I really would like to see if I can make a go of this soap stuff. I think I like it because it’s so challenging and there are so many things to learn.
An example is what I learned this past week. I was working on a new type of soap that’s going to be called – Hanging with Ed, and it involved putting the soap not only in a circle mold, but also adding a rope to it.
OK, here I go. First things first. What should it smell like? Well I was making it for guys and so it should smell like something a guy would like. I finally picked out a fragrance called Spiced Mahogany. The reviews all said that it’s the BEST guy smell. So I thought I’d give it a shot.
Now when making the normal soap there wasn’t too many surprises which is good. But I did have a dilemma. I wanted to make a two colored soap (not like the whole new mold and string thing wasn’t enough!). And the other color I wanted to add to the soap was a brownish color. I knew that I didn’t have a ‘brown’ color in my every growing soap stash, so I thought why can’t I color it with cocoa powder? That’s brown right? Well before I made the leap of faith, I Googled it quick and Shazam!! You can add cocoa powder to soap. OK, now I’m back in business. So I mixed up my two colors and all of a sudden they are setting up faster than I was hoping that they would.
Here is where the whole learning curve thing comes in. Different oils react differently with different fragrances. Then throw in some cocoa powder and you’ve got a party!
I decided to stay calm and see how this whole thing was going to work out. Everything was going pretty good and then I really wasn’t sure what happened at first. All I knew is that something in my little world changed. And then I found out what happened. The top of my inexpensive soap dispenser (50 cent ketchup bottle) blew it’s lid. And when I say blew – yea.. blew! As I was looking around the counter top I was pretty grateful for the covering that I always lay down first. 
And now I know why on the soap blogs they wear an apron. Seriously up until now I thought it was just a way to promote their soap company. Well not anymore!
I did eventually get everything put into the mold and had tons of soap left over. So I ended up just making some hand bars of this batch also. 
When they came out of the mold they actually didn’t look too bad for my first time. 
Now all I have to do is to find my apron for the next batch!!