I made a batch of soap just before Christmas and it’s fully cured now.  I am very pleased with the final results (the lather is really nice and my skin smells so good.)

I used coconut oil, virgin olive oil, dried senna, and some pink lime essential oil. This was one of those batches that horrified me from the beginning. The first problem was that somewhere during the process the pot lost too much heat (‘caught a chill’ is how soapers describe it) and refused to trace (thicken up and saponify.)

No big deal, except that the new wand mixer I bought just for making soap had a detachable blade, which I guess I must have thrown out last time I did a declutter in the kitchen. So there was stirring, and stirring, and stirring. And lots of begging, pleading, a little cursing (it was before I quit using swear words) and  some more stirring.

The next day, I decided to throw it all back in the pot and boil it. I went to add a little sugar water and milk to it, and surprise! No milk.

At a certain point, I think any normal person would have dumped the whole mess down the toilet and be done with it, but those oils are kind of expensive and I really had my heart set on some homemade soap. I learned some new tricks from the whole thing though.

1. Sugar water (4 tbs sugar +1/2 cup hot water per lbs of soap-to-be) really does smooth out soap on the border of curdling.
2. Dry Senna leaves have a very strong bad smell when initially added to a batch of hot soap (fortunately the smell ceases when it actually becomes soap, unfortunately by that time it had contaminated the atmosphere in the kitchen)
3. Pink lime oil is *totally* worth the extra money over regular lime oil– the smell stays and hasn’t faded. And it’s not nearly as antiseptic smelling as the artificial lime scent made for candles and soaps (I’m truly impressed)
4. Really ugly handmade soap can still turn out very soothing in the shower.

I chose senna as an additive basically because I wanted to try something that was conditioning (senna is sometimes used as what’s called “neutral henna” because it does not dye hair but makes it feel fuller) and lime because its antiseptic (and smells yummy!) Next time I try this combination, I’m going to do two things differently: I’m going to make it outside on a warm day and I’m going to use a different oil combination (maybe coconut and almond oil instead of coconut and virgin olive.)

The crinkle cut is courtesy of one of the new soap knives I bought back in August. I really didn’t expect such a sturdy knife for what I paid, I’m seriously impressed with the quality and how nice it makes my scary soap look.

Gratuitous cat picture.

It’s hard to get a picture of Sumi-e because she doesn’t like the camera flash. That weird expression she has is because she’s eating the bit of tripe I was trying to use as a distraction.

Sumi-e usually doesn’t look so displeased. I can’t blame her though, I’m not exactly fond of camera flashes myself.

Have you ever seen a fabric and thought “Wow that is perfect for X project, I’ll get it!” and then you pay for it and get it home and can’t effing remember what project you had in mind? Yeah, that’s exactly what I did– twice now. I have two different sets of coordinating Christmas fabrics in 1 yard, 1/2 yard and 1&1/2 yard lengths– and now I don’t know what I intended to make. But it must be good enough to make at least two– I have no clue.

I’ll probably remember, on Christmas Eve. I think the holiday stress from last year is finally catching up with me.

Whatever the project is, I know it requires quilt batting, because when I picked out the first set of fabrics, I also made a point of getting low loft poly quilt batting, which is weird because I actually have cotton quilt batting. I seem to have lost my mind, if you see it would you kindly return it to me? I miss it.

The pixies also found a nice online source for loaf molds for soap making and faster than you can clap your hands and say “I believe in fairies” they were ready to order. (I’m liking the pixies because blaming them for everything means I don’t have to take personal responsibility– pixies are awesome.) I’ll post when my order comes in, but I believe they use USPS priority mail, the prices are great; my only real complaint is that Spiritcrafts isn’t very well advertised, so I haven’t found it till now. If I’d found them sooner I would have molds and cutters already– instead I’ve been using a plastic bin for my cold pour mold (which, granted does work, but doesn’t make my soap very pretty.)

So right now I’m working on: a batch of castile soap (which is taking an agonizingly long time to saponify, typical for non-pomace olive oil), Lexi’s dress, trying to remember the mysterious forgotten intended holiday project, and reading “the Ghost Map” by Steven Johnson.