February 21, 2013

Handmade Soaps – Some of the Ingredients



There are plenty of handmade soaps in the market. From wonderful colours to ingredients and even designs, you are sure to get something that you fall in love with instantly. Handmade soaps also come in a variety of shapes like spherical, square and rectangular. They can also come in embossed motifs such as flowers and leaves and so on. The sheer variety of handmade soaps simply means that you too can try your hand at making them! Just to get you started, here are a few tips and pointers that you can use and create wonderful home-made soaps.
What are some of the popular ingredients?

When it comes to handmade soaps, there really is no specific list of ingredients to choose from. A lot depends on your favorite combinations of herbs, spices, flowers and other products. It also depends on whether you want to add things like color, essential oils and other aromatics. Some of the more popular ingredients that go into making different kinds of soaps are:

·         “Edibles” such as goats milk, honey, saffron and even chocolate
·         Spices such as cinnamon, clove, cardamom
·         Floral ingredients such as lavender, jasmine, rose and
·         Leaves such as neem or margosa and eucalyptus
·         “Exotics” such is charcoal, green tea and beer

Popular recipes to make handmade soaps

There is plenty of information on how to bring together the above-mentioned ingredients and much much more to make some delectable looking handmade soaps. Some of these ingredients from the ones above can be chosen with care depending on the soap making method that you are using. You also need to use something known as a lye calculator to ensure that you are not going to go too heavy on lye which is an essential ingredient in handmade soaps. Weighing the ingredients is also extremely important because this will ensure that each ingredient plays its part in making the soaps special and does not overpower the others.

Combinations

One of the simplest recipes for handmade soaps calls for equal amounts of oils of olive, avocado, almond and coconut. You can also add shea butter. Essential oils of lavender and thyme can also be added for fragrance. You can also experiment with different natural coloring agents to give your soaps effects such as marbling or even an overall solid color which will make them even more visually appealing. Some of the options you can use are turmeric for yellow and for enhancing the antiseptic quality of your soap. You can also use charcoal and liquid chlorophyll for black and green respectively.

February 11, 2013

A Seller

I'm wandering what's inside the plastic jerrycans that he placed in the cart.

February 04, 2013

Outdoor Hanging Lamps



I always love seeing the beauty of hanging lamps in the night. Those captured near the exit of Taman Topi (the Hat Park of Bogor, West Java, Indonesia).