What Have I Got to Lose?

It has been months since I made any soap.  I guess I could say that I lost track of the time or that other priorities have taken place in my life.  The truth dawned on me last weekend.  Simply put, I have lost my nerve.  Since the end of last year, a few things occurred at work (AKA my non-soapy job) including a large scale restructure which resulted in 217 people being made redundant.  Although I kept my job, it has unsettled me, and I wonder how much longer before I too become redundant.  Until now I hadn't realised how much it had impacted on my life.  I know I have been keeping my head down and grateful that I have not lost my job but afraid to take risks (not reckless).  The redundancies have had a spillover effect into my home life and hobbies / interests.

For so long now, I have been making just honey and oatmeal soap.  Don't get me wrong; I love my honey and oatmeal soap but after awhile my soapmaking feels bland.

Last weekend I forced myself to get back in the saddle after many months of feeling 'lost'.  I felt extremely anxious about making soap and challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone by trying new techniques and blends.

Challenge 1: Drop swirl design using Brazilian purple clay and French green clay as colourants.  Scented, with a blend of lavender, spearmint and vanilla followed by a sprinkling of dried heather on top.

Challenge 2: A blend of sweet and valencia orange and patchouli for that hippy feeling mixed into a batch if soap coloured with activated charcoal and paprika.  Decorated on top with a feathered pattern.

Beautiful pattern on top moments before the clingwrap
 saga coloured with activated  charcoal and paprika.

I actually had panic attacks and many bouts of tears about what could go wrong and made mistakes because of my nerves.

Batch 1 - I forgot to add salt to harden my bars, and I didn't think to blend some water with the clay initially to break up clumps.  The portions of batter that were mixed with the clay started to become a thick trace quicker than the uncoloured batter.  I'm not sure if it was because of the clay or because I only poured my essential oil blend into these portions of the batter.  The drop swirl became more of a plop swirl.

Batch 2 - Forgot to add the Vitamin E.  Placed clingwrap over the loaf mould after making a pretty feathered pattern on top, only to watch the wrap sag and destroy the pattern.

I'm really not sure how these are going to turn out but I feel more relaxed now.

Where Has The Time Gone??

Why is it lately that I am spending more and more time looking back on my life?  Somewhere, somehow I have lost sight of who I am.  I guess it has been a gradual process that I never really took notice of until now.

With a mixture of throwback memories and new experiences, I am on a mission to rediscover myself - my health, my aspirations, my interests -

I've always been drawn to this photo I took on one of our last visits to First / Grindewald in Switzerland.  I love how I can not see completely what is ahead.  Little did I know at the time, that circumstances beyond our control were to shortly alter my husbands and my life in ways beyond our imagining.  For almost five years since this photo was taken, we have both felt that we have been surrounded by mist not really having any clear direction in our life.

I know it won't be easy, but step by step I am determined to find myself again.

Soap Ball Experiment

Late last year I ordered the small silicone 9 ball flexible mould from Aussie Soap Supplies.  I had read on other posts that it was easy to unmould and one of the tips I had picked up was to put your mould in the freezer to held with unmoulding.  I wasn't sure if this would really work with palm oil free cold pressed soap so I only ordered one mould.  Having some left over honey and oatmeal soap mix, I poured this into the cavities with if I'm honest expectations of future frustrations when unmoulding.  I had no idea of what to expect, after the soap had cured I popped the mould into the freezer wondering if the promise of perfectly round soap balls would soon materialise.

The brown marks are oatmeal and honey.
Note the air bubbles

After taking the mould out of the freezer, I was really surprised how easy they were to release from the mould.  As you can see in the photo, lovely round balls were formed each with diameters of 22mm.  I tried to get as many air bubbles out of them but because the soap had traced very quickly, it was alot thicker than what I would have chosen to pour into this mould.  I will bear this in mind for future use.  It is hard to see in this photo (I don't have a fancy smancy camera) but a lovely shine was left on the exterior of the balls from the high quality silicone that was used for making the mould.

Will I use this mould again?  Absolutely, I just wished that I had ordered a couple of these so I can make lots of soap balls at the one time.  One plan for these delightful balls is to use as embeds.  Hmm, I may need to order some more

New Years Day - Trip to Bridestowe Lavender Estate

Looking across the fields of lavender,
 Bridestowe Lavender Estate, Tasmania 

This morning was a fantastic start to 2016. Setting off bright and early we travelled to Bridestowe Lavender Estate. My husband and I knew we were in for a great treat when he drove round a bend to see a glimpse of waves of purple peaking through the trees.

On our arrival we were amazed to see such a beautiful scene less than an hour drive outside of Launceston.  The aroma was divine. I couldn't help it, I had to get close to this marvelous herb.

 Several different people had recommended we try the lavender scones in the cafe so whilst I was distracted by the scenery and aroma around me,  my husband made it his mission to go on reconascence to track down the famous lavender scones.  He came back excitably telling me that not only could we get the lavender scones but we could also order lavender latte as well.  Too bad if I didn't feel like heading to the cafe at that particular moment because clearly according to my husband's watch it was time for coffee.

My goodness, the latte was delicious and the scones were without a doubt the best scones I had ever tasted.  These were served with cream as well as rhubarb and lavender jam.  The flavours blended so well that there were no overpowering taste.

If you have read my previous post than you will know that one of my soap resolution this year is to be more creative in the use of different botanicals in my cooking.  A quick stop in the gift shop was in order and I now have some dried culinary lavender, rhubarb and lavender jam as well as some lavender syrup for adding to our coffee.  I akso came away with a bundle of complimentary recipe cards.

I'm itching to get home and try my hand at making my first batch of lavender scones.  Some of the other complimentary recipes include:

* Lavender Butter Cake
* Lemon and Lavender Cake
* Iced Bridestowe Lavender Tea
* Lavender Banana Cake
* Lavender Chocolate Cake
* Lavender Shortbread
* Potatoes with Lavender and Rosemary
* Lavender Brownies
* Lavender and Honey Ice Cream
* Lavender Babycakes
* Lavender Pancakes

Overall a thoroughly great way to start a new year

2016 Soapy Resolutions

Ringing in the new year is traditionally for most people the time to set resolutions usually which have been forgotten or broken by the end of January.  I've decided to set myself soapy resolutions for 2016.  Some will be specifically for soap making but others will be to challenge myself to use botanicals in other ways.

Looking back, it will be 10 years this coming July / August since I took my first venture into making soap and bath products.  A lot has happened over this time and so I feel it is time to get 'back to basics' where I'm going to challenge myself each week to try something new or revisit a technique or design that has sat on the proverbial shelf waiting patiently to be the belle of the ball.

I've also decided that this year I am going to focus on creating blends for example that are reminiscent of places I've visited or memories that have a special meaning to me.

Below are some things I have already earmarked to challenge myself with:

Techniques - 

* Landscape designs

* Taiwan Swirl

* Brush Embroidery

* Ombre Gradient Soap

* Feathered ITP Swirl

* Wall Pour

* Embeds

* Clyde Slide

Soaps - 

* Salt bars

* Beer Soap

* Whipped Soap

Other -

* Massage Bars

* Exfoliating Bars

* Tea Baths

* Bath / Shower Fizzies

* Body Butter

Culinary - 

* Herbal Tea blends

* Culinary Lavender

* Herbal vinegars, honey, herbal infused oil 

Household Cleaners - 

* Herbal Carpet Cleaners

* Natural Cleaners etc

Already this is a really long list, so how am I going to achieve my resolutions?  By being organised.  I've already scheduled weekly reminders in my calendar for a) planning the next week challenge and b) setting time aside to create the existing week challenge.  I also plan to mix it up i.e one week make soap, the next week using botanicals in my cooking etc.

Happy New Year everyone

Unmolding My Soap

The soap fairies have worked their magic and my batch of Honey & Oatmeal soap as been unmolded.

I am really happy with the results.  The silicone cylindrical mold leaves a lovely glossy surface to the soap.

Unmolding the soap from the cylindrical mold

I'm loving the marbled pattern that has been created.

 I wonder what the soap will look like once it has been cut?

Experimenting with patterning on the surface made using a bamboo skewer.

Happy with how this turned out considering how thick and quickly the trace became.

Getting Back In The Saddle

Some say soap making is like riding a bike.  Once you've learnt how you never really forget.  Sure you might fall off but it is important to get back on and keep going.

Where has the time gone?? This year has flown by so quickly that until yesterday I didn't realise that it has been almost 12 months since my last batch of soap.  Why did I leave it so long?  There are a number of possible reasons.

1) I started a new job at the end of last year.

2) We moved interstate and took a long time to adjust to the reality of downsizing from a house to a 2 bedroom apartment.

3) Dealing with the passing of  some special people in my life.

4) Trying to make time to complete work related course work.

5) Supporting my husband whilst he was in between jobs a we settled into our new lives.

6) Travelled back to the UK to visit family.

Or perhaps I simply lost my creative spark.  I don't know what happened but late last week my husband asked me when I was planning to make some more soap as the stash of my honey and oatmeal soap had been depleted and how he really likes it.

His comment took me by surprise as I hadn't realised how much he likes my soaps.  He also noted that he knows soap making makes me really happy.

So with this in mind yesterday I set aside time to make a double batch of my honey and oatmeal soap that is made with olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil. cocoa butter, vitamin e, honey, oatmeal, lye

Honey poured into traced soap

On the whole I thought I had it in the bag but boy had I forgotten a few things.

I forgot;

1) That the lye solution takes alot longer to cool down than what I remembered.

2) Using a rand new stick blender can cause the soap to trace more quickly.

3) Honey can speed up acceleration.

You wouldn't believe how quickly my soap turned from a nice thin trace to the beginning of soap custard.  I was able to get it into my molds and thankfully this was planned as a simple log with no intricate patterning to be included.

The annoying thing is that I know all of the factors but somehow let them skip to the back of my mind.  Maybe it was because I have made this soap so many times before that I felt I didn't really need to think about it.

Well my soap seems to have turned out okay.  Time will tell when I remove it from its mold later on.

Has this frightened me away?  Absolutely not.  What I will do next time is be more prepared in advance.  I'll also take it easier with the stick blender and remember that less is more when it comes to using the blender.  I'm also going to make time each week in 2016 to get my mojo back.