould
  
• 3ml Fragrance Oil – I used Currescence Floral
  
• No Colour – The client wanted them white
• 1000g Bicarbonate of Soda
• 500g Citric acid
• 40ml Sunflower oil
• water – the amount you need will depend on the amount of moisture in the air
• Bowl, scale, spoon, pipette
  

To Make:-

• Add dry ingredients to your bowl and mix
  
• Add oil into fragrance oil, and then add to dry mix
  
• Mix until squeezed mix retains shape – a little like moist beach sand
  
• Add a little water to assist/ensure correct consistency if your mixture is not holding together
  
• Using the moulds, scoop through the mixture and overfill
  
• Press mould together hard and clean join
  
• Leave to stand for 30 – 60 minutes
  
• Gently remove mould and release – tap with a spoon to help release if they stick

  

 

 

  

Packaged and ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

www.riverleasoap.com

 

 

More Valentine Heart Soap

Technorati Tags: Riverlea Soap,M&P soap

As you all know Valentine’s day is next month so January posts will all have a Valentine theme to them.

Linda was the soap maker in this post and I was official photographer.

 

 

You will need:

• A mould – Linda used hard Perspex – not easy to release your soap from
• Opaque soap base - M and P - The amount is determined by how many you will make and the size of your moulds. Determine the size of your mould by placing it on a scale and zeroing the scale, then pour water into the mould and the weight of the water will be the amount of soap you will need.
• Green colouring
• Paper rose buds
• Prestic/ reusable sticky tacky stuff – everyone has a different name for this stuff!
• Spraying alcohol
• Fragrance oil – we used Green Tea
• Jugs, stirrers and or spoons, scale,

 

Method:

• Melt your opaque soap base in a jug in the microwave in short bursts, making sure it is not too hot
• Add your green colouring to the melted soap and your fragrance oil, wait for this to cool slightly
• Get your mould ready by placing it on the sticky tacky stuff to hole it level, pour the soap into the mould, spritz with alcohol and leave to set
• Once the soap is hard, remove it from the mould. This can be a little tricky so it may need to go into the fridge for a little while
• Take your paper rose and place it into the top of the soap for decoration
• Place your melted soaps into bags or wrap them as they will attract moisture

 

        

 

  

 

www.riverleasoap.com

Fun Valentine M&P–a tutorial

Technorati Tags: Riverlea Soap

 

 

 

This is an easy, fun soap to make for yourself or the one you love.

 

 

You will need:

• A mould – I used a silicone one
• Clear Glycerine soap base – M and P. The amount is determined by how many you will make and the size of your moulds
• Opaque soap base - M and P
• Red colouring
• Glitter
• Spraying alcohol
• Fragrance oil – I used a fruity blend of Orange and Neroli
• Jugs, stirrers and or spoons, heart shaped cookie cutter

Method:

• Melt your opaque soap base in a jug in the microwave in short bursts, making sure it is not too hot
• Add your red colouring to the melted soap and pour into the mould to set
• Once the soap is hard (it may still be a little warm) remove it from the mould and cut out the hearts

 

• Melt the clear M&P and wait for it to cool slightly. If it is too hot you will melt the hearts when you pour it into the mould
• Add your fragrance oil and stir, avoiding making bubbles (you can use 1-2% of your soap weight) i.e. if you have a 100g of soap you will use about 1-2ml/g of fragrance
• Pour some clear soap base into your mould and then spritz your heart with alcohol and place it into the soap you have just poured
• Spritz the whole soap again and then gently pour the rest of the clear soap into your mould making sure you do not pour onto the hearts and also trying not to make too many bubbles
• Spritz the soap again and then wait for the soap to harden – approximately 30 – 40 minutes, depending on how large the soap is
  

 

 

www.riverleasoap.com

Swirling–A CP Tutorial

You may remember my post with pictures on swirling. Well here is the way I did it. I am certainly not as good as some people at swirling but it is such a fun and challenging technique that you can keep trying and never quite get it right but all your attempts will always look pretty.

You will need:

• 784g Sunflower oil
  
• 560g Coconut oil
  
• 980g Palm Oil
  
• 420 Olive Oil (I will probably use more OO next time as it was a little thick to work with)
  
• 56g Palm Stearic acid

• 378g NaOH – (Sodium Hydroxide)
  
• 948g Distilled Water

• 112g Neroli Essential oil
  
• Micas or pigments
  
• Mixing jugs
  
• Mould- lined ( I used my log mould – 60cm long x 10cm wide and 10cm high)
  
• A stick blender

Method:

• Measure out your colours that you wish to use and mix with oil or water (I used 10ml for each colour and took this off the sunflower oil allocation)

     

• Measure/ weigh your water you need, weigh the NaOH, add your NaOH to the water, mix until it is dissolved, cool this to 105F
  
• Measure out  your oils and heat to 105F
  
• Pour the NaOH into the oils and stick blend until very light trace(this is the point where the oils and lye are emulsified)

• Now separate your soap mixture into the premixed colours
  
• Start to pour your colours into the mould in the centre of the mould. This a a little bit like the Faux Funnel pour you may have seen posted.
  
• Keep pouring until you have used all the soap mixture. I then dolloped the last of the soap in blobs along the top
  
• Take a chop stick and then insert (all the way to the bottom) at one corner and start to drag it diagonally from side to side until you have reached the end of the mould
  
• Whola you are done.
  
• Wrap the mould and leave overnight.

 

  

 

    

www.riverleasoap.com