I was given some Saskatchewan Honey recently, isn’t this
just the cutest little jar you ever did see?!
Naturally, where most people see food, I see soap. I
immediately started plotting how I could utilize some of this delicious honey
in soap, mostly because I wanted to give a bar of this soap as a thank-you for
the jar of honey. I thought lavender and honey would go nice together, so I set
out to make a Lavender Honey soap:
I didn’t actually put any lavender in the soap, but the
fragrance is lavender. By the way, has anyone ever tried lavender honey? I tried a lavender truffle once and it was…interesting. I’ve never tried flavored honey,
but I hear you can get honey in all kinds of flavors…apparently I’ve been
living under a rock!
Sorry, I got a bit distracted there. I put the soap in the
freezer, because I knew the honey would heat up. Here is it out of the mold:
I had left it in the freezer
overnight, but that obviously wasn’t enough because I ended up with a partial
gel:
The partial gel wouldn’t be so bad, but putting the soap in
the freezer also caused the soap to be crumbly and kind of spotty. I’ve noticed
that putting soaps in my freezer tends to do that, I’ll have to remember to
avoid putting them in the freezer if possible. However, not to be deterred, I
set about to make another batch.
It appears I forgot to take pictures of this part, but this
time I poured the soap into my divider mold, because I find my soaps don’t tend
to heat up or gel in my divider mold. Much better this time:
Small problem though…I forgot the honey. ‘Hi, thank you for
the jar of honey, I hope you enjoy this bar of Lavender Honeyless soap…’
I give up.
Oh, and then this happened:
Sigh.
But…I still have hope, I just finished this earlier today, it’s my soap for Amy’s Multi-Color Gradient Challenge:
LOVED this challenge and I learned a lot about combining
colors to get the gradients, Amy’s tutorial and instructions were super helpful
and easy to follow. Can’t wait to cut this one to reveal the colourful inside! Is anyone else taking part in this month's challenge?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great week!
Oh no! You have been visited by soap gremlins. I hope they moved somewhere else before you made the gradient soap. What happened to the muffin? Did it also overheat?
ReplyDeleteThe Lavender Honeyless soap is very beautiful. I would give one bar of both soaps to the person that gave you the honey.
That's a great idea, maybe I'll give her one bar of each. I'm not sure what happened to the cupcake, it either overheated or cooled from the outside too rapidly. There is also a line on the inside of the silicone cupcake mold, right where it split.
DeleteYour lavender soap in the divider mold is very pretty. To everyone it would still be perfect even without the honey. :-) I can't wait to see your multi-color gradient challenge soap. So far the top looks beautiful. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Silvia!
DeleteGrate combination! Even though I am big fun of lavender EO and honey I haven’t combined those ingredients yet. So sorry for this partial gel but soaps still look beautiful! I always gel my soaps but I would also like to try preventing of gel by freezing the soap because I suppose that colors would be much lighter. So more experiments to be done!:)
ReplyDeleteHi Gordana! I do prefer my soaps to be ungelled because they look creamier, but that's just personal preference and sometimes it presents a whole new challenge trying to keep them from gelling. As a customer, I'm not picky...ungelled or gelled, it doesn't matter to me! Good luck with your experimenting :)
DeleteI am a big fan of lavender honey, but haven't tried yet in soap, maybe next time, thanks for the idea, Cee!
ReplyDeleteYour cupcake soap is so cute, and your challenge soap looks gorgeous, can't wait to see it cut!
Thanks Nat, lavender honey would be very nice to try in soap!
DeleteOh Cee! Your day sounds like some of mine!! I just had my first freezer soap form a partial gel and was so disappointed....it was a lovely smelling Chia Tea, on the other hand my son will love it! I think I soapped at to high a temp....what temp was your soap when you mixed? The lavender soap in the bar mold is beautiful, do you cover it? Hope your challenge soap turns out awesome!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Gloria
Hi Gloria, I actually did a little research after my partial gel and discovered that apparently you can put your soap in the oven (as if you were CPOPing), even afterwards, to force a full gel...so just something to keep in mind if that happens again.
DeleteI'm so sorry that happened with your Chai Tea soap, but I know your son will love it.
I soap with RT oils and warm lye, so I'm not sure of the exact temp. I think part of my problem was that I heated the honey/water solution to help it mix better into the soap batter, but I think I heated it a bit too much. As soon as the honey hit the soap it turned darker, like it was gelling in the pot.
And no, I don't cover my soaps...I just spritz occasionally with rubbing alcohol to keep the ash away. Have a great rest of your weekend!
I love the jar and I love your soaps! I think that's what I really admire about you CP soapers is you can look at food and think how can I soap with it. I look at food and think what's the best way to get it into my stomach.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've had lavendar honey, but last Christmas I picked up a jar of pumpkin honey and a jar of blueberry raspberry honey. Both are very tasty although I guess they add those flavours into the honey after the fact.
Your lavendar honey jam is beautiful, I don't see anything wrong with it, and I'm sure the recipient of your soap wouldn't either. LOL about the lavendar honey-less jam, it's gorgeous and that's what counts. Plus all your soaps are fantastic no matter what you put in or leave out.
Some days you (and by you I mean me) have to learn to give up for the day and try something else. Your challenge soap looks amazing, can't wait to see the rest of the layers.
Mmmm, pumpkin honey and blueberry raspberry honey would be so delish! What great combinations.
DeleteIt's so true, some days you have to know when to take a step back, but that's usually when the stubborn side of me kicks in, and I always have to try 'one more time'. I exasperate myself sometimes! :p
Hmmmm, I think these specks could be related to honey! I've had this happening with honey soaps, but not really sure whether not putting the soap into the fridge (or freezer, would make any difference. This could be worth of trying. The second one looks gorgeous and so as this cupcake. I've seen this pic and I felt almost like crying, because it's such a delicacy!
ReplyDeleteThe last one is sooooo good,I love the colour, can't wait to see it unmould and cut!
Thanks Maja, I felt like crying too...hopefully it's just one of those weird things that never happens again!
DeleteCan it be that I am starting to rub off on you? Because you know...if you want trouble with your soap, come sit next to me =) he he he
ReplyDeleteThey are all beautiful Cee! Even the one with the partial gel..and I did not know you can put it in the oven after to force a gel. That's good to know. I can't wait to see your gradient soap!
Lol, maybe you are rubbing off on me...in a good way of course! :p
DeleteI haven't had a chance to try out the oven trick yet...although, I have since had a soap that started to gel on its own, so I put it in the oven just to get it into full gel, which worked well. I guess I will just have to be careful to watch and try to catch those ones right away :)
I didn't know you could get honey in different flavors either...apparently I've been living under a rock too! Sorry about the partial gel..hopefully it'll fade out more, you think? The Lavender Honeyless soap (that was cute, lol) is so pretty and delicate-looking. I like how you dropped or splatted (real technical word there) the white on top...kind of reminds me of a pastry. Can't wait to see the gradient soap cut..that color is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kalla! I don't think there is any saving the honey soap...I have to figure out how to recycle it, or maybe we will use it ourselves...it was only a few bars :)
DeleteYour soap is beautiful in spite of the partial gel...then to redo and forget the honey is totally something I would do...but yet again another soap beauty.
ReplyDeleteCant wait to see what your challenge soap looks like...I am late in signing up...and here you are already done, Go Cee Gee!! :)
Thanks Stacie...can't wait to see your challenge soap! :D
DeleteSorry to hear that you had some problems with your recent soap batches, Cee! The lavender honey soap should still be lovely to use, though. I'm a big fan of honey in soap and food. I've never tried lavender honey before, although I meant to buy some at the farmer's market one day. I was doing the big walk-around, deciding what to buy, and forgot to go back for it. (Sigh.) I haven't seen it at the market again yet. I'll have to keep my eye out the next time I go! Can't wait to see your challenge soap cut!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny, I guess it was my turn to host the soap gremlins for a while :) Hope you find your lavender honey again, that totally sounds like something I would do...it's easy to get distracted with so many things going on!
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