Two New Soaps

Last year I sold a popular, spicily fragrant soap but my supplier discontinued the fragrance. I was truly bummed because it was a personal favorite of mine too. I am pleased that I got ahold of several lbs. of this fragrance recently and have returned Secrets of India handmade soap to my shop! Also back in stock, Coconut Lemongrass handmade soap. Both are also available in my Etsy shop.

It is such a pleasure having Vicky home for the summer now. I use the term "home" loosely, but still. She is either at the beach, at work, with friends, and beginning Monday, take summer courses at FGCU. That girl likes to stay busy!

Monday night is the Senior awards night at Geoff's high school. He is receiving awards for academics and because he's getting a Bright Futures scholarship for college. Then he graduates from high school May 29th. I can hardly believe it!

My new Soap Hutch mold arrived two days ago. It was a little tricky putting it together, but I got it. I can see now how great it will be to make 40+ bars per pour. Right now my biggest mold makes only 18 bars, so I am constantly making the same soap over and over again to keep up my stock. This will be so much better.

I have to figure out now the oils, water and lye to fill the mold to a specific depth, which will be 2.25 inches, the width of my bars. Then each of the 3 logs will be measured and cut in my trusty miter box. I'm a little nervous about making such a huge, heavy batch of soap because of my arthritic hands. Yesterday I got a nice big heavy duty pail with a pour spout to mix the soap in. I'm going to try to make some this afternoon.

Well, I did it! I actually figured out the volume just right for the height I wanted. Here's a photo of my new mold filled up with fresh soap (plastic wrap on top). Each of the logs will yield about 14 bars.

To all the moms out there -- an early Happy Mother's Day! My family is taking me out to lunch today instead of Sunday because it will be much less crowded.