Laundry Bars

I've been making my own laundry soap for years and selling it for almost a year now. And I can't even remember the last time I bought the chemical based commercial detergents! I like to know *exactly* what's in the products that I use for my family and the only was I was able to that was to start making my laundry soap right from scratch. And from the multitudes of pins I see on Pinterest, I'm not the only one! But the problem with all the recipes I'm seeing is they call for harsh detergent bars such as Fels-Naptha which there's no way I'd ever use on my skin. 

I also don't like to use most handmade soaps in laundry soap because it's super-fatted which means that there's extra oils in your bar. Which is great for your skin, not so much for your laundry. Extra oils on your clothes have the potential to stain and even worse.. you'll get nasty smelling clothes from the build-up.  

My recipe for laundry bars is non-superfatted so there will be no leftover residue on your clothes. You don't want to use this on your skin though as it will be quite drying but it's perfect for general cleaning and laundry. I've added eucalyptus and tea tree essential oils as they're great for lifting grease and oil as well as having disinfectant properties.
Laundry Bars can be grated and used to make your own laundry soap. You can use it as stain remover, just wet the bar or your stained clothing and rub. Wash it immediately or wait until laundry day! You can even use this bar for washing dishes!
I'll have the bars on the website (and etsy) this week and they're priced at $4 each. Laundry powder is sold in a mason jar and is 2lbs for $12. 

a new look for coffee

Our Coffee soap has had a little makeover. I love coffee soap and the smell of coffee is so comforting to me. But when I turned it into soap there was something "meh" about it. I still liked it, it was a great bar but the smell wasn't very predominant since I didn't add any scent. And the coffee beans which look great from afar, always fell off! And it was so slow to sell. So I found a yummy smelling coffee fragrance oil (phthalate free of course) and did my best to mimic a cup of cappuccino (the fragrance also has notes of creamy vanilla... super yum!). I think it turned out great, we'll see how it sells now. :)

Here's the last batch of coffee soap I made:

And here are some photos of the new and improved Coffee soap (ready end of February):

new soaps!

I cut, trimmed and photographed 3 different soaps today!

First up is Goatmeal which I soaped last night. It's an unscented soap loaded with goat's milk and ground oatmeal. I decided to add a bit of colour but since this was for sensitive skin, I wanted to add clays instead of pigments. It didn't turn out exactly as I planned, I was hoping the clay swirl would have been more dramatic but I think because the soap batter was so bright from the goat's milk, the colours didn't stand out as much as I hoped. Oh well!

Next up is Lavender Anise. I made this soap in the summer but when I switched to my 4lb mold, I found it hard to layer. I was excited when I got my new slab mold to give it another go. Last time I used indigo root to colour the soap but this time I used a pigment hoping to achieve a cleaner look. Well, creating an ombre soap in a 10lb slab mold is hard! By the end my hands were aching and the white soap for the top layer and thickened up from the TD so texturing was difficult. But all in all, I'm happy!

And lastly is a Eucalyptus Mint. I tried to do a drop swirl technique but it thickend up too much on me. I'm really having a heck of a time adjusting to a bigger mold. I'll get there though! This soap is such a bright and fresh scent, sure to wake you up in the morning. 

{this moment}

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{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Happy Birthday Sophie

Yesterday, my littlest one turned 3! I know all mothers say it but I really cannot believe it's been three years already since she was born, it feels like only yesterday she was this new:

I find it so amusing that she was born with such dark hair (and the chubbiest cheeks!) as she now has light blonde hair. :)

Yesterday we celebrated her birthday quietly, well as quietly as a wild 3 year old can be. Her brother spent the day at his old farm school turned daycare for the first time and had heaps of fun on  his own! I took the girls out for tea at the Calico Cat then we did some birthday errands and came home to bake a cake! Every year I bake the kids their own cake and every year it turns out pretty good but not this year. I couldn't find my usual recipe so I went to Pinterest to look up something quick. Which turned out to be a mistake as the cake tasted like dense sweet bread, not good! Thankfully I live only about 2 blocks from A Wee Cupcakery so I was able to hurry over there before they closed to rescue the birthday cake situation! I came home with these very yummy cupcakes: 

We had sushi (Sophie's birthday dinner request), we ate cupcakes and then it was time to open a few presents. 

 Parker really enjoyed his cupcake as evidenced by the messy face! ;)

We gifted Sophie a new pair of padraigs and a dress up box! Nana gifted her a wooden birthday cake set which she just loved. 

The kids love the dress up box so much that they're busy playing with right now. Parker's a cow rescuing Sophie, the fairy in the dining room. :)

Since they're fully engaged in their play this morning, I'm going to enjoy a cup of coffee and read some of my book in peace while I can!

you can't win 'em all

I consider myself artistic and my soaps are my current medium in which I express my creativity. I try to keep in mind that soaps have a mind of their own though...Sometimes what I envision in my mind comes to fruition like when I created this batch of Lemongrass. Pretty right?

Sometimes things don't always go as I plan them to when I start soaping. Sometimes I make the silly mistake of thinking I can whip up a batch during my children's rest times. But no... the second this mama's busy the kids sense that. In which case, ends up with me creating a batch while being quite distracted. But often I'm surprised with the end result of the soap! I expect to unmold the soap and have it be quite awful but instead I often get my best soaps this way... like when I unmolded and cut Patchouli Tangerine: 

And then there are the times when the house is quiet, creativity is alive and I feel great! That's the time I kind of have this expectation that my soap should come out looking as I want them to. And usually that's the case but every now and then the soap gremlins come out. As was the case with my latest batch of Rose Garden. I had this idea to have a two toned soap...white on the bottom and dusty pink on the top with a piped finish. And I did get a few like that out of the batch but it unfortunately seized on me as I was mixing it so I could only pipe about a 1/3 of the soap. And then when I was cutting the slab into two loaves, I wasn't paying attention and I cut them horribly uneven. So this is what I ended up with:

  These ones turned out okay, not perfect but still pretty!

not too bad....

 oh, wait... 

I got about 10 or so good ones but then the rest look like the front and back in the above photo. :( Some are too too wide and the tops aren't great and others are too narrow. I cut them so they all weigh roughly the same but man.... this batch was frustrating!

newness

Playing around with logo design today... I came up with these. I'm liking the hand drawn look and the botanical feel. Plus it's simple and I love simple! I'm not totally committed to these yet, I think they need to grow on me although I do quite like them.
Next up: new labels! But I'll leave that up to a professional. :)

soap of the month club

Here it is: our Soap of the Month Club! Starting February 1st, 2013, members will be hand delivered a lovely package of two surprise soaps, this will continue each month for the remainder of their club membership. And not only will the members receive two bars of gorgeous artisan soap, they'll also be gifted the occasional sample!
Members can choose between a 3, 6 or 12 month subscription and your first delivery will start the following month. Those ordering right now will receive their 2 soaps the first week of February (and continue each first week of the month until the end of the subscription).
Members can also choose if they prefer soaps scented with essential oils only or a mix of soaps scented with either essential oils or phthalate free fragrance oil. But which two soaps arrive each month is a surprise!
A subscription to the Soap of the Month Club would make a great gift, who wouldn't want a surprise package of soaps each and every month?!
The only downer to this is that I can only make this available to customers living between Cedar and Lantzville because it is just too costly to send parcels via Canada Post. If you don't mind paying an extra $10 per month (yes, it's that pricey to ship soap domestically!!) then I'd love to send you a monthly package of soaps... the shipping fee can be paid at time of ordering the subscription or by the 1st of each month.
If you prefer, you can also pick up your package of soaps during the first week of each month, which is great for those that live out of town but work here in Nanaimo.

What's the cost?
3 months (6 bars total plus the occasional sample) is $30 which includes delivery between Cedar and Lantzville
6 months (12 bars total plus the occasional sample) is $60 which includes delivery between Cedar and Lantzville
12 months (24 bars total plus the occasional sample) is $120 which includes delivery between Cedar and Lantzville
Payments can be made through paypal (I'll send an invoice to your email) or can be made with your first delivery.

How to order you ask? Until I update the website (www.oldcitysoapworks.com), you can email me directly at oldcitysoapworks@gmail.com to sign up!