10th ave. soapworks

Just a short note to let you know that I'm still alive.  :)  I've been on a little hiatus, having spent some time in Texas, making a wedding cake for and participating in one of the happiest weddings ever .  But I'm anxious to get back into my soaping routine and here are a few things that I have lined up for this coming week. 1) The first order of business is painting my soap studio.  Ace Hardware stores are having a special promotion during March, offering a free quart of paint every Saturday (last day is tomorrow!!).  I've been wanting to repaint for months so it is perfect timing for me.  I chose Briarwood, a pale green, and painted the first half last night.  I love it! 2) I've joined Amy Warden's soap challenge and I'm looking forward to trying all kinds of different techniques in the coming months. 3) Inspired by a soaping friend, I'm going to make a loaf of whipped soap.  I haven't w...

I have this one toddlerish tendency, and no, it’s not the daily naps (unfortunately), but rather my insistence on doing things myself.   If I can make it, cook it, or experiment myself, that’s what I’ll do.   It’s partly independence, but mostly not wanting to be ignorant and robotically dependent on some faceless entity for my every need. It didn’t take me long to start incorporating my own products into soaps and bath products.   Although I can’t put this much of “me” in most of my soaps, here is a bar of cucumber-mint soap to illustrate.   It contains my own garden’s cucumber, pureed and frozen for winter soaping, yogurt I made, and inside is a slice of loofah that I also grew.   (For the record, it’s not my own mint sprinkled atop this particular batch.   My harvest wasn’t big enough to last the winter.) Is the finished product superior to other soaps?   Of course! ;-) So maybe no one lathers up and says, “Was this cucumber hand pi...