The Lather Project: Soap Updates

I wanted to do an update on a few of The Lather Project Soaps, since they’ve had some time to ‘sit’ now for a few weeks.

If you recall, there were a few soaps that used fragrance oils that I knew would ‘morph’ a bit - change the color of the soap. Many fragrance oils with a vanilla scent base will do this - and I used several of them during The Project. There are color stabilizers and non-discoloring fragrance oils, but I prefer to use some ingenuity in combating this issue. I used layering, blind swirls and a few other techniques to actually take advantage of the discoloring and try to create a pretty bar of soap.

Amber Vanilla Shampoo Bar (Soap #15) is one that I knew would discolor over time, and I tried some layering that wouldn’t be visible for a week or so, so I didn’t post photos then - but here they are now! This is one of the prettiest bars - although not the best layering job - with the cream and browns. And I love that the coloring is all completely natural!


Another one was Soap #10 - Lemon Poppyseed. With this one, I had split the raw soap into two batches, coloring one with a little yellow oxide and adding the poppy seeds - but no fragrance oil - therefore no discoloring. I then added the fragrance oil only to the second half of the soap base, after removing about 2 tablespoons of raw soap. Then I swirled in the leftover 2 tablespoons - since this soap has no fragrance oil either and won’t darken. I had hoped I’d get a beautiful brown & cream swirled bottom half with a yellow-poppy seed top half - but it didn‘t quite darken as ‘brown‘ as I‘d expected.

And the last one with a big change is my Botanical-Infused Lavender Vanilla (Soap #6)! The Vanilla half turned a beautiful deep brown and created a really interesting-looking bar! And it smells soooo delicious…

Overall, I’m quite pleased with all The Lather Project soaps - even the ones that didn’t turn out exactly as I’d anticipated! But that’s all part of the fun!

I’m still offering The Lather Project Soaps at 10% off in my etsy shop http://BellissimaMinerals.etsy.com using the Promo Code ‘Lather Project’!

Choosing something else? Receive a free sample bar of a Lather Project Soap with any purchase using the same Promo Code!

Thanks again to everyone who followed The Lather Project! It was great fun and I look forward to my next blog series!

The Lather Project Fun Facts

Sadly, The Lather Project is over. I’m not sure what to do with all this extra time on my hands! Actually, I’m busy dreaming up a new Project…

But anyway, I figured it might be fun to post a few fascinating facts about The Lather Project. When I look at the numbers like this, I’m just plain shocked!

Here's Some Interesting Lather Project Fun Facts....

Soap Facts
The Lather Project resulted in:
~ 30 3.5lb Soap Loaves
~ Over 105lbs total of Soap
~ 240+ Full Size Bars of Soap
~ 120+ Sample Size Soap Bars

Ingredient Facts

During The Lather Project, I used:
~ Almost 19lbs of Coconut Oil
~ Over 11lbs of Olive Oil
~ More than 7 Gallons of Distilled Water

~ Over 6lbs of Sunflower Seed Oil
~ Almost 6lbs of Fragrance and Essential Oils
~ Over 2 lbs of Botanicals

~ More than 2lbs of Goat's Milk

Types of Soap
~ 5 Men’s Soap
~ 2 Soaps with Shea Butter
~ 9 Goat Milk Soap
~ 3 Botanical Infused Soaps
~ 9 All-Natural Soaps
~ 8 Vegan Soaps
~ 1 Pet Soap
~ 2 Shampoo Bars
~ 2 Facial/Complexion Bars
~ 1 Shave Soap
~ 1 Pumice Bar
~ 1 Kitchen Soap
~ 1 Sea Salt Bar

I posted:
~ 1 Tutorial

Blog Facts during The Lather Project:
~ 293 Entries to Lather Project Giveaway
~ 164 Comments left on the Blog
~ 73 New Blog Followers
~ 4 Posts/Write-Ups on Other’s Blogs
~ 2 Blog Awards Won
~ 39 Tweets Referring to The Lather Project

Time Invested in The Lather Project:
~ Hours spent soap making - over 46.5
~ Hours spent writing posts - over 22.5
~ Hours spent taking photos - at least 7.5

~ Hours spent listing soaps in my shops - over 12.5

And there were so many things I wanted to do during The Lather Project that I just didn’t get to: Whipped Soap, a Cold-Process SoapMaking Tutorial, Cream Soap… but I’m hoping to cover these and more during The Lather Project II! Look for it either in the Fall or early next year!

Remember, too, that I’m still offering The Lather Project Soaps at 10% off in my etsy shop

http://BellissimaMinerals.etsy.com using the Promo Code ‘Lather Project’!

Choosing something else? Receive a free sample bar of a Lather Project Soap with any purchase using the same Promo Code!

Tune in next time for photo updates to some of The Lather Project Soaps!