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Tweak and Tinker

Learn to make beautiful bath and body products from scratch. Here you find free tutorials for making cold process soaps, bath bombs, body butters, face masks, serums and a lot more.

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Cold Process Soap

Banana and Cream Soap

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Last month I experimented with different ways to use bananas in soap. I wanted to find a visually pleasing outcome for today’s banana and cream soap. The results ranged from light cream color with a little bit of specks to really brown with lots of specks. You can check out the post here and see the side by side comparison.

For this soap I decided to use a fairly ripe banana since I knew from my experiments that I would get this awesome speckled effect which would contrast well with the white piped top. After I was done making the soap I put it in the freezer since I absolutely wanted to avoid gelling.

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Using Bananas in Soap (Cold Process)

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I’ve had this idea for a banana soap in my head for quite some time. Something like a banana cream pie soap maybe. But what would the end result look like and would I be happy with it? I started to do some research and saw a variety of banana soaps that ranged from very brown to very speckled to creamy yellow with few specks. Some soap makers reported the specks would disappear after a while. Well, I decided it was time to do my own little research project on using bananas in soap.

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Cucumber Mint Cold Process Soap

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I live in the Garden State. Yes that’s right, New Jersey. The state known for it’s closeness to NYC, it’s stinky highways, industrial areas, and also it’s beaches. What most people don’t know is that we do have plenty of greenery here, as the name suggests. Folks really love to grow their veggies in our neck of the woods and when summer rolls around, we have cucumbers for dayyys.

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Turmeric Papaya Cold Process Soap

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I love to add fresh ingredients to my soaps. It’s a fun way to try something new on a whim since most fruits and veggies are easy enough to come by. I also find that they can bring interest and label appeal to your soaps. In this recipe I’m trying something a little more exotic: papaya paired with turmeric. The result is a wonderfully creamy and nourishing turmeric papaya soap.

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Smoky Vetiver Cold Process Soap Recipe

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I had this little bottle of precious Vetiver essential oil sitting on my desk for a very long time. My plan was to use it in a cold process soap recipe. Every now and then I would open it and take a sniff. I was intrigued by the thick, viscous amber colored fluid. The smell was like no essential oil I had tried up to that point: woody, earthy with a hint of smokiness.

But I didn’t know what to do with it. I had read up on different ways to blend it with other essential oils, and everyone seemed to say that it was good for anchoring scents, but too much would overpower the blend. What I wanted was to figure out a way to have the Vetiver front and center with supporting notes that would enhance it’s deep masculine earthiness.

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September 2018 Soap Challenge: Mini Drop Swirls (Advanced Version)

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This was only the second time I had the chance to participate in the Soap Challenge Club. The first time was when we did the rimmed round soaps and, boy, that was some challenge. I can still vividly remember me and Mr. Tinker trying to cut thin layers out of a thick block of semi-hardened soap . Me holding the block, him pulling the wire through – ahhh, fun times 🙂

rimmed round soap by Tweak & Tinker

my entry for the rimmed soap challenge in May 2016

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Watermelon Lime Cold Process Soap

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In this cold process soap recipe we will add some watermelon juice and essential oils to create a summery natural artisan homemeade soap. This soap making technique is pretty straight forward and easy enough to DIY if you've made cp soap before. #Coldprocess #DIY #soap #essentialoil

This summer it seems like everyone and their neighbor’s uncle is making some sort of watermelon themed soap (you know, soap that looks like the real thing). But instead of making a soap that only looked or smelled like a watermelon. I wondered if it would work to put actual watermelon juice in there.

It did, and combined with a juicy blend of lime essential oil it makes for the perfect summer soap.

Using fruit juices to make cold process soap

Now, why does it not always work out to put fruit juice in your cold process soap?…

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How to Make Lavender Blossom Soap Macarons

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How to make lavender blossom soap macarons

Most of my soapy inspiration comes from things that aren’t soap related at all: nature, vacations  aaaand, of course, deserts. Seriously, if I wasn’t piping soap I would pipe and eat buttercream all day – not good.

I first saw these adorable blossom macarons (edible ones) made by an incredible baker by the name of Ayse Yaman Butik Pasta on Instagram. She has created a real craze among bakers and I knew when I saw her creations that I needed to give these a try using cold process soap. Easier said than done as it turned out….

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