A slab for mother's day...

Look at the beautiful mold that I just ordered from Kelsi's Creations! I'm so excited! My husband asked me what I've been wanting for soaping within a certain price range and told me he would get it as a mother's day present. So because I hate cutting bars of soap so I had to get a slab mold with dividers. I see a lot more experimentation coming up with swirled soaps! ;)



I made a batch of swirled soap last week. It was cupcake scented and I added in cocoa because it's cocoa and because I could see the swirl forming right away. The cupcake fragrance oil would have turned the soap brown while curing because of the high vanilla content. I am a little to impatient to wait that long to see my swirl though!

I've been kind of wrestling around with the idea of coloring my soaps. Thus far I have only done colors that are as a result of herbs or oils that have been used. I would like to keep my soaps as natural as possible. I have made the exception of using fragrance oils though just because I love all the different options out there and I think there are a lot of others that do as well. I love a natural colored soap and it definately appeals to my desire to keep things natural. I'll be the first to admit though that if I see a pretty colored bar of soap I have to go check it out! I've looked at the oxides and ultramarines for coloring because they sound like they would be more natural. However, because of the toxins that can be present in them naturally they are all created in a lab now. This creates a further dilema. These definately have more "label appeal" but I would have a lot more control over the effects I was able to acheive with some other options that are currently available. I'm still going to think about this some more before I invest in a bunch of colorants but I think I will eventually add some of one kind or another.

I feel that so long as I have lots of options available that everyone will be able to find something they love. I definately want to keep plenty of options as far as soaps that are completely natural. Those are the ones I use on my son and that I recommend to others with little ones and sensitive skin. That was my main focus when I started this journey and I refuse to lose focus of that!