Filtering Beeswax and Making Pet Soap

Local Beeswax

:Cappings"

I bought some beeswax and "cappings" from a local bee guy this week and set about to filter it.

Melting at low temp

I started with cheesecloth, but found a knee-high nylon stocking works better.

Two types of filter

It was messy business!

Honey oozing from wax ready to be rinsed

Before I do this the next time, I'm going to do more research, as I know there's an easier way than this.

Pure, clean beeswax

I am happy to have all this pure, unadulterated beeswax to put in my body care recipes. 

Goat's Milk Shampoo Bar

I made another shampoo bar, this one with goat's milk especially created for chemically treated and damaged hair. As soon as the PH tests neutral, we are going to test it. ***Contains only saponified oils of olive, coconut and castor, Shea Butter, cocoa butter, jojoba oil, essential oils and beeswax.

Moonstruck will be on website soon

I'm very happy with the design of Moonstruck, made with goat's milk.

 

Puppy Love Loaf

Puppy Love (dog shampoo bar) is on the curing rack, soon to be tested. I don't know how we can go wrong with these ingredients.

*** Saponified oils of coconut, olive, sweet almond, Neem seed and castor; goat's milk, oat milk, Bentonite clay and essential oils. 

Wild Cat

Wild Cat (cat shampoo bar) is also curing with these wonderful ingredient

***Saponified oils of coconut, olive, sweet almond, Neem seed and castor; goat's milk, oat milk, Bentonite clay, tea tree essential oil, beeswax and madder root.

Natural Pet Shampoo Bars

As soon as we receive the "A-ok," we'll make bigger batches and put our pet shampoo on bechardsbotanicals.com.

If you want to see the videos of us making these soaps, go to our You Tube channel.

Soapy Trials and Tribulations

First attempt at Bath Fizzy Cupcakes

This has been an exciting week in the soap kitchen. Or should I call it a laboratory. Two of these runs could be considered borderline failures. I refuse to view it that way, as I am on a steep learning curve.

Lavender Castile

 I had a false trace on 2lbs of olive oil soap and had to put the whole batch in the crock pot. That's okay, as the re-batch came out a perfect pale lavender color and since the lavender essential oil was added after the batter cooled, the scent will last a long time. That's the advantage of a hot process soap.

100% Olive Oil Castile

 Anyway, I re-made the Castile and this time beat the hell out of it. I also made the moon embeds for the forthcoming "Moonstruck" soap. I made 4lbs this second time, as the cure time is a minimum of four months and I imagine by then I'll be sold out of what's on hand.Note: Video of making this posted on my You Tube Channel.

Scrap Soap

I also made a 1lb hot process soap to which I added accumulated curls and trimming from a variety of soaps. I've never mixed new soap batter when hand milling cold process scraps and was happy with the results. I re-scented it with essential oils of lemongrass, cedarwood and patchouli. It smells terrific and is a pretty green.

Naked Bath Fizzies

 Next I made bath fizzy cupcakes, experimenting with colors and technique. I have made bath truffles before, but that is a totally different recipe. This recipe causes an all natural explosion of color and scent when you throw it in the tub.

 

The Purple is lavender essential oil; the others rose geranium

Many bath cupcakes use a sugar frosting like food, but I wanted a soap frosting, so researched until I found one on the internet. My cupcakes are very far from perfect; my friends and I will test their functionality.

 

Simple ingredients

 

I bought the wrong "coupler," so just stuck the tip in. It worked fine.

I have never, ever so much as touched a piping bag, so these little guys are a bit on the funky side. I don't know that I'll ever be good enough at cupcakes to sell them, but it's fun trying!

 

Valentines!

Last but not least, I made valentine soap.One mini FREE for anyone who orders by Valentine's Day; comes with a little gift tag. NOT pictured on bechardsbotanicals.com.

Soap Kitchen Escapades

Buttercup and Babycakes

 Well, the holidays are over and the fairy dust is settling. The soap kitchen has been bustling as in late November I made my first batch of Rose Body Butter. Today I made batch #4, as it has been the most popular single product I've made. I guess we're all dry and itchy this winter.

Melting Shea butter

Beginning to whip body butter

Ingredients: Sweet almond oil, beeswax, coconut oil, water, Shea butter, sodium borate, beet root, madder root and essential oil.

Yummy, Yummy

What I've learned about making body butter is that the recipe must be put together in a particular order for the final product to be smooth and creamy. This is a very heavy moisturizer that initially feels greasy but will penetrate the skin within about fifteen minutes. It will leave the most desiccated skin velvety soft.

Lots of fun inside

This is a photo of Bechard's Botanicals convenient "Browse and Sniff Box". It's stuffed full of soaps and skin care creations that I deliver to potential clients. They get to keep the free surprise gift inside and shop at home in their leisure time. It's been a big hit for local customers.

Aside from making out-of-stock soaps, the latest production for our little business is "Dream Pillows". Sweet husband and I have worked on this in fits and starts and have decided to set all else aside the next week and get some of these ready and on the website. Tomorrow is the day the first model will be ready for testing. Last summer I grew a lot of mugwort that I've dried, cleaned and bagged. I have some swatches of fabric cut and ready to sew. As luck would have it, my mother-in-law taught her son the fine art of sewing. I didn't fully appreciate his talents until a few years ago when he was making his own designed kites. Working with that slippery stuff would have made me barmy, but he completed several projects perfectly. He loves it when I tell him to go fly a kite!

Maybe by next week we can put the Dream Pillows on the website. Check out our soap making videos at bechardsbotanicals.com.