It was good until I had to make a sword.

What was I thinking?

To humour my Son for his upcoming birthday, I decided to make a Hexxit Sword for him

 SURE. NO PROBLEM...

We Google the picture and I thought-- no problem right?

I started to laugh at 11 pm at night realising: this sword is going to be taller than my kid!

Will post the pic when I'm done...:)

Sweet Inspiration!

     The cool thing about playing with soap recipes, is that you get others to love it so much, you want to continue being inspired by oils, fragrances, infusions, clays, with the mixing and matching. 

      This summer, I have been busy making a set of soaps for my now Sister-in-law and my Brother's wedding party. I didn't feel up to making for all the wedding guests-Ha! Maybe next year? I figured that starting small and making it really good is what I wanted to create.

       I created a "Channeling my Inner..." series. Each soap named after a person in the wedding party and then consulting the bride for colours and scents that would reflect the person I was making the soap for.

So here are some of the photos:

Packaging is part of the fun and excitement.

Bride's Choice:)

Packaged and ready to share:)

Here are some of the other soaps:

                         Lemongrass Verbena with Oatmeal

                      My favourite with Charcoal and 2 Clays

                                         Peaches & Cream

                                              Tea Flower

     My next project is something for my daughter's 12th birthday:)

        I feel so happy with the results. We all start somewhere right?

Field Trip New Directions Aromatics:)

Went to Mississauga with a good friend to pick-up some delicious, new fragrances- I have been playing with some new soap recipes and can't wait.


Worth the trip, as NDA have an area for their MANY, many, many products for your perusal, smelling, testing. Bring a paper and pen! There's coffee too for the weak ol' me that need that caffeine boost for the ride back home:)


Tonight I tried out a margarita, pineapple, honey recipe, yummy! Will post tomorrow.

Loving that Goat's Milk & Infusions


     I finally used up some Rose fragrance that has been sitting around. I mixed it with some Eucalyptus fragrance, ground oatmeal, pink Himalayan salt, Rhassoul clay with chamomile & alkanet infusions.
     Soap therapy:)



Fragrances & Oatmeal, lasting fragrance:)



Goat's Milk & Lye, the right temp keeps it nice and milky-white

Alkanet & Olive Oil (One Month Later)

Chamomile Infusion (One Month Later)

Himalayan Pink Salt
Helps harden the soap too



Mixing the infusions, lye mixture & oils



Who can resist Rhassoul Clay?

Meh Day


Sometimes you just have a day so draining and so busy, you decide to do something that makes you feel much better. By better I mean making CP soap:)


I've been infusing chamomile and alkanet root (separately) in olive oil for a month now and I was awaiting for an occasion to make some soap.


Having finished reports cards, parent-teacher interviews, more meetings and events that take time and effort- I say, "I'm gonna make me some soap!" Not just any soap, I'm making purple soap!


So I measured my oils, infused oils and decided that for this soap, there would be no colourants.


After mixing the infused alkanet oil, I noticed that the colour was more "red" tone. Which made me think, "hmm... ok, we can make this work...". I thought a sunset theme might work.


Holding my breath, I mixed the Goat's milk + lye mixture...Lo and behold! It turned purple instantaneously! OH YEAH!


Then for additive, I mixed in some ground oatmeal.


TIP! I read somewhere that if you mixed oatmeal with your fragrance it should last longer. So far, so good!

Using a cardboard box I picked-up from a store for free. LOVE that I can create a nice design on top.

Swirl design up close:)

Took the soap out of the box, looking good!

Ready to be cut. Goat's milk have a strong smell along with the lavender. ***The goat's milk smell goes away when you dry the soap out in a about a week. So after a week, all I smell is lavender--NICE!

My Adventures So Far...

Does it feel good knowing you can make beautiful handmade soap out of oil and lye solution?

You bet!

I have been testing out a few recipes. I have made the following:

Pumpkin Soap


My First Bars of Soap!
Loved it so much, my daughter & I made more for her birthday:)

Coffee Soap
Oatmeal Soap


Scented with Lemongrass Verbena












Cherry Soap
Goat's milk soap versions
Tea Flower Soap
Lavender Soap
Clay Soap
Baby soap


Goat's Milk + Oatmeal for delicate skin of babies

Shampoo bars

Also, played around with Annatto seed and Calendula flower infusions

LOVED using clays...

and



my new favourite-- Soleseife Soap, or simply called Brine Soap:)

Loved the Outcome of my Salt-Bar of Soap

Admiring it's smooth bottom with flecks of pink salt!

 

Love the swirls with the pink and activated charcoal. The bottom is a pristine white due to the sodium content and the fine Pink Himalayan Soap is added (50% of the weight of the oil).

 

Can you see the flecks of salt? 

 

This experience has been satisfying and food for my crafty soul. What feeds yours?

Hot Mess!

     Had my delivery of beeswax for a couple of weeks now and I have been doing my research on how to render/filter them. Upon opening the box, the scent of honey hits you- mmm...

     I tried the double-boiler method one small pot on top of another. I started my first batch of beeswax and poured it into the 2L juice box (I just cut off the top). Unfortunately, it wasn't waxy enough so the wax did not come out so cleanly. I had to re-melt. Fortunately I used two more containers and there were far more successful. One tub used to hold cheese and one from bulk barn.

     Watching meticulously the melting of the wax, adding more puck of wax and stirring away... and then the top made a sudden tilt, and then ooops! My husband watched me  patiently, handing me a scraper. Got sidetracked- Bah! Nothing like cleaning up wax on your cooktop.

     Finally after some sustenance (ate my dinner), I returned to my double-boiler and melted away. There is truly nothing more satisfying than pure beeswax, golden, honey-scented and filtered.

     I immediately took advantage of the newly-melted wax and made a cutting board salve:

1oz. Beeswax
4 oz. Sunflower oil

Place both in a mason jar and melt inside a pot with at least 2 inches of water. Once the beeswax is melted, take it out of the hot water and let it sit on the counter. Still occasionally and eventually it turns opaque.  Now it's ready for use.

     I treated our new cutting board, wooden spoons, and used the salve itself for my arms and legs. The best part? It does not leave any oily residue! Winner, winner, Chicken dinner:)


Sunflower oil



Measuring the Beeswax