Time Marches on...and so did March

Now that we're well into the second week of April, I think it's about time I step back and see what happened during the last month...whew.

I didn't do any markets or shows this month, so things were pretty quiet on the soap front. I worked on updating the rest of my soap labels and started re-designing the labels for the rest of my products.

March is my birthday month and we usually celebrate it with an adventure of some kind. We decided to go a little over the top this year, and instead of an overnight getaway trip in the area, we left our midwest winter that looked like this--

and traveled to Texas, as far south as we could go without a passport.

Folks, it was warm down there. Balmy, even. It felt good after a long winter.

So close! The rock on the left side of the Rio Grande River is Mexico.

This little roadrunner acted as my tour guide, leading the way down the path to the river.

"Sing ho for the open highway! Sing ho for the open road!"

We eventually came back for a little more of that snow. March definitely ended like a lion.

I also had a long clean up, clean out session in my soaping room. I'll share pictures in my next post!

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Soaping with Madder

I know that any color added to soap can morph into a surprise, but there is an added element of unknown when using botanicals to color my soap. Some people jump out of planes or ski off mountains, but this is how I live on the edge these days. Hmm. If I weren't having so much fun, I'd be embarrassed. I recently had my first go with madder. So....whatsa madder? It's a root--the root of the madder. Ahem. (I love puns...) I infused 8 oz. of olive oil with 2 t. madder root powder for almost a week. This amount worked out to be 20% of the oils in my batch. I wanted something in the way of embeds to add visual interest. I dearly love my soap balls but I don't want to over do a good thing. I've recently done square-shaped embeds, so this time I cut a bar of white soap into slices. I panicked a little that it wouldn't get dark enough--it was kind of a dusty peach--so I added 1/4 t. dried powder right before pouring. Madder powd...

Loofah--from vine to soap

If you've followed my blog for a long time, you've already seen a post on one of my favorite things to grow--loofah, but I think it's time for another one. People are often surprised when they learn that loofahs are grown. No, a loofah isn't a sea sponge, but the mature "skeleton" of a zucchini-like plant. Everyone knows they are good for the bath but they also make great natural pan scrubbers in the kitchen. They are so popular that I have to remember to tuck away any that I want to keep myself. I raise three or four plants every year. Like a zucchini or a cucumber, it likes to spread out with little regard to another plant's personal space. Here is last year's crop. Early in the summer, the loofahs remained neatly on the trellis: But then they wandered over to the basil: Cozied among the tomatillos: And hung out with the butternut squash: Harvest time was a regular treasure hunt. But I ended up with about 20 loofahs fr...

Soap Challenge--Dandelion Swirl

This Great Cakes challenge started off, well, challenging for me. I had internet problems (a lack of it) and something went rather tragic in my attempt to cobble together a recipe without access to my online lye calculator crutch or a good saponification chart. Obviously, I need to work on this skill, since my first batch of soap is still not firm enough to cut. I've seen firmer marshmallow cream. I'm estimating that I'll be able to cut it in a week or two or maybe three. The top came out pretty, though, didn't it? Sigh. I wonder what the inside looks like. On to batch number 2. I went for a winter/snowy theme this time, scented with BB's Fresh Snow fragrance. I made a small 6-bar batch. I kept noticing that my divider (a dollar store cutting mat) didn't stay in the center but kept migrating toward the edge with every pour. I was concerned that it would ruin the design, but it held well enough. I know this challenge was all abo...

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