Soap Ball Experiment

Late last year I ordered the small silicone 9 ball flexible mould from Aussie Soap Supplies.  I had read on other posts that it was easy to unmould and one of the tips I had picked up was to put your mould in the freezer to held with unmoulding.  I wasn't sure if this would really work with palm oil free cold pressed soap so I only ordered one mould.  Having some left over honey and oatmeal soap mix, I poured this into the cavities with if I'm honest expectations of future frustrations when unmoulding.  I had no idea of what to expect, after the soap had cured I popped the mould into the freezer wondering if the promise of perfectly round soap balls would soon materialise.

The brown marks are oatmeal and honey.
Note the air bubbles

After taking the mould out of the freezer, I was really surprised how easy they were to release from the mould.  As you can see in the photo, lovely round balls were formed each with diameters of 22mm.  I tried to get as many air bubbles out of them but because the soap had traced very quickly, it was alot thicker than what I would have chosen to pour into this mould.  I will bear this in mind for future use.  It is hard to see in this photo (I don't have a fancy smancy camera) but a lovely shine was left on the exterior of the balls from the high quality silicone that was used for making the mould.

Will I use this mould again?  Absolutely, I just wished that I had ordered a couple of these so I can make lots of soap balls at the one time.  One plan for these delightful balls is to use as embeds.  Hmm, I may need to order some more

Honey & Oatmeal Soap, Yumm

I've just finished wrapping my natural honey & oatmeal palm oil free soaps ready to take with me to show my girlfriends next week when I catch up with them.  I hope they like the packaging.  I love this simple yet exquisitely moisturising soap made up of local Australian honey, oatmeal, saponified: olive oil; coconut oil; rice bran oil and cocoa butter.  It is not fragranced by any essential oils but I can definitely smell the cocoa butter and there is very light aroma of honey.  I first made a similar bar some 7/8 years ago for my husband to use with his dry skin.  I also suffer from dry skin patches and find this bar really moisturises  my skin.  Over the years I've tweaked and adapted the original recipe until I am happy with the one I have now.  Unlike many large companies that mass produce soap, I make my soap using the cold pressed method,  because of this, glycerin a natural by product of the saponification process is retained in my soaps and not removed to be used in other products.



This soap is good enough to eat so to be on the safe side I made sure I placed a label on the back clearly stating "Do not eat" :-)

Baby Shower Soaps All Wrapped & Ready To Go

Well the time has come to share pictures of the soaps and tea baths I made for my niece to give as thank you gifts for her baby shower..  I've been patient, truly I have and only snuck a peak at them once or twice while they were curing.  The cupcake soaps had a rattle stuck in the top and the bars of soaps were wrapped in 'nappies'.  All were made using vegetable oils, Essential Oils and natural colourants.

Why I Choose To Make My Soaps Palm Oil Free

 To use palm oil or not is a debate that people in the soaping community have some strong views about, as I personally experienced whilst on holiday in Queensland a few months ago.  I was visiting a well known tourist area  in the tropical rainforest region and spotted a store that sold handmade soap and other toiletries.   I love trying other handmade and supporting small businessesproducts and I was looking at the products when the store owner approached me.

As usual they gave the usual spiel about how the soaps were made from hand etc and when asked what method was used to make the soap, I was promptly told "that it was by a little old method that I wouldn't know about called cold process soap making".  Now I was raised to be polite, but they really made my ears prick up and my nostrils flare at  the condescending attitude of store owner.  I thought keep calm and ask if they stocked any palm oil free soap.  Big mistake,  I was  subjected to another discussion about how cold process soap could not be made without the use of palm oil, how they use palm oil sourced from sustainable sources.  Great news that they use sustainable oil but no where did they have this advertised whether on their packaging or elsewhere.  I know it's not mandatory but if they are going to be passionate about using sustainable palm oil wouldn't you think they would advertise it?

 I couldn't believe how much ill informed information I was hearing. I had had enough and decided that it was time to tell  the person that indeed I did know about the cold process soap making and that it is possible to make palm oil free soap. The picture attached to this post is an example of a palm oil free soap I made using olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, rice bran oil and turmeric as a colourant.

 I have been making cold pressed soap since 2007 and started out using palm oil in my soap.  Over the years however,  I became aware of issues relating to the over exploitation of palm oil plantations in Borneo and Sumatra in South East Asia such as  mass deforestation,  species such as Orangutans and the Sumatran Tigers being  threatened with extinction.  Not to mention the exploitation of the indigenous communities and loss of their lands.

There are on the other hand, convincing arguments for using sustainable palm oil.  For example, that soap makers contribute to only 1% of all palm oil consumption and that per unit area, palm oil makes 10 times the amount of oil as soybeans,  grapeseeds or sunflowers, it is therefore in some ways more environmentally friendly.

So why use palm oil in soap making?  Not only does palm oil  add firmness to a bar of soap, it also contains conditioning properties for the skin.  These can also be achieved by using oils such as rice bran, and coconut oil.

Palm oil is now the most widely used vegetable oil and can be found in so much processed food As well as a plethora of other products such as shampoo.  Take a look when next out shopping at the ingredients label and see how it is used even in pastry products.  Can I make a difference? I hope so.  It  is for this reason that I have decided to make palm oil free products.

If you are buying hand made soap and other products, I encourage you to choose ones that are either palm oil free or at least ones that confirm only sustainable palm oil is used in the making of the products.