Using my Vitamix for Soap Making

 One reason I purchased my Vitamix, among MANY, was to use it for soap making.
My Vitamix is just for my kitchen, so I will only grind food products, such as oats and fruits/veggies.
The first ingredient I used were oats. I ground the oats into colloidal oats. Colloidal oats are finely ground oats and after grinding they feel like soft flour.
My second ingredient was organic cucumbers. I pureed the cucumbers (skin, pulp, and seeds) into a thin slushie.
I used both the oats and the cucumber for my Cucumber Mint soap!

The color of the soap is from the cucumbers! I scented this batch with cucumber fragrance oil and peppermint essential oil. They smell divine!
I am looking forward to using more fruits and veggies in my soap, so stay tuned!

Adventures With My Vitamix

After over 3 years of lusting over the Vitamix mixer, I finally took the plunge and ordered one a few weeks ago. I narrowed my extensive search for this mixer and it came to down to two mixers: the Vitamix and the Blendtec. I honestly didn't find one better over the other, but ended up choosing the Vitamix.
In anticipation, I purchased a fridge full of fresh and frozen fruits and fresh veggies. I started with fresh spinach, apples, bananas, watermelon, lemons, carrots, strawberries, oranges, cucumbers, carrots, and almond milk.
I think my favorite mix is: spinach, banana, watermelon, lemon, carrot, and almond milk.

In this smoothie I added (in this order) almond milk, kale (I think I like spinach better), frozen mango, fresh lemon with skin, 1/2 banana, a small handful of almonds, and ice!

You can almost pick out each ingredient from the side of the mixer.

The finished smoothie! I can taste the banana and almonds. It tastes a little sweet even though I didn't add any sweetener.

Here is another one I made. It has 2 oranges (orange rind taken off), 1/2 banana, a lemon, and some almond milk. Yum!

It is fun coming up with different smoothies. I also have been making some delicious soups. Yes, soup! The Vitamix also heats up your ingredients!

Today I made a smoothie with distilled water and 2 whole cucumbers. I didn't drink this smoothie, as I wanted to add it to my cucumber soap! Stay tuned to my Cucumber Mint soap!

Elemental Swirl

I participated on Amy Warden's soap challenge this week using the Elemental swirl I think they turned out great!
The top part is outer space and the bottom represents the earth. The soap bottom is scented with a citrus blend, and the top is scented with Watermelon.

Thanks for looking!

New Growth

For the past 10 years I have been winter sowing my flowers and veggies. I learned about this method at Wintersowing.org. I was hooked the first year and have been winter sowing since. I even winter sowed a Hosta, just to see if I could!
The method is very easy and inexpensive. It does take patience since most start their seeds outdoors in December and January. I was late starting this year, and since we had a very late Spring, I was VERY lucky we had nice chilly weather!

I made a video of the process. All you need is: small containers, potting soil, duct tape, perm marker, seeds, straws (or sticks), and plastic bags.

I have many sprouts already! Most of these were buried under 12 inches of snow not too long ago!

The top plant are Zebra Tomatoes and the bottom are red Zinnia's.

Above are pictures of some past winter sowed flowers. My favorite are the Bells of Ireland in the middle of the bottom picture.

I will show progress pictures in the next week or so. My sunflowers are already 2 inches tall!

Spring in spite of the snow!

In spite of all the snow we have had this Spring, I have been working on Spring and Summer soaps!

One of my favorite scents is Nantucket Briar. I think it was one of my first scents I soaped with, and it soon became one of my favorite! I think I am going to call it Summer Fling. It turned out looking like a patriotic soap even though I planned for the blue to be more like a teal. It still smells amazing!

This bar (above) is scented with China Rain, which is a nice clean scents with a touch of floral.

I did a deep water discount and the soap batter became really, really, thick! I just plopped it all into the mold and crossed my fingers!

April 1st is also my puppy's birthday. Scout is now 11 years old! I can't believe it!

Here she is a few years ago. :)

No Video of Beer Soap

I am trying to upload the video of cutting the beer soap, but I have not had any success. I usually load my videos onto YouTube when the soap is ready for purchase, so I will wait until then.

Schlafly Beer Soap

I haven't made a soap for men in such a long time! I have been planning this soap for about a week and today it is finally finished.

I started out with a coffee stout beer from Schlafly, and since I only had about 11 ounces, I added some strong coffee to make up the rest of the liquid needed.

 My soft oils are olive oil and castor. My hard oils are coconut, palm, shea butter, cocoa butter, and palm kernel.

My scent is essentials oils of patchouli, sandalwood, tea tree, clove, and grapefruit. It smells yummy!

 I used pringles cans for the molds. I usually use PVC pipes, but I couldn't find the lids. :(

 I lined the cans with freezer paper so they are easier to take out.

I put my goggles on and got to work!

 First I added some bentonite clay, which make great shaving soap!

 I then added my essential oils.

 It didn't take long for the soap to trace, which is what I wanted...nice and thick!

 Here are the cans full. I had some left overs so I used a heart shaped mold and this mustache mold. The soap was too thick to pour in this small mold, so I only made 3.

 Soap needs a nice warm place to saponify (turn into soap). I usually use the oven, but these won't fit. I placed the bucket of tubes inside a box and covered the box with several blankets.

I will take the soap out of the box tomorrow evening and check to see if they are ready to cut. Stay tuned!

I can't believe it's December!

My, the time has flown right by. It's hard to believe it is already December, especially since it's in the 70's today! I had the doors open and felt very warm putting the ornaments on the tree.....only in the Midwest!

For the past few days I have been working on new pictures. I have a 6 year old camera, but sadly, I don't think I can blame the age on the pictures. I have a light box downstairs (that I made out of a cardboard box) that I use sometimes, but I prefer the light from my sliding glass doors.

Here is what they looked like before I edited the picture. You can see how bright the sun was by the upper left hand corner. I used a piece of white paper to cover the light coming in.

 I often get a blue cast around my picture.

Here they are after editing.  The colors are pretty accurate, but the pink is more vibrant than what is showing in the picture.

Another problem I have is bright colors. I can make the background light, but it makes the object too washed out.

 Here is the picture right after I took it.

This is right after editing. It is so bright, that you can't really see the details.

This is my new Koi soap.

Any suggestion on how to solve this problem?

Making Up For Lost Time - Making Soap!

It's been busy in A Breath Of French Air's soap kitchen this month! I've been cranking out the soap, so I thought I would share with you some of my new products.

Eucalyptus Charcoal soap - It's invigorating, fresh, and wonderful for the skin! Charcoal draws out toxins in the skin, so it's perfect to use as a facial soap! I divided up the batch and used gold mica for the swirls (below) and gold stars on top. The stars are skin safe and wash off after the first use. I think they both turned out awesome!

The top two are my Lemongrass soaps. I used the hot process method, so they are a little more rustic looking. They have a greenish tinge since I use French Green Clay, which contains actual decomposed plant material, making French Green Clay very nutritious for the skin. Calendula petals are on top to add some prettiness!

The last soap I am going to show is my famous Pumpkin Lavender soap. It's all the rave, and hard to keep in stock! The scent sounds weird, but it's amazing together!

I have many more to show, so I will be back with more pictures! Thanks for reading.

Missing in action in St. Louis

Less than a week after my last post, I fell in my house and broke my ankle. I can't think of a better excuse than this for not updating my blog! Ha!

I started shipping out orders 2 weeks after I fell. I borrowed a wheelchair from a friend and wheeled myself around the basement (I scooted on my rear to get down the stairs) and filled orders.

I didn't feel comfortable making soap until I was more steady on my feet. I didn't make soap for about 2 months and my first batch turned out beautifully, except I forgot the fragrance oil! It was supposed to be scented in Mistletoe and Ivy, but now they are lovely unscented soap.

I named the soap Snowballs.

I  have been restocking soap, and a few days ago I made more Peppermint Crunch. I have a hard time making soap to look like a previous batch, but these look identical!

The color I used was a combination of TBK's red and NG's Tomato Red.

I think they turned out cute!

The peppermint soap is available now and the snowball soap will be soon.
Stay tuned!