A Few Soaps, and a Bracelet

I try to keep busy. Really, I do. It's not all daydreaming and playing video games. :)

This week's soap pot, as usual, I split into 2 different soaps. I got in a few different fragrance oils a couple of weeks ago, and been having fun with them. This time, an old favorite of mine that I haven't made in a while, and so glad I ordered again ... Pomegranate Fig. Yum! Swirled with a nice deep red made from red clay with a touch of red oxide.

Pomegranate Fig, the log, and the cut soap.

And next, a new fragrance for me, called Green Cactus. Out of the bottle, it smells more floral to me. Unless the fragrance designer was thinking of a flowering cactus. I like it, but I might call the soap something else. We'll see. I made a layered soap for this. Green. :) I'm very happy with the look of this soap.

Both of these soaps will be ready around the 3rd week in August.

Last week, I made another old favorite of mine, Sandalwood Vanilla. Another fragrance I have been out of for a while, and I'm glad I ordered again. I used red clay and red oxide to make a very dark red, and with the vanilla from the fragrance, it should turn a nice dark mahogany color. It was cloudy and rainy the day I took these pictures, so the lighting is not good at all.

The other half of this soap pot, I used a new fragrance for me called Fresh Cut Rose. I, of course, colored it with rose clay. It has a florist rose scent. Very nice!

And, another soap pot, split into 2. This was 3 weeks ago, and in fact the soaps are cured and listed in my Etsy shop. Both are restocks, that I have been out of stock for a while. Both are scented with essential oils.

Ginger Lavender,  a layered soap. A nice mix of lavender and ginger with a touch of lemon. I've been sprinkling lemon quite liberally in my soaps lately. :-D I like it!

And, Lemon Peppermint. Last year, I called this Summer Peppermint, but it's a bit late in the season for talking summer. :) A blend of lemon and peppermint essential oils, swirled with green clay.

I haven't been making a lot of jewelry lately. But I did make this really pretty Turquoise and Coral Bracelet. It's a beauty! I really love this turquoise from the Kingman mine.

I always like using my ironwood coyote to help me display my turquoise jewelry. :)

And this is my vintage Navajo basket that is nice to use for display sometimes.

Pumpkin Soap - Just A-Gellin'

Every year I like to make a pumpkin fall soap. Usually, I'm a little behind the eight ball and don't do it until around September, which means it's usually not ready to sell until October. But this year, I made it early enough so it will be ready by Labor Day! Even a week or two before Labor Day! Who'da thunk it! :-D

This soap is fairly easy to make, as long as I don't try anything too fancy with it. I add goat milk, and real pureed pumpkin. For fragrance oil, this year I used a mix of Pumpkin Raisin Royale, and Apple Orchard. A double whammy of fall! Now, between the goat milk, the pumpkin, and the fragrance oils, this soap gets SO hot, it starts gelling almost as soon as I pour it. I can feel the heat as I'm scrapping the last of it out of the soap pot. Within 5 minutes, this soap is going into a very hot gel, without any kind of insulating. So, I got out my camera and took pictures. Yeah, I know, it doesn't take much to entertain me!

Just poured into the molds, not gelling yet. Look at that gorgeous pumpkin color!

( click on any photo to enlarge )

A good start to the gelling process.

A little more

A little more

A little more

Getting there

Almost

Full gel !!!

Those soaps were some hot! 

Here's one of the logs the next day, unmolded and ready for cutting.

And here they are, cut into bars and ready to go on the curing rack for a few weeks. Lovely lovely pumpkin color! But alas, they will not stay that way. They will turn more brown. That's ok, though, cause they smell delicious !!!!!

To the sea!

Yesterday's soaping session was all about the sea!

First up, my Salty Citrus. This is a citrus blend - grapefruit, orange, lemon, litsea -  in a goat milk soap, with a bit of sea salt added. Now, most salt bars are made with mostly coconut oil, and anywhere from 50% to 100% ratio of salt to oils. But, I only use a very small amount of salt. Like around 6oz of salt in 88oz of oils. And I used one of my standard recipes, not one that is mostly coconut oil. The reason coconut oil is used is because soaps made with mostly or all coconut oil will lather even in salty water, and adding salt to soap will inhibit lather. I just use as much coconut oil as I usually use. And not enough salt to keep the soap from lathering.

The second soap, also a goat milk soap, I scented with lemongrass and lemon essential oils, and added sea clay! I expect this to make a very nice soap. Very creamy and natural looking.

The salty soap I made sure to cut last night, after only about 6 hours in the mold. It was still hot! :) Soaps made with salt need to be cut right away or they harden right up like a brick, and instead of a clean cut, you end up with a crumbly piece of soap.

The sea clay soap I cut just a couple of hours ago. And they are both in the soap room curing their little hearts out.

Shaving Soaps, Pearls, and Hummingbirds

Shaving Soaps

Last week, I listed a couple of shaving soaps. Now, these soaps don't have to be used only for shaving, they also make wonderful bath soaps!

First, Ginger Lemon Shaving and Bath Soap. Scented with a blend of Ginger, Lemon, Palmarosa, and Lavender.

And, Cedarwood Patchouli.

And what, you ask, makes a soap shaving soap? Well, it's all in the lather and the slip. All the oils, butters, and additives I use are all geared toward making a creamy lather that will stick around for the duration of the shave, aide the razor in a smooth ride, and help condition the skin. For instance, helping with a creamy lather is cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, goat milk. Helping with a bubbly lather is coconut oil, castor oil, and a bit of sugar. Helping with giving a bit of slip for the razor, clays and castor oil. And helping to condition the skin is olive oil, cocoa butter, wheat germ oil, and goat milk.

A couple of other soaps I listed recently (not shaving soaps).

Lemon Patchouli .. Something about patchouli lately. I never liked patchouli before. When I first started making soaps, I couldn't wait to get the patchouli soaps off my kitchen counter and into the soap room so I wouldn't have to smell them. Now, I don't know why, I LIKE patchouli. I made this soap for me to use (hey, I don't mind sharing it!! :-D ), with lots of goat milk, no coloring, just plain soap with lemon and patchouli essential oils. This is the soap I have been using for the past few weeks. But I want to know why I now like patchouli. Is it like green vegetables that you hate as a kid, but grow to love? I don't know! I just don't know! :)

Black Raspberry Chai Tea - now this smells good! This is a mix of 2 different fragrance oils, and I'm really happy with it!

Dragon's Blood. I love how this gets so dark just from the fragrance oil. It smells so sweet and sexy!

And I just want to show you, it doesn't start out this dark. Here is a pic of the Black Raspberry Chai Tea and the Dragon's Blood right after they were poured into the molds. The Dragon's Blood is the lighter yellow looking one on the top! Yeah, it went from that buttery color to dark dark brown! 

Pearls

My sister asked me to make a necklace for her. She's been wanting a 3 strand pink pearl necklace. I did have one in my shop, but she was looking for a rosy pink, and these were more of a salmon pink. So we went looking on Etsy to find the pearls she wanted. And this is what I made (I've already shown this but here it is again)

So as long as I had my tools out, I made another 3 strand pearl necklace, this one with smaller white pearls. Very simple, very pretty.

3 Strand White Pearl Necklace.

Hummingbirds

These Hummingbird Earrings are all sterling silver! The connectors have lovely faceted garnets surrounded by more sterling silver. 2 1/2 inches long. Purty!

Next photo is one I stole from Ray. :) One of the MANY hummingbirds we get on our feeder, which is just outside the window where the computer is, so we can watch them all day long. 

A Pink Pearl Necklace

Pink freshwater pearls, vintage Czech glass seed beads, a couple of Bali sterling silver beads. Sterling silver toggle.

Hot Hot Hot

Tucson has jumped right into summer. It's been hot hot hot here. Yesterday we hit 105, and today is just a couple of degrees cooler.  Mom and I have to start our morning walk at 7am instead of 8am, because it's already too hot for walking by 8. Dang, I hate getting up early!

To all  my fellow Tucsonians, and other desert dwellers, drink lots of water!

I listed a couple of soaps that are not new, but I have been out of stock for a bit.

Spiced Cinnamon Sandalwood. Did I ever tell you how I came up with the scent for this soap?? Well, I had a fragrance oil called White Spice. Didn't like it, didn't like it at all. It was too sharp, too tangy, too acrid for me. But, I couldn't just toss it! I had purchased a whole pound of it. So, I started doing some fragrance mixing with it. Brought down the sharp and tangy with Sahara Sandalwood, and smoothed it out with Cinnamon Stick. Now, this is one of my most favorite scents! I love this blend!

Note: Click on any photo to enlarge

And Pineapple Crush. An oldie but a goodie.

These are a couple of soaps I made last week, still in the molds.

They have already been cut and are in the soap room curing away! The top one is Dragons Blood. It has already turned a beautiful deep black. And smells wonderful! The bottom one is a blend of Chai Tea and Black Raspberry. It has deepened to a ruddy brown. The smell is devine! And they are both a fantastic recipe that includes cocoa butter, and wheat germ oil. Your skin will love them! These still need a couple more weeks of cure.

Last week, I made a couple of ankle bracelets. These were fun to make. They are all completely adjustable. Just clasp the lobster claw to any of the jumprings! All metal is sterling silver.

This one is Green and Blue Turquoise from the Kingman mine here in Arizona.

Creamy White Swarovski Pearls.

Capri Blue Swarovski Crystals ... so pretty, so sparkly!