Monday, 22 June 2015

Happy belated Father's Day!

Seems that's the way I celebrate almost everything, late. Good thing my family doesn't have high expectations of me.

I was inspired by Silvia's post for Father's Day to make blue soap. I used a Soapylove design of squares and two shades of blue to create a more masculine soap. I made 8 soaps in an 8 bar pan and not one of them turned out the way I wanted. Undaunted, I proceeded to make two more individual soaps and they still didn't turn out. Some days, you just need to back slowly away from the soaping table and wave the white flag. Which I did, until the following day.

This time, it turned out much better. Not completely square, but slightly off kilter, much like my personality. However, at least the embeds turned out and the blues are contrasted nicely by the brown.

I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating with your dads/husbands/and whatever other men who are important in your life. Although it'll be a late gift, guess what my dad is getting for father's day? Yes, 8 bars of not so attractive soaps. :D But they smell amazing.


Not sure how it happened really, but obviously the white seeped in under the embed. But it smells fantastic, scented with Beau Brummel.

Monday, 15 June 2015

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu

This is something I've never experienced before, people leaving en masse at work. Apparently it's quite commonplace at schools, but this is my first time at a job like this, so it was a bit of a surprise to find out I won't necessarily be seeing the same people next year.

As my parting gift to them, I decided to make, well what else? Soap. The mascot for this school is the dragon, and so I used the dragon mould to make the soaps. The school colours are green and blue, and the initials are A.B. Normally, the logo is such that the dragon is stretched across the initials but you can still see the A.B. clearly, but since this dragon mould has other ideas, I improvised. I made the initials in the school colours (or close to them) and put the dragon on an ultramarine blue background so it'd really pop. This also gave the initials (on the backside) to stand out more.

So this is my soap to honour their time with the school. Scented with Crafter's Choice Ginger Peach FO, it should be a nice scent for both the men and women who are off to find new opportunities.



Monday, 8 June 2015

A soap only a mother could love

And even as the mom of these soaps, I'd have to give them a pass. Tells you a lot about my maternal instincts, doesn't it? :D

They started out beautifully, kinda like babies right? Babies are usually adorable and even the ones that aren't, smell really nice. These were like that, pretty and they smell… okay they smell neutral since I didn't scent them.


I thought I could make them really cute, like real flowers, or at least like flowers drawn by a 5 year old. 
Yeah, looks like something a 5 year old would draw... a 5 year old that accidentally got into his dad's beer and then decided he was the next Michaelangelo.

This, ladies and gents, is to show what happens when you pour clear soap over a delicate soap when it's still too hot. (This seems to be a recurring theme in my soap making endeavours). Let's put glitter on it, that'll take the attention away from the crude picture. Yes, maybe if you actually mix the glitter into the clear so it's not just clumped together in sections.

I didn't make the second one until a few days later, by which time I'd forgotten that I wanted to make a picture, not just embed.

At least I remembered to mix the glitter in this time.

Some days it just doesn't pay to soap.


Monday, 1 June 2015

Special gifts


My wonderful boss, well one of them, is retiring at the end of this month. I've only known her since March when I started here, but she is one of the most awesome people I've ever met. Her enthusiasm and joie de vivre is like nothing I've ever encountered before. When she found out I made soaps, she said, bring me some and I'll pay for them. That's the type of person she is; always willing to help out and believes in everyone's potential.

As part of my gift to her, I've made a gardener's soap and a chick and egg soap. The gardener's soap is for her to share with her husband, "Gardener Bob" as she refers to him. He went from being a banker to being a consummate gardener in his retirement. The chick and egg soap is a tribute to her many years of teaching kindergarten children all about chicks. I'm also including some whipped butter for her to use after cleaning up after gardening all day, as well as a most adorable poster.

Coloured with gold mica for the chick and antique blue for the egg. Scented with champagne for a light but refreshing scent.



Made with coffee grounds in the top layer of honey soap, a mix of honey and goat's milk soap in the middle layer,  and ground oatmeal in goat's milk for the bottom layer. Scented with chocolate fudge and vanilla for extra yumminess.