# Camp soap



## Dirtmonkey (Dec 21, 2010)

The soap I just made after a hiatus.  Being on the dole right now gives me lots of time for it, but unfortunately not the cash to get all the best oils I want 

 ...colored with parsley, coffee and cocoa powder to give a sort of camo coloring swirl. I used my homemade mosquito repellent EO mix for scent (lemon eucalyptus, cedar, and rosemary mostly, with some vetiver, pine and lemongrass). Hopefully it'll bring back summer camping trips and fight the Winter BLAH I've got... 

Thw green is bright and the brown is pretty rich, I expect the parsley to mellow and turn more khaki green and the brown to darken with curing. Not so good pic from the phone, sorry.

It's not my normal vegan OO and CO recipe ("Bastile" is a new word to me LOL!)- it's  oils I mostly had around already that needed to get used; EVO, CO, some lard, some palm Crisco, and 5% castor.  I normally don't use lard so I don't have to worry about who gets which soap- I'm bad about keeping recipe notes with every batch- I'll have to remember this time.  I used 40% lye (my usual since I'm impatient with long cure times).  6% SF.  It traced quick, gelled thoroughly, and cut very nice! It's already bubbly and relatively mild (for being only a few hours old)

Swirled a little in the mixing bowl and poured in the mold already mixed.







I cut a lot of the batch into little 1/4 size camping & travel bars.

The only problem with the batch is that there are some little cocoa clumps, I should have blended that a little longer, but they're not too bad.

I'm making a mint green tea batch today that friends have been bugging me for.


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## agriffin (Dec 21, 2010)

Nice!  Love the swirls!

I get winter blah big time.  It's almost up to 80 here in TX (Dallas) now where last year we had a foot of snow on Christmas.  So I haven't gotten blah yet!    Crazy weather!


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## Bean13 (Dec 21, 2010)

You did an awesome job on the swirls.  Good idea with the scent combo.


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## Dragonkaz (Dec 21, 2010)

I love the swirls and the colours!

Do you blend the parsley ... and is there any of the yummie parsley smell?


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## llineb (Dec 21, 2010)

Great swirls!  Love the colors...esp the green!


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## dubnica (Dec 21, 2010)

Great soap!  Do you get brown bubbles from the cocoa?


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## Dirtmonkey (Dec 21, 2010)

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with the swirling too, I'd never done it before.  I've just done layers, chunks, and HP, uh, glops.

Dragonkaz, I just powdered a half oz. of dry parsley flakes in a bullet blender (basically a coffee grinder with cup attachments).  No scent from it at all, and even if there were it's totally overpowered by the EOs.

I already had the EO blend I made back in Summer, so that was what the whole idea came from.

Tea soap in the mold... now I'm still in the mood so I might whip up something else...


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## Hazel (Dec 21, 2010)

I think your swirls look great, too. I can't seem to get a decent swirl.


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## Dirtmonkey (Dec 21, 2010)

Dubnica, no, the bubbles aren't brown, it really doesn't take much coffee and cocoa to look dark.  Hazel, I pulled about 1/3 of the soap out at first sign of trace, colored it, poured that back in the main batch and ran a spatula through it all a couple times, then poured everything at once into a log mold.  It only took about 10 seconds to do the swirling work.  Nothing ever works when I try too hard, so I kept it really simple.  I think it might also have been a little beginner's luck


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## ewenique (Dec 21, 2010)

Pretty swirls!


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## soapbuddy (Dec 21, 2010)

Congrats! Looks good to me!


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## tomara (Dec 21, 2010)

Very nicely done ;-)


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## Hazel (Dec 22, 2010)

Dirtmonkey said:
			
		

> Nothing ever works when I try too hard, so I kept it really simple.  I think it might also have been a little beginner's luck



Or maybe you have a natural talent for swirls. Hmm...maybe I am trying too hard. I'll try to be more relaxed about it next time instead of standing over the mold, stabbing at it with a bamboo skewer and screaming "Swirl, [email protected]^n you, swirl!"


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## Dirtmonkey (Dec 23, 2010)

Haha! we'll see, I just tried another one but I think I mixed it too much.  

I mean... 

'I meant to do that'.  For a subtle effect.  Yeah, that's it.


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## Hazel (Dec 23, 2010)

Dirtmonkey said:
			
		

> Haha! we'll see, I just tried another one but I think I mixed it too much.
> 
> I mean...
> 
> 'I meant to do that'.  For a subtle effect.  Yeah, that's it.



 

I think that's everyone's mantra.  :wink:


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## ToniD (Dec 26, 2010)

Cool, and I like the camo background


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