Birthdays, Holidays, Soap, Sick Kids, and Homeschooling

  I just realized I have not posted to this blog in a very long time.  It seems that I lost track of time. I don't know how I could have manged that.  I spent most of the weeks leading up to Christmas desperately trying to fill orders, plan birthday parties, buy presents, cook food, prepare for a week long trip to visit my family on the other side of the state, and take care of whole bunch of sick kids.  Murphy's Law is always lurking in our house.  I survived December, but succumbed to illness myself while visiting my family (sorry for the unintended present).  We finally drug our exhausted, sick, and fed up with the holidays selves through our door, and collapsed.  We only got to collapse for about 10 hours, then the kids had to be at school.  Back into the swing of things, full tilt. Homeschool, school, work, clean, cook, and repeat.  Needless to say the two little ones are both sick again.  I did manage to make some soap and will post pictures soon.  Someday I will have time to make more, I think.

Time 4 Learning Review

I've been invited to try Time4Learning's online education program for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience! Find out how to write your own curriculum review.

Grandma's Lye Soap

I think that maybe I should have called this soap Not Grandma's Lye Soap.  This soap is definitely an improvement over the lye heavy soap that Grandma used to make.  In the past making soap was a kind of guessing game.  It was almost impossible to know what your lye concentration was, so the soaps often turned out with a bit too much.  Everyone has heard the stories about how Grandma's homemade soap took your skin off.  Today we have modern scientific methods of measuring lye, so our soaps are very accurate.  This soap is made with 100% lard.  I hesitated for a long time to try animal fats in my soaps, but I love it.  It makes a very hard, white bar of soap that lathers very well. This soap also lasts a long time because it is so hard.

So give a bar of gentle and creamy Grandma's Lye Soap a try today.  Don't forget to use the codeME

20% Off Handmade Soap Holiday Sale

Get all Handmade Soaps Olive Oil, Lard, and Goats Milk,20% off our already low  prices.  Handmade soap for under $2.00 a bar.  Use code MERRY CHRISTMAS at checkout.

www.avalonsoapworks.blogspot.com

Cyber Monday Deals

I know Cyber Monday is a bit off topic for a soap blog, but the deals out there are so good this year that I wanted to share a few items with you. Amazon.com has some of the best Cyber Monday deals.  They have a great deal on a Kitchen Aide  mixer I wish I was getting for Christmas.
Shop Amazon's Cyber Monday Week

Another great site is Alice.com 
http://www.alice.com/referral/7B8B15

Yes, I do get paid for referring you to these locations, but they are truly great sites with some amazing Cyber Monday deals. So please check them out.

     

How to make (or How to not make) Goatsmilk Soap

I made my first batch of goat milk soap the other night.  I figured after 11 years of soap making I cold handle it .  I froze my goats milk into a slush and then added the lye slowly. I got a great creamy color, not orange or burned. I thought, success! I did it.  I couldn't wait to run down the stairs the next morning and find out how awesome my soap had turned out. Much to my surprise I was not greeted with beautiful creamy hard soap logs.  I was instead staring at a log of soap that had a great tan color but was covered in a thick film of oil.  The last thing a soap maker wants to see is a puddle of oil on top of the soap they so lovingly put to bed the night before.  It could have been many things, it might have taken too long to trace and lost too much heat (when I went to mix my lye and oil I discovered that my stick blender had quit working) sometimes hand stirring will do that, especially with olive oil.  It could have been my scale (it is really really old and may not be working so well).  The soap could have gotten too hot, or maybe not hot enough while in the mold.  It is so hard to figure out sometimes.  So I decided to rebatch, if i have to do this I would much rather do it with "young" soap.  So I got out the crock pot and unmolded the spongy oily mess into it.  I reran my recipe and decided to add .25 oz of lye, so I mixed the lye with a little cold water.  Using a potato masher I mashed the soap with the lye. It is heating now.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  I will let you know how it turns out and post pictures tomorrow.
The Complete Guide to Creating Oils, Soaps, Creams, and Herbal Gels for Your Mind and Body: 101 Natural Body Care Recipes (Back-To-Basics)

Food Grade Sodium Hydroxide Lye Micro Beads, 2 Lbs. (Buy 5 get $15 off)

Soaper's Delight Organic Coconut Oil, 2 Gallon

The Essential Guide To Soap Making For Beginners

Genco Pomace Olive Oil - 1 Gallon

Making Natural Liquid Soaps: Herbal Shower Gels / Conditioning Shampoos / Moisturizing Hand Soaps

Coming Soon: New All Natural Products!

    I have become increasingly aware of how much I don't want my own family to use products containing artificial fragrances or preservatives. These artificial fragrances and preservatives can be incredibly dangerous to our health.
    So from now on we will be making all of our products 100% natural.  I will be expanding my products to include milk soaps, such as goat milk and coconut milk soaps, as well as a number of new soapy creations.  I am looking forward to creating some new items!  Look for them soon, and don't forget to follow our progress on the blog.