Happy Easter .... and some more soap!

The school term flew past unbelievably quickly and with a few dramas too, although the great measles plague of Beerwah does seem ancient news now! Today is Good Friday and I'm still shocked that it's already April! Happy Easter to all!

With the house to myself today (the boys are at their father's until Wednesday) Mum popped over and I gave soap making another go. She helped a lot and only hindered a little! We did one batch by Cold Process method and the second in the crock pot.

Still in its mould, this Coconut soap looks absolutely disgusting though it does smell ok. I love the idea of reusing materials and thought that this empty water bottle would make a great mould. I'm yet to see whether this is the case though.

I did spray it thoroughly with olive oil, but in hindsight I think it's going to be bloody hard to get the soap out of. I may have to saw off the base to get some leverage to push it through. Note to self - keep empty milk cartons for soap moulds and toss empty water bottles for recycling!

This soap was made using a traditonal Cold Pressed method (which actually creates and uses lots of heat so go figure that name!) and when I added the fragrance oil I thought it looked a bit slippery. It is setting to be quite firm and tomorrow when I get to unmould it and slice it ready for 4-6 weeks of curing, I'll have a better idea of whether or not it worked.

This one has no colouring and maybe the clay that was added to my first batch at Christine's was what helped it to look a bit milkier .... and smoother ..... hmmm  ....

Next up, Mum and I cooked up a batch in the crock pot. An email from Gabbie last night encouraged me to give this method a go as once the soap has set and cooled it can basically be used straight away as it is already cooked. Leaving it sit and cure only hardens the bar and is not actually a part of the process. Now, me not being known for patience thought this would be a mighty fine idea.

The method is initially similar but then the soap gets to stay and cook in the crock pot for an hour. An inital huge spewover which saw scalding hot frothing and cooking soap cover half the kitchen (yes my own little mini disaster for the day) had Lynnie (aka Mum) in a bit of a panic and flap but we cleaned up and soldiered on to complete the process. I glopped it into a couple of rectangular moulds - one being a silicone loaf pan. Second note to self - this is not a good idea for a mould either - far too deep and squishy bendy. Anyway it sat and cooled for a bit and I think that I unmoulded and cut it too quickly. There's that patience issue again - a virtue I run short of. In a nutshell this looks like a big heap of grey/pink crap ..... BUT ..... the strawberry champagne fragrance smells utterly divine AND it lathers like a dream - nice and smooth and bubbly. Just might have to shower with eyes closed as it does look quite ugly.

After all that, I'm certainly keen to master the crock pot method. I *think* I have an idea as to why it volcanoed and will tweak the process a litte. I've also decided that I would like to make it a natural colour with just fragrance. I really would rather have a browny/yellowy/creamy neutral colour soap rather than a sludgy grey colour. At least the experimenting was fun!

Thinking of everyone on the road this Easter - have a safe one!

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You just have to love a freebie!

For a long time now, I have been on the quest for a decent skin care range. I've sensitive skin which can amble along quite nicely with any particular product range for a while and then #BANG# a sudden and unexpected reaction will have me breaking out in itchy, splotchy rashes. It's quite unpredictable and consequently I tend to be the queen of lotions and potions with a bathroom cupboard groaning under the weight of products tried and tested. It drives me quite spare.

A while ago now, I stumbled across and Australian company - Langlois - which produces a range of Olive Oil based skin care products at a reasonable price. Although I have found their facial soap a little bit too harsh, their moisturisers are wonderful and I've been using them now for almost 2 months with no problems. They sell on-line through their website, their products are natural with no nasties and their customer service fabulous. As far as I'm concerned, that's a lot of my boxes ticked!

A few weeks ago they sent an email surveying customers about preferred fragrance for a line of haircare products they are producing. There was the promise of a free product for the first however many people responded. I emailed a response becuase I like their existing product and their service - always happy to help! Fast forward to today when this was in my mailbox waiting - a full size 50g tube of Eye Cream to thank me for my response! I'd forgotten all about it so was chuffed with the surprise! Thanks Langlois!!!

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Ta-daaaaaaaaaa and it smells divine!

Yesterday's inaugural soap making adventure had its great unveiling this afternoon!

All day I looked forward to coming home from work to remove my block of soap from the milk carton! Not entirely sure what to expect, it was a bit of a challenge to remove it from the mould - no reuse of that carton!! - but once out it sliced sooooo easily and smoothly. I love the chunky squarish shape that the milk carton mould gave it and I also love how my cutting is uneven, or should I say "rustic"!

The fleckly speckly bits that can be seen are dried Calendula petals - apparently a good, gently exfoliator and nice for the skin. Orange Essential Oil and Lemon Essential Oil were combined and so the soap has a lovely fresh zingy smell. Mmmmmm all that handmade goodness and now only 4-6 weeks to wait until we can use it.

The bottom photo shows my soap drying system. Can't wait until that little trolley is chock full of some more delicious, bubbly soap!

On an aside, I've had a couple of people say that they have been unable to leave a comment here! Bum.

I've done some tweaking and fiddling and think I have the issue sorted. If you could please give commenting a try, I'd be very appreciative in case I need to delve further into the problem!!

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I've been caught hook, line and sinker!

On my Words, Words, Words blog I not so long ago posted about the joys of showering with beautiful handmade soap from the very talented Gabbie over at The Soap Dish. I've fallen head over heels in love with Gabbie's soaps and I've fallen hard. I've given some away to friends to spread the joy, but of course I've stocked up for me too and I just luuurve them. Now, Gabbie is an artist - she is a mindblowing website designer, talented scrapbooker, stunning cardmaker, delicious candle creator and the concoctor of the awesome soaps I have become addicted to and they are indeed a work of art in their own right. This though has led me to now wanting to make everyday bath and shower soaps for me and the boys.

Gabbie what have you done???? I think a monster has been created! Thanks to soapmaking links found on The Soap Dish and soapmaking books borrowed from the library I have found myself immersed in a new world of oils, lye and saponification. This googling and reading then led me to Christine from Glasshouse Handmade Products who today gave me a lesson in making cold pressed soap! It was even more interesting and fun than I thought it was going to be, if that's possible, and I came home with a milk carton full of soap! Tomorrow it will have cured long enough for me to unwrap and slice it and of course take some pics to show it off.

I don't ever see myself making stunningly gorgeous soaps like Gabbie's - sigh - I'm just not that creative, talented or that way inclined. I'm sure that all of her beautiful soap will continue to seduce me though and I do still look forward to ordering it and having it land in my postbox (speaking of which she has a great value offer of a free soap slice for new customers so head on over!!!). I am however looking forward to lots of playing around with fats and oils and smells to make some big chunky cakes of soap for family and friends. I'll be back tomorrow to unveil the first made lot, so fingers crossed it sets well!

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Simple Savings Bargain!

Becoming a single mother a few years ago and falling from a double income to a single was a real financial learning curve for me. Before the children I had rarely had money concerns. After divorce it seemed I always had money conerns. From that though has come many lessons in better budgeting, a more frugal lifestyle and resisting unnecessary consumption. I've also discovered that there is a huge difference in being careful with your money and being a tightarse and I certainly want to be the former. There are so so many resources on the internet about budgeting and saving and living more simply. A great Australian resource is Simple Savings. There is much of the site that is free to view but a membership subscription allows access to many more ideas for reducing household expenditure and living more economically. Some very sound advice considering the world's current economic state. The good news is that there is a savings on membership fees this week and the joining price has been dropped from $47 to $33. I've been a member now for almost a month and feel that already I have earnt value for my joining dollar. If you go to check it out, let me know what you think!

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Simplifying and condensing

Many of my friends and acquaintances would know, that for many moons now I have been voraciously reading books, blogs, websites and articles about simplifying life. Uncomplicating things. Decluttering my physical, emotional and mental places - something long overdue. I've been learning a lot. My life is evolving, and so is the need I feel to share what I am learning and to document my journey and yep that's why the header picture here features the symbolic road. Just a reminder to me that I'm journeying on a road that is as long as the eye can see and that one step at a time, one foot in front of the other is the only way to go.
In this quest for simplicity and all things easier and streamlined it seemed then silly to maintain more than one blog. Words, Words, Words was established as a place to record the rants, raves and ramblings of day-to-day life and, seriously, I think that I can do that here! My Year of Non-Consumerism was intended as a place to document a full 12 months of non-consuming. Well now with that one, things have changed. No, I haven't given up and morphed into a rabid consumer of all things unnecessary. I am cautious of every spent cent. I have to be. I have just come to realise that what is more important - to me right now - is to be sensible and frugal with my resources. As an example, I have bought some clothes which were not second hand and from an op shop, although I still scour op shops given any opportunity. However each and every garment was on sale at a greatly reduced price and offered value for money. Feeling good about myself, in something reasonably fashionable, at a value for cash price has outweighed my plan to not purchase new and I can live with that and I am still committed to consuming less. Those two blogs will stay there for the time being, unposted on, and I guess I will then either import posts of importance to here or delete them entirely.
Enough of an introduction for now. I'm off to format this properly and will be back to post later. It feels nice already to have this as a new home!

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