Making liquid soap

This morning I boiled a pot of water. I put my soap slivers in the blender along with some lemon juice and some of my thieves oil. When the water came to a boil I carefully added some to the blender and blended. When you blend hot stuff be sure to keep the top little cap loose and open it now and then to let the hot steam escape or it will explode. When it was blended nice I began to let it cool. When it gets cool enough I will decant it into these soap dispensers I have on hand from my old business. The recipe calls for glycerin too but I cant find mine so I will do it without.

New product available in May 2012

http://recycledoillyesoap.blogspot.com/

Click on the link above to read about Pink Monkey Soap's newest product. Its sulfur soap. Don't know what sulfur soap is? Click on the link to learn about it and what it can be used for.

The soap pictured above is not the new sulfur soap.

Dish Soap

This is a recipe I found for dish soap~

1 (7-oz) bar ZOTE or Octagon soap (or 1-2-3 brand soap) {Or cut a 14-oz bar in half}
5 qts. water
1 c. baking soda
1/4 c. washing soda
1/4 c. lemon juice

Grate bar soap and place into a heavy stockpot. Pour in water & stir. Heat over medium heat, stirring often until soap is melted. Remove pot from heat and add in baking soda, washing soda & lemon juice. Stir to mix well. Allow mixture to cool then pour into a seal-able container or reuse your store bought soap bottle.

(As the mixture cools in the pot it may begin to gel up and separate itself from the water. This is ok. Simply mix with whisk before filling containers and it will be fine.) This batch makes enough to fill a gallon milk container and (2) 16-oz soap bottles. So you certainly get your money's worth from it.


To use: Use as you would any store bought detergent. It cleans well, but you will notice that you don't get a lot of suds from it as you do with commercial brands. So don't let the lack of suds and bubbles fool you.

*Note about the 1-2-3 brand soap. I saw this soap next to the ZOTE at the store and thought why not give it a try. It was a few cents cheaper than ZOTE but is only 12+ ounces unlike ZOTE that is 14 ounces. But either way, I thought it would be worth a try.
Pam's notes:
I used half a bar of regular soap and it turned out great. she is right it does not really suds up, but after washing my glasses it really does clean well. the recipe made three juice bottles full and i pour the extra bit in my current soap bottle that had a couple tablespoons of soap left in it.
Pam
source: http://trooppetrie.blogspot.com/2009/11/home-made-dish-soap.html

Liquid Hand Soap

While I am on the subject of liquid soap I thought I would post this hand soap recipe.

1 bar soap (6 oz)
1 TBS honey
1 tsp glycerin
water

Directions

■Grate bar into small flakes, toss in blender.
■Add 1 cup boiling water and whip.
■Add 1/2 cup room temperature water and stir in blender.
■Add honey and glycerin, stir.
■Allow mix to cool (15 minutes) then whip again.
■Mixture should be 2 cups at this point. Top with cool water until mixture measures between 5 and 6 cups, whip.
■Pour into containers and allow to cool (do not put lids or caps on yet).
■After an hour, close containers. Mixture will thicken up.
■Shake before using as needed.
Optional: You can make this with herb infused water, just strain before using.

Source: Adapted from Pearls of Country Wisdom by Debora S. Tukua

Another homemade version:

Save bits of leftover bars (or grate one) then toss in a glass mason jar and top with boiling water (about double the amount of soap bits). Stir then seal with lid. Shake jar a few times while the water is cooling to get rid of any clumps. Once the mixture has cooled, stir well and add a few drops of essential oil if you wish to have a scented version.

To use: Pour mix into bottle then top with water as needed to get the right consistency (shake well). If for some reason the mixture is too thin, simply melt a bit of grated soap in a little hot water then add to first mixture to thicken.

I have made the second version and am not totally satisfied so I will try the first version and see how I like it.

Setting goals

This morning I sat down and wrote out some of my goal for the next few months. I decided to go ahead and get started on them even though they are technically for the year 2012.

Yesterday I washed out two feed sacks that had been outside in the rain and getting icky. I didn't like either one of them so I decided to cut them up to make pockets for my feed sack tote bags. This morning I got started sewing the pockets. Out of one and one fourth feed bags I got ten pockets. Parts of the bags just wouldn't come clean and I don't want dirty looking pockets in my tote bags so I tossed them.

Next I sewed one feed sack tote bag and washed a sweet feed sack out in the tub. I have found that if I let the water get real hot and wash the sweet feed sacks with that it works a lot better than using a rag and rinsing loads of time. Comes cleaner too.

Then I went out to the shed and measured everything to make just two batches of soap. I have to cut them tomorrow and we want to go out of town so I decided to just make two batches instead of the four I had planned. I will make either two or four batches on Monday. I was a little worried that I might have forgotten how to make soap since its been several months but it worked out just as if I had never been away from it. I tried something different this time. Instead of lining my molds with plastic wrap I used damp cotton kitchen towels. I read somewhere that it was an option. If it works I will use that so that I don't always have to use plastic. It just seems more sensible to me.

I got the equipment all washed up that I use to make soap and now its lunch time. I may make another bag this afternoon if I feel like it. I also have some new craft ideas to begin working on this next year.

Buy local or at least hand made this year

This year if you are able and need a gift I hope that you will support local and or cottage industry type folks where ever possible. Most of the time folks make very nice items for close to the same price you could buy it in the store. Many times they can make custom items for you as well.

In the last few days I have sold soap, lotion, waterless hand cleaner and now today I got an order to sew three feed sack bags using the customers feed sacks.

These sales encourage me that people value hand crafted products made in America.

What about you? Do you buy hand made and hand crafted items for gifts?

Product review

I sent this lady some of my Pink Monkey Soap products to use and review. Click the link to read he review.

http://freefunfab.blogspot.com/2011/09/pink-monkey-soap-product-review.html

Branson Pink Monkey Display

This is the Pink Monkey Soap display my son in law set up at the place he works in Branson Mo.

If you ever go to Branson stop in and tell him that Debbie his mother in law sent you. He can hook you up with some good deals on show tickets.

Branson 2 For 1 Tickets

1100 W Hwy 76
Branson, MO 65616

* No Timeshare Tours
* No Vacation Club
* No Gimmics
* NO BULL!!!

417-336-0241
www.branson2for1tickets.com

Kinda funny kinda not

Yesterday I wrote about making a pot of liquid soap. I let it sit on the stove all day. I was making sure the consistency was right when it cooled down.
Last evening my sweet husband was washing dishes. He asked what was in the pot and I said its a pot of soap.
For some reason he thought I said its on to soak, so he poured it down the drain and washed the pot. I was busy crocheting a new pattern so I was concentrating on my stitches.
He proudly announced, "Look who did the dishes", at which time I looked up and noticed the pot gone from the stove and the self same pot upside down on the drainer.
I tried not to get mad but I did a little bit. At least the drain is clean and I had enough of the ingredients I needed to make another batch.
He was really sorry.

It's a lot more funny today than it was then.

I was featured

I wrote a very poorly written article that actually got chosen to be included in a contest at a pretty famous blog.
You can read my article here.
http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/how-to-make-homemade-soap/#comment-46535

New Pink Monkey Affiliate

Congratulations to DJ, our newest Pink Monkey Affiliate. DJ's blog can be found at :
http://momladyb.blogspot.com/
DJ will be receiving a free bar of soap for becoming an affiliate as well as 20% of all sales she does from her blog.

Pink Monkey News

Pink Monkey will soon be offering two kinds of Thieves oil. Formula #1 is the original blend made with eucalyptus. Formula #2 will replace the eucalyptus with tea tree oil.

We are also developing thieves oil soap and tea tree oil soap. So now we will have Oatmeal, milk and honey, tea tree oil, thieves oil and plain.

Also in the works is online ordering. I am working on a way to enable my customers to be able to order product online no matter where they are. I hope to be able to offer this from my blog, this blog, and my affiliates blogs.

New banner I ordered

I will use this banner when I go to craft shows and such.

Beaver County Fair

We spent yesterday and today at the Beaver Co. Fair at a booth for the Pink Monkey Soap. It was very successful. I was amazed at the amount of people who attended.
For a small town they have a lots of stuff going on. I was really happy with our weekend.
Lots of people mentioned that they had read about me in the PTCI communicator. Some thought they had seen me on TV. I really enjoyed myself but I am glad its over.

PTCI article about Pink Monkey Soap

This is a copy of the article written about Pink Monkey Soap in the PTCI newsletter, The Communicator. It is delivered to several hundred customers of the local phone company. If you want to read the article just click anywhere on it to make it larger. There are a few mistakes like the fact that I have never been kicked in the head by a goat. I have no idea where she got that and the adding glycerin thing. I think she wasn't paying complete attention when I was talking to her and then tried to write it from memory. The goat part is kind of embarrassing, but oh well. I just wanted to show you that it got published. I started getting phone calls and emails right away. I am hoping the free advertising will be a boost to my business.

Postage for gift sets

Package #1 consists of an 8 oz. jar of body whip and one large bar of oatmeal milk and honey soap. $8.00


Package #2 consists of 3 large bars of oatmeal, milk and honey soap. $ 10.00




Package #3 consists of one large bar of oatmeal, milk and honey soap, a 1 oz. spray mister of thieves oil and an 8 oz. jar of body whip. $16.00




I almost forgot that I was going to find out and post how much postage would be for the new gift sets. Its been averaging around $8.00 per set.

Pink Monkey is at the Farmers Market

Pink Monkey Soap products that will be available at the Farmers Market.

1. Oatmeal, milk and honey bar soap.

2. Gardners Hand Scrub.

3. Body Whip.

4. Thieves Oil.

Mention you saw this ad and save 10% on your purchase.

Pink Monkey Education

My friend Kristy who owns the Breakfast Club in Guymon asked me to educate her waitresses about Pink Monkey Soap. After telling them about my product I gave each lady a bar of soap and a jar of body whip. I asked them to use the product so that when customers asked about it they would have first hand experience from using it. They were very happy to get free product.

Teaching an education class

Kristy, a friend of mine who owns and operates The Breakfast Club in Guymon has asked me to do an educational class for her this afternoon. She carries my products, Pink Monkey Soap at her restaurant. She feels like her employees need educated about my products so they can do a better job of selling them.

So I am giving each employee a bar of Pink Monkey Soap and a jar of Body Whip to try. I believe if they try my products they will love them and will be enthusiastic with their praise and be able to sell my products much better.

Kristy also owns the Daddy'O's sub shop. I think she may eventually put Pink Monkey Soap in there as well.

When the article about me comes out in August I am hoping that sales go way up. I gave the lady who is writing the article some soap as well as a few other ladies in that department. She loves it already. I need to drop a jar of Body Whip by so she can try that as well. When you first start something, sometimes you have to give stuff away to get people hooked on your product.

I met a lady at Daddy O's yesterday who said she loves my soap, I said of course you do. If you try it, you love it.

New packaging

These are the new jars I bought for product. I painted the flats for the body whip pink and brown for the gardeners hand scrub. I bought some green paint so I may paint some flats green for a salt scrub. I like the way the new packaging turned out.