FINALLY: Day 2 of Making Aloe Calendula Soap!

Ok, just to be honest, the reason it has taken me so long to post Day 2 of making Aloe & Calendula Soap

(although some of you may not have seen Day 1) 

is because I have been working on editing a short video on me making it. 

What I thought would be simple turned out to be a very valuable learning lesson on making and editing a video! 

On Day 1 of making Aloe Calendula Soap I showed

how I infused Calendula petals into water to make a tea.

I then infused some Calendula petals into some Olive Oil.

I froze the Calendula tea,

and I froze some Aloe Vera Gel.

I used both as the liquid in this recipe.

*(I mostly use frozen distilled water, rain water, or milks because I like to soap at lower temperatures)

Soap in the mold when finished.

New mold container.

Cut soap.

This is a great recipe! You can find it here.

Soaping 101 {extra credit challenge #3}

Catherine at Soaping 101

has an 'extra credit challenge 3' 

going on right now.

She showed how to make

a great soap technique by Vinvela Ebony called

                              dandelion Zebra soap technique. I thought I would give it a try.

I did not record the making of it, but here is the results.

I did mess up a bit by sticking the skewer too far into the soap,
but I still love the way it came out!
I use Verbena Fragrance oil.
My daughter and I actually worked on this one 
together and had great fun!
I am definitely going to try it again.
Great technique! 
Thank you Catherine from Soaping 101 and
Vinvela Ebony for sharing!

Making Aloe Calendula Soap - Day 1

Aloe Vera

MEDICINAL ALOE 

Family Name: Liliaceae  

-Aloe Vera gel-

soothing plant extract: a soothing, moisturizing extract made from the leaves of a species of aloe. Use: drugs, cosmetics

Calendula 

Latin name: Calendula officinalis

plant with yellow flowers: a garden plant of the daisy family. Flowers: bright orange or yellow. Use: in cooking, for medical purposes.  This week I am putting myself in 'class' with Catherine at Soaping 101. I love her teaching. I have been soaping for about 12 years but I have learned more from her in the last year more than I have in the last 12! If you have not had the experience of watching her video's follow this link, learn, and enjoy! Class time-1st day Soaping 101's basic Castile recipe 2 oz Castor Oil 8  oz Coconut Oil 22 oz Olive Oil 4.41 oz Lye 10.56 oz water This first day I am infusing Calendula petals into water,   And will freeze the tea. I am infusing Calendula Petals in part of the *Oil.   Camera stopped before I could finish the clip. sigh I have an Aloe plant,  but decided to use pure, ready to use, Aloe gel from the health food store that I had on hand. Catherine suggests to use pure Aloe juice, so I am hoping this gel works ok. I am also freezing this pure Aloe gel. Well, that is as far as I can go today. Coming soon: Join me for Part 2 of making Aloe Calendula Soap from Catherine's Soaping 101 video's! Hope you have great weekend. ValerieAnn *I usually infuse herbs in oils right in a crock pot, but I found this method, of Catherine's, is a much easier way for me personally, to use. Also..... Catherine did not say if the oil she used to infuse the Calendual in was some of the oils from the Bastile recipe, or another oil, and just subtracted it from the main oils she used. Plus she did not say how much oil to used to infuse the Calendula Petals into. So...... I just guessed and used about 5 oz of the Olive Oil that she has for this recipe already.

Growing Basil

Awhile ago I blogged about Growing Basil, in my hydroponic system, for eating and soaping. Basil plants last about 5 months in this system before you have to start new plants.  They just get too leggy with very few leaves. 
I bought my system from: 
AeroGarden.com 
I have been using this water garden for about three years now. 

Eight weeks ago I started a whole new set of seeds. The Aero Garden I have has 7 pods to grow in. 
It does not take long for the seeds to sprout.

This is after 3 days of being planted.

After another couple of weeks the plants grew to this height.

I have since trimmed some basil off a number of times and the plant needs another pruning.

Spring is here in Arizona, so I will be planting some Basil in my raised bed.

I love the scent and taste of fresh Basil. There is nothing like it fresh

from the plant to your plate!

 

Happy Thursday!

ValerieAnn

Salt Bar Soap

Ok. Why salt bar soap?

I often wondered that myself.

So........I did some research!

                            For one salt is effective to rejuvenate the skin cels.

It has magnesium, zinc, calcium, and potassium in it.

Salt opens up the pores to purify it.

Research shows that salt water can be effective in treating  acne.

Salt water is a common ingredient that Spas use for the whole body.

Salt water assists your skin in staying hydrated. Your skin will stay smooth and soft!

There is lots more information about the benifits of salt, but I won't go

into them all here. From all I read, and watched on Youtube,

I decided to make my own. This was a big step for me because of

all I have heard about how difficult it can be to make salt soap. 

I decided on using individual molds as apposed to loaf molds. 

Because of the minerals in salt it will inhibit lather in your bar of soap. If you want your salt bar to have any lather at all, you will have to use a rather high percentage of coconut oil which is the only oil that will produce lather in salt water.

But another problem is that a high percentage of coconut oil can be drying for you skin. Because you superfat a salt bar, and salt itself somehow cuts down the drying factor of the coconut oil, it is not drying to your skin.

You will have a hard bar of soap, but it can get crumbly. So that is

why I chose to use individual molds.

From all I  have read it is recommended to use anywhere from

80-90% coconut oil, and 15-20% superfat. The salt can be added

up to a 1:1 ratio with the amount of the oils.

I used 100% coconut milk that I froze into ice cubes. 

 I left some milk unfrozen to add to the iced milk so it would heat up to about 83 degrees.

I added my lye to the coconut milk ice cubes,

stirring until all was melted.

I had my oils already heated up..

I added my lye liquid to my oils and stick blended until I came to a light

trace and added my fragrance oil.

At medium trace I added my sea salt.

  

I poured the soap into my mold. I had some left over so I 

used some cupcake molds for the rest.

I put the soap in an 170 degree oven for about 2 1/2 hours. I wanted

it to gel completely. Once the bars cooled down I had no trouble getting them out of the mold at all. 

My Brazilian Sea Salt Soap Bars.

You can see for yourself the bubbles it makes!

.

I did 80% coconut oil, and 20 % with Olive Oil, Shea Butter, and

Castor Oil. I also used 75% Sea Salt, and 1.5 ounces of 

fragrance oil.

Thanks for stopping by~

Valerie

Homemade Toothpaste

Do you ever wish you teeth were just a 

bit whiter than they are?

You don't need any of those $very$ expensive whiteners.

All you need are some handy household items we all have in our cupboards.

One item is Baking soda.

Baking Soda alone can do the job. And in fact Baking Soda will not only whiten

your teeth it will also clean them as well.

From the 18th century, to the modern day toothpaste, baking soda was used as a cleaning agent!

When dissolved in water baking soda whitens and cleans by scraping off the yellow and brown stains that form with age and wear.

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Add water enough water to make a paste and brush your teeth like you would normally. Rinse your mouth out with water.

You will feel a tingling sensation while you are brushing, but this is normal.

Brushing with baking soda should not be done more than once a week because it can be quite abrasive and damage your tooth enamel if used too often.

Another item in your cupboard that can whiten your 

teeth is peroxide.

After brushing your teeth

 pour about 1/8 of a cup of peroxide into a container.

Swish some in your mouth for about one minute.

Continue until you have used all the peroxide in the cup.

You will feel bubbling fizzy feeling from the peroxide, this is normal.

After you are done

rinse your mouth out with water until you do not experience the bubbly fizzy feeling anymore.

It will take about 2 weeks to notice the your teeth getting whiter.

I am not a lover of the flavor of baking soda so I did some experimenting and

and came up with this recipe that I use at least once week.

*1/2 cup baking power

*2 tsp sea salt (fine)

Salt can also be used as a whitener, a cleanser, and kills bacteria in your mouth.

*1 Tbsp Orange peel power 

Orange Peel Powder is can be slightly abrasive like sea salt.

I bought Orange Peel Powder at Organic Creations.

*2 Tbsp Splenda (Your own choice to use or not)

(in my research Splenda was found to NOT promote tooth decay)

(Splenda took the edge off of the baking soda taste for me)

I mixed all of the ingredients and put it in a small container.

I add a few drops of Peroxide in a bathroom cup and mix in the above

power until it makes a paste. 

This will make just enough for

one brushing. 

When you are done

rinse out your mouth with water.

I also brush as normal with FDA approved toothpaste.

In a couple of weeks my teeth were definitely whiter, and

a friend complimented on the fact! 

Thanks for stopping by!

ValerieAnn

  

Rosehip & Jasmine Soap

I call this soap 

'Jazzy Rose'.

I had a sample of 'Rosehip & Jasmine' and thought I would

try it out in a all Goats Milk soap.

I used a 'Pringles' can and decided to cut it in

thirds, and then long ways.

Ingredients:

Cocoa Butter

Cottonseed Oil

Olive Oil

Shea Butter

Soybean Oil

and Beeswax

Fresh Goats milk

Sodium Hydroxide

Titanium Dioxide and Pink Kaolin Clay for color.

*Milder than red clay, but slightly more "pulling" than white clay - pink clay has the ability to absorb dirt, oil and bacteria from your pores. Pink clay is best suited for "normal" skin types.  

Fragrance: Rosehip & Jasmine from Brambleberry.com.

It is a very nice scent. Both fragrances comes through without one

over powering the other, or your nose!

I added a different color to each container and blended well. 

It became thick fast, so I had to spoon in each layer and pound

it down on the counter top to get it blended.

Happy Monday!

ValerieAnn