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!

New soaps for my Etsy shop, ABreathOfFrenchAir

I have been busy in the soap kitchen lately and thought I would share with you.
Gentleman's Club is a wonderful blend of Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Amber, and a touch of Cinnamon. It really smells like heaven! I think it's a great unisex scent, so don't let the antique ties fool ya!

This soap is made with Indian Sandalwood fragrance. It's a nice spicy scent. I'm still working on a new name. Any ideas?

 Ah, another beer soap! This one is scented with Cedarwood and Ylang Ylang. I love this soap and it's in my shower right now.

I am always looking for creative ways to wrap my soap. I find it difficult to come up with wrapping that is attractive, but is also inexpensive and not time consuming. It's fun to get creative with a few soaps, but when you have to wrap lots of them, the creative part is finding a fast and cheap way to do it.
The soaps above are mine. These are round soaps that I made in a PVC pipe. They are made with beer and are geared more towards men. I wrapped the soaps with coffee filters and used a round sticker to cover where the filter gathered together.
I went browsing on Flickr and came up with some cute wrappings. Look how cute this is (above). Little bandanna's wrapped around block soap...adorable!
I love the way these soaps are wrapped. Each one comes inside a fabric bag. I like the wrapping around the bag too. I only wish I knew how to sew!
I have used these boxes, but have not wrapped my soaps. I like how each soap is wrapped in different wrapping paper. Clever!
This soap reminds me of my beer soaps. I love the color of the label and the wrapping texture!

**To find out more about these products, click on the picture.

Etsy Weekend Deals!

Etsy featured my SAFE Team in their Etsy Weekend Deals! They featured my Intoxicating Beer Soap that's made out of real beer!
It's time to relax this weekend! Come see all the wonderful bath and body products featured! Weekend Deal

**What does Beer soap smell like? Well, soap made with beer does not have a scent! The beer I have here is scented with Sea Moss, which is a fresh clean scent...perfect for guys and gals!

Can You Picture The Scent?

I added candles to my Etsy shop awhile back. I have always wanted to make candles and after lots of testing (which was fun!) I listed my candles. I think bath products go well with candles and what better way to pamper yourself!

The problem I have this that I love so many scents, so I get carried away when ordering my oils! I also have a hard time narrowing down the size of candle. I decided to offer tea candles, round tin candles, and glass candles. Tea candles are nice to have around and are pretty inexpensive to ship. I am offering glass candles because they look really nice I am selling them in my shop...so no shipping costs!
One of my favorite scents is Tomato Leaf. It sounds like a strange scent, but it's really a nice FRESH scent! My son was home last weekend and after smelling this candle, he said, "wow, that really smells like a tomato vine". This coming from a young man that won't even walk into a bath and body shop! He even took one home with him. Now that's an endorsement!

How much do you love bath and body? Now you can buy at 50% off!

Coming June 1st - A MONTH long hunting game! Every day I will "hide" a word, number, or symbol somewhere in one of my Etsy listings. I will post the "search" every day and the first person to find it in my shop will receive that item for 50% OFF! I will post the "search" during various times each day so everyone had a chance to find it. Check back every day for the new hint!
So, be sure to check out my shop at ABreathOfFrenchAir every day for fun discounts!

Our Grand Opening At Crestwood Court Is This Weekend!!

Come visit us at Crestwood Court! We are having our Grand Opening on Saturday and Sunday, March 7th and 8th. Ribbon cutting begins at noon on Saturday. We will have demo's throughout both days, so come and meet all the artists!
Here are a few pictures of my shelves. Above are my foam scrubs and matching soaps.
I arranged my products by scent.
Paul, from Wilson Graphics, made my banner. I love it!!

FREE Shipping This Weekend on Cold Process Soaps, Lip Balms, Solid Lotions, and Body Lotions!

Buy six or more bars of soap and receive FREE shipping!
Buy six or more Lip Balms and receive FREE shipping!
Receive FREE shipping for orders of three or more body lotion!
And last, but not least, FREE shipping on 5 or more solid lotions!

Come stock up for the holidays!! ABreathOfFrenchAir.Etsy.Com
**mention "blog" in your notes to seller and receive a free gift!

The Fall Craft Show Was A Sucess!

The show is over...whew! It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! Above is my table. This was taken before the sun went down and right after the doors were first opened.
I was the first table by the front door! Lots of wonderful comments on all the wonderful scents everyone smelled when they walked up to the table.
The view from the side of my table. We had, I think, 23 booths! The bar was in the back. We served cheese and crackers and there was a cash bar.

I Am Featured In NeatoStuff!!

I am featured on NeatoStuff!! They featured my beer soap! I love this site and am so honored to have them feature my Beer Soap!

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Goat's Breath Beer Soap!!

I used beer from a local brewery to make this soap! It's called Goat's Breath and it's made at the O'Fallon Brewery in O'Fallon, Missouri.
I added a little Happy Man scent to the beer just to jazz it up a bit. It's very slightly scented.
For those that are not familiar with Beer Soap, the soap does not have a beer scent when finished. It will sometimes have a slight "nutty" scent.
Wouldn't this make a great gift for any man?
It just looks so "manly"

Twenty One Steps To Making Handmade Cold Process Soap

Gather all your equipment. I have my gloves, goggles, scale, lye, beer (making beer soap), and various containers.
Getting ready to pour the beer into the pitcher.
Measuring out the beer. All materials are measured by weight and not volume.
Measuring out the Lye. You can see that I have covered my counter tops with newspapers. It keeps my counters free of soap and makes cleaning up much easier. I just gather the paper and throw it in the recycling bin.
Adding my lye to the beer. I always do this in the sink since it's safer and easier to clean up.
Mixing the lye into the beer.
Watching and stirring in horror as my beer reacts to the lye and foams up and spills all over the sink...see why I mix in the sink!! This is the first time this has happened with any of my batches! It was flat (or so I thought) and has been open (and poured) for two days. Sigh....
Starting over with water this time. LOL!
Measuring out the Lye...
Pouring the lye into the water.....again....
Stirring the solution...again.....! I always wear rubber gloves and (knock on wood) have never been burned from the lye. I also wear goggles at all times.
Here I have my coconut oil measured in the pitcher.
Added the Palm Oil.
Added Palm Kernel Flakes.
Added the Shea Butter. This is 8% of the batch.
All melted and ready to go! At this time I usually leave everything and go about my day for a few hours. My kids are not home, and hubby is away at work. What I didn't show were pictures of adding the other oils in the recipe. These are added to the melted oil and help cool off the oils.
All set to go! I have measured the oils. I'm using lemongrass and black tea.
JUST stirred the lye mixture into the oils. I stir by hand for a bit to see how everything reacts.
I use the stick blender to finish up the batch. You can see it coming to "trace" right here. See how the blender is leaving a "wake" in the mixture....all set to pour!
All poured! Now I cover the mold with a piece of cardboard and then place a few blankets on top. I don't uncover until the next morning.
Thanks for taking the tour with me!