The making of...THREE soaps :)

Well - really it's the making of a normal batch of "Country Skies" and then two tiny test runs of "Hansel and Gretels House" and "Saffron and Cedar".  But it's not the size of the soap it's the info in the video that counts eh?

Hansel and Gretels House I think I shall rename to "Gingerbread Man"...or maybe "Can't Catch Me" and when people ask ??? what does that mean I'll say: "Run, run run as fast as you can - can't catch me I'm the GINGERBREAD MAN" and I'll laugh wildly at the end.  What? No? Sounds Crazy?  Okay, so maybe I'll stick with Gingerbread Man....probably keep it simple like it is here too....perhaps a flat, short bar instead of a tall normal bar, but still with icing and sprinkles?  Oh how mama needs a froo froo mold for that...one day.....anyways, top came out like this:

Then there is "Saffron and Cedar" - I dunno....I was thinking I might call it "Drop Dead Sexy" or "Awesome Sexy Man" or something! I love it! Didn't think I was going to love it as much as I do...but it really is a nice fragrance! I was just playing with the colors there - but I will probably keep it just as simple when I do a big formal batch of it....the fragrance did seep out a little the first day or so...but it reabsorbed back in before I even had the chance to cut it...so no biggie there, I still love the way it smells!

This is the top of "Country Skies" - a remake really, it's the Fresh Outdoors scent from Nature's Garden - but I hadn't done a video of it (I don't think anyways) and since I was splitting off the other stuff from that one I figured "eh why not"....just love how it looks all fresh in the mold! Smells good too!

All three claim to accelerate trace - and maybe a little yes - but really all 3 did very well for me and came out pretty perfect...if this slow as heck old internet ever gets the first video up, I MAY post the video where I cut them LOL....and here it is:

Anyways...on to the next video lol...have that ready about Christmas time haha! Actually, with any luck it'll be up before the day is out ;)

FINALLY! A making of "City Slicker" video :)

I FINALLY did a video of making what I call "City Slicker for him" - it's really Black Tie by Nature's Garden and it is FANTABULOUS! I love that smell, I love how the soap comes out, it's just fun!

This is the one I do with the zebra/tiger stripes in black and white...just loving it how it goes together...

The top had a little more texture, but still overall very flat :( I don't know why - I guess it's just so dang hot, I don't feel perky and thusly my soap tops are NOT perky either lol!

I haven't cut it yet - but it's gonna look pretty much like that when I do, just love it! Elegant, but fun all at once.

Off to allow another video to upload while I do other stuffs then :P

Well shucks ya'll! The month of April has left the building I see...

I TOTALLY spaced it a few weeks back on posting my link for the mica swirl to the Great Cakes soap challenge - but I have been spacing a TON of stuff lately!  We have baby goats arriving left and right LOL, it makes one a little bit CRAZY and flutterpated!

So...I posted the link to the leopard spots challenge one I made a while back just now...can NOT believe I spaced it on the mica lines :(  Oh well...I will admit though, after doing more mica swirl awesomeness I think I have a new favorite soap trick of the moment!

Let's see...hmmm....taught a soap/goat class a few weeks back, made a trip (6+ hour round trip) to get 2 new baby goats. They are the most perfect mini nubian doelings EVER!  Just see for yourself - meet Hannah (the dark haired beauty) and Nugget (the blue eyed bomb shell)!

Then of course all the prep work and stressing over my 2 does that are due - UGH! Waiting on babies to be born is SO stressful!  Mostly for me, the goats don't seem to really care....they take it all one day at a time style....but I am tearing my hair out!

And then...THEN...there's the soap!  Yes, I have found time to sneak in and soap like MAD CRAZY lately!  I don't know what has come over me...but I will have pics a plenty to post!  OH! and I made a video AND I THINK I have conquered youtube finally!  Have to keep working on that....it's another post though really...

So yes, I have been an absentee blogger lately, which I swore I would not do!  But man oh man - I have had so many emails and phone calls and trips and such that were goat related I just couldn't squeeze in time to blog much...but I'll get all caught up, never you fear :)

Speaking of...guess I better go post about that video before I get sidetracked and forget how to work this computer thing-a-ma-jig huh?

Cutting the Mica Swirl Tops Soaps :)

I was all "video makin' happy" last week lol! I got these all cut and on tape and then I walked away from the computer (mostly) for a few days...sooooo...I am FINALLY getting around to posting these!  IDK how great the video is in reality.  In MY head at least I think it is wonderful because I finally did it :P

But anyways, I HOPE it came out okay :) I was uber excited and still am!  Black Raspberry Vanilla and Moonlight Pomegranate - mmmmmmm :)

I think before I officially go post my link on the GreatCakes page I will go get some still shots and put those on the blog - just because my video is NOT that great - but yes, giddy excited a bit I was when I figured out I had a perfect spot to perch the phone and still get ok passing for viewable videos! Happy dance happy dance :)

I want to say I was having a less than beautiful day - but let's be honest, that's how farmer woman tend to roll.  Old t-shirts and make up free! If I really like this video thing I may start doing my hair first LOL :)

Also - please note the OCD with my cutting - I never get a straighter than straight bar and I have some issues haha! Perhaps someone (husband dear) will get me a REAL cutter soon! Actually, maybe I will get me a REAL cutter once I am done with baby goats next month.

And yes, before I start I scrub the HECK out of my hands!  I can't cut for beans in gloves, I tried, didn't work, my hands gets all slippy.  VERY ugly scene!  SO I scrub my hands like medical style before I cut soaps. Just saying - I dunno, another OCD thing with me.

Guess I better go get those pics then so I can post my link for real huh?

Spots Round 2, not that great, but not that bad....

Ok, so FIRST of all...the destruction from Tiger Stripes Day:

Do you see where they knocked down not one but TWO of the boards that form a "fence"...yup...I know, I SUCK at construction work!  But still - this little lean too I built was BUCK proof! See the guilty party looking at me like I was hampering HER fun? MMMmhhhhmmm...names Pomegranate but it SHOULD be trouble!

So...anyways...I went out this morning to take a look at the reason for my heart attack last night in the dark.  First off, you GOTTA see this tree:

This is the tree that gives me my "theme" for what I call "Rustic" (a vanilla oak scent by Brambleberry) - since it is one BIG, GIANT, OLD oak tree I figure it is perfect.  BUT, it does hand over the house, and when there is the combo of a major storm rolling through, a giant crashy noise AND the lights blink out you can see why I jumped and spilled my soap right?  First thought, much like that old t.v. show Sanford & Son was "Lord, Here I come!"  But then I was still alive a few moments later right?  So, okay, here's what I found this morning:

A nice, large, HUGE actually, dent in the roofing over the back porch...caused by:

A limb the size of a young tree!!!!  Yup, I was trying to soap and mother nature was throwing curve balls at me - literally!

So...I did all my hausfrau farmer stuff for the day and lastly I headed in to clean up the mess from the prior evening.  I scraped my now saponified soapy mess off of the floor and weighed it - almost 9ounces of wasted soap, nearly 2 bars worth if you will.  Alright, I guess it's not as bad as I thought. I initially was guessing I had about a pound of Love Spell scented floor cleaner down there - because once it hits the floor that's what it becomes right?

Then...to make myself feel better...I re-batched some scraps and such I had kicking around.  Scented it with rosemary mint and went for the "marbeled natural herbal look" with it.  While I was cooking that down, I did the dishes from the prior evening and started dinner and fiddle with the laundry...we shall see how it came out, but I feel pretty good about it.  Just waiting for it to cool now....anyways..so I held my breath and I cut into "Leopard Spots Round 2"...ok...remember how Round 1 came out???

Not too bad right?  I was kinda dreading round 2 because I had given up after the spill....but....

It's not too bad :)  Still has a bit of the "leopard look" to it...really pretty swirl that's for sure...I guess I am on the same crappy fence I built with this one eh?  Hmmmm....haven't finished cutting it yet - it's still kinda soft and not even 24 hours old yet!  We'll see...still smells good, as far as the 'soap' part it's still soap...just not exactly what I was going for, but kinda nifty in it's own right ain't it?

I suppose the moral here is this:  Even when you nearly wet your pants in fear and make a royal mess of things, it can still turn out sudsy :)

See, what had happened was....

I started out to make "Tiger Stripes" and ended up with "gloppy forgotten hot ass mess" - seems if tiger stripes are the intended goal, then I am gonna need some better fencing!  Fencing you ask?  YES, FENCING!

So...the other day...I go in to make my rendition of tiger stripes in soap.  I have some red and yellow clays from Brambleberry I want to use and this "Little Black Dress" fo from Rustic Escentuals I have used before...I figure since I already made a tiger stripe in "Black Tie" from Nature's Garden (which I refer to as "City Slicker") I will do a "City Slicker for her version....

My goats however disagreed with THAT plan! As I was saying..........

It was a GORGEOUS DAY outside and I had the front door open to catch a little of that in the house.  Nice breeze, lovely weather, just enjoying the day.  I go in, I set up everything, get my lye and oils going like a team of soapy goodness, split the batch, mix in the yellow clay and JUST as I finish mixing in the red I hear CLOMP CLOMP clompclompclompclomp!!!!!!!  Now wait a minute, there should be NO clomping of hooves!!! Here's where it gets good, I ALMOST wish I had been doing a video, except the amount of bleeps needed would be excessive to say the least!

I spin around, and what do I see?  The faces of 3 goats staring back at me - IN MY KITCHEN!!!  Initially, I freak, I shut the door to the soap room and just pause.  What do I do?  Do I soap on?  NOOOOO!!!!  The bedroom door is open too!  From the window in my soap room door, there go 3 of the goats - ON MY BED!!!  NOOOO!!!!And where are the other 2 goats from that pen????

So, in a fit of super pissed off, the gloves and goggles come off and out I go...seems that somehow the girls have managed to DESTROY the pen the bucks never could!  There's a board cracked in half and the chance for escape was taken!!!  I stood there - livid - for just a second.  Well, actually closer to 5 minutes, while the offenders clamored around me for attention.  I had soap waiting to be poured after all...and so I shuffled the does onto the back porch (which is also a goat maternity ward and such at times and currently houses my spoiled "in milk does".  Yeah, sure, Willow the Mean is out there - I didn't care.  I let her whoop on the yearlings while I returned to my soap...my sad, gloppy, now been sitting there for probably half an hour at least soap.  Because for some reason, once you want to catch a goat THEY KNOW IT!  Took me a bit to round them up - they KNEW I was hot!

As I was saying - I returned to my now nearly solidified and saponified soap batter. I proceeded to glop it into the mold.  Let me add here - I LIKE my tiger stripes a bit thicker, but not that thick!  The only photo I got of the process was the end...take a closer look:

Not all the glitter in the world can make it better....

Not all the clever posing helps....the goats ruined my tiger stripes!  Actually, to be honest, the goats and a combo of my crappy fencing ruined my tiger stripes :(

So instead, I give you from the week before this:

This would be the one I mentioned - "City Slicker" - aka "Tiger Stripes UN-interrupted!"

So yes, I have been pouting and not soaping much, and yes...oh yes...I have one more reason why the "Big Cats" and I don't mix.  That story will come in a few days time I think....let's just say there's a VERY good reason I don't use glass when I soap...

AND YES, I made the black and white BEFORE I knew about the challenge and NO I don't care :P (I'm still a little pouty about spending a day fixing fences and what happened tonight...but that is another story all together...)

A Special Soap...

If you see that picture, and you can see through my impressionistic manner of soaping, then you may or may not get it....I hope you do get it...no matter what you feel or believe...

That my dearies is lemon verbena scented goat milk soap...a TEENY batch...it was a test run of sorts.  If (and I bet I will) I make this design again, then I will do proper imbeds so it looks more like this:

Do you get it now?  I hope so...because here is the thing...

I don't care who you are, where you came from, or what you do with yourself - as long as you treat me well and kindly I will do so in return.  This was my "soapy way" of showing that I don't care who wants to marry who...actually if you ask me, I think allowing gay marriage would be grand for the soap makers of this country.  Just think of how many more wedding favors we could make and sell out of soap if we added a whole new demographic to the wedding scene ya'll! Plus then you add in how costly weddings are anyways and the boost THAT would bring to the economy in general - sure, it's a small one, but every little bit helps these days right? I just don't see any reason why the government should say who can and can't get married...and I choose to show it in soap.

While we are at it, let's be honest.  First of all - there's that whole "separation of church and state bit" - remember learning about that?  Church stuff and government stuff are not supposed to be mingled...okay...So THEN we take the whole "marriage thing" and make it totally a government thing! No really, they took a good deal of the "church" part out of weddings when they required licenses to do so (gotta pay someone down at the courthouse to get it), made filing your taxes different if you are married, and then look at divorces which are SO a big huge money maker for the local government with how costly they are in court fees and such....

Sure, any church still has the right to say what is acceptable in their beliefs and all and any church can choose not to recognize something for whatever reason - there in comes the freedom of speech part I suppose.  But, in my eyes, as far as the government goes they don't have the right to deny same sex couples getting married because the ONLY thing have to quote is religious text and and that isn't right because it goes right back to the first part - separation of church and state - can't use religious stuff as an argument when you work for the state if you are supposed to keep the two separate....there are just WAY too many differing variations and such in each religion and each version of the Bible and what not...

If all people are created equal and all people truly have equal rights, then let whoever marry whomever and rake in the cash from it ya'll!  There WILL be money to be made I promise you!  Think of all the fees collected on marriage licenses, think of all the fees collected on divorces later, and think of all the wedding stuff us handcrafters and small business people can sell!

Also...while they're at it...let's see about getting me a second wife in here to do the dishes and the laundry so I can spend all my time riding horses, making soap, and hanging out with the goats...well...I dunno...maybe... :) Love or hate my point of view, you have to admit the bottom line is there is a potential for all of us to make a little $$$ with this one if it passes ever - so don't be so judgmental on what's right and wrong...start seeing how it COULD be right for you and you may just change your mind!

The Importance of Note Taking and Black Raspberry Vanilla :)

I am the world's worst person about jotting down all sorts of notes in all sorts of places!  No really...twice a year at least I find myself cleaning out this house and having to rewrite all of this valuable information into notebooks that won't be lost - and some of it is not so valuable and gets thrown out....but with a few things I am positively anal and much better.  My goats and my soaps - these things I stay on top of meticulously!

I had someone inquire the other day what they needed to start making soap and on the top of my list was "Notebook".  I wasn't always as good as I am now about taking notes and it came back to bite me a few times...

Like the time I concocted a really awesome bar of soap with an even more awesome fragrance I had mixed up out of left over bottles...yup, you guessed it, the post it notes with all that info got lost never again to resurface and I have never quite gotten it exactly right again....or the time I played with the soap calculator and THOUGHT I had an awesome recipe only to realize later that it traced too fast to do anything with...yup, you guessed...that envelope I had written it on wandered off and somehow - oh joy of joys - I DID manage to recreate that soap on a stick mess once more!  Taking notes really helps.  I recreate almost exactly the same soap I have made once before OR I can totally avoid another hot mess!

So, when I went into the Soap Room the other night, I grabbed my notebook and did a remake of Black Raspberry Vanilla...it's been a while since I made this soap and everyone loved it last time!  So, I didn't want to go changing it up entirely, I wanted something easily recognizable for what it was right?

I followed the same recipe, using the same fragrance from the same supplier and even the same colors as much as possible....I think it turned out mighty nicely :)

The lighting even cooperated for a change...well...actually, I just timed it better getting in there to take pictures haha! I think it looks like a raspberry patch with all the berries and leaves and shadows you'd see out in nature...that's what it reminds me of and it smells yummy too!

So, keep good notes and you'll be able to make more of something just the same as it was before (or avoid it completely) and don't forget to take pictures too!  I am still bad about getting photos of stuff for reference...but I'm working on it :)

Now...what should I do with myself today????

Hands as Steady as a Parkinson's Patient....

No really - I say that in all honesty.  Some days I wonder about myself, but I am not that fond of doctors and in no mood for a diagnoses...but let's just say I seriously have the least steady hands of anyone I know.  I use the phrase Parkinson's Patient in the title here because it's true...my grandmother AND her sisters ALL had Parkinson's - it's something else to live with that's for sure.  So I know my slight tremor in my hands and inability to sit still without random twitches is probably a sign I am headed that way myself...

Now, what does that have to do with soap?  This:

That would be my cherry almond scented soap - yes, goat milk soap like always - look closely, closer...

You can tell the hands that piped those cherries and stems are NOT steady hands - so I added glitter :P  Sparklies cover up my shaky hands.  Well, not really, but they add a little distraction that's for sure!

It still looks pretty good, and since I am never going to have steady hands and one day it MAY get worse I'm over it.  For now, for me, it's freakin' awesome! This is also why you won't be seeing cupcake soaps here anytime soon.  I can do some piping and frosting type designs - but limited easy stuff.  If it gets too complicated my hands get all shaky, and the design turns into a blob - no bueno I declare!  I am gonna have to stick primarily to swirls and drizzles and layers and such.  Things that don't need precision are more what my hands can handle.

I got the idea from a Soap Queen blog - she did apples - but I don't really like apple scents.  I did have cherry though...totally perfect for the design with a few tweaks!

Also...I forgot to post pics of the sleepy time soap after I cut it!

I think the colors are perfectly divine versions of purples! And it came out just how I had pictured it...this how my mind is when I go to sleep with lavender in the room.  All floaty foggy purple happiness with a little fluffy cloudy dream topping!  I know - I'm so one of those crazy impressionist artists aren't I?  But, me likey :)

I'm thinking maybe this evening I want to do a fresh batch of oats, milk, and honey OR maybe black raspberry vanilla with a peacock swirly top....I dunno just yet.  Today is actually a "work outside all day" kind of day.  So tonight I may just go right to bed lol :)  We shall see....guess I better head back out tho....