Body Scrubs

I've recently had certification for oil/butterbased Cleansers and Conditioners (rinse-off); I thought my Fruity Scrublets where pushing the boundaries of my salts/oatmeal based Infusions for Bath or Shower a bit far.

This is Raspberry & Coconut Scrub - it has raspberry powder, fine dessicated coconut and fine demarara sugar as the scrub with coconut oil, babassu oil and raspberry seed oil - I may add raspberry and coconut essences (don't use FOs) depending on what the testers report back after trying out samples.

The PET kilner style jars aren't cheap - but neither are most of the ingredients so I don't think deli-pots would suit the image.

So now I'm considering going for SA on leave-on Balms and Butters (but not creams and lotions despite some people's efforts to persuade me - I even had a couple of samples of emulsifiers popped in with an order for butters and oils!)

Felted Soap

Last week I decided to see how my bars (made in Gracefruit's excellent mould) of Hot Process soap stand up to being covered with felt and this is the one I made.


I'm quite pleased with the result.

Felted soap gives you a washcloth and soap all in one; it floats in the bath and is easier for people with a weak grip to manage. It does like to have a well draining soap dish (I've seen some US felted soaps with felt hanging loops which have not been sewn on - I haven't yet worked out the way to do this.

If you're comfortable with the way wool fibres behave when felting and want to have a go there's an excellent tutorial on this soap and candle making site.

His term the Wet Cat Stage - is very apt - the wool does go a bit willd before it settles down to shrink!

Felt Pots From a Workshop Afternoon

The pots in the pic below were made in an afternoon workshop by people who had never made felt before - so there's no reason why you can't make a goodly pot on your first attempt!

(the dark olive one in the centre which was the finished example I took to show them what they were making).


They're still wet and stuffed with a couple of thin binbags.

The blue one shows the size of the circle which was cut out and how much bigger the aperture is after the shrinking down of the felt.

The one which has a hairy look is made from a selection of natural fleece fibres, some of which need more rubbing to felt down.

(If you decide to have a go and have problems send me an email with a pic and I'll do my best to help)