Ingot Soap

Lemon Quartz soap, with tourmaline rutiles. I've always been fascinated with inclusions in gemstones and had an amazing time creating this.

It's scented with 🍋 Clary sage and cinnamon, which reminds me a little bit of my grandmother's baked lemon curd.
This will be launching on the website on Sunday, along with the latest batch of lotion bars.

🚀🚀Look for these on the website this weekend.. we are packaging them up today! We had rave reviews from our testers for these... great for dry winter skin. Apparently the guys like them too. Could be a nice extra for Fathers Day! 👨💕

We've loaded these up with Shea butter and Cocoa butter, and our "secret ingredient" super skin penetrating camellia seed oil. 🌸🌸

As always, no artificial fragrance or colour, only scented with pure essential oils. Beeswax free. 🐝

It's all about the light. One of the reasons I love mixing two methods of soap crafting is to bring a sense of wonder and intrigue to something that has traditionally been utilitarian. To bring art to craft. To give something that, in your day-to-day life, is hardly noticed the ability to evoke thoughts, feelings and memories.

Fantastic ethereal shot of the national gallery by on Instagram. Shared with permission.

Quiet hallway in the National Gallery - 35mm metropolis home processed and scanned #nationalgalleyofaustralia #canberra #lomographymetropolis #spotmatic #cinestillc41kit #staybrokeshootfilm #canberralife #takumar50mmf14 #streetshot #streetview #50mm #mood #picoftheday #shotoftheday #architecturephotography #desolate #lomography

💞💞 Take a minute 💞💞

I think today the whole "being in lockdown" thing finally hit me. As much as I love my family, sometimes I just need a break. It's the introvert thing, I guess. Typically I'd do a run out to our little country "renovators delight" by my myself every few weeks, but this weekend I couldn't go. The air is definitely fresher out there! I was looking forward to continuing my battle with the climbing rose training up the front of the porch. 🌹🌹

Right now I'm juggling kids and work and not feeling too great on top of that. 😕

Now I know this probably sounds weird, but I rarely use a full block of my own soap. As a maker, there are so many off cuts to use that I never really need to reach for a full bar!! I don't like wasting the ends. 😆

Today I just felt like I needed a break. I grabbed a bar of asphalt as I haven't used it for a while and I missed the fresh earth scent.

I just needed a minute. A little pause to reset and breathe. 💚

My oldest also needed a minute. He's now eating some fruitcake and custard. 😆😆

We all "need our minutes".

So I'm curious, what do YOU do when you need a break but you've only got a minute? 💬⏰

We've nearly sold out of "Dark Moon" so I whipped up another batch on the weekend. Every time I repeat a soap I make a few tweaks along the way. With this batch, I've removed the gold mica so the colourants are now all natural. Love this black sea salt on the top. 😍😍

🐝🐝 Why don't we use beeswax in our products?

European honey bees are the only bee in Australia to produce commercial amounts of beeswax. However, they can out-compete native fauna for floral resources, disrupt natural pollination processes (some plants can only be pollinated by native bees) and displace native species from tree hollows. 😲

We have over 1700 species of native bees in Australia and a recent study has found the introduced European honeybee could lead to native bee population decline or extinction when colonies compete for the same nectar and pollen sources in urban gardens and areas of bush.

We don't want to contribute to the loss of our native bees! Sure, beeswax is easier to come by, and easier to formulate, but I've chosen not to use beeswax to do our part. I use Candelilla wax, a plant based wax, instead. Candelilla wax is much harder than beeswax, so I don't need to use anywhere near as much of it, compared to a beeswax formulation.

We've also been recently introduced to the idea of "pollinator gardens".. groups of natives you can plant that produce nectar suitable for native bees. I'm looking forward to learning more and hopefully starting a pollinator garden of my own! 🍃

SHeees UP! Marulan Gold is now on the website and available to purchase. I have a bar of this sitting in my kitchen and I sniff it every time I walk past. It's like a 5 second timeout for my brain and puts a little smile on my face. 😆🤪

https://www.ingotsoap.com.au/Marulan-Gold-Handcrafted-Soap-p379517437

💛 Meet "Marulan Gold". This is actually the fourth iteration of this soap and I'm finally happy to release it. It's named after the marble that was mined in the Marulan area for a short time in the 1800s, some of which looked very similar to this.

The marble almost always ended up in Sydney and was used for fireplace surrounds as well as things like dressing table tops.

This soap is scented with rich notes of lavender, bergamot and ylang ylang, a scent full of old world charm, just like the perfume found in Victorian boudoirs and on dressing tables of times long past.

🖤 💛 I'm loving these gorgeous creations by fellow Canberran . And it's very fortuitous that she has made these wonderful gold marble pieces right now. (That's because I have a gold marble soap curing this very minute!)

🌠 I'm always amazed at how the universe works. You get something in your head and then you start seeing it everywhere. 😍🥰

Look out for some pics of the new bars over the next few days, with a release next weekend. They are scented with Bergamot, Lavender and Ylang Ylang. Very deep and lush!! ❣️

💜💚 Life is too short!

✅ Use the good china
✅ Crack open the good sheets
✅ Eat the special chocolate you've been saving
✅ Buy the nice natural soap! 😆

Tidbinbilla, our purple Brazilian clay and shea butter laden new release is now listed for sale on the website.

This one has a balanced floral and minty essential oil blend.