With my wax melter in place, I had to try it out. After reviewing what soaps are needed, I decided I needed more Baby Bee soap. I utilize the same base oils for a couple other soaps, so this seemed like the perfect recipe to take my new wax melter for a spin.

I got the baby bee soap out of the way first. I like to cool my lye mixture outside when its cold out, so yesterday was perfect (about 0 degrees F). Everything came together beautifully!

Next was a new soap. I decided to make a cedar bergamot soap and I have had an essential oil blend that was waiting for a soap. I decided to color this batch with orange illite clay and add a bit of walnut powder for a bit of scrubbiness. Oh, and I added some buttermilk goodness. I'm not sure what I will be calling it, so for now it is just cedar bergamot soap. If you have naming suggestions, I am open.

I still have some Baby Bee soaps, so I will be selling those first, but the Cedar Bergamot soap will be ready March 1st.

I am now going into my "soap making season". It is when I get most of my soaps done for the summer market season. One thing that is new this year is I just purchased a wax melter, which should help immensely by allowing me to masterbach my solid oils. I wish I could masterbatch the whole recipe, but the wax melter isn't big enough for that. If I have things figured out correctly, I should be able to melt about 4 batches of solid oils at once. Just to try things out, I tried 3x oils and had plenty of room. Of course this meant that I had to make soap!

Now with 2 batches under my belt, I can safely say it ROCKS! I have a scale set up under my mixing bucket and can decant the correct amount straight from the tank to the bucket.