The TANK soap cutter!

So I have been making approximately 50 lbs of soap per week for the past month or so in preparation for the upcoming farmer's market season (and the few craft fairs and festivals I have signed on to do this summer).  Etsy sales have been steady so I am in full-on production mode!  While I love making the soap, I admit that cutting it all up the next day was getting old.  After that first gratifying cut, I would be dreaming of a better way...

After much consideration, research and recommendations, I decided to invest in a professional soap cutter.  I settled on the The Tank from http://www.forcraftssake.com/.  It was not cheap and it took over a month to receive it...but it was well worth the wait!

Here it is - ready and waiting to take on my 4lb. log of day old soap!

The wires cut perfect 1 inch bars...not quite as easy as it looks though.  I was surprised that you really do need to put a little muscle into it...especially with my gelled soaps which tend to harden up much faster than the honey & goat's milk soaps.

Perfect!!

I'm not sure how much time this thing is saving me, but let's just say that my laundry is already done for the day!  Amazing!

So would I recommend The Tank??  Definitely!  But be prepared to wait a while...the company cannot keep these in stock and has to make them to order.  Now I have no idea how I ever lived without this cutter!

All Natural Colorants

I continue to be amazed at all the beautiful colors I have been able to achieve in CP soap using all natural colorants!

Here are just a few that I have had success with:
Turmeric powder - golden yellow
Parsley powder - earthy green
Honey - honey beige
Rose clay - pink!
Woad powder - depending on the recipe anywhere from green to turquoise to sky blue
Alkanet root - grayish to lavender to deep purple
Cocoa powder - chocolatey brown
Indigo root - grayish blue to dark denim blue
Madder root - pink to orangey red

I have found that you need to enjoy surprises when working with natural colorants...there are so many factors involved that impact the result when using natural material to color your soap.  Temperature and ph are important factors to take into consideration, especially if you are trying to recreate a previously successful color. 

Next up - Morracan Red Clay for brick red (i hope!)