Lemon Soap And Pattern Weights

So much for being a monogamous crafter! Two non-crochet projects have been started and completed today. 

I do like a nice little bit of lemon soap. It smells so fresh and clean.

Rose is another fragrance I rather love. Interestingly, it is not something the Beloved can smell! 

I've also made from pattern weights from some scraps of fabric I picked up last summer at the Quilters Guild.

Lemon Soap

When my daughter was visiting at Christmas, she raved about the soaps I have made for her. She has problems with eczema, and the soap do not exacerbate the situation, but helps. As we are going to visit soon, I decided to make some more.

One of the requests was to keep it simple. In a previous batch, I had great fun creating a rainbow of clear soap, set in white fluffy clouds. It looked great when it was first made, but the colours leached out into the white fluff, and it became somewhat muddy and less appealing. 

This time, I decided to make a clear lemon bar. A tad too much yellow colourant was added, but I thought I could get around this by making a white opaque layer on top. Then I thought, "Oooh, how about adding the white before the yellow has completely set?"  Great idea, but I was impatient, and poured the white whilst the yellow was too warm. The result has been a very gentle mottled lemon appearance rather than rivers of clear yellow and opaque white. Ah well. It looks nice. It isn't going to discolour, and it smells great.

Rainbow Slice

I've been playing with soap again.  This is 'Rainbow Slice'. I like it, but I can improve! In my next batch I'll make the soap slightly differently, and hopefully, it will look even better.

Honey, Vanilla and Oatmeal Soup

A little something I whipped up, honey, vanilla and oatmeal soap. It is utterly fantastic to use after gardening, or other dirty jobs. The oatmeal given just a little bit of exfoliation, but not too much.

Soap Bubbles

I have been playing with soap today.  

235g of clear soap base was melted, and this is enough to fill the domed ice 'cube' tray, plus 3 little hearts. Six drops of red were added to the melted soap, and 20 drops of rose oil. When half of the ice 'cube' tray was filled, I added 1 drop of blue. 

When these have solidified, I'll make some blue and some pink ones too. These will then be set in white soap. Hopefully, there clear, colours domes will appear as gems in the white base.

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800g of white soap base was used. It seems like the mould I was using can take up to 1.5kg. That's a lot of soap!

April Craftings

Upcycled Bag
Start: 28th April 2018
Finish: 28th April 2018

Rose Soap
Start: 25th April 2018
Finish: 25th April 2018

Cinderella Costume
Start: 14th April 2018
Finish: 18th April 2018

Vanilla and Oatmeal Soap
Start: 12th April 2018
Finish: 12th April 2018

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Items made this month
3 sewn, 0 knitted, 0 crocheted, 5 soaped

Items made this year
8 sewn, 8 knitted, 0 crocheted, 5 soaped

Yarn this month
bought: 0
finished: 5

Yarn this year
bought: 17 (950g of DK)
finished: 15

Rose Soap

I've been playing again with soap. Such a clean hobby! 

Rose curls and using the heart mould were what I tried my hand at yesterday. Pink dye and rose essential oil was added to the soap mix to create two colours of pink. It all looked so much better in my head, but one of the great things about making soap is that you can wash your hands of it. :o)

Practise is most definitely required, but I'm prepared to give it a go.

Using my Soap

It's a strange feeling using soap you have made. It's rather wonderful to see all the bubbles and have clean hands too.

The top layer of soap has been washed away, leaving some of the ground oats at the surface. This makes a wonderful defoliator. Vanilla has a reputation on discolouring soap, and this has happened. But, as it's taken a stark white to a very soft cream, it isn't a problem. 

Something I hadn't counted on was the sight one sees when lifting the bar of soap. There's a brown sludge trail! No brown on the bottom of soap bars from now on! There used to be a crisp interface between the vanilla layer and the brown base. This has changed into a gradient. It's rather pretty.

Soap-making

Behold! My very first bar of soap. It's a melt-and-soup soap. There's three layers. The top is the soap medium with ground up oats. The middle is has vanilla added, and the bottom is also vanilla with brown colouring added.

Let's just say, I learned stuff. The new jug I bought for melting the soap in melted. If you leave the soap in the microwave too long it boils. Thankfully, I haven't had experience of burning soap. From all accounts, it's not something I want to experience! 

Another thing I have learned is how difficult it is to get a good brown using red, blue and green. It's also more likely to come out looking like poo. The mould I used (a small food storage box) was on the big side. Smaller bars of soap are easier to use.