Pumpkin Celebration

To celebrate Thanksgiving, Pumpkin Celebration is in the shop.  Some of my friends and family members have already tried this soap, and they all love it.  Although I love all my soaps, I must admit this is one of my favorites.

Weight: Approx. 5+ oz.*

Autumn is my favorite season, mostly because with the changing of leaves comes PUMPKINS! This soap not only smells like your favorite pumpkin spices, it also contains actual pumpkin from my local Farmers Market. Pumpkin contains lots of anti-oxidant vitamins A and C, as well as zinc and beneficial alpha-hydroxy acids. Celebrate autumn and pumpkins year round with this fabulous soap.

This soap also features:

Olive oil, which attracts moisture, holding it to the skin and allowing the skin to produce its natural oils

Avocado oil, which contains vitamins A, D, & E, protein, amino acids, chlorophyll, glycerides. easily absorbed by skin, regenerates skin cells and softens tissue. Avocado oil helps moisturize and regenerate skin.

Sweet Almond oil is very mild and it helps soften and condition the skin.

Jojoba oil (actually a liquid wax) works a greaseless moisturizer for the skin and works with the skin’s natural ability to control moisture

Shea Butter is very gentle. It soothes and softens the skin and helps replenish dry and chapped skin.

Coconut oil, which also has moisturizing properties in the right amount (too much can be drying). Coconut oil also adds a nice creamy lather to this soap.

Palm oil, works well with coconut oil for a creamy lather.

Ingredients: Distilled water; Lye*;* Olive oil; Coconut oil; Palm oil; Avocado oil; Sweet almond oil; Shea butter; jojoba oil; Pureed Pumpkin; Cinnamon; Cloves; Pumpkin Spice Fragrance oil

* Due to the handmade nature of my soaps, each bar is slightly different.

** No lye remains in final product.

Have your own Pumpkin Celebration:  $5.50

Flowers I Gathered

I made this soap using the same basic recipe as the "Oh Baby" soap to make a very gentle soap. The difference is I added essential oils (Litsea Cubeba, Ylang-Ylang, and Bergamot) for fragrance and some dried flowers for texture (chrysanthemum flowers and rosehips). The flowers on top help produce a nice lather and feel cleansing against your skin. This is a very unique soap, offered only by Gather a Lather.

Buy Yours:  $5.00

This soap features:
Avocado oil, which contains vitamins A, D, & E, protein, amino acids, chlorophyll, glycerides. easily absorbed by skin, regenerates skin cells and softens tissue. Avocado oil helps moisturize and regenerate skin.
Sweet Almond oil is very mild and it helps soften and condition the skin.
Jojoba oil (actually a liquid wax) works a greaseless moisturizer for the skin and works with the skin’s natural ability to control moisture
Shea Butter is very gentle. It soothes and softens the skin and helps replenish dry and chapped skin.
Coconut oil, which also has moisturizing properties in the right amount (too much can be drying). Coconut oil also adds a nice creamy lather to this soap.
Palm oil, works well with coconut oil for a creamy lather.
Ylang-Ylang essential oil: Used in skin treatments to help with inflamation
Chrysanthemum tea: Used in skin treatments to help with acne.
Ingredients: Distilled water, Chrysanthemum tea, lye**, Coconut oil, Palm oil, Avocado oil, Sweet almond oil, Shea butter, Jojoba oil, Litsea Cubeba essential oil, Ylang-Ylang essential oil, Bergamot essential oil, dried chrysanthemum flowers, rosehips
* Due to the handmade nature of my soaps, each bar is slightly different.
** No lye remains in final product.

Oh Baby!

I have a precocious little 10 month old, and I made this soap to meet her skincare needs. Babies have sensitive skin and usually a light water bath is sufficient for keeping them clean, but occasionally a baby needs a bit more. I’ve always been skeptical about using commercial baby products on my baby. Why use a product that contains ingredients you can’t pronounce? My solution was to make my own soap using extra mild ingredients such as sweet almond oil and shea butter. This soap has been tested on a real baby (my own), and it works great on her soft and delicate baby skin. Use it on your baby or on yourself, Or I'll wrap it for you as a baby shower gift.

Purchase Oh Baby!

You may have noticed a handknit washcloth in these soap pictures.  In addition to soapmaking, I also knit and crochet.  I made this washcloth as a gift for my sister, along with some special Pumpkin Celebration soap.  In the future I plan to add some handmade washcloths to my Gather a Lather store.

Soapstress in Action

Pink Flower Garden in the Shop

Purchase Pink Flower Garden Now

Weight: Approx. 3 oz.*

My mom is deathly allergic to anything containing coconut oil, so I made this soap with her in mind. This soap contains no coconut oil, and smells very floral. It’s a great soap for those who are sensitive to coconut oil.
Olive oil, which attracts moisture, holding it to the skin and allowing the skin to produce its natural oils
Castor oil is a humectant which attracts and helps the skin retain moisture. This also gives the bar the steady and smooth lather you would want from shampoo.
Avocado oil, which contains vitamins A, D, & E, protein, amino acids, chlorophyll, glycerides. easily absorbed by skin, regenerates skin cells and softens tissue. It is great for skin and hair.
Palm oil gives the soap a creamy lather.
Ingredients: Water, lye**, Olive oil, Palm oil, Castor oil, Soybean oil, Fully hydrogenated palm oil, Partially hydrogenated palm and soybean oils, Avocado oil, Mono and Diglyserides, TBHQ and Citric acid (antioxidents), Fragrance oil, Fusha lab color
* Due to the handmade nature of my soaps, each bar is slightly different.
** No lye remains in final product
 
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Check back later this week to see new soaps that will be coming to the shop in November!

Gather a Lather and the Big Stitch

For those of you who find your way here from the Knit and Crochet Tennessee blog, here's some pictures of the soap samples that will be in the goody bags Saturday:

Everyone will get a sample of one of the following soaps:  Gather a Sunbeam (White very light fragrance), Rooibos Scrub (Speckled), or  Pink Flower Garden (can be either white or pink).  Each sample is at least half an ounce of soap, and I hope you like it.

In addition to samples I have donated a gift basket for a doorprize:

Pictured (starting at the top left and working clockwise):  Pink Flower Garden, Gather a Shampoo, Rooibos Scrub, and Gather a Sunbeam. 

Now for those of you who live in the Nashville area and do not know about the Big Stitch, I'll give you a little more information.  The Big Stitch is hosted by Knit and Crochet Tennessee, and brings together knitters and crochetiers to work on charity projects.  Saturday is Make a Difference Day, and we will be gathering to donate and work on hats, which will go to various charities.  We're making chemo hats for cancer patients, hats for homeless shelters, and hats for sick or premature babies.  It's a fun and exciting time, and if you knit and/or crochet you should come.  Also if you want to learn how to knit or crochet, there are always folks there who are willing to teach.

As for me, I'll be there on Saturday, if you want to come say "Hi."  Here's a picture of some of the hats I've made (because if you came here with the Big Stitch in mind, you probably also like looking at fiber art):

The ones on the left and the turqoiuse one are knitted.  That's the Photography Hat on Ravelry, and it's a very fun knit.  As you can see, I enjoyed knitting it so much, I made four of them.  The baby hats (brown, flower, and pointy) are all crocheted.  I did my own thing on each of those, and I'm not even sure I could tell you what I did.

Rooibos Scrub in the shop

Remember Rooibos Scrub? I've been using a sample bar for the past couple of nights, and I really really like it.  Now you can purchase your own Roobios scrub through my Etsy shop.

This soap uses organic rooibos tea as its base and ground rooibos tea to add texture and scrubbing power. Rooibos contains alpha hydroxy acid zinc, and vitamin C which are all good for your skin. Rooibos has long been used in traditional African medicine to treat a variety of skin problems. Similar to green tea, rooibos tea contains beneficial antioxidants, but unlike green tea, there is no caffeine and much less tanic acid


This soap also contains:

Olive oil, which attracts moisture, holding it to the skin and allowing the skin to produce its natural oils.

Coconut oil, which also has moisturizing properties in the right amount (too much can be drying). Coconut oil also adds a nice creamy lather to this soap.

Palm oil, works well with coconut oil for a creamy lather.

Avocado oil, which contains vitamins A, D, & E, protein, amino acids, chlorophyll, glycerides. easily absorbed by skin, regenerates skin cells and softens tissue. Avocado oil helps moisturize and regenerate skin.

Jojoba oil (actually a liquid wax) works a greaseless moisturizer for the skin and works with the skin’s natural ability to control moisture

Castor oil is a humectant which attracts and helps the skin retain moisture

Fragrance oil (provides no added skin care benefits) adds a citrus fragrance with Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime, and added hints of fresh Cucumber and Jasmine Pineapple, Blackberry and Champagne


Ingredients: organic rooibos tea, olive oil, lye (No lye remains in final product. This is used in the chemical reaction to make soap.), coconut oil, palm oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, castor oil, fragrance oil

Grand Opening

Gather a Lather Soaps is now open for business!!  Here are some pictures of what I have to offer.  More will be added next week!

Gather a Sunbeam Honeycomb bars: $3.00

Gather a Lather Rugged Brick Bars $2.00

Visit the Gather a Lather Etsy Shop, and tell your friends.

Direct Questions to: gatheralather [at] gmail [dot] com

Pumpkin Soup Yumminess

I made this soup yesterday as part of my plans to cook something with pumpkin every week this fall.  While my husband and I were eating dinner together he made the following declarations about this soup:

"If they served food on Mt. Olympus, this would be it."
"I've never tasted anything this good before."
"I'm so glad you are good at the art of homemaking."
"I could eat this every day."
"I'm tingling because this is so good."

First, here is the original recipe for Velvety Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Blue Cheese.  This recipe was my inspriation, but in the course of making the soup I realized that I made enough substitutions to warrent a writing out what I did in the form of a new recipe.  I recommend looking at what ingredients are available to you and making substitutions based on that.  For example, I substituted the garlic and onion because I didn't have a shallot.  Others probably don't have raw, dark wildflower honey or country bacon and would prefer looking at the original recipe.  I got most of my ingredients at our local farmer's market, but you could easily get most of these ingredients at any grocery store.

Ingredients
2 pumpkins, pureed using this method or method of choice* (see notes below before pureeing)
1 quart chicken broth (low sodium variety)
1 cup half-and-half
1 onion, sliced in half-inch slices
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup raw, dark, wildflower, local honey
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnimon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 lb. local country bacon
crumbled blue cheese to taste

1. Put pumpkin puree, chicken broth, half-and-half, onion, garlic, honey, butter, bacon, and spices in a large crockpot
2. Cook on high for about 2 hours. Remove the bacon, cut off the fat part of the bacon and return to crockpot. Slice the meaty part of the bacon into 1cm cubes and return to crockpot.
3. Cook on low for about three hours. Remove the fat part of the bacon.
4. Serve in bowls and with blue cheese sprinkled on top as desired, garnish with parsley or wrinkled crinkled cress from the garden

* I like to remove the seeds and stringy parts before I put my pumpkin in the oven.  I also separate out the seeds and roast them in the oven when I'm done making the puree.  Pumpkin seeds are my favorite snack.  To roast the pumpkin seeds, set your oven to 385 degrees, put seeds on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt or seasonings of your choice (I like to mix a little bit of ground mustard, sage, and Toney's Chachere's Cajun seasoning.).  Bake in oven for 5 minutes.  Eat pumpkin seeds in the same way you would eat sunflower seeds.  You can also use this method to roast acorn or butternut squash seeds, which taste slightly different than pumpkin seeds but are also delicious. 

* When I make pumpkin puree, I always set aside some of the puree for my daughter.  This is enough puree to fill a large baby food jar.  Therefore I used a little less than two pumpkins worth of puree in this recipe.  I like being able to give Felicity the same food we are eating, and she really likes pumpkin.  If you have a baby eating semi-solid foods, I recommend saving some of the puree for him or her.

--Photo by Muffet

Soapspirations

I've taken a week off from actually making soap in order to set up my Etsy store, package soap, and brainstorm about the kinds of soap I want to make next.  Here are some inspirations for soap I plan to make in October:

Chrysanthemum tea:  I love the beautiful flowers in my chrysanthemum tea.  This tea has been used by the Chinese for centuries as a natural remedy for multiple ailments.  I'm trying to figure out how I want to incorparte chrysanthemum tea in a soap and what sort of fragrance should I use for this.

Pumpkin:  Pumpkins are one of my favorite things about fall.  You can read more about my love of pumpkins at my Meandering Home blog.  I've been trying to use pumpkins in different ways each week during the fall.  (As I type this, pumpkin soup is brewing in my crockpot).  I read a few articles on using pumpkin in soap, and I look forward to making my own recipe.

My daughter:  Babies have sensitive skin, and generally only need water baths.  I give my daughter a water bath as part of her bedtime routine, but only wash her with soap once a week.(unless she's super dirty).  I want to make a very mild, gentle, and fragrance free soap to use for my daughter.  I'm going to order to some new ingredients for this soap, and I want it to work well for those with sensetive skin.

Pink Flower Garden

These soaps are now curing on the soap rack.  They have a slightly different texture than my other cold process soaps, and I'm going to give them a little bit longer to cure.  In the end I'm very satisfied with the Rosehip Jasmine fragrance and the pretty pink color.

Price List for October Soaps

Gather a Sunbeam (Available October 7):
 --Round Honeycomb bars (3.1 oz*):  $3.00
-- Rugged Brick Bars ( 3 oz.*):  $2.00**

Rooibos Scrub (Available October 14):
-- Round Honeycomb bars (3 oz*):  $5.20
-- Rectangle bars (2.3 oz*):  $4.00

Gather a Shampoo (Available October 21):
-- Large Rectangle bars (3.2 oz*):  $5.50


Sample Bars
There are a few samples available of each soap.  I will send one as a gift with purchase or upon request while supplies last.

* This is the average weight in ounces.  Due to the homemade nature of my soap, there are slight variations in weight.

**  These have some aesthetic issues from sticking to the mold.  They aren't very attractive, but still have all the great properties as the prettier honeycomb bars.

This One's for You, Mom

As folks say here in Tennessee, "Bless her heart."  My mom is deathly allergic to coconut anything.  This has posed a particular challenge for me when making soap because coconut oil makes such great soap.  I spent last week doing some soap research to figure out how to make a great bar of soap minus the coconut.  I created my own recipe using extra palm oil, soybean oil, and castor oil to replace my usual coconut oil. 

While I was in the experimenting mood, I decided to try to add some color to my soap.  Well, to make sure my new recipe worked, I first made the batch without color.  I left some small bars colorless, and proceeded to rebatch the remaining soap, milling it down, melting it, and then adding pigment.

I'm still waiting to see how these bars turn out, as milled soap takes longer to process than straight cold process soap.  The colorless bars seem to be doing well, and the milled bars will contain the same wonderful oils as the colorless bars, just with an added touch of color. 

The key ingredient in this soap is avocado oil.  My mom specifically requested avocado oil, and there's a nice bit of it in this soap.  Here's a picture of the milled soap in one of the molds:

As I said, it will take a bit longer to harden and process.  I hope my experimentation works out.  I would love to give my mom a lovely pink, floral scented (Roship and Jasmine fragrance oil) bar of soap.

Gather a Shampoo

This week I am happy to present to you "Gather a Shampoo."  That's right, this is a shampoo in bar soap form.  I have been using a shampoo bar on my own hair since May, and I can never go back to using the bottled stuff.  I decided to formulate my own recipe for a shampoo soap because my current shampoo bar is on its last few lathers.

There are actually many advantages to using a homemade shampoo bar over your typical big company brand shampoo:

*  You can pronounce all the ingredients in a homemade shampoo bar.  You know exactly what they are and do not have to worry about what sorts of chemicals are going onto your hair (and into your body).  Many of the chemicals in synthetic shampoos will actually strip hair of its nutrients, leaving it dry and brittle.

*  There is less packaging involved with homemade bars, and there is no factory waste involved in there production.  Homemade shampoo bars are simply better for the environment, and by using one you are adding an element of sustainable living to your bath routine.

*  They are more economical than store bought shampoo.  You may end up spending a bit more for your shampoo bar initially (depending on what kind of big company shampoo you usually buy), but in the end you may just save money.  When cared for properly, shampoo bars last longer than big company shampoo.  It's much easier to use only the amount you need for your hair, so you're not squeezing out a lot of extra shampoo with each lather.  The shampoo bar I'm currently using has lasted me for about 5 months, and I'm guessing it will last me one more month.  You also do not need to use conditioner with a shampoo bar because the oils in the bar have their own conditioning properties.  That's one less product to buy.

* By making homemade shampoo bars a regular part of your bath routine, you are supporting independent artists and craftsmen (hopefully supporting Gather a Lather).  Your soap has been made ethically by folks who enjoy making soap, as opposed to being made on a factory assembly line by machines.  Profits go directly to the person who made your soap rather than being split up among big businesses and middle-men. You are also supporting an American business in a rough economic season, and there is something patriotic about that.

Now that you have seen the wonderful benefits of using a homemade soap, I will unveil the ingredients in my shampoo bars:  Olive oil; Coconut oil; Castor oil (High castor oil gives the shampoo bars the steady lather you want in a shampoo.); Avocado oil; and Jojoba oil.

I also added  lavender, rosemary, peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils.  This combination smells wonderful, and I think it is a scent that both men and women can enjoy.  I did research on essential oils reported to be good for hair and scalp, and used these in this soap.  Here's a little about the essential oils found in Gather a Shampoo:

Lavender:

This essential oil is found to be effective for hair loss prevention in many people. A regular massage to the scalp for about a week's time results in hair regrowth. Lavender oil can be used independently or can be combined with some other good oil for better results.

Rosemary:

This magnificent herb is widely respected for its value as a hair and beauty aide. Rosemary can also be used in the bath, on the face and as a body or scalp massage.


Believed to stimulate hair follicles and hair growth, rosemary is generally believed to slow down or even permanently hold off premature hair loss and gray hair.

Rosemary oils and concoctions will soothe and condition dry, flaky scalps. When applied in a concentrated form to the roots and scalp, rosemary is helpful in clearing many cases of dandruff.

Peppermint:

Peppermint helps to stimulate blood flow to the root of the hair. This helps the hair to receive proper nourishment and to grow correctly. Peppermint makes the scalp tingle and this is what stimulates the blood flow to the hair.

Eucalyptus:

Eucalyptus oil has many of the same anti-bacterial properties as tea tree oil, but smells a lot better.  I love the smell of eucalpytus, so woodsy, refreshing, and soothing.  It has also been used as an ingredient in dandruff shampoo.  My husband has occasional dandruff flare-ups, and I wanted to create a shampoo that would work for him.

I hope you are as excited about my new shampoo bars as I am.  These will be ready to sell in about a month.  I only have 10 bars for sale, so let me know if you want one (through e-mail, or comments).  If you contact me, I'll let you know when it's ready, before it hits the shop.

On Baking Bread and Making Soap

Yesterday I made some delicious bread. As I was kneading the dough, I began thinking about how making bread is like making soap. Both actions are very involved. There is a period of making sure one's measurements are precise, and there is a waiting time before one can continue with the process.

With this in mind, I'd like to bring up a statement that soapmakers frequently hear. Some people are skeptical about homemade soap because it is necessary to use lye in order to produce the soap. Lye is a dangerous chemical when mishandled, and the lye solution used to make soap can cause serious chemical burns. I have heard someone say, "I'll take a bar of your soap, but I don't want it to have any lye in it because lye is harsh on my skin"

This is analogous too someone saying, "I'd like to have some homemade bread, but I don't want mine to have salt in it because I don't like salty things." When making bread, it is necessary to use salt because it reacts with the yeast and flour to help the bread rise. The final product should never taste salty, and if it does that means something went wrong in the baking process. You may have added too much salt or used salt that had clumps in it.

Lye works similarly in the soap making process. Lye is necessary for making soap. It reacts with the oils to form soap molecules similarly to salt reacting to yeast in making bread. A chemical change takes place. There should NEVER be any lye left in a bar of soap after this process has taken place because a change has occurred. It is no longer lye; it is soap. In the same way, you should never taste salt in your homemade bread. It is no longer salt; it is bread.

My husband made biscuits once using some old salt that had formed clumps. Rather than break up the clumps or use different salt, he just dumped the clumps into the batter. As I was eating one of his biscuits, I bit into a salt clump. YUCK! He had messed up when making these biscuits.

Although it is not always evident when one messes up a bread recipe, it is evident when one messes up a soap recipe. If a soapmaker messes up when making soap, the lye will not fully react with the oils. Instead it will separate out, and the lye will be visible in the final bars of soap. These bars caustic and unusable. Gather a Lather Soaps will NEVER sell you a bar of soap with lye in it. And all the soapmakers I have encountered also hold to this standard.

We who make soaps in our homes pride ourselves in being able to provide a product that is often superior to homemade soaps. We have high standards for our products, and we want our customers to enjoy them as much as we do. Bakers will work hard to make a delicious bread, one that they are proud to sell and enjoy eating at their own tables. In the same way soapmaers will work hard to create a luscious soap, one that they are proud to sell and enjoy using in their daily lives.

Rooibos Scrub

The rooibos tea soap ("Rooibos Scrub") is out of the mold and curing on my soap shelf. I love the way the tea gave the soap a spotted look.


I have round honeycomb bars

and rectangle bars.

A Spot of Tea, Please

If you know me personally, you know I LOVE tea. Tea has become a crucial part in my daily routine. I have a cup of "morning tea" in the morning, usually a green tea of some sort, and an "evening tea" at night. For my evening tea, I absoultely cannot have caffine. A warm beverage can help calm and sooth me before bed, but a caffinated beverage will cause me to have a restless sleep.

As of late, rooibos has become my choice tea before bed. Like green tea, rooibos contains beneficial antioxidants, but unlike green tea, there is no caffeine and much less tanic acid.

With my passion for tea, it's no surprise that I would find a way to include tea in a soap. Last night I whipped up a batch of tea, using brewed rooibos tea as part of the base. I also dried the brewed leaves and used them in the soap itself to help with scrubbing and eliminating dead skin. Interestingly, e-how suggests using rooibos tea as part of one's skincare regimen.

As for beneficial oils in this soap, I've included olive and caster in addition to luxurious avocado and jojoba oils. To combine a great scent with luxurious skin-care, I used a citrusy/fruity fragrance oil, which means this soap smells yummy.

My rooibos soap is still in the molds, and I'm trying to think of a name for it. So far I'm leaning towards "Rooibos Scrub," but that seems too boring for such a great soap. I'm currently open to suggestions on the name.

Gather a Sunbeam

I just took this soap out of the molds. The combined smell of the lavender and sweet orange essential oils reminds me of a light warm sunbeam on a spring morning. "Gather a Sunbeam" is the perfect name for my latest soap. I already have a few folks signed up to recieve this soap after it's cure period is complete. Right now I'm working on getting an Etsy shop started, so if you are interested in this soap now, simply e-mail me (gatheralather[a t] g-m-ai-l [d o t]com). I'll let you know when the Etsy shop is up and running, so you can have the first opportunity to buy it.

There are honeycomb-oval bars, brick bars with a rugged looking stone finish, soap balls, and small eco-bars made with recycled yogurt containers.