SOAP STUFF!! winemaking and beeswax

Loads  of soap action going on currently! I'm afraid it's that time to start thinking about ranges for Christmas!

Those of you who have stayed with us will have sampled our lovely neighbours 'Vitamina' (our nickname for their home made wine as any hesitation to drink it and you are told it's good for you- vitamins!!). Well although it's pretty palatable- we are given quite alot of it and it's not always our first choice when reaching for an evening glass! AND! if you remember from last years blog- it's had my very own feet squishing the grapes!

 Anyway- a couple of people have been saying to me- what about a mulled wine soap for Christmas? and what a fantastic use of spare local red wine.
So I've been experimenting and researching (as adding lye to wine can cause it to explode apparently!) and I've come up with a superb Mulled Wine Soap! It smells of all those lovely Christmassy spices and is totally gorgeous on the skin- believe it or not! (lots of shea butter etc).

Ishbel of 'Naturally Made Soaps' and I have got some really exciting projects happening here- including the launch of a new Portuguese range. We've been playing with some fun stuff aswell,

- see our Fig and Brown Sugar bar here- its apsolutely fab!!

We have both been working really hard with the new project - coming up with our ultimate recipe, brand and  logos, and sourcing ingredients as close to home as possible (which isn't as easy as it sounds as the locals have a use for apsolutely everything!)

This week I have been filtering beeswax taken from the hives on our land boundary- which has been a really interesting little project- you really do learn something new every day!

So, watch this space- there will be loads of stuff happening in the soap department of Velagota in the next few weeks!