Latest batch - Calendula & Dandelion

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JLem

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Just wanted to share my latest batch. I just finished pouring it into the mold...still need to clean up the kitchen. I used both dandelion and calendula flowers in this one - olive oil infused with dried calendula and a tea made from fresh dandelion flowers picked from my back yard (pesticide free of course!). I made the infused oil many weeks ago and the tea two days ago (stored in the fridge). I was originally going to use some essential oils to scent this batch, but then decided to leave it unscented so that the idea of it being a dandelion and calendula soap wouldn't be lost.

50% Olive oil (calendula-infused) - 340g
20% Palm oil - 136g
15% Coconut oil - 102g
10% Sunflower oil - 68g
5% Sweet almond oil - 34g

6% super fat
35% water as percent of oil weight (238g of dandelion tea)

No photos at this point, but I will try to take some once the batch is cut
 
What colour was the dandelion flower tea? Did it take on a yellow colour from the petals?

Yes, it was quite a bright yellow. However, when I added the lye, it turned cloudy and then lightened in color. I do not expect the soap to be particularly yellow in the end...in fact, the residual soap left over in my mixing container was the color of butter this morning when I cleaned it up.

To make the tea I filled a glass jar ~1/2 way full of plucked dandelion petals and then poured in boiling water. I then let it sit all day out in the sun and then put into the refrigerator until I was ready to use it (~36 hours). I then strained out the petals just before adding the lye.
 
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As promised, here's a photo of the finished soap (with almost three weeks of cure)...nothing fancy...

calendula_dandelion.jpg
 
It turned out beautiful and a lovely shade of yellow! I hope you share the natural and time consuming process you used to the recipients. They will treasure it!!!
 
As far as I can tell, just like unscented vegetable-based soap...I don't detect anything from either the dandelions or the calendula.

Well, I decided to try out this soap in the shower yesterday even though it is still relatively "young". I think there actually might be a nice calendula/dandelion scent to it. It might just be the natural soap smell, but it seems a bit more than that. Regardless, I like it and the soap turned out great.
 

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