A Desert Soap

This is my Desert Chaparral Soap, which I cut yesterday



I was hoping by adding green clay that it would come out greener than it did. But alas, the powdered chaparral had other ideas. LOL What little green IS coming through now will most likely fade to a khaki brown.

Orange and Clove soap, just cut



Both soaps have been whisked away to the soap room to cure. :)

These are a couple of soaps just listed. Both of these soaps were scented with blends of odds and ends of fragrance oils I had. Not enough of one to scent a whole batch, so, I just mixed together ones I thought would play nice with each other. Both soaps have goat milk, and cocoa butter. Great recipe!

Desert Nomad - Used up the last of my Frankincense & Myrrh, and added some White Sage. Nice! To me, it's a masculine scent, just a touch on the herbal/spicy side.




Black Violets - This is quite a mix! Violet Shay, Tahitian Vanilla, Tahitian Flowers, and Lavender Fields. Yeah! Very sweet, floral, vanilla-y. Very dark soap from the vanilla. No other additives to darken it up!



And jewelry .. another flat spiral stitch bracelet. Goldstone as the core, greens, copper color, beige glass seed beads and brass spacer beads performing the spiral stitch.



This morning, Ray and I took a walk around Sweetwater Conservation Area. As of right now, he hasn't blogged about it yet. But he got a pretty good pic of a Painted Redstart, so check his blog, see if he's posted a pic of it yet.

Sonoran Connection

Green Turquoise Heishi Earrings

I made these earrings this week. They make me wish I had pierced ears!



They are 4 3/4 inches long! They are called Jacla (or Jaclaw, or Jatal), a Navajo term for these long loopy earrings, usually made with heishi beads, and with larger beads, usually some type of shell, as focals. The Navajo women would tie the earrings to the matching necklace when storing them. Sometimes, they would wear the necklace with the earrings tied to it, so the earrings would hang down like long beautiful pendants!



Now, as near as I can figure, Jacla can refer to the earrings themselves, a necklace that resembles these earrings (2 strands, exactly alike), a heishi necklace with 3 or 4 larger, usually some type of shell, beads as focals. I Googled it as much as I could! :-D

Two Soaps a-gelling

These are the two soaps I made today, setting in their molds, gelling away!



The top one is Orange & Clove, with a sprinkle of ground cloves on the top.

The other is Desert Chaparral. Scented with sage, lemon, and patchouli. I added some agave nectar, some green clay, and some powdered chaparral. Smells nice!

Soap and Jewelry, Soap and Jewelry!

Howdy folks!

What have I been up to lately?? Soap and jewelry, my friends, soap and jewelry! :)

Here are some of the soaps listed in the past month or so ...

Patchouli - Oh you hippie you !! :) Scented with nice dark patchouli essential oil.



Patchouli Anise - Scented with patchouli and anise essential oils, with a touch of lemon essential oil. I added some rhassoul clay. I really like this soap and I have been using it myself .. I'm on my second bar. :)



Winter Peppermint - Scented with peppermint essential oil, with a touch of ginger essential oil. Pretty red swirls!



Eucalyptus Mint - I've done this one before! Scented with eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils, colored with green clay.



And currently on the curing rack are a couple of soaps that I made using up odds and ends of fragrances ... fragrances that I didn't have enough of to do an entire batch with. So, I just threw a few of them together! :-D I love doing that! One is a mix of Tahitian Vanilla, Tahitian Flowers, Lavender Fields, and Violet Shay. It is sweet and floral, and very dark because of the vanilla. I can't wait to get it in the shop! The other is a mix of Frankincense & Myrrh and White Sage. This one is also a dark soap, and it has a nice masculine scent. These two soaps will be ready in a week or so.

As for jewelry, I've been making a dent into the stash I got at the Tucson Gem Show, still working on perfecting the flat spiral stitch.

I made this onyx necklace for my sister



With the larger onyx beads, I made an Onyx Bracelet



I had just a couple of onyx beads left, I made a pair of Onyx Earrings



Remember the lovely copper beads from the gem show? They were a perfect match for some turquoise. Two bracelets. A Men's Bracelet



And a smaller Turquoise and Copper Bracelet



Rhodonite Bracelet



This one I like! Made with Mexican Laguna Lace Agate, a double row of flat spiral stitch



Sodalite and Copper Earrings



And, I've started making my own long earwires, using sterling silver wire. Something a little different from the all-alike earwires that everyone uses.

Amethyst Earrings with long earwires



Turquoise Earrings



Pearl Earrings



Spring Green Earrings



Buttercup Yellow Earrings



For fun and games, Ray and I have been out and about around the Tucson area, birding and photographing. Sabino Canyon, Madera Canyon, Sweet Water, Saguaro National park, the Desert Museum. Check out Ray's blog for pics of good stuff around Tucson!

Sonoran Connection