Handmade Soaps and Other Lovelies
FINALLY it’s vacation time for me! I have been saving up some fun just for this purpose!
I refilled my stash of bath & body ingredients, and have been patiently waiting for vacation to arrive so I could play with my new goodies! I have SO much in store for this vacation! I even have an itinerary all worked up. Continue reading “Vacation – Let the Fun Begin!”
It’s that time of year again, folks! Yep, you guessed it, the time to start making bath bombs for your Christmas giftees! Of course, if you don’t celebrate Christmas, these would work just as well for any celebratory occasion you do observe! Continue reading “The Christmas Bath Bomb Marathon Begins”
This last weekend I made another lard soap. I am getting the hang of the recipe formulation, I think, but am finding that it does take MUCH longer to be able to unmold the soap than my normal palm-free, butter-based recipes do. Still, I can’t wait for the cure to complete so I can try out these new soaps and see if I prefer them over the butter-based ones.
Apparently, I have lost my swirl mojo. The last few batches I have made haven’t produced the lovely, fluid, gorgeous swirls that some of my previous soaps have achieved. I find this lard batter a little thicker and faster to “gunk up” than my other recipe, so this might be part of issue I am having. I guess I have a little more tweaking to do with my recipe to get it “just right” yet. Continue reading “I’ve Lost my MoJo!”
Vacation is over after today, sadly, but I did get a lot of rest and relaxation in — in the form of soap-making (which for me is R&R).
I had mixed success because I was trying new recipes, incorporating lard. I didn’t have any “total” failures, but I did have a batch stick to the mold, and a couple others that thickened quickly, so the swirls weren’t as nice as I would have hoped. Still, I think the soaps turned out “interesting” enough, and will likely be very good, solid bars. They are going to be Christmas gifts for my family and friends.
Besides the soap, I also got a couple refill batches of lotion made (my Biotone Massage Lotion clone and my nighttime lavender & benzoin lotion). And, I also made herb infused oils, Melissa lip balm and Lemongrass Pain Relief Balm. So even though I started out without any plans, I managed to fill my days productively.
It’s the mid-way through vacation already, but I feel like I have already begun to amass a week’s worth of crafting (so that is a sign of a well-spent vacation!).
Today I was quite busy as I made two soaps and a lotion. I also managed to get a couple of the malas I made for my husband photographed as well. Continue reading “Wednesday Vacation Power!”
Finally, I found LARD! The much beloved, blogged, and admired soap making fatty acid!
For the longest time I have been looking for it, but have not been able to find lard or tallow locally. HOWEVER, I was looking by the meats and in the refrigerated section of the store. Turns out, it is not stored there. They store it by the Mexican food on one of the international food aisles.
Regardless, I was able to score a couple of containers of it, so right away, I wanted to try to make some soap with it to see what all the fuss was about! Continue reading “Glorious Lard!”
This week has been so busy. Next week is going to be even worse!
Our project at work is getting ready to execute one of the major phases, so, although I am scheduled to be on vacation next week, that may not get to happen. It’s still up in the air until a few key meetings occur this week so I can find out.
IF I do get to take vacation, I have had little time to prepare for any fun-time. It is still far to hot here to order any soap or lotion making supplies, so it doesn’t look like much of that will be happening this maybe-vacation. Next time I need to plan far ahead and stock up in April (before it gets too hot out). I thought I had more time, but it got hot this year in May and stayed that way all summer.
