Let's Hang It Up!

Most of people find it annoying that their soap does not dry well in the shower.  And that resulted in slimy soap next time you hit the shower.  Soap on a rope is not a new idea, it's usually done with stand up 3D molds.  What to do if you only have log and slab molds?  I'm cheap, buying multiple 3D molds is not on my to do list.  I started thinking what to do with only what I have.  Without breaking my bank, I went to one of those home improvement stores and bought some cheap cloth hanging nylon ropes.  It is just white in color, nothing fancy.  I was not about to spend more than $1 per piece to buy online!  So here's my Sea Moss Spa on a rope!

 

This is where I got my inspiration from (soap on a rope from etsy), but thought the shape is less than ideal.

This way you can buy a couple of those cheap small suction cup hooks and hang it up!  Oh and you can do his and hers and no one fights on which soap to use, just get your own!

Colorful Etsy Treasury!

My soap got featured in this colorful Etsy treasury!

'Gotta love color!' by ArtsyUpcycle

I Love Candy, We Love Candy ... athinalabella $50.00	Wild Child Headwrap in Zebra... ThePurpleChame... $17.00	Gemstone rainbow earrings - ... jennyhoople $18.00
ORIGINAL Large Abstract Cont... ModernHouseArt $325.00	Love in Bloom Collection- Gr... Beegrl88 $32.00	Cold Process Soap - Limited ... ShiehDesignStu... $6.00
Child Sock Monkey Hat in Rai... StrictlyYarn $34.00	FaiRytea Reconstructed Upcyc... Fairytea $365.00	MIMOSA GRAY Medium / spring ... ikabags $79.81
FREE SHIPPING Rainbow Tree O... HipsterDesigns $6.95	Cloudy with a Chance of Rain... blockpartypres... $50.00	Rainbow Tutu outfit TheTulleShopby... $39.00
Star Spangled Earrings cayennepeppy $18.00	Color Changing Mood Ring - w... KelbelleDesign... $18.00	11x14 Med. Abstract Contempo... wostudios $20.00
Equality is in the Heart. La... minusOne $42.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Honey Banana Milkshake anyone?!

I bought this yummy fragrance oil from a supplier early this year was a little hesitate to use it since there's no information about how it would behave in cold process soap.  I finally dug it out from my ever growing pile of fragrance and essential oils and asked the store owner.  I got a good to go answer, yay!  But using the fragrance oil making a normal cold process soap is... how you say it, too boring, not my style.  So here I was, pulling my hair out thinking what to do, suddenly I saw the almost going bad banana in front of me on my kitchen counter.  Hey, I can't let banana go bad!  Now that would not be "green" would it?!  This whole thing reminds me of my favorite milkshake I used to drink when I was in college... oh... so long ago...  Aha, I'm making banana milkshake soap!  I blended a small amount of fresh cow milk, one banana and a table spoon of honey ahead of time, store it in the fridge to keep it cold until I'm ready for it.  I know the fragrance oil is going to discolor to tan, milk always discolor the soap, and so is honey.  I poured out a small portion of raw soap and mix in a bit of titanium dioxide and yellow gold mica.  Can't call it banana if there's no yellow!  Hum... to make higher contrast, I then mixed in a tab of blackstar red mica to deepen the the rest.

 

After making the soap and sniffing all the goodies I cannot resist but to make myself a REAL honey banana milkshake, sip and type my blog up!

I guess all that titanium dioxide and soft yellow mica didn't make any difference going against banana and milk!  I'm expecting it to go even more brown in a few days.  Will do another update post next week.  Oh it smells so yummy in my kitchen right now it's making me hungry...

Hot Flash Drama Queen

Last week the weather decided to spike all the way up on us here in the Northern California.  We totally skipped Spring and jump right into Summer, HOT one!  We got caught totally unprepared.  The office building I work in had a hard time readjusting the central thermostat control and we felt like being toasted in a glass house.  I have never drank that much of cold water in my life, yes you read it right, I do not like water, it's tasteless and boring, totally against my "restless" style don't you think?!

Today, I present you the product result from last week's heat wave, it's the Hot Flash - Drama Queen style!

This batch totally live up to it's name, what a drama queen!  The fragrance and essential oil blend I mixed up for this totally moved like the speed of light!  And of course gelled up all by itself, see, like this:

What kind of potion is this you ask?!  Well, it's a blend of Vetyver & Pink Grapefruit fragrance oils plus Sweet Orange 10X essential oil and grounded more with dark Patcouli and Sweet Funnel essential oils.  Oh, let me tell you, it is smelling HOT in my kitchen!  Very seductive way!

PS. Story is, the potion moved too fast I didn't have time to mix in the color that well, I got frustrated, poured in some cold water, madly beaten the batter up, then bad thing happened...  One tiny little speckle of raw soap flew out of my pot, landed itself on my eyelid.  Yes, it burned, like hell!  Surprisingly I was very calm (but mad and silently cursing).  I slowly walked over my kitchen sink and washed off my face.  I tell you, this cannot end any other way, it is drama queen indeed!

  

It's a pair!

Wedding season is officially here!  Weather is warm, sun is out, what else can I ask for?!

It's time for being a pear (pair)

Scented with Ginger Pear and Neroli.

Playing Dress Up

As promised, I'm dressing up these "ugly" testing CP soap from Bramble Berry mystery fragrance oil S.O.A.P. panel.  Step one, I made some tiny melt and pour soap strawberries using each of the 8 mystery fragrance oil.  Then I whip up a small batch of CP soap batter to heavy trace. Separated into 8 equal portions, and mix in each scent.  Ready to frost these babies!
Ok, I screw up...  #4 & #8 were supposed to have coordinating drizzle color and I messed up...  And I missed #2...  That's the problem frosting at mid night... lol

New All Natural Duo

It's hot and it's dirty but it's dry sometimes, so what do you do?!

Wash with natural antibacteria liquid soap and then pamper your hard working hands (or the whole body) with protective emu oil goat's milk cream!  This new product line is scented with only essential oils.  I choose essential oils that naturally combat bacteria and of course smell good is #1 key!  I wouldn't wash my hands with yucky smell soap myself!  I can't promote enough the benefits of emu oil:

"Emu Oil is an effective agent on dry irritated skin and it won't clog pores! It has anti-inflammatory properties that help to reduce scarring, ease the discomfort of insect bites and reduce the healing times of burns. It is also reputed to help reduce swelling and joint pain, particularly in those areas where actual joints are closer to the skin such as hand, feet, ankles and knees. Emu Oil also helps to reduce bruising and stiffness in muscles."

Emu oil is extracted, filtered and fully refined for orderless safety use.

P.S. Sorry, Emu birdies I love you, but I'm not vegan...

U2 - Mysterious Way

I went to U2 concert 2 weeks ago and promised to get some inspiration.  The neon light, the black Bono outfit, the white from Adam (the base player) and his colorful base instruments, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Mysterious Way, Bloody Sunday, Moments of Surrender...  So many songs!  Here's my U2 Soap, she really moves in a mysterious way!  It is scented with Blackberry Amber, fruity yet sensual.

Spoon Swirl - Clay Attack!

I have the urge to be abstract again, it feels good to let go of all known structured ways to beautify the soap and just go crazy with it.  This time I'm doing the Back to Nature version using only natural colorants and essential oil to scent.  I used activated charcoal for black, Australian Red Clay for red, French Green Clay for subtle green, and finally Kaolin White Clay for white.  This is a great soap for summer oily skin, it's detox time!

 

Ready to see how crazy it is cut?!

It's Afternoon Tea kind of moment

I love afternoon tea, the warm sunny 3 pm, flower blooming, breeze blowing, smell of bakery in the air...  I can totally skip breakfast and lunch, just go straight to afternoon tea.  With that in mind, I made a log of cold process soap called Royal Tea.  It is scented with Jasmine Vanilla on the top layer accompanied by White Tea on the bottom.  And now I can't wait to shower with this in the morning!
P.S. that Jasmine Vanilla fragrance oil caused the discoloration to bright yellow!  Totally unexpected...