Woot, New Things In the Works!

Howdy y'all! I've been working on some new things, of course, soapy stuff and knits, but also... My very own website! It's not much more than a launch pad, but it's all mine, so I'm pretty excited to have a place where I'm not one of millions, I'm the one. My site is www.SweetsNThingsSoap.com. Blog is being difficult today about letting me post a link. The website links back to this blog, to my BigCartel shop, and also has a link to contact me directly. I'm really happy with all of it, and the new shop is super neat. If you're a repeat customer, your coupon code "REPEAT" is also good over there, forever, and my current sale for 25% off with coupon code HOLIDAY11 is also fully functional over there. I have set all the shipping for a flat rate, so no matter how much you order shipping is never more than $4.75 for domestic orders and $13.25 for international shipping, and I still refund any overage.
I have all the holiday limited edition soaps listed in both shops, as well as the lip balms and shampoos, and my top sellers. I will be making more body creams today, and sugar scrubs, and perhaps even lip balms, if my evil toddler will let me do some work :) He's demanding TORTILLAS!!!! So, I'm sharing my recipe, so we can all have tortillas!

All measurements are approximate, I make these by eyeball measurements.
4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 Tbs vegetable shortening
1-1/4 cup warm water

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder well. With your hands, squish in the shortening until the mixture looks kind of like cornmeal. Pour the water in, and mix with a spoon until it is all absorbed, and the mixture forms a ball. Squish the ball a little to work in any crumbs or loose flour, then let it sit for 10 min.
Heat a cast iron skillet, or griddle, or other large flat pan over medium heat. Pull off a bit of dough about the size of a golf ball, and roll it with a heavy rolling pin until it is the thickness you like, anywhere from 1/32 to 1/8 of an inch is fine. Place the tortilla in the heated skillet, cook until it starts to puff and brown, flip, and cook the other side. Each side should take 1-2 minutes, if they're browning too quickly, or taking too long to cook, adjust your heat. This recipe makes a dozen 8-10" tortillas, or eighteen 6" tortillas.

Sweets N Things Shop Updates and News 10/18/11

First, I regretfully will be discontinuing the silk shampoos (Strawberry Silk and Blackberry Silk), as my allergy to the silk protein has become too severe for me to continue using it as an ingredient. I will be restocking these scents, but without the silk.
Halloween, and a few other holidays are rapidly approaching, and I will be bringing a few special, limited edition soaps and fragrances into the shop to celebrate! I just listed the first fragrance oil, and matching body cream, Samhain, and there is also a soap curing as well! Here's the full list of the Halloween scents:

Samhain: Dark amber blended with vanilla and sandalwood, on a base of dark spices, incense, and a roaring bonfire in the distance.
Headless Horseman: a masculine blend of leather and woods, with a bit of dust from the road and demonic pursuit.
Hayride Cocoa: a fall hayride is nothing without a hot cup of cocoa! Rich chocolate, a bit of molten marshmallow, and a touch of coffee, for the grownups.
Candy Apple: Tart green apple, with a coat of buttery caramel, and a bit of spice and chocolate drizzle.

The full release will be on Friday, October 28th, in conjunction with my Halloween sale weekend. I will also continue to stock the pumpkin and pumpkin lavender soaps through the holidays, and perhaps even into spring, I'm really liking the way they make my house smell!

And in the works, scents for the winter. My winter holiday soaps will mostly be molded in rounds, and made available in gift packs. Already in the shop, Red Peppermint and Green Spearmint soap, and to follow after Halloween:

Three Kings: Frankincense and myrrh, with gold swirls set in a dark night. 100% natural, with activated charcoal, this soap is beautiful, but also a wonderful detox facial and body soap.
Brown Sugar and Fig: Ripe figs baked with brown sugar, a perfect fig tart with some vanilla and spice.
Bayberry Spice: Inspired by a memory from my own childhood, a bayberry candle in the form of Christmas carolers my mom carefully unwrapped each December, for nearly 30 years! A classic holiday scent, with plenty of cheery spice.
Cranberry Christmas: A tart cranberry scent blended with a bit of fir, a nostalgic memory of stringing fresh berries for garland on the tree.

I'm really excited about all the holidays this year, our witch costumes are ready (my little one is a green wizard, so cute!), and there's also a flurry of knitting with the cold as a great inspiration to keep the needles & hooks moving! I hope for a happy holidays for all of you, and much goodness in the new year.

Labor Day Sale, and New Stuff in the Works

Another frenzy of activity here these last couple of weeks! To kick off September, I'm having a sale, using EtsyOnSale, so you won't need a coupon, everything is marked down 15% at SweetsNThings. However, if you do have a coupon, you can still use it for extra savings! Repeat customers, if you look at any of your old receipts at the "Note From Shop" section at the very bottom, you will see your coupon! Applies to KnitHabit customers as well, you have the same coupon, same place.
And, on the new products front - I'll be mixing up a few more body butters this weekend, with a mango butter free recipe. One of my favorite people is allergic, so this one will be unrefined shea butter, and other things, but no mango. I have also perfected a soy-free recipe, and for now it's only available in Lemon, but I'm taking scent suggestions. Now's your chance, if you have an allergy, sensitivity, or just hatred of soy, you get to pick the next scent. Also, I will be making a few new lip tints this weekend - Wheeee!!!!
And finally, we are still working on a bubble bath concoction, the poll results were fairly conclusive - you want liquid bubble bath, so that's what we will make. I'm thinking mostly natural, but with a bit of sodium laurel sulfoacetate (SLSA) added. SLSA is a very, very mild surfactant and foaming agent, used in baby products because it is milder than soap. Also, the poll results showed that many of you don't care for bubble bath at all, so we will be making a couple of herbal bath teas, and a couple of bath milks as well.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Labor Day, keep the shiny side up!

Using Preservatives in Your Handmade Bath & Body Products

I love handmade bath and body products. Even though I make them myself, I often indulge in the delights that other soapers come up with as well, because handmade carries the personality of the creator. Sometimes, I want the soap of someone with a sweeter personality than mine. Or just someone who doesn't swear like a biker. So I do cruise the interwebs looking for awesome stuff, and I find it, yay! But in the search, I find OTHER THINGS too.
I've already posted here about the super hippie preservative free lotions available. All natural means bacteria and fungus. They're natural too, but I don't want that much nature in my lotions. I love a little preservative. I said a LITTLE!
That's what this post is about. Overuse of preservatives. I have a list here, with the most common preservatives, their INCI names, usage rates, and effective pH range:

Optiphen - Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol, 0.5%-1.5%, no pH restrictions

Phenonip - Phenoxyethanol (and) Methylparaben (and) Ethylparaben (and) Butylparaben (and) Propylparaben (and) Isobutylparaben, 0.5%-1.0%, pH 3.0-8.0

Germall Plus Liquid - Propylene Glycol (and) Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, 0.1%-0.5%, pH 3.0-8.0

Germaben II- Propylene Glycol (and) Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Methylparaben (and) Propylparaben, 0.3%-1.0%, pH 3.0-7.0

Tinosan SDC - Silver Citrate and Citric Acid, 0.1%-0.5%, pH less than 7.0, this preservative should be used with Potassium Sorbate to prevent growth of fungus.

Potassium Sorbate - Potassium Sorbate, 0.1%-0.5%, pH less than 6.0, not a broad spectrum preservative, most effective against fungus.

When reading the MSDS and Technical Data Sheets on these preservatives, one thing that really jumped out at me was a recurring phrase: wear protective equipment, including respirator, goggles, and gloves. Why? Because all of these, for lack of a better term, are poisons, and they kill bacteria and/or fungi. In large enough quantities (which for some of these is not very large), they can harm you too. And if used to excess in products applied to the skin, they can cause irritation and rashes.

What has me a bit worried, is that I see products with the preservative listed higher in the ingredient list than fragrance. This is a problem because in a best case scenario, the manufacturer doesn't know that you should list ingredients in order, by weight, from highest percentage to lowest. In a worst case scenario, it's a terrible problem, the manufacturer is using more preservative than fragrance. Now, fragrances and essential oils used as fragrance have varying rates of safe usage, but typically, that rate is anywhere from 3-10%. Some are even safe at 100% concentration, like anise, cedarwood, and fennel essential oils.
Anyhow, the preservative amount is so tiny, it should always be the last ingredient on your list. Tiny, tiny, tiny. Usually less than 1%. Never, ever as much as 2%, which is what one body butter I saw tonight claimed to have. Two percent of a preservative that should be used at no more than 0.5%, and can be effectively used at 0.1%. So that body butter had 20 times the amount of preservative that was needed, and four times the amount that is safe. I know that math isn't everyone's forte, but it's important to have the math skills necessary to safely formulate B&B products if you sell them. To figure out the amount of preservative you need, if it's given in a percentage, you need to move the decimal point two places to the left to get the correct multiplier. If the percentage given is 0.5%, then your multiplier is 0.005, or in fractional form, 5/1000. Multiply the total amount of your recipe, let's say 1000 gm of water, 300 gm of oils, and 100 gm of emulsifier, by the multiplier. In this example:
(1000gm + 300gm + 100gm) * 0.005 = 1400gm * 0.005 = 7gm
Translated into ounces, that's 50 ounces of lotion, with .25 ounces of preservative. 1/4 ounce in 1-1/2 quarts.

Another option, is to make butters with no water, aloe, or other water bearing liquid - bacteria and fungus need it to grow, and can't grow without it.
And you can get a respirator at Home Depot or Grainger (for example) for about $30.00, and it's something that I highly recommend. Safety first!