Pet Peve of the week

Dove soap and it's "1/4 moisturizing lotion" claim!

The list of ingredients

Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowater or Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acide, Sodium Isethionate, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocarnidopropyl Betand, Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5, Yellow 6

That's a bit confusing, so let's break it down.

1. is a surfactant (a detergent or wetting agent which lowers the surface tension of a liquid)
2. a vegetable based stearic acid
3. beef tallow (yes - ANIMAL FAT)
4. palm oil
5. lauric acid can be either coconut oil or palm kernel oil
6. is another surfactant used for creamy dense lather
7. is the salt derivative found in stearic acid
8. is another synthetic surfactant derived from coconut oil
9. another name for coconut oil
10. another name for palm kernel oil
11. fragrance oil
12. shea butter
13. common table salt
14.preservative
15. another preservative
16. color white
17. color yellow
18. another color yellow

Yes - it contains not only beef fat but palm oil! But let's move on...

Where is the moisturizing lotion? Well, there is no "lotion" in soap. What there is, is unsoponified oils. When we make our soap recipe we add up the oils and calculate the amount of lye needed to turn it into soap. Good handmade soap always leaves some of those oils unsoponified (not turned into soap) to give a soothing rich lather that WILL NOT DRY the skin. ALL the lye is used up - but not all the oils.

So what the recipe for the above Dove tells us is that some of the oils are left unsoponified.

OK, fine - which oils? Let's look. The highest percentage ingredient always goes first.

3 - beef fat
4 - palm oil
5 - either coconut oil or palm kernel oil

So, use Dove soap and that moisture you are feeling is beef fat.

Use a good soap from a handmade source and it will be either olive oil, or another vegetable oil. (I use a high percentage of olive in all my soaps)

Just make sure that your handmade supplier doesn't use Palm Oil - it's bad for you and it's bad for the Orangutans.

What is "the Ultimate" in soap?

I wanted to make a soap that was special. I might have gone overboard a bit...

Over the past week I have collected ingredients. Today I finally managed to find the last one - raw, undyed, unbleached, un spun silk.

This soap has everything I could possibly think of to make it so good for you - it's practically a visit to the beautician and a holiday on a tropical island, all rolled into one.

It has over 20 different ingredients

olive oil
ricebran oil
sunflower oil
soy bean oil
coconut oil
castor oil
evening primrose oil
macadamia oil
jojoba oil
sesame oil
sweet almond oil
shea butter
coco butter
mango butter
glycerine
vitamin E
grape seed extract
silk
water
French pink clay
and of course, the thing that you need to make it all into soap - lye.

When I was mixing this I only used my blender for a few seconds, then I hand stirred it for about fifteen minutes, used the blender for a few seconds, hand stirred, etc. This took much longer then usual, but I wanted to get it as smooth as possible, and have 100% control of the thickness. Two hours in the kitchen in February in Brisbane - I must be mad! I'm certainly hot!

But I think it will all be worth it.

It's now in the oven, where it will sit with the heat on very low for the next three hours. This will add to the mellowing as well. Tomorrow afternoon I'll take it out and look at it.

I admit it, I'm excited!

The Queensland Floods - and soap

You'd expect a lot of lather, wouldn't you?

Actually, the soap has come in very handy. I had a lot on hand, so much of it went into boxes and was delivered to people who needed it. Not just people who were living in evacuation centres, but the people who volunteered to clean up. They were very icky after long days shovelling mud, and I thought that they would like some nice homemade soap to help them get clean again. It was very well recieved!

We have also been selling soap to raise money for the Premiers Flood Appeal. So far we have sold...

4 Bars of Beer Soap = $20



2 bars of Cranberry Soap = $10



2 bars of Sensitive Skin Soap = $10



2 bars of Castile Soap = $10



2 bars of Rose Soap = $10



2 bars of Green Tea = $10




(I'm over the pictures, so just the facts, mam)

2 bars of Apple Pie = $10

1 Banana Cake = $5

1 Lemon Myrtle = $5

1 Goats Milk and Honey = $5

1 Kaffir Lime = $5

1 Dog Soap = $5

Total so far = $105 (unless I've added it up wrong)

If you would like to help, please go to http://warmsigh.etsy.com - at the moment 100% of my store is being donated, and I'd like to keep going with that, but might have to drop it to 50% soon, otherwise I won't be able to eat next week!

If you would like to help but don't need soap, http://www.etsy.com and search for "Brisbane Flood" and that should bring up all the listings.

Thank you to both BrisStyle and the Australian Flood Relief for their help on Etsy, selling for this great cause.

French milled - or hand milled - soap

On this lovely wet and rainy day I have started my first Hand Milled soap - also sort of known as French milled, only they use stainless steel rollers and I'm using a wooden spoon!

The soap I have already made I chop finely or grate and put in a double boiler, then I melt it, adding extra oil and some scent once it has totally melted, before putting it in a mold to set.

The advantage is an extra smooth texture. Looking forward to seeing it!

BrisStyle mother and child handcrafted market

One of the things I love most about BrisStyle is knowing you can go to the market and not see cheap plastic toy stamped "made in china". I love the variety of things and the fact that they are all handmade with talent and love.

In fact, I'm constantly blown away by the imagination it takes to create so many different things!

The BrisStyle indi mother and child market will be on at Racecourse Road Hamilton on the 9th October. The theme is PINK - we are raising money for Breast Cancer.

The Galozels will be there. :)

More info

Interview with BrisStyle

Many thanks to the wonderful Ladies at BrisStyle who have included an interview with me about my art and craft in their Blog!

Read it here

Featuring, of course, the Galozels!

And, as this all goes to air, I'm in the weedpatch taking photos for the next book "Pirates!" It's a very windy day, and the Galozels are distracted and not staying on their marks, but we will get there.

:)

New Galozel Adventure!

A new friend joins the Galozels in the form of Flip, the dragon.

Flip has many adventures as he learns that you don't have to be big to be a big help, and that amazing things can be achieved if you practice!

Gem the Wonder Dog joins in the fun.

You can buy your own copy of "It's hard to be a Dragon" which comes with it's own toy Galozel from my etsy store