Handmade Soap Gift Set

Handmade Soap is such a wonderful gift, isn't it?  It's beautiful, it smells great, and everyone uses soap!  I've always been a nut for bath soap, and can't seem to ever have too many fragrant soaps in my world.

Unfortunately, I think a soap bar (even a fantastic homemade soap bar) often doesn't look....well...."gifty" enough for some folks to give.  Know what I mean?

I've been wanting to do a "gift set" for the shops that carry my handmade soap, and I've finally done one! So, without further ado, I present the "Heirloom Beauties Trio" Gift Set:

I've chosen Fresh Bamboo, Tropical Smoothie and Lavender

Creme for this collection of bestselling handmade soaps.

As with any new release, I can't wait to see how they go over in the retail outlets! :)

Hope all my soaping buddies out there are having a wonderful and productive time!  Soap on!  ~Becky

Home Made Soap Satisfaction!

I know ol' Mick had trouble with Satisfaction, but me?  As a maker of home made soap, nothing feels quite like a box full of my "babies" that are cured, labeled, packed & ready for shipping to someone anxiously awaiting them!

 Those of us who make handmade soap can appreciate all the steps that go into turning out a market-ready product.  From planning a soap handmade with pure ingredients, then the cutting, stamping and curing to the final labeling -it's a minimum 6 week incubation.

Fortunately, most of us who make homemade soap for a living find that each step of the process brings it's own sense of joy & satisfaction.  

Poor Mick, I guess he wasn't a soap maker! ;)

Home Made Soap with Fresh Yogurt Giveaway!

Home made soap just seems better to me with fresh yogurt!  I've really been into handmade milk soap lately, and I would like to present one of my recent creations:

This is a soap homemade with unrefined shea butter, avocado butter, Moroccan red clay and of course fresh yogurt.  I haven't figured out a name yet...perhaps it's time for a little bribe, plea for help, soap-naming contest?

To help you out, this handmade soap is scented with Sweet Orange essential oil, and my Tropical Smoothie fragrance: a combination of strawberries, pineapple & mango .

To enter, please comment with your name suggestion(s) below.  I'll choose my favorite suggestion this Saturday.  The winner will receive a free bar as a Thank You from me!

Thanks for participating, and Happy Soaping Everyone!

I am thrilled to announce that Heirloom Soapworks Natural Soap is now available in Kimmswick, MO at Picket Fence Primitives!

read entire post here: Heirloom Natural Soap/Picket Fence Primitives

Back in the Saddle Again...doo-dee-dooo!

It feels great to be back to normal!  Here's yesterday's soap that I did my usual way. (I did NOT attempt to prevent gel in any way.)

Colors and scents are what I wanted, although I did go a bit overboard with the poppy seeds! 

Hey -nobody's perfect! ;)

Mother's Day Homemade Soap Gift Set

Just in time for Mother's Day (and while supplies last) -a trio of our most popular yogurt soaps to moisturize Mom's skin & pamper her long after Mother's Day is over!  $18.75 (includes domestic shipping) Set includes 3 full-size (4.5 oz.) bars: "Fresh Bamboo", "Pink Grapefruit" & "Spring Rain".

Reserve your set today -these won't last long!  becky@heirloomsoapworks.com

Homemade Soap Challenge Week #2 "Milk Soap"

My Soaping Sister Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks came up with the brilliant idea of a "Soap Challenge".  I think there are 80+ participating soapmakers, and each week we all work on a specific soaping technique.  Sharpening our skills hopefully and sharing our results with soap friends around the globe.  You can see the beautiful soaps all in one place on Amy's blog. Before yesterday, I had never used fragrance oil in my goats milk soap.  As you probably know, essential oils don't accelerate trace the way fragrance oil tend to. 

My first batch also include lots of pink clay which combined with the fragrance oil traced FAST FAST FAST!  (I'll post pics of that, along with my attempt at The Soap Queen's "Cherry Blossom" soap technique -I'll give you a hint on how that turned out by saying unfortunately "Anne-Marie I ain't" :(
 
I will try that again, though, using EOs just because those "blossoms" are so CUTE!

I did another batch of Goats Milk using a different fragrance oil (white soap) lemongrass EO (yellow soap) and lime EO & pink clay (pink soap).  While this bad boy accellerated too (while I was messing around with the Cherry Blossom thing again) but I banged it into the mold hard (enough to jar my teeth) and it looks o.k. I think.


So here it is -all I could think of when I saw the cut bars was the old Eagles song "Tequila Sunrise":

Homemade Goats Milk Soap "Tequila Sunrise"

Considering the whole acceleration thing, I'm happy that it turned out at all! :)


Stay tuned for the Week 3 Challenge: Piping Soap


There are sure to be some blow-your-hair-back results from the participants!


Happy Soaping, everyone!   ~Becky

Glamour Girl Homemade Soap -The 2012 Collection so far:

I've been busily creating fragrant homemade soap for the new line -and having a blast!  I can't wait for them to be cured -so far my retailers who carry my Heirloom brand are all very excited about carrying the Glamour Girl line.

Here's what I have so far:

Homemade Soap by Glamour Girl

Available in stores May 1, 2012.

Rustic Light Box for Homemade Soap Photos

 Have I mentioned lately that my Hubby is my hero?   Not only is he a great guy, wonderful husband & dad -he's handy too!  Check out the rustic "light box" he made for me to photograph my Heirloom Natural Soap:

 It's so nice to have a simple, portable "set" that I can move easily to where the lighting suits me -you all would crack UP if you could see the menagerie of props I usually have to tote around while balancing soap, camera etc!  (Heaven forbid I make more than one trip!)


Here's how the photo looks when cropped for a close-up:

I got the idea for a wood background a few weeks ago after looking at some of my old pics taken on my son's swing set (don't even say it) -that's when I photographed the weathered boards that now are the background on this blog as well as my Heirloom Natural Soap website. 

I mentioned to Hubby that I wouldn't mind a lightbox of the same material, and voila!  He made this for me in nothing flat -have I mentioned that I am spoiled rotten? LOL!

I'll have to show you the ring he made for me for our anniversary soon! :)

The Soap Sister's Alter Ego is Here!

After many months of "percolating" on the idea & much encouragement from friends & family, I have launched my second line of homemade soap!

It's rather like the "alter ego" of Heirloom Soapworks....still mild, gentle handmade soap -but a bit more "girly" and "fun" -more scent variety & intensity, more colors, and fresh new designs.

I am very excited, and very inspired by the new world of scents and colors that will be available in the new brand.  I've described it to friends as the feeling of going from a box of 8 well-used & loved crayons to a new box of 96 colors that are sharp and ready to virtually jump out of the box into your hand!

Heirloom Soapworks will remain as-is, and I will still be creating new 100% natural varieties under the HSW brand -it is, of course, my "baby"!

My Hubby has expanded my curing area, so I don't have the potpourri of scents in our living area 24/7 (too much, even of a beautiful scent, can be too much -I'm sure you soap-makers out there know what I mean!)

So without further ado, here is a link to my new (and still evolving) website/blog: www.glamourgirlsoap.com

I will be adding a "blogroll", but I have to "remember" how to do that on wordpress....hopefully withing the few days.

Happy Soaping Everyone!

Natural Bar Soap -layered just for fun...

rosemary & lime homemade soap, colored with cambrian blue clay & alkanet root powder...infused with poppy seeds to exfoliate the skin
 

A New Homemade Soap Line

Custom Wedding favors from my new (additional) homemade soap brand/line/website...

 Still working on the site, legalities, packaging etc....in stores May 1.

"High Seas" Vegan Coconut Milk Soap

The classic, natural bay-lime scent of this coconut milk soap is light and fresh -not overpowering.  French green clay gently pulls impurities from pores while avocado & mango butters soften & smooth the skin.

This batch is ready to ship and available for purchase in our Online Store .

Happy Soaping!  ~Becky

Silicone Molds for Homemade Soap

There's a spinning, twirling happy-dance in my head today -all due to these wonderful new Crafter's Choice silicone soap molds!  My homemade soap bars have never looked better (in my humble opinion.)

Just take a look at the lovely, crisp lines of the soap loaf and of each soap bar:

 I love the ease with which the homemade soap released after less than 24 hours!  The silicone mold requires no lining and no releasing agent of any kind.  I just poured the soap into the molds at a light/med trace, swirled the tops and that was it.  18 hours later: out it came!

Clean-up will consist of a soak in warm water, a quick rinse-off followed by air drying.  Perhaps lining the molds for your handmade soap is no big deal in your day, but it was a constant source of stress for me.  (Perhaps it's my impatient tendancies?)  I am so happy to not have to do it anymore that I will definitely be investing in more of these!

This natural homemade soap is scented with pure essential oils & spices -no colorant whatsoever.  (I believe most of the color came from the 5x orange EO.)  With a blend of citrus & spice oils, it smells of fresh ruby red grapefruit  Richly superfatted with shea butter, mango butter & cocoa butter, it should prove to be a very moisturizing soap bar!

Happy Soap Making Everyone!  ~Becky

Redneck Soaping Part 2

After dazzling all of my sophisticated soaping friends with my Redneck Soap molds yesterday (and yes, I love 'em),  I thought I would do a follow-up to show you what nice bars result from said molds.  These soaps are full-size bars at approx. 4.6 oz. each and 3.5 inches across.

So, here they are:

"BubbleHead" Shampoo Bar in Rosemary-Mint

My customers love the shape (I used these molds for many of my Christmas Soaps), and I love how the word "REUSABLE" gets imprinted onto each bar from the mold!  Perhaps you have to be a redneck to be amused by this detail -but of course I can't tell for sure! ;)

Oh, and "Thanks Mom" -keep eatin' that KFC coleslaw! -xoxo Beck

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Redneck Style!

All this "modern"  reduce, reuse, recycle  "jazz" isn't new at all, really.  My family's been reducing, reusing and recycling since the Great Depression and, because I come from frugal German stock, probably WAY longer than that.

I got to thinking about this as I was making my "Bubblehead" Shampoo Bars today.  Chuckling at myself, my choice of "molds"...heck, my whole operation for that matter.  Why, you ask?   Well, it's just a bit "Redneck" folks....

You might be a Redneck if your soap molds used to be carry-out containers from KFC!

 (I'm not makin' this stuff up!)  Not to mention the fact that the KFC containers are insulated with my son's old baby blanket...

But what about you all?   Am I the only Redneck Soaper out there in blog land?
(Maybe I'm just the only one who will admit to it?)  How does your inner Redneck Soaper make herself known?

Happy Soapin' Everyone!

"Spa Six-Pack" Natural Soap Set by Heirloom Soapworks

I really love Spring!  The newness and freshness of the season is positively inspiring.  To celebrate, I've assembled a collection of  all natural soaps that are just in time for those spring birthdays and Mothers Day:  The "Spa Six-Pack" by Heirloom Soapworks

[caption id="attachment_1455" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption=""Spa Six-Pack" by Heirloom Soapworks"][/caption]

I'm offering this collection -approximately six month's worth of luxurious natural soaps for just $33.00.  Gift wrapped in vintage muslin drawstring bags with complete descriptions and ingredients on each soap. (Special $5.00 flat-rate shipping applies. too!) 

Place your order now in our online Soap Shoppe.... while supplies last!  :)

"Mimosa-Rosa!" Natural Handmade Soap

Yowza!  This is a newbie natural soap, and the first batch sold out right away with my family, friends and retailers( before it made it into my online store!)  Extra softening for hands, and a super natural soap for shaving....I think you all will LOVE this one!

[caption id="attachment_1414" align="aligncenter" width="406" caption=""Mimosa-rosa!" by Heirloom Soapworks "][/caption]

I listed it today, here's the detailed description from my soap shoppe:

Uplifting and "fresh cut grassy" fragrance is just in time for spring.  This natural handmade soap is infused with Mimosa Floral wax which not only softens the scent of palmarosa essential oil, it leaves your skin feeling softened, too!  The best leg-shaving soap we've ever used!  The tiny mimosa wax particles suspended in the soap exfoliate when rubbed directly on wet skin, but are smooth and silky when used on a washcloth or pouf.  Lovely pink bar with generous amounts of shea, mango & cocoa butters will moisturize and pamper your skin.

As fast as the last batch went, I'd better snag a bar for myself! :D

Label Me "Content"

[caption id="attachment_1401" align="aligncenter" width="458" caption="Lavender Oatmeal Soap by Heirloom"][/caption]

Spotlight Soap: "Orange Spice" Natural Soap

Spotlight on Orange Spice Natural Soap:

I will be doing a "Spotlight Soap" -hopefully weekly, to help my readers become more familiar with the different varieties of natural soap that I make, while educating them with regard to the specific "skin benefits" of the soap's primary ingredients.

So, without further ado, this week's "Spotlight Soap":  Orange Spice Natural Soap

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caption id="attachment_1194" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Orange Spice Natural Soap by Heirloom Soapworks"][/caption]

 

Description: An oatmeal and clove-flecked orange soap, (colored with Moroccan Red Clay) fragranced with sweet orange and May Chang (a.k.a. litsea cubeba) essential oils sits atop a cream soap fragranced with an exotic blend of cinnamon & sweet fennel essential oils. Rich with cocoa, shea and mango butters, it's a perfect blend of exfoliation and moisturization!

Saponified Olive Oil -saponified means that this oil has been transformed into soap, and olive oil is prized for it's moisturizing and nourishing properties.  Pomace Olive Oil in particular (the kind I use) is high in "unsaponifiables":  fatty acids which are not turned into soap, but rather remain in the final bar to moisturize skin.

Saponified Coconut Oil -makes for a wonderful bubbly lather.  Used in proper proportions, coconut oil is moisturizing and contributes to bar hardness (making soap that lasts longer).

Saponified Palm Oil -great for creating mild soap that cleans gently.  This oil also contributes to the hardness of the bar.

Shea Butter (unrefined) - Who hasn't heard of how moisturizing shea butter is?  It is also non-comedogenic (won't clog pores), rich in vitamin E (said to help with eczema and dermatitis) and has a high percentage of "healing fractions" to help nourish and heal the skin.

Mango Butter (unrefined) - Also high in healing unsaponifiables, mango butter is said to help with the dryness that is associated with  psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis & wrinkles.

Cocoa Butter (unrefined) - rich in antioxidants, cocoa butter also helps the skin retain moisture.  Helps to smooth rough, dry skin.

Oatmeal (finely ground) -acts as a gentle exfoliant to remove dead skin cells, oatmeal is also said to be soothing, anti-inflammatory, and useful in reducing dryness.

Sweet Orange Essential Oil - said to be anti-depressant, anti-septic, aphrodisiac, calming, and helpful in treating acne and dermatitis....plus is smells yummy! 

Sweet Fennel Oil -wondefully aromatic oil that is also thought to bring courage and strength....hmmmm.  We like it mostly for it's smell!

Cinnamon Essential Oil -Again, we love it's warm & spicy scent, but this oil is also said to be very restorative and helpful in promoting feelings of well-being. (Note: Cinnamon EO can be too much for those with sensitive skins -if you have sensitive skin, you may wish to try our Lavender-Lavender Natural Soap, or one of our Fragrance Free Natural Soaps!)

Honey - A wonderful ingredient that acts as a natural humectant -holding moisture next to the skin.  Also acts as a natural preservative to keep soap fresh!

Moroccan Red Clay - Originally chosen for it's lovely color, this natural clay also draws impurities from the skin, promotes circulation, and is used in many exclusive spas throughout the world!

Not bad for a bar of soap, eh?  I'm offering Orange Spice Soap at a special sale price this week -while supplies last: $5.25!  Get 'em before they're gone!