Bobbling Tub Mud

I've been very busy lately, not just with business business, but with life in general. Been doing a LOT of babysitting in spurts. There will be days when I don't see hide nor hair of a grandbaby (except for the quiet one who lives here), and then for three days in a row the ones who don't live here are staying the night and I'm driving them to school and picking them up and changing diapers or potty training a very stubborn one, making buckets of mac 'n' cheese (organic, of course), pouring gallons of juice and cutting 5 lb bags of apples for their pleasure. I've even learned how to create bath stuff with them here playing chase and throw-the-ball-grammy-said-not-to-throw-in-the-house and Let's Scream for No Reason -- love that game. The trick is to include them, even if they're not really doing anything but making a mess. 

For the older, more coordinated one, she actually got her gloves on and helped, then had the most fun with the wee bit of leftover tub mud mix, stirring in dishwashing detergent and making a huge gelatinous mess of the whole thing. For the littler, diaper-bound ones, they got flour and cocoa and the odd stirring implement and went to town. I've mellowed in my old age because I never would have allowed my kids to make messes like this. 

While these little guys were making whatever it was they were making, my assistant and I got these done.

Coffee & Cardamom Bobbling Tub Mud

Each of these bobbling tub mud things started out with this in the middle:

That's right, a little truffle of raw yellow, unrefined shea butter. You will have to wash your tub out after this one for certain. Shea butter is one of the best butters for winter skin, not so great for the tub, though. 

The original plan for these coffee & cardamom bobbling tub mud things was to add some rose damascene concrete, but I changed my mind halfway through and decided to use the rose concrete in a nice soothing soap. I'm going to use my little 2-lb soap mold for this, and maybe add some neroli and a 20-year-old patchouli, just a splash, and maybe a smidge of jasmine grandiflorum -- or sambac! The point is to make something beautifully scented and totally extravagant. Oh! I found a supplier of sodium hydroxide (lye), sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and citric acid (citric acid, duh) right here in the valley who offer same-day delivery, which roughly translates to tomorrow shipping. Anyway, I ordered pounds of baking soda and citric acid yesterday and just got a call that they will be delivered by noon. Noon. Guess what we're going to be doing later today?

Just a bit of a side note here: None of this is easy, but all of it is magical to me. What I mean is that I put my heart and soul into the products (and I hate using that word) that I create. I do it because it's important. I won't get into the blah blah blah of self-care and all that bullsh*t. I believe in being good to yourself because the world isn't going to do it for you, and if a stupid little bath bomb or a silly little soap helps with that agenda, then so be it. For me, it's creating these things, that's my idea of self-care, along with some meditation and avoiding social media except for the daily ads for the shop. 

The studio is in the beginning stages of being put back in order. The shelves are up, and so is a single table (out of three), and I'm beginning to think that the bulk of the studio won't be worked on until the new year. However, I've not been idle, as you can see. I'm using a corner in my bedroom as a mini-studio, which is mostly just baskets and boxes of raw materials newly purchased and tools for making soap and butters and muds. I was gifted a new chest of drawers so my old dressing table drawers are now storage for finished product. Someone recently walked into my room and backed out immediately stating, "The energy in there is amazing! How do you sleep?" Quite comfortably, actually, as I am surrounded by all the things I love most in the world.