Summer Soaps

Howdy, folks!

Once again, I have been neglecting you. I apologize! :)

Monsoon season has hit us in Tucson. Last week was not too bad, but the week before was full of storms, microbursts, downed power lines, and floods. Here at the house we only lost power once for a few hours. Ray had to go into work a few times as they lost power 3 or 4 times on the northwest side of town. At the worst of the storms, Tucson kicked up a huge dust storm, pushed it along toward Phoenix, which ended up as a huge haboob which engulfed all of Phoenix! Take a look at Ray's blog, he posted a video of the haboob.

Sonoran Connection

Want to see some new soaps?? OK !

This first one is a soap I made for a Soap Challenge. I am a member of an Etsy team called Soap Artisan Friends of Etsy, and every couple of months we have a challenge, just a bit of fun. The challenge this time was to make a soap using at least 3 different essential oils from a predetermined list of essential oils, and using at least 2 colors.

This is the soap I made for the challenge. I used 4 essential oils - anise, orange, clary sage, and patchouli. For colors, I used green French clay, and rose clay.

The soap is called Sambuca Sunset

(click on any photo to enlarge)


If you would like to see the rest of the soaps created by my teammates for the challenge, check out our team BLOG

Here's a nice refreshing soap, Eucalyptus Mint.



A sensual soap, made with a blend of Patchouli, Geranium, and Ylang Ylang



Tahitian Flowers, sweet and floral!



The next one is a bath and shaving soap for the gals - Lilac Sandalwood. I wasn't too sure about the scent combination at first, but I like it!



Pineapple Salad. This is mostly Pineapple Crush with just a splash of Island Coconut. Yum!!



Violet Patchouli. Nothing like a little floral to bring out the best of Patchouli!



And finally, Black Raspberry. What a great lazy days of summer soap!!



Currently on the curing rack (I didn't take any pics as I was cutting, sorry!) -

Tahitian Vanilla
Chocolate Serendipity
Sweet Orange Patchouli

For my sisters, Dakota fast asleep in the closet.

Fun with jewelry making

I've been having fun with my jewelry making lately. I've been wanting to use chains, jumprings, and wirewrapping, but have been reluctant because of the price of sterling silver. Last time I bought sterling silver wire for wire wrapping, sterling was at about $12 an ounce. Now, it's almost up to $35 !!! So, I decided to go with a more vintage look with antiqued brass, and some copper.

Here is one necklace I did using fine copper chains. A total of 20 strands make up this necklace!

(Click on any photo to enlarge)


Here's the copper clasp I used



This next one I call Swallows in Blue Sky. I got a couple of cute brass connectors in the shape of a flying swallow. I went asymmetrical here, and only put in one swallow on one side. As I was adding a couple of Swarovski crystals for the focal, I noticed a handful of Botswana Agate beads setting in front of me, so I added one to this necklace. Just because it was there!





Speaking of Botswana Agate (I just like SAYING Botswana :-D ), here's a couple of bracelets made with Botswana Agate. This first one is strung on beading wire, with sterling silver.





This second one I wire wrapped the beads with antiqued brass wire into links, and used antiqued brass jumprings to attach the links together. I like the looks of the "more than needed" wire wrapping.



And since I like the over-the-top method of wire wrapping, here's a couple of necklaces I like.

Clear Quartz


Manmade purples and yellows quartz


Ocean Jasper


And how about some earrings !!

Red Aventurine


Blue Lampwork Glass


So, yes, I have been having fun with wire wrapping! To see more, check out my Etsy shop

Jewelry From Tucson


For all you jewelry makers, I have been adding some beads and findings that I got at the Tucson Gem Show this past February to my shop. Check them out, I'll be adding more!

Beads and Findings


I have also noticed on Etsy that some folks like to buy beads that are already wire wrapped and ready to go onto earrings or necklaces. So I have started making up and selling dangles. You can find them in my shop here

Dangles

Soap, Soap, and ... Soap

Here are a few soaps I have listed in my Etsy shop ... hopefully, today I will get my website update to include them all. Some of these soaps you may have seen as I was cutting them.

Midnight Garden - This one is swirled with a pretty ultramarine blue. When I first poured it, it was much lighter. But because of the fragrance oil turned a dark brown. It has a wonderful violet and amber scent. At first, I was going to call it Blue Garden, but because it turned so dark, I went with Midnight Garden.

This is how light it was when first poured

(click on any photo to enlarge)


And this is what it looks like now



Lilac - Gotta have lilac in the spring!



The Orchard House - This is the one that was SUPPOSE to be Pomegranate Fig, but I only had 1/4 of the fragrance oil that I needed. So I added a couple of fragrances, like Apple Jack & Peel, and Violet Shae, and gave it a bit of a red swirl. It smells good!!



Sage & Flowers - I like this! A blend of essential oils, Sage, Lavender, Palmarosa, and Ylang Ylang. And a green swirl. Very fresh smelling and looking!



A bath and shaving soap for the girls - this is the same sexy blend of essential oils I used in my Night Breeze soap - Orange, Lemon, Clove, Patchouli, and Ylang Ylang. I used all the right oils and butters to keep a good stable lather.



And Bay Rum Bath & Shaving Soap for the guys.



Let's see, what else ......

OH yes, for my soapaholic friend Amy, Hawaiian Citrus Spa. Made with Alaea Hawaiian Red Salt, goat milk, and lots of citrus essential oils!



One I made last year, and brought back for the summer - Carrot and Goat Milk Fragrance Free. Very nice for your face after a hard day at summer's play.



And, Spring Bouquet. This is another soap that ended up with a mix of fragrance oils because I thought I had plenty of one. It was SUPPOSE to be Lily of the Valley. But I only had a too small amount of lily of the valley fragrance oil. So I added a little bit of rose fragrance oil I had, and some myrrh fragrance oil. And I ended up with a very nice springy scent!



Now, would you like to see some soap I cut the other day ??? OK

This one is the same blend of fragrance oils I used in my Snow Spice soap. I like it a LOT, but I'm going to call it something a little more summery. It's a blend of White Spice, Cinnamon Stick, and Sahara Sandalwood. Swirled with yellow oxide and gold mica. Pretty, isn't it? :)



I've had a few requests for more Egyptian Dragon. But alas, the supplier I was getting it from has gone out of business. I only had a small amount of the fragrance oil left (sound familiar? Seeing a pattern here??), so I mixed what I had left with some Dragon's Blood. And it's very nice! It cut the sweetness of the Dragon's Blood a bit, and it's a very nice exotic scent. A unisex scent.



As it sets here in my Tank (the soap cutter), you can see how dark the outside of the soap is. The inside will get just as dark as it cures.



And this one ... this one I made a double batch of. It's called Saguaro Blossom. Saguaro's are the huge armed cactus that grow around here in the Sonoran Desert. They blossom in the late spring, early summer with these lovely big white flowers. These flowers have a scent like ripe melon, and attract all kinds of nectar eating creatures ... hummingbirds, orioles, bats. This is my salute to the saguaro blossom, a white soap with yellow topping, scented with a lily and cantaloup fragrance. Before you see the soap, this is a pic (taken by Ray, of course) of the flowers of a saguaro



And this is my Saguaro Blossom soap





There, that's enough soap for one day, yes? :)

Here's one of the little hummingbirds from the Hummingbird Aviary at the Desert Musuem - Photo taken by Ray (see more of his photos at his blog Sonoran Connection )

What the heck is a BNR ??

About a month ago, I discovered BNRs on Etsy. And yes, I can hear you - What the heck is a BNR ??

BNR stands for Buy And Replace. But before I can talk about BNR, first I need to talk about Treasuries. Treasuries are an Etsy "thing". Any Etsy member can create a Treasury. Each Treasury has 16 spaces. Here, this is how Etsy describes a Treasury -

"Treasury is an ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery comprised of lists of items. Lists contain 16 items. Members can feature their favorite items, items selected on a theme or whatever they like. Any Etsy member can create a Treasury list, and there is no limit to the number of lists you can create. You can edit your lists as often as you desire, and post comments to other members' lists. The number of views your list receives as well as the number of clicks the items featured in your list receive are displayed in the list's Stats section."

Here is a Treasury I created that features some of my soaping buddies from a soaping team I am a member of. Now, don't forget to come back after clicking on the link! :)

A SAFETeam Treasury

OK, are you back? Did you see a lot of gorgeous soap ?? :-D

So that is a Treasury. Lots of Etsy folks like to create Treasuries, and lots of Etsy folks like to look at Treasuries. It didn't take long for someone to come up with a wonderful promotional tool using Treasuries. And this promotional tool became known as Buy and Replace. Here's the deal ....

A "curator" creates a Treasury. The curator declares it a BNR. And this is what happens - if another Etsy seller buys something from one of the shops featured in this Treasury, then THAT seller's shop replaces the shop that was bought from in the Treasury. Get it? Buy something from a featured shop, replace that shop with your shop. In order for this to work, sellers who are featured in a BNR will help promote it, by posting a link to it on Facebook, or Twitter, or whatever promotional tools they like to use. A BNR promotion may last a few hours, or all day, or until a certain number of sales is reached. Some BNRs are BNSs, which means Buy and Stay. In a BNS, the promotion lasts until a certain number of sales is reached. All the original sellers that are featured in the Treasury stay featured. Purchases can be from any featured shop. The curator keeps a list of all the sellers that have bought in. Then, when the number of sales is reached, the curator creates a NEW Treasury with all the folks that bought in! And everyone starts promoting the NEW Treasury.

And yes, it works! There is a lot of chatting that goes on in a BNR. People get to know each other. It's a seller helping seller atmosphere, very encouraging, very welcoming. And us Etsy sellers, we like it! Because, yeah, we're buyers too! :-D

OH, and let me add, most featured shops will also be offering discounts!

So now when you see me promoting a BNR, you'll know what the heck I'm talking about !!!

More soap!

hehe !! Are you surprised?? :-D This is some soap I cut up yesterday.

This first one was SUPPOSE to be Pomegranate Fig, but I only had a tiny amount of Pomegranate Fig fragrance oil. So I added some Apple Jack and Peel, and some Violey Shea. It actually smells pretty good! Like the inside of a big farm stand. I'm calling Orchard House.



And this one is a blend of essential oils - Sage and Lavender, with a tiny bit of Palmarosa and Ylang Ylang. Smells good! I'm calling it Sage and Flowers.



I have a couple of soaps ready to come off the curing rack, I hope to get the photos taken this week and get then listed. One is Lilac, and the other is a blend of Lily of the Valley, Wild Rose, and Myrhh (I haven't decided what to call this one yet).

AND I'm showing you this photo that Ray took of some horses. I just love it! Be sure to click on it to enlarge!



To see more of Ray's photos, check out his blog!!

Sonoran Connection

Blue Garden, Lily Cantaloup, and Shaving Soaps

Better late than never! :-D

Last Friday I cut 4 logs of soap. The first, Blue Garden. This is scented with a sweet violet fragrance oil, and swirled with ultramarine blue. When I first poured it, it was a nice eggshell white with a lovely blue swirl.

(click on any image to enlarge)


But surprise! There must be quite a bit of vanilla in the fragrance oil, because it is darkening up quite a bit!



As you can see in the photo below, the inside of the soap was still quite light when I cut it.



But see how dark the top and the sides of the soap are? THATS how dark the inside of the soap is now, after almost a week of curing on the rack. I kinda like it! Maybe I should call it Midnight Garden instead of Blue Garden!



Next up, Asian Lily and Musk Melon. This is a restock, and is pretty popular in the warmer weather. It looks and smells just as it should. I love it when a soap is consistent every time I make it. :) Some soaps, it seems no matter what I do, it looks or smells different every time I make it.



And two shaving soaps! Both the same recipe, just different scents and colors.

The first shaving soap is for the girls, because it's just about time to shave those legs! A really nice blend of essential oils - orange, lemon, clove, patchouli, and ylang ylang. For clay, a nice white Kaolin clay.





And for the guys or girls, Bay Rum, with green French clay.





Now, you might be wondering, what makes a shaving soap a shaving soap? Well to start off with, I use oils that help produce plenty of stable lather. By stable, I mean lather that is going to stick around for a little bit, time enough to complete your shave. And I don't want big bubbly lather, I want a creamy lather. SO, of course I need plenty olive oil to make sure your shaving soap is mild. And coconut oil because we do need SOME bubbly lather. Cocoa butter, yes, definitely. This helps with the stable lather part, along with the sweet almond oil. The castor oil adds a little bit of slide, so your razor doesn't drag. Clay also helps with the slide. And finally, a little bit of sugar .. yes! sugar! .... to help with that lather. OH OH I almost forgot goat milk! Gotta have goat milk for mildness, creaminess, and goodness!

All four soaps are now contently resting on the curing rack in the soap room. :)