Sudz n' Hunni Soaps - Purely Herbal Body Butter - The Packaging Process

I thought it might be fun to share the process of packaging my handmade body butters with you today.  Sometimes people look at me like they don't believe what they have in their hands was made by me right down to the packaging.  

One day when I think of it I'll share the making of the body butter process.

To start we have a double batch of Purely Herbal Body Butter.

I use two mixing containers for a double batch because it's easier for me to thoroughly mix in the last ingredients in smaller containers than one large one.  This gets pretty thick toward the end.

I have my scale set up and ready to use as well as my sanitized jars and a few extra bottles I like to use for testers.  I mostly use jars for the body butters I sell, they have nice wide mouths and are easy to fill and weigh as I go.

After filling and weighing each jar the caps go on.

The labeling process comes next.  I've designed all my labels using ONLINELABELS.COM labels and software.  Sometimes I need to make adjustments to my labels like adding or subtracting an ingredient or changing the weight.  Since I've been doing this for several years most of the "design process" has already been done for me.  

Now the jars and bottles have their labels and the jars will need to have shrink wrap added to them.  Shrink wrap helps keep people from opening your jars before they've purchased them.  It's kind of a "safety seal".

Here are the jars with the shrink wraps on them waiting for me to get my heat gun and let the shrinking begin.

Sometimes making body butters and other handmade products seems like a long process but the finished product is definitely worth it!  If you are interested in purchasing any of my body butter or soaps you can contact me on Facebook at Sudz n' Hunni Soaps and it's finally cool enough in Arizona to ship these again!

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Sudz n' Hunni Soap Samplers

This week I'm making holiday soaps and getting ready for a "yard sale" type event at One Stop Hair Shop in Big River that's coming up this weekend. 

I've been putting together Soap Samplers to go with my regular soaps at the sale.

This will give my customers the opportunity to try a variety of different soaps without making a big investment.

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Sudz n' Hunni Soaps Brown Sugar & Fig Soap

Brown Sugar & Fig Soaps with Kaolin Clay.

Full cure date is November 28, 2013.

The slab mold I used only holds 3 pounds of soap so there are only 9 bars, I think I better get busy and make another batch soon!  

This Brown Sugar & Fig soap will be available for sale in my online store after November 28, 2013.

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Sudz n' Hunni Soaps Packaging

Hi blog friends!

I took some pictures the last time I was packaging soaps that I thought would be fun to share today.  All the soaps on the table have reached their full cure dates and are cleaned up and ready for packaging.  By cleaned up I mean they've been smoothed and beautified by planing them and I've tried to make them as "square" as possible and they've had their edges beveled.

I've been using shrink wrap for my soaps because I like the way my soaps look "naked" and want my customers to be able to see the pretty designs if there are any.  I also use a clear label to complete the packaging process.

Here's a batch of naked soaps before wrapping I made using activated charcoal.

And here they are wrapped up and ready to go!

Almost all of these are still available in my online Sudz n' Hunni Soaps shop.

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Sudz n' Hunni Lavender Soap

Hi blog friends!  I wanted to share soaps today that I made in an online class I took last month with Kendra Cotes at Amathia Soap Works.  She was teaching on how to use mica colorants.

I was late for the online class thinking I had the time zone thing worked out in my mind - not!  How embarrassing...  the class was actually two hours earlier than my time zone instead of two hours later.  

So...  I started the class in my pajamas, luckily my video camera wasn't on till later, lol.

The techniques I chose to try are a mica line in the soap which is the faint green line you see if you look for it and I dusted the top of the soap in the mold with green mica.  I also used purple mica to make the purple color in the soap.  It's scented with the delightful fragrance of Lavender and will be available in my online store Sudz n' Hunni Soaps after it's full cure date September 28, 2013 and there are only 7 bars left.

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Sudz n' Hunni Soaps

I thought it would be fun to share a little of the "behind the scenes" of Sudz n' Hunni Soaps with you today!  I've had to expand my soap curing racks as I'm running out of room to store it all.  You are looking at our kitchen table that is 8 feet long by 4 feet wide filled with soaps, well not quite filled but close!

Here they are now starting to fill up a new bakery rack or bun rack as they are called, my kids crack up when I call it a bun rack...  It's so nice to have all the curing soaps in one place now and my counter tops free of soap clutter.  

If anything catches your eye it will be for sale in my online store when it's full cure date is reached.

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Sudz n' Hunni Yogurt Soaps

Anne-Marie Faiola's new Soap Crafting book came out recently and I had to have a copy!

Anne-Marie is "The Soap Queen" and I love watching her videos on You Tube and browsing her blog for wonderful eye candy and learning all that I can about how to improve my soap making skills.

My soap today came from a recipe in her book on making Yogurt Soaps.  Anne-Marie says yogurt soap makes a wonderful facial soap because yogurt has naturally occurring lactic acid and is a gentle exfoliant.    She adds that its high zinc content is said to help fight acne, and its natural antibacterial qualities and high fat content are great for skin as well.  

I made the first three pound batch of yogurt soap and everything went well so I made two more three pound soaps for a total of 9 pounds of Coconut Lime Yogurt Soap.  It smells delightful and I can't wait to try it!

I used different swirling techniques in each batch of soap and this is the first three pound loaf cut into bars.

The second three pound loaf of Coconut Lime Yogurt soap cut into bars.

The final cut, all nine pounds of soap are cut into bars and on the curing racks.

Even right out of the molds and freshly cut these soaps feel nice and smell wonderful!

Their full cure date is October 9, 2013 and they will be available in my online store 

Sudz n' Hunni Soaps.

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Sudz n' Hunni Soaps Lavender Chamomile Sugar Scrub Soap

I've been experimenting with a new soap mold to make sugar scrub soaps to go with my regular Lavender Chamomile soap and lotion.

I liked the idea of offering "sugar cubes" and thought these molds would be perfect!

You see I bought two of the molds and pictured above are sugar scrub soaps un-molded - pretty cool!

I had a bit more of a problem with my second mold.  My little soaps were not coming out.  I tried leaving them in the mold for several days to harden, I tried freezing them and they still didn't want to pop right out.

The only thing left to try was putting them in the oven at the lowest setting for about 15 minutes.

That didn't really work either so I used a butter knife to remove them, not a very pretty soap anymore...

Not everything turns out quite the way I was expecting.  But that's okay, I'm not a quitter I'll do some more research,  reformulate my recipe perhaps and try again.  I'll let you know what happens when I do!

Edited to add:  I made one more batch of experimental "sugar soaps" a few days ago, when I poured the soap into the mold I only used every other chamber of the mold and put them in the freezer.  The next day I popped the little cube soaps out without a problem, yea!

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Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce type Handcrafted Soap

Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce type handcrafted soap

A luxury handcrafted soap packed with confidence and a bold, masculine attitude, Fierce is not just a cologne fragrance, it's a lifestyle.  The clean scent of fresh citrus will grab her attention and warm musk will keep her interested, rugged, classic, cool... live the tradition of Abercrombie & Fitch with their signature type scent.

Minimum Net Wt. 4.5 oz.

Available today at Sudz n' Hunni Soaps!

Sudz n' Hunni Soaps Lavender & Chamomile

Hi blog friends!

I've been working on production and design of new soaps and getting ready for the up and coming holiday season.  Soap is beginning to take over our house and lives...  you can find it stashed here and there in different stages of the curing process.  You'll also find it wrapped and ready to go on a counter top and the collection is growing daily!

Today's blog post is mostly about attempting to make a ten pound batch of soap.  The first photo is two 5 pound soaps in their molds.  The second photo is a view of the bottom and sides of the soaps just out of the molds waiting to be cut.

As I was taking pictures my daughter came by to breathe in the wonderful aroma of Lavender & Chamomile.  

This was kind of an experiment for me.  The largest amount of soap I've made at one time so far is 6 pounds.  Actually two 3 pound batches made one right after the other.  It worked well so I thought I'd try making ten pounds of soap at one time.

I discovered a few things...  as I measured out my oils and put them into my largest crock pot to melt it became full.  To the top full...  I made my lye solution using a strong tea made from Lavender & Chamomile which was cooling in the sink.  As I pondered what I was going to do I decided to do some math and divide my recipe in half so I could just make two 5 pound batches back to back.

The above photo is the soaps cut from the five pound batch with more purple and white on top.

And these soaps are from the five pound loaf that had more yellow along the top, bottom and sides.

I had a lot of fun making the soap and everything turned out well.  I haven't decided yet if I should acquire larger containers to make soap in or just make two batches at once.  

Adventures in soap making!

The cure date on these is Octomber 10, 2013 and they will be available in my online store 

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Adorned From Above

 Gingerly Made

Frugally Sustainable

Sudz n' Hunni Aloe Vera Calendula Soap

Aloe Vera Calendula Soap -

A luxury handcrafted specialty soap left natural and unscented. 

This soap was made using oils infused with Calendula Petals, Aloe Vera juice and a strong Calendula tea in place of the normal distilled water, then added to skin loving oils of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, and Castor Oil.

Minimum Net Wt. 4.5 oz.

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Sudz n' Hunni Carnivale Stripe Handcrafted Soap

Hi blog friends, I have another experiment for you today!

I've been working on different soap techniques and swirls lately and my favorite 2 lb. acrylic mold has soap in it that isn't ready to be un-molded yet.  I just wanted to make a little (more) soap,what's a girl to do?!

My family is used to me saving boxes and containers (garbage to most people) for something I'm going to create in the future.  My husband will actually tell the kids - "You'd better put that away before your Mom makes something else out of it!"  

Anyway, I've been saving this Velveeta box... it's sturdy with the heavy cardboard on the inside, has walls that are straight up and down and holds 32 ounces of what ever I'd like to put in it!  I lined it with freezer paper just like a real soap mold and went forward with my experiment.

Here's a top view of my mold ready to go.

I mixed up my soap recipe, added Carnivale fragrance from Aztec, tried two new liquid colorant samples from Wholesale Supplies Plus and proceeded to try my hand at a tiger stripe technique.

The soap colors are Crafter's Choice Matte Teal Green Liquid Pigment and Matte Lavender Liquid Pigment.  I think I'll be buying the larger size sometime soon!

Here's my finished soap in the mold right after the pour.  Next it goes into the refrigerator because I want this one to be "un-gelled", in 24 hours it will be un-molded and then in another 24 hours I will cut it into slices.

I scraped the soap batter out of the bowls and had enough to fill my almost empty Guest size silicon mold.  I have plans for my Guest size soaps and I'll show you when I have it all together another day!

This is a picture of the aftermath of my soap making.  It's difficult but if I walk away and give it a few hours it's easier to clean up because what's all over the dishes has become soap.

Ohhhh the anticipation of waiting to cut this little loaf of soap!  It's un-molded but needs another twenty - four hours till I can cut it into bars.  

Sudz n' Hunni Soaps Sparkling Arizona Citrus

Sparkling Arizona Citrus Soap

A luxury handcrafted soap scented with crisp white grapefruit and fresh tangerines are blended with tart Cassis, star jasmine, neroli and sparkling musk.  

In the bright white body of this soap you'll find drops of lime green, lemon yellow and amber, fragranced with the delightful aroma of white grapefruit, fresh tangerines blended with tart cassis, star jasmine, neroli and a sparkling musk.