Happy birthday, Zing. It was also my ex-husband's birthday (and Oprah's), and today is my grandson's birthday. Our family has quite a few end of January birthdays.
Ooh manuka honey! Happy birthday, enjoy your new things!
Ylang-ylang is also beautiful for the skin. Awesome in soap used for its natural fragrance too. Love it mixed with 'spice' type essential oils as well....cinnamon, clove, ginger as well. It's an interesting EO as it blends with so many others people would never even think of trying to create some beautiful scents, not to mention skin balancing benefits. Have fun playing with your new birthday toys & Happy Birthday 
I am using my last bucket of master-batched oils - 2KG for this - before switching permanently to a new shea soap formula I will be using from here on out, so hoping all goes well 
Will be hand stirring this batch to trace later tonight. 
That does not include much smaller bins....NO MORE MOLDS for the love of Baby Jeebus! 
Happy, joyful soap making to all 
Can you infuse any plant? I imagine some might be unsafe or cause a weird reaction in the soap. How do you infuse it? I'm wondering if I can use peppermint leaves. Is it necessary for them to be dried, or can fresh be used? To state the blaringly obvious, I'm a beginner...
Yeah, I've long known I've shared a birthday with Oprah. I'm a twin so I have grown up sharing a birthday. Also there was a time in my church where I shared a birthday with the oldest and youngest congregants. I am definitely not a big on birthdays type of guy but I self-disclosed that it was, otherwise my kids just gave me a ton of gifts for what now? Mrs. Zing is big on birthdays. So yin yang.
I had no idea, thanks for the heads up.
Do not allow her in your soaping area. Period. Off limits. Sorry mother-in-law but, if you are not in my employ, you are not welcome in there.I cleaned 200 and eleventy million soap utensils, pots, pans and bowls. I may have fudged the numbers there. I think there was more. Felt like it anyway
I do have to say, if my MIL was still here, she would have been a blast and joined me in soaping and on the forum. We would have had a grand time together. She would have gotten allllll the micas, all the molds, and all the FOs and went totally over the deep end with it. Sadly, she passed before I found this fun hobby and y’all.
Thank you so much for sharing your infusing method in such detail. You have been so helpful, and I wish I could return the favor. I'll definitely be infusing some beginner type oils for future use. Thank you!It depends on the plant, and the part of the plant you're using, and what purpose you're using it for AND what you're infusing it into. There are a lot of variables.
Being a beginner, I would use only dried plant material.
Yes, you can use peppermint leaves, but you're not going to get a lot of scent from them that way. If you use this infused oil in conjunction with peppermint essential oil, it can be a nice way to layer the fragrance giving you more staying power.
I usually fill a glass quart jar approximately 1/3 to 1/2 full of cut, dried plant material. Every plant is different in terms of weight, so again, this is another variable. I don't like using powdered plant material for this purpose because it just sits in the bottom of the jar, not allowing the oil to really extract all of the properties of the plant. It becomes a thick sludge. Just roughly crumble your dry plant material up with your hands up to half of the jar full, then cover with the oil you are using to within 1" of the rim of the jar. I usually use olive oil, but there are times when I use different oils, even castor. Put a lid on it. *Always* use glass, and always store your infused oil in glass.
Get a pot that's at least as deep as the rim of your jar & put some tea towels or rags in the bottom to prevent the bottom of your jar from touching the hot metal & overheating your oil, which will cook your plant material, which you don't want. Put your jar with the lid on in the pot on top of those towels, then fill the pot to within a couple of inches of the rim of your jar. Bring it up to a steaming temperature, not a rolling boil, then turn down to low. For peppermint, allow this to infuse for at least an hour. I usually do 2-4 hours, depending on the plant I am infusing. Water will be evaporating, so replace with HOT water whenever necessary. Cool or cold water can cause your hot jar to shatter. Pour that HOT water in to the pot gradually back up to the same level it was each time you do this.
Shut the heat off when done, leaving the jar in there until the water completely cools. Remove from the water, dry off & label with the date, the plant you used & the base oil you infused into eg. olive oil. DO NOT STRAIN. Let that plant material sit in there for a good month before using. Give it a good shake every week. I prefer leaving this to finish infusing for several months. You can then strain if you choose to. Many plants I do not strain our at all, such as cottonwood buds. I just pour the oil off.
Store in a *cool* cupboard, closet or room to maximize shelf life.
This is NOT the 'double boiler' method, as I see many people incorrectly calling it. It is the water bath method. They are 2 completely different methods.
FYI in some people's opinions, this may be 'overkill'. That's their opinion. In my experience, this is how I get excellent oil infusions & have been doing so for decades. I have also found that by leaving the plant material in the oil, the infused oils remain shelf stable for longer due to their natural antioxidant properties, antibacterial antifungal etc properties.
Good luck
I can't really say about any of my MILs, but if I lived closer to my mom I know she would be all up in my soap making businessI do have to say, if my MIL was still here, she would have been a blast and joined me in soaping and on the forum. We would have had a grand time together. She would have gotten allllll the micas, all the molds, and all the FOs and went totally over the deep end with it. Sadly, she passed before I found this fun hobby and y’all.
she has always been my DIY inspiration 
