Soapmaking Day!
Today is a soapmaking day. Made the first batch in the wee hours of the morn, and just started the second batch about 20 minutes ago. The first one is a so pretty, with lemongrass and vanilla and a really pretty powdered herb blend of sarsaparilla root, organic cinnamon, organic orange
peel, organic ginger, organic licorice root, organic cloves and organic
yellow dock root -- spicy and citrusy and sweet, like golden faerie kisses. I sprinkled some pink Himalayan sea salt over the top to give it a little bit of a spa quality. The second soap batch is much bolder, amber with streaks of rose and jasmine sambac. This one is truly perfumed. I contemplated the formulation for a while, since a custom a few weeks back required an amber tone, and played off that to make something warm and sweet and floral. That formulation was brewing for a few days before it took its final dip into a soap base of extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oil, organic avocado oil, and shea butter. The next batch (batch #3!) will be comprised of sweet spike lavender -- really simple since some of it is to be used on the new grandbaby who is arriving in January.
I'm being very gentle with the ingredients, something I'm not often able to be when the chaos of the house is in full swing. The kids are at work or visiting friends, and the man is sleeping the day away to prepare for his graveyard shift at the hospital. So it's quiet. Except for this dog. This dog is driving me bonkers, two steps behind me, and always with her muddy paws and strangely golden eyes looking beseechingly at me, as if to say, "Chicken nugget?" The goodies prep room is a no-go zone, so she sits with her dirty feet on the invisible line, her tail thumping whenever I go near. Dogs are such strange people.
The incense experiment from the day before yesterday was only slightly disappointing. I still want to get some incense on a stick, but I think a few more months of playing with ingredients will get me there. For the time being, I'm enamored of the cones. To smell a dry, unburnt cone, is to smell makko and a hint of resin, but to burn one of them, that's different -- it's almost 100% white sage with just a smidge of spice and no discernible frankincense whatsoever. Back to the formulation drawing board. The white sage is a beast yet to be tamed ~ ha!
I'm being very gentle with the ingredients, something I'm not often able to be when the chaos of the house is in full swing. The kids are at work or visiting friends, and the man is sleeping the day away to prepare for his graveyard shift at the hospital. So it's quiet. Except for this dog. This dog is driving me bonkers, two steps behind me, and always with her muddy paws and strangely golden eyes looking beseechingly at me, as if to say, "Chicken nugget?" The goodies prep room is a no-go zone, so she sits with her dirty feet on the invisible line, her tail thumping whenever I go near. Dogs are such strange people.
The incense experiment from the day before yesterday was only slightly disappointing. I still want to get some incense on a stick, but I think a few more months of playing with ingredients will get me there. For the time being, I'm enamored of the cones. To smell a dry, unburnt cone, is to smell makko and a hint of resin, but to burn one of them, that's different -- it's almost 100% white sage with just a smidge of spice and no discernible frankincense whatsoever. Back to the formulation drawing board. The white sage is a beast yet to be tamed ~ ha!
Comments
Post a Comment