10th ave. soapworks

I thought this post needed alternative titles, a la The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show . I made a second batch of oat milk soap, this time bypassing the scents and colors.  As you can see from the pictures, it still has a funny texture.  Not bad, but not completely smooth, either.  I used oat milk for more than half my liquid this time, adding it at trace and it didn't have the curdled texture at pour.  But it's still puzzling to me.  I've been soaping with milk longer than any other liquid, and oat milk isn't even true milk, but a blend of oats and water.  This shouldn't be complicated!  I'm wondering if the high olive oil amount contributed to the texture?  I will find out, because this oat milk thing hasn't seen the last of me!  The feel of the soap is totally worth it.  And just maybe, someday, I'll master this stuff.  Or weird textures will become my trademark.

As much as I love playing with colors and blending and adding scents to make my soaps unique, I think simplicity has its own beauty. And, a lot of people prefer unscented, uncolored soap. So I've been on a "simple soap" kick lately, giving my inventory a boost and having a lot of fun, too. a high olive oil soap , with buttermilk as the liquid Honey Wheat I didn't add a scent, of course, but it has the delicate fragrance of a honey graham cracker. Oh, and egg yolk to make it extra creamy. Good ol' beer soap-- I love how beer makes my skin feel! And cut.... Still ahead is an all-vegetable oil soap with homemade oat milk, next week. Pictures to come!

Well, now that the awards have been handed around and we've gotten all sorts of randomness off our chests, it's back to soap for me. (Have you noticed that I haven't even posted a picture of soap in weeks?!) It's been a big week around here--our computer is back from the shop with a brand-new hard drive, so I get to try out my new label program, and today we said goodbye to three years of dial-up internet. In spite of my dreams of life sans a computer, I have to admit, this wireless thing is pretty spiffy stuff!!! And the digital camera that I thought had bit the dust has come back to life. I thought I'd show you a batch of soap I made not too long ago, using parsley as my colorant. Super easy! And I love the results. After grinding the parsley as finely as I could with a mortar and pestle I added it to my melted oils before adding the lye mixture. I scented it with Eucalyptus Blossom--oh, how I LOVE this scent! What was a bright green has mello...

So, it appears that I'm not the only one who'd like to hurl a computer out the window on occasion. Anyway, here's a recent batch that smells really really good. I wondered if combining green and red would result in a soap that looked like Christmas, but it looks believable as a red/green apple. (At least I like to think so!)

Calendula, or marigold, is an invaluable flower to any herbalist. It has soothing, healing properties, making it a great additive in salves and balms. It is also useful as a tea for various internal needs, like digestion. And, according to 17th century herbalists, nothing is better than calendula when you feel a touch of "plague and pestilence" coming on. All in all, it's pretty handy. Besides all this, it's a beautiful flower and easy to grow. So, here is an example to show you why growing and drying your own calendula is the way to go. The bowl on the right is a sample of some calendula that I received from a mail order company. On the left is calendula I dried myself last summer. And, I must confess, I have not stored it correctly (in a dark place) but instead, it has been sitting on my kitchen counter for the last nine months. The color is still beautiful and vibrant, which makes me wonder how fresh my "mail order" calendula is and how much of its bene...

I just wanted to share a picture of my afternoon's experiments. Aren't they cute? I tried the sugar scrub recipe (with my inevitable tweaks) on SoapQueen's blog. I did some playing around with a similar idea ages ago, but my trials just didn't give me the results that I was after. I haven't done a shower test with them yet, but I love how these sparkly flowers of cocoa and shea butters make my hands feel. Yay!! Success!

Now that I have my handy-dandy wooden molds, I want to come up with a different way to line my molds. I've been using freezer paper, but it takes me awhile to get the liner cut just right, and it's just one more item on my shopping list. So after some thought, I decided to try a reusable lining, quilter's template plastic. (I have a vague memory way, way back in some dusty corner of my brain of having seen this done before, so I take no credit for any perceived genius-ness.)  I found sheets of plastic template material at the fabric store, and with a coupon, it was only a couple of dollars. After cutting it, I used masking tape on the outside of the "seams." This taping lasts many uses.   Then I tape it on the sides like so..... And pop it into the mold! I now have to add a little tape to hold the sides flat, since discovering that in time, putting it in the oven WILL eventually warp it, even if the oven is on very low. Also, I still brush minera...