Hello I'm Albertina. Italian

[Albertina]

Hello beautiful people of a treasured place as this forum.

I am thrilled to be part of this community and to be able to ask questions and dive into all the priceless information contained here.
I am Italian, from a town north of Rome, called Viterbo, and am a farmer. Specifically I am an olive grower and own 700 olive trees that I grow organically and biodynamically. I started making soap some years ago, curious aboutthe what ever else I could do with my own produced Extra virgin olive oil as well as selling it, so I keep a small quantity for soap making.
I learnt on the internet and from a teacher called Angelo La Rovere, who in turn learned from Mr. Dunn.
I principally make CP body soap though I tried HP and swore never to do that again.
I tried several recipes with CP and have not yet settled for my favourite ones.
I prefer using natural colourings since all the colour pigments I so far used stain the soap dish and make the sink a colourful mess. (Please link me to any suggestions and threads regarding colours to add that do not stain....)
I add EO to my soaps but am willing to try fragrances too.
I wish soon to have my little side business selling soaps and waiting to have a nice variety to have my hubbie to build me my own website, fully aware that it will be a side fun-non-making-money-business.

I have a hard time understanding acronyms and downloaded the acronym sheet on this forum and I am slowly GTHAOI (getting the hang of it).

So happy to be here and so grateful for all the replies I already got to my questions.

 

[KimW]

Welcome!

 

[AliOop]

Welcome! Life on an olive farm in Italy...sounds divine.

 

[Albertina]

Welcome! Life on an olive farm in Italy...sounds divine.

It truly is

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Welcome, Albertina!

I must confess, the thing that caught my attention first was your avatar photo! What is this? Olive soap cubes with a hole drilled through, and then filled with clear melt&pour soap? For a second I thought you had stolen my pitted cube silicone mould .

I had the great luck to stay for a week (school excursion) in an old estate at the countryside near Arezzo. I swore I'll come back somewhere there for a longer time. Probably not for the rest of my life (my list of places to visit is just too long…), but long enough to not feel like a tourist any more. Idyllic postcard appeal of a landscape is one thing, but the inherent restfulness that is peculiar to a place is something you have to engage with as a whole.
(Geez, I guess I'm becoming sentimental again…)

(Please link me to any suggestions and threads regarding colours to add that do not stain....)

What comes to my mind on the quick:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/plants-infused-in-alcohol-added-after-hp-cook.75970/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/natural-green-colorants-experiment.75277/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/annatto-vs-red-palm-oil.83287/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/the-indigo-and-jagua-blues.75531/

 

[Albertina]

Welcome, Albertina!

I must confess, the thing that caught my attention first was your avatar photo! What is this? Olive soap cubes with a hole drilled through, and then filled with clear melt&pour soap? For a second I thought you had stolen my pitted cube silicone mould .

I had the great luck to stay for a week (school excursion) in an old estate at the countryside near Arezzo. I swore I'll come back somewhere there for a longer time. Probably not for the rest of my life (my list of places to visit is just too long…), but long enough to not feel like a tourist any more. Idyllic postcard appeal of a landscape is one thing, but the inherent restfulness that is peculiar to a place is something you have to engage with as a whole.
(Geez, I guess I'm becoming sentimental again…)


What comes to my mind on the quick:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/plants-infused-in-alcohol-added-after-hp-cook.75970/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/natural-green-colorants-experiment.75277/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/annatto-vs-red-palm-oil.83287/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/the-indigo-and-jagua-blues.75531/

Well, Resolvable owl this is already an amazing amount of information. Thank you very much.
I'm glad you found solace in the Arezzo landscape.
About those cubes, i made those in 2014 and yes, I cut a hole through them with a cylindric kitchen utensil that I saw perfect for soap, and then melted and poured glyceryn in each cube. The black was obtained with activated charcoal. Unfortunately the foam stains too much so this soap is a bit impossible to use, I work really hard on trying to get the perfect foam and creaminess in my soaps and use really nice EO that give them such a nice quality, and I am sort of giving up making strongly coloured soaps.
Thank you for your contribution and I hope you'll make it to Italy sooner or later.
Happy soaping!

 

[giulia]

Welcome

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum. Here is info on using natural colorants: Muller Lane Farm ~ Natural Soap Colors

 

[Albertina]

Cool! Thank you so much

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome, Albertina!


IrishLass

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Question: I'm wondering if you use "pomace" olive oil to make soap? I believe it is called "lamp oil" in Italy.

Also, if you are interested in natural colorants, "Rumex crispis" is a weed that grows just about every where in the world. Use the roots to make an oil infusion. The result is a lovely raspberry pink soap shown here:

https://sapuhusid.blogspot.com/2010/07/raspberry-pink-soap-yellow-dock.html

 

[Albertina]

Hello Zany,

I do not use pomace since so far I have only produced EVO. But I have used a batch of olive oil from 8 years ago I had forgotten in a cellar, which had hence a higher acidity.
It would be interesting for me to measure the SAP of my oil over the years, to see if that changes too. But I haven't investigated yet how to measure it, with what instrument or if I have to go through a lab.

What is your experience with pomace?

Thank you for the suggestion to use rumex. I will try it since it's quite common and I have seen it around where I live! The picture in the blog is a lovely pink! Will grind those roots then!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Hi Albertina,

I like using pomace olive oil to make soap ever since I first started in 2004. When I got big enough to order in bulk, I used Soapers Choice in Chicago, Illinois -- THE major supplier of oils for soapmakers.

It's interesting that you mention measuring the SAP value of your EVO. The owner of Soapers Choice, Mike Lawson (retired) but back in 2007 he was a member of the Southern Soapers Yahoo Group. He was instrumental in helping me solve a problem I was having with my soaps. I lost 6 months worth of sales due to my olive oil not performing as it should.

He offered to test samples for me for free. I sent 2 samples (4 oz.), one from a local supplier and one from a health food grocery store. Both of them tested as having the same SAP value as Soybean oil!!! That's when I first learned about the Trade in adulterated Olive Oil. At that time almost all of our olive oil on the grocers shelves was imported.

I'm delighted to hear you're going to make the raspberry pink soap! I used the recipe in the article. Here's a picture of the soap I made.

 

[Tara_H]

That's when I first learned about the Trade in adulterated Olive Oil

Fascinating article!

I love the criteria for judging the EVOO

must be free of sixteen official taste flaws, which include “musty,” “fusty,” “cucumber,” and “grubby.”

 

[Albertina]

Thank you zany.
Soybean oil and Evo oil SAPS values are very similar. I can't wait to go digging those roots. Will check if the leaves of rumex are edible too. !