Archive for March, 2012

C’mon Weekend! Hurry Up!!

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It’s only Thursday. Urg. I keep thinking tomorrow is the weekend. Could be because it’s a ‘daddy weekend’ so no kids. And no house inspection next week so no urgent need to clean. Wait, so that means… omg… two days, kid free, nothing needing to be done. SOOOOAAAAAAPPPPPP!!

I’m itching for the weekend! Haven’t felt this way since I was working a nine to five job. I have BIG plans for this weekend!

  1. My first go at hot process soap making! I want  to make a Honey and Oats batch again, but this time via hot process as I only have a small amount of the fragrance I want to use, and I want to see if this way stops cooking my oats as bad lol.
  2. My first real go at cold process cupcake soaps. Bit excited about that, although expecting many a floppy failure.
  3. My first go at a new swirl technique. Sort of. Not sure if it’s so much a ‘technique’ as it will be a “I wonder if it’s done this way, let’s give it a go” attempt lol.

And not forgetting the cutting up of the batches I’ve made this week as well. Oh and more bath bomb attempts if I get time. I was also going to try some more wax melts, but I’d really like to wait until I can get in some proper candle colours I think…

Oh yeah, and I want to sit down and make a list of all the current fragrances I have as I have some bubble bath ready to go. I could just say ‘let me know what scent’ without letting them know what’s available, but I’m not that cruel. I only have about 50 options at the moment lol.

What a weekend I have waiting for me though!! Is it here yet? Is it here yet..? Is it here yet…? Is it here yet?? *fades out*

MondayTuesday

ShareIt’s only Thursday. Urg. I keep thinking tomorrow is the weekend. Could be because it’s a ‘daddy weekend’ so no kids. And no house inspection next week so no urgent need to clean. Wait, so that means… omg… two days, kid free, nothing needing to be done. SOOOOAAAAAAPPPPPP!! I’m itching for the weekend! Haven’t felt…

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Monday Morning. Oh Joy. /Sarcasm

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4am. In the words of Despicable Me: “Not Cool.”

It’s now 6:20 am and *yawn* I am struggling to *yawn* even write *yawn* a proper scent*yawn*ence without *yawn* yawning all the way through. *yawn*. I didn’t chose to be up at this hour, who chooses to get up at this hour?! The last time I was even remotely awake before the sun is when I was young and out partying. And I was only awake because the first train didn’t run until dawn and without it, I couldn’t get home.

But I have kids. And unbeknownst to us adults, kids and roosters are in the middle of a war that rages the past few decades. The war? Who can be up first! Someone mark a point down for the kids today.

Ever wondered what I look like? Here’s a lifelike portrait prepared earlier:

Image courtesy of Google

Of course, both my kids are just super chipper and full of energy. They suck.

On the flip side, being up this early has seen me tidy my desk, pack away some of the kitchen mess, clear emails and post on facebook… to myself… three times. I did smile at one particular email however, from Paypal.

Resolution of Your Case: #PP-001-689-663-683
We have concluded our investigation into your case and have decided in your favour.

/Fistpump! Not a huge transaction amount, but more a personal victory for me. The lady that I bought a baseball cap off for my son thought that showing me a generic receipt to say she had paid for postage, at some point, to somewhere… would be enough to prove my missing item was posted and she should keep my money. No tracking, no registered post, and no baseball cap.

After getting frustrated with her lack of response and the repeated “I have the receipt” attitude, I got a bit snarky with her and she just flipped me off with a “Well file with Paypal and I’ll show them the receipt”. Basically an F U to me.

Well, laaaaady, I DID file with Paypal and guess what! I WON! Suck soap balls!! Next time I pay for registered post, you should send it registered!

Tired Woman Cartoon Sketch

Share4am. In the words of Despicable Me: “Not Cool.” It’s now 6:20 am and *yawn* I am struggling to *yawn* even write *yawn* a proper scent*yawn*ence without *yawn* yawning all the way through. *yawn*. I didn’t chose to be up at this hour, who chooses to get up at this hour?! The last time I was even remotely…

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Bath Bomb Bonanza!

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To date, bath bombs have been a taunting ball of frustration. I would see other people making these perfectly round bombs with ease – adding dried flowers, sprinklers or even multiple colours. Mine? The best I could manage was smooshing them into an ice-cube tray.

Now that I am doing my little hobby full time however, it is time to master the bomb! I have a few things on my list of things to master, and working down the list one at a time, the bath bomb – ball shaped, is at the top. Sure I could do them as any other easier shape, but I WANT to master the ball. I MUST master the ball.

I’ve received some guidance, done some reading and tweaked my own recipe which of course is enhanced of someone else’s recipe. I’ve watched YouTube videos, gone back to my bath bomb mentor and made three batches so far.

CHECK …

THIS…

OUT!!!!!

Three batches – three lots of BALLS!! I HAVE BALLS!! Um… well… I mean…

The reason for the ‘raw’ photos is because my bath bomb teacher told me I can’t touch them for the first 24 hours or they explode. EXPLODE PEOPLE!! This is not something you tell me. I have these horrible scenes of grenade like bath bombs going off in my kitchen – me diving for cover behind the kitchen counter while kitchen debris, bath bomb and smoke rain down around me. My kids cowering under the table, Miss 4 yelling over the sounds of explosions “MUM TOUCHED THE BATH BOMB DIESEL!!! OH NO!!”

Yes, I have a good imagination. But I also now have a permanently ingrained fear of freshly made bath bombs as well!

But I don’t care. I am well on my way to mastering the bath bomb ball which makes me very excited! It also makes my kitchen very, very messy. Oi! Learn it from me – sneezing + measuring out the powders = NOT a good idea! Neither is scaring the cat who’s sneaking in for a sniff thinking you’re not looking. I growl “RAWR”, cat goes up, cat comes down on edge of bowl, cat tips entire bowl of dry powdery mixture all over itself and proceeds to leave ghost like cat shapes hanging in the air as it runs all over the place with me behind it yelling to stop flipping running!! Not fun to clean up!

Alongside mastering the bath bomb, I also have to master the wrapping of the bath bomb. Not sure what’s harder – the making or the packaging! Wrapping anything round is not easy. Why am I insisting on making balls again??

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ShareTo date, bath bombs have been a taunting ball of frustration. I would see other people making these perfectly round bombs with ease – adding dried flowers, sprinklers or even multiple colours. Mine? The best I could manage was smooshing them into an ice-cube tray. Now that I am doing my little hobby full time…

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POP goes the Gremlins!

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My house is a box. And every batch of soap I make turns the handle on the side.

Every night when I go out
The monkey’s on the table
Take a stick and knock it off
Pop goes the weasel bloody gremlins!!

I’m all for randomness to bring excitement to your life – but I’m happy with my ‘Do I have milk / don’t I have milk’ anticipation I experience most mornings as I constantly forget.

Not my soap. Leave my soap A L O N E !! This is my Cucumber Melon and Lemongrass Sage Soap:

Cucumber Melon and Lemongrass Sage FAIL

Spot the slime? For memory that’s the Lemongrass Sage that overheated the yellow colour. The first layer poured in fine, however by the time I was getting ready to pour another, it, well it certainly didn’t pour. It was quickly transforming into the love-child of mashed potatoes and over-cooked rice. Yummy.

I continued with the batch partly because I had started it – what else was I going to do? And partly because I was like a deer stuck in headlights. I just kept ‘glopping’ (technical soap term) the mixture into the mold, the entire time “eerr, eerr, eerr” going through my head.

I popped it into the freezer to help control the temperature and hopefully save the batch. I kept peeking to make sure it wasn’t overheating – soap batch vs freezer and the soap would lose. It would hit the bin faster than I could proclaim “Oh no you didn’t!” if it even attempted to mess up my freezer!

But it didn’t. It stayed put. Like a Volcano simmering just below the surface. I was scanning for any sign of movement – a crack, a potion a little higher then I remembered, anything. But silence. Nothing. No movement, no rumbles. After about an hour I started to relax… maybe the soap was going to be ok.

It was not.

Seeping-1That first one was gross! It had that same white-ish waxy like “ick” experienced in the cheesecake soap, only instead of sitting innocently on top, it oozed out. If you’ve not had your gag-reflexing fix for the day, click the picture to enlarge.

Sadly, the entire batch got binned, but not before a case of ‘soap watching’:

I see … a big set of lips!! Complete with a bit of dribble haha. Mmmwah!

First vision was a rubber ducky! Perhaps from the back? He doesn’t really have a beak does he?

At first I saw another rubber ducky, but when I took the photograph, I actually see a walrus swimming away. The main part is his bum and he has his head up, looking off to the right top corner. Almost as if he’s saying goodbye? Or wailing “nooooo, not the bin!”

Last one is a mouse. Although it looks like he’s gotten into a bit of a scuffle with his poor nose / mouth taking a beating.

Four pictures in one batch of soap! I think that’s a record!!

Cucumber Melon and Lemongrass Sage FAIL

ShareMy house is a box. And every batch of soap I make turns the handle on the side. Every night when I go out The monkey’s on the table Take a stick and knock it off Pop goes the weasel bloody gremlins!! I’m all for randomness to bring excitement to your life – but I’m…

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Soap Show Off – Blue Musk

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I’d call this soap show off a 98% success. I love the blue colour – pretty much exactly what I had pictured in my head. However, I’m not so fond of the air bubbles. I noticed them appearing WHILE I was pouring in the blue. I did a height swirl and as I was doing so, little air bubbles were rising and popping on the top of the batch.

Bloobloobloob… pop
Bloobloobloob… pop
Bloobloobloob… pop
(PS I sat here making that sound over and over to work out how to type it. My cat thinks I’m nuts.)

I think it’s perhaps air bubbles I pushed into it with the height pour, not sure. (tee hee that rhymed!) The scent is Blue Musk which really, is just another dupe of Cold Water. No worries though, I luuuuurve that smell!

Blue-Musk

ShareI’d call this soap show off a 98% success. I love the blue colour – pretty much exactly what I had pictured in my head. However, I’m not so fond of the air bubbles. I noticed them appearing WHILE I was pouring in the blue. I did a height swirl and as I was doing…

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Soap Show Off – Clean Cotton

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If you can hear an annoying high pitched sound in your ear at the moment, it’s me going “squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”. Similar to the sound of a mouse being strangled, it is in fact my sound of excitement.

Check this beautiful soap out!!

So creamy looking, such awesome swirls, the blue exactly like I wanted it to look like. I am so happy! I made that! Squuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

The smell is clean cotton too – I’m quickly becoming quite a fan of it. It smells like everyone else’s laundries seem to smell. Ever noticed that? Nearly everyone else’s clean washing always smells better? And I know that because I so often go smelling other people’s washing piles…. erm…. *shuffles away slowly*

The scent stayed in the kitchen after I finished making the soap, it stayed in the soap even when it was frozen solid (avoiding gel) and cutting it up, there’s that smell again. If I can’t make my washing smell that good, I’m going to make a batch of soap that smells that good and put it in my laundry! But ssshh, if anyone asks, it’s my washing!

Clean-Cotton

ShareIf you can hear an annoying high pitched sound in your ear at the moment, it’s me going “squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”. Similar to the sound of a mouse being strangled, it is in fact my sound of excitement. Check this beautiful soap out!! So creamy looking, such awesome swirls, the blue exactly like I wanted it to…

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Soap Show Off!

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I’ve decided I’m going to use this blog like an image timeline of my work. After all, we all love to laugh at my failures, I thought it would be good to also keep track of my successes! Mostly for me – so I can look back a year, five years, ten years from now and see just how far I’ve come. What I think is cool now, might feel pathetic in ten years. You know, coz by them soap will be made in space!

So, let’s kick it off with….. uuuumm….

My cherry popping soap for a few reasons:

  • First tea infusion
  • First proper swirl
  • And first time using my new slab mold with acrylic dividers

One of the members of my facebook page brought up the topic of green tea soap. Back when I first started and just HAD to try everything right then and there, green tea seemed like an easy ‘herbal infusion’. Of course, I cheated slightly, I picked up the Green Tea – Tea Bags from the supermarket. *grins* Not exactly the same as making your own herbal infusion water, but still workable.

I have no idea if any of the green tea benefits lasted through the introduction of the lye or the saponification process, I couldn’t smell anything. Google was divided and no help – some say it does, others say it doesn’t. *shrug* Who knows?

What’s more important that the tea however, is those swirls!! Check them OUT dawg! A bit lumpy on the top because I still hadn’t worked out when to stop stick blending, but you can actually see defined swirls! I was so excited I nearly did a back flip!

Plus the mold, can’t forget the mold. The $80+ reason WAS swirls just like the above that everyone else seemed to be able to do. Easier to do in a low, flat mold than they are in the loaf style molds I am favorable to, I was very excited to make the purchase. Not only because of the ability to swirl, but it was my first mold to come with dividers which basically cut your soap into the size you see above.

I hate cutting my soap. Too soft and it deforms. Too hard and it crumbles. Details on the top get squished, lines and patterns in the middle get dragged. Move a bit and it’s crooked, slide a bit and it’s too fat or too thin. I. Hate. Cutting!

This mold was going to solve ALL my troubles (or so I thought). Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Meh… Given I’ve used it a massive three times since, I think it was worth it for the experience. After all, if I hadn’t tried, I’d still have it up on it’s pedestal as the ‘perfect’ mold to own. I don’t think it was worth it as I’m not a huge fan of the bar size and the look of the soap I like best is achieved in my load molds. But at least now I know.

Who knows, one day I might change and then rave about the slab mold. (pictured below so when I’m 80 I know what the hell I’m on about. Because you know, by then our hover molds and flying cars will form the shape of our soaps… I know this – just check any ‘future’ movie you there. *nods*)

IMG_2242

ShareI’ve decided I’m going to use this blog like an image timeline of my work. After all, we all love to laugh at my failures, I thought it would be good to also keep track of my successes! Mostly for me – so I can look back a year, five years, ten years from now…

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Oil Slick Dead Ahead Captain!!

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Cheesecake. Yum, right? Baked or chilled. French Vanilla or Raspberry. I would hesitate a guess that 99% of the population likes a cheesecake of some sort. My grandma used to make the best cheesecake around!

I can make cheesecake… soap! Or, so I thought. Perhaps less soap, more oil slick. Oil and cheesecake are not two words that belong in the same sentence! So, what the hell is this?!

Gross huh? This was the first batch of soap I made with the cheesecake fragrance that I drooled all over when I first smelt it. It’s the same soap recipe that I’ve used with all my batches this past week – dare I claim it my ‘finally found my perfect base recipe’ recipe? Although I’m still waiting to test a bar in the shower (damn cure time), so far it’s poured fantastically, set up beautifully and cut divinely! AND it even makes a really light bar thanks to finding a super light, yet non virgin olive oil! I like my oils slutty…

The only difference with this batch was I popped it into a cooling oven to force gel through. The oven was still warm as I had cooked lunch that day – perhaps that just shocked the shit out of the soap given I don’t normally “cook”? The process is known as CPOP – cold process, oven process. Sounds technical, really isn’t. Soap is made the same way, yet instead of leaving it on the bench to cool, you leave it in an oven that’s turned off but still warm. This forces the soap to go through a ‘gel’ phase which doesn’t always happen if left to it’s own devices on the bench.

Pulling the soap out of the oven after a couple of hours, the top had a layer of clear liquid. I assumed it was just relating to the added head and assumed it would soak back in. Like Shell, I just hoped it would disappear (oooooh, no you didn’t girlfriend!). Frustratingly, it didn’t. It only got worse and more noticeable!

After conferencing with my fellow soapies on what it might be and what I should do about it, the consensus was … wait. Just wait. So I waited… and waited. Nothing changed. Today I realised nothing was going to change, so I might as well see if I can salvage it.

Um…

Say it with me… “EEEEEEwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!” My inner child flashed in for just a split second and thought about flinging the snot like substance across the room. Thankfully the parent in control knew she didn’t want to clean it up.

It. Felt. Gross! Like cold, runny, petroleum jelly. And rinsing my hand under the tap only washed the surface and instead left my fingers with a super slippery, greasy film. Oh gag it was disgusting!

The middle photo (above) is the oil slick cleaned up. But the top was still shiny.

No batch enters the bin without being dissected first! This is what I consider a soap autopsy. I couldn’t help but wonder if the entire oil slick was sucked out of my oatmeal base – it was dry and crumbly beyond expectation! Given the batch was gelled, if anything the oats should have been soft and ‘cooked’.

Those swirls (are they called swirls when they look like that? No actual ‘swirl’ to them?) are awesome, sad that they are being binned. But the entire batch has a sunken arch after wiping the goo away.

The complete disappearing act of my cheesecake fragrance has made it easier to bin. So sad that an ENTIRE bottle was made into two batches and both failed, miserably. Batch number two (pictured below) was the exact same recipe, same fragrance, everything. The only difference was it went into the cooling oven second and as a result didn’t stay in the heat as long. It still ended up with a slight oil slick however:

This would rate more in the ‘oopsie’ oil spill ranks… compared to the “omg the baby seals” that the first batch was!

Unfortunately cutting this batch also revealed another fail… and worse, upon cutting it, one of the hidden oil pustules POPPED! Like a pimple, it popped. Oh gag, gag, gag!

See the top middle photo? That’s the popping pimple of puss like oil! Nothing like pushing your knife into your SOAP and feeling like you’re dealing with a pre-pubescent teenager! It’s worse than my spots… my spots never POPPED!

I think I need a shower…

Oil-Slick-Batch-1-Photo-2

ShareCheesecake. Yum, right? Baked or chilled. French Vanilla or Raspberry. I would hesitate a guess that 99% of the population likes a cheesecake of some sort. My grandma used to make the best cheesecake around! I can make cheesecake… soap! Or, so I thought. Perhaps less soap, more oil slick. Oil and cheesecake are not…

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Gotta give props to the Fig soap!

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I got to unmold the Fig and basically fig Sage Flower soap this morning!! Quite impressed given it was only made at 10pm last night, and unmolding a non-gelled soap 12 hours later (10:30am this morning) is not a common occurring in this house! Normally a non-gelled soap is still quite tacky and has to sit for at least a couple of days. Loving the new oil I have at the moment! Very happy that not only did it unmold easily, but it also cut really well too.

Course, that could be my new cheese board soap cutter. *grins* Cutting was a breeze with the wire and not a knife – no drag! (that is dragging the soap and smudging it, not a now missing male dressed in my finest dresses…)

Thoroughly impressed with how batch number two looks as well!

Apart from the soap on the bottom right of the image looking like it has a trapped spirit in it (body with two arms out …. oooOOOOoooo), I’m loving the swirls I have absolutely no idea how I created!! I was almost surprised when I was cutting it, I kept looking around wondering where MY soap was and who the hell’s soap was I cutting up?!

Then of course I realised how non-straight I cut and figured it had to be my soap lol. I’m getting closer to an easy cutting system, but still not there. I want ‘the tank’ which is a multi-wired soap cutter… (mmmmm, daydreams), but I need close to $300 for that bad boy so I’m a while off lol.

Instead I’ll have to figure out how to put a line on the current cuter (really wishing I got the wooden cheese board and not the stainless steel one now), and how to get the soap to stop sliding while cutting. If I can get those two down, this will work for the time being…

To make up for the mis-sized bars of the good looking Fig and Sage, I’m going to throw in a fugly bar as well. Look at this crap batch.

Losing it’s ‘shedding snake’ look out of the mold, it now looks like I spilled a bottle of white out all over it instead. Bleugh. I’ll have to do a double up deal or something just so I can get rid of these soap bars!

Still, not a snot bubble in sight which is awesome for how much green was involved, my first play with green as well!

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the last dregs of Fig fragrance oil and the Sage Flower fragrance oil. Not enough to make another batch of soap (gee, what a shame), but I’m also not sure it’s the type of smell to go with bath salts? I’m going to have a go at lotion bars this weekend, maybe I could add it to that? Fig could be an ok smell for an exfoliating foot bar!

Fig-and-Sage-Flower

ShareI got to unmold the Fig and basically fig Sage Flower soap this morning!! Quite impressed given it was only made at 10pm last night, and unmolding a non-gelled soap 12 hours later (10:30am this morning) is not a common occurring in this house! Normally a non-gelled soap is still quite tacky and has to sit for at…

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Funky Fig…

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Funky fig. And I don’t mean in a “oh guuurl, you look fuuuunkay!” way. I mean in the “um, baby, you smell a bit funky. You’re going to shower before we go out, right?” kinda way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a nasty smell, it just makes my nose wrinkle. I’m clearly not a ‘fig’ kinda girl. It actually SMELLS green… is that possible? Can smells have colours?

Either way, all I see is my grandma’s old fig tree that I used to climb as a little girl. This tree was the BEST tree to climb – long thick branches, spaced just far enough apart to give you room, but not too far that you could fall out. The only down side – the smell. Fig. Bleaugh.

Makes you wonder what I was thinking when I picked that fragrance huh? Or Sage Flower for that matter – although I expected that to be more flower and less Sage. Even though it’s nothing like sage and more like fig. Either way, the two together…? No real difference. So basically it’s fig and fig. It’s a friggen figgidy fig soap!!

I’ve made two batches so far. The one last night REALLY didn’t go according to plan. I really have to work on my ‘less is more’ ability and not put so much batter aside for my minimal swirls. I always over-guesstimate and as I hate waste, my ‘swirls’ end up being the entire top layer of my soap … 3 inches thick…. and unswirlable.

The Idea:

The… erm… attempt:

The idea – pretty, minimal, defined swirls
The attempt – appears to be shedding it’s skin like a snake
The idea – very minimal highlighted white swirls
The attempt – again, I go with shedding skin…

You get the picture though. The white I put aside was clearly WAY overkill for the delicate swirls I was inspired by. I see dainty swirls, I do a layer of cream to make a biggest loser contestant dehydrate through drooling. The idea creator probably swirled with a femininity I can only dream about, I swirled with a wooden spoon a giant is currently missing!

Short answer: Not. Happy. Jan! (Non-Aussies watch this to get that reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2akt3P8ltLM)

Anyway, moving on. I had enough scent left over to attempt a second batch – imagine my joy. Knowing that it accelerates trace a bit, I went back to the trusty loaf mold (decision aided by the fact my only tray mold still has skin shedding soap stuck in it), and went back to the less swirly approach. The glob, pokey, poke method.(TM)

The idea is a white ‘base’, green in the middle, then some more white, then green frosting - a soap term for ‘minimal’. But knowing my ‘dainty swirls’ ability, it’s going to come out more like white – greeny white smoosh – green. And just like a real fig needs sugar to pass the palate, I added glitter to help it look just a tad more exciting. Which of course I think I overdid as well – yup, that’s green glitter on green soap, applied at night time. /facepalm

I also poked the top until it looked ‘detailed’ because flat just wouldn’t pass muster with fig soap!

I’m thinking I might have to shove some pieces under friend’s noses once it’s ready to get their take on the smell. My childhood memories could be clouding my opinion here…

The fact I’m addicted to sweets and my mouth waters with scents like cheesecake, sugar cookie and caramel sundae also isn’t helping the poor fig soap either. It’s like an instant reaction to fruit. Sorry figs.

The possitive out of all this – my first green soap!! I’ve already done the ‘Wish it was chocolate, looks more like poo, brown‘ soap, so now it’s ‘thank god it looks like tree leaves and not snot’ soap! Woo Hoo!

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ShareFunky fig. And I don’t mean in a “oh guuurl, you look fuuuunkay!” way. I mean in the “um, baby, you smell a bit funky. You’re going to shower before we go out, right?” kinda way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a nasty smell, it just makes my nose wrinkle. I’m clearly not a…

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