Soap Gremlins-0, Soap Doctor-1

Soaping can be fun. It can be scary at first: the thought of working with caustic materials (lye) and all. But truthfully, the image of a mad scientist laughing in a sinister way, while mixing multicolored liquids to create the world’s next super-anything, was appealing. Ok, so sinister laugh and lab coat are optional. Proper clothing and protective ware are recommended, but more on that another time. Most of my soaping experiments (or creations, as I see them) are a success. But every once in a while, things don’t go as planned. Sometimes I get a chance to revisit a previous creation, and try and improve it.  My Orange Julius soap was one such opportunity. Although a beautiful bar of bubbly goodness, this soap posed a problem: the scent vanished. No, it wasn’t magic or an evil spell that did it. It was science. Ok, so I don’t know all the sciency reasons why, but I do know the following: 1) Citrus based essential oils are prone to fading or dissipating over time in cold processed soap. 2) Orange Julius was made with orange essential oil.

So you see, I knew it was bound to happen, but didn’t want to believe it. I don’t have a lot of experience with citrus essential oils in soap, and this was my first round with the afore mentioned orange. So, sad as I was at the thought of my beautiful bar being smell-less, I decided to re-batch. Re-batch, you say? Yes. Re-batch. If you are not familiar with what that is, google it. That’s what I did. Ok, I did a little more than just google it. I did my research and decided that the soap bars were still made up of gorgeous, handcrafted, good soap. I just wanted some fragrance!

So I cut my left over bars of smell-less Orange Julius soap, and put them in a crock-pot. I added some water, turned it all on high and walked away. For anyone that knows crock pots and soaping, I can hear you all gasping from here. Way over here, in Tomball, TX. In my house. Address unknown. Anywho, I did exactly what you all are thinking: I forgot about the soap. And just to recap: I turned it on high. Fast forward a couple of hours and I remember said soap. Well, I know that I was plain lucky as I ran over to my crockpot, sure to find a burnt offering to the soap gremlins (they are a real thing), only to find that in my haste, I hadn’t put the top on all the way, therefore robbing the crock pot of a lot of its heat. Yay me!! Soap was safe!

Being the impatient person that I am, now that the soap was mostly melted down, I couldn’t wait for the last few pieces to completely liquefy, and wanted to get on with my design. I had already decided on the fragrance I was going to add in, and the thought of a mottled look with existing soap chunks peppered throughout, appealed to me. Plus, it meant I didn’t have to wait any longer. There was that, too. I added a little more water, glycerin and my fragrance. Divided up into my two colors and plopped it all in the mold. Hmm? What’s that? What fragrance did I go for? Guess I forgot to mention that. I went with Ruby Red Grapefruit. I still wanted to go with a citrus theme, in case any orange fragrance stayed in the soap from the original bar. And, let’s face it. Grapefruit is just plain yummy. It can be fancy, simple, or rustic, like my bars ended up. So, all in all, my first attempt at saving a smell-less bar from certain rejection by a world of smell-loving customers, was an all-around success. Without further ado, I give you Rustic Ruby Red. Tada!!!

From Orange Julius to Rustic Ruby Red.

Rustic Ruby Red Soap