Lard Soap

Years ago when I first started making soap I made a batch with lard and as I recall it turned out really lovely. I don't even remember the reason why I didn't do it again at the time but as years wore on it sort of became unfashionable to use lard for soapmaking.

Recently I get a penchant to do it again and decided I'd do a 100% lard soap for utility purposes. It came out fantastic. I started using it for all kinds of things around the house. Washing dishes, cleaning, laundry, etc. It's the hardest and whitest bar of soap I've ever produced. I made it with zero superfat and assumed it would be kinda harsh on the skin but to my surprise it's not. It cleans like a charm and rinses off easily.

This batch I added a little orange essential oil for interest and I think it worked out well.

Latest Batches

I finally got off my duff and made some soap. Nothing too exciting, just 3 batches that I've made in the past.

First batch is green tea. I love how this one has a soft delicate scent. I haven't made this one in a long while (maybe a year or more)

2nd batch is rose. Here I combined 3 different rose fragrances because I thought it would make it a bit more interesting instead of just a straight up boring rose scent. I like it.

3rd batch is my beloved almond. This one was always popular but again I stopped making it. It's for all those die-hard jergens lotion scent lovers.

Did I ever tell you

that in the midst of streamlining my product line (which to me should mean reducing not increasing), I retired quite a few of my lip balm flavors and (don't ask me how) I ended up adding a couple of new ones. I've always wanted to offer lip balm flavors that were a little "different", you know, not your typical every day flavors, so to that end, I decided to create a LAVENDER flavor cos I'm weird like that.

When I made my first few as a test batch I was totally unprepared for their deliciousness (is that a word)?

Here I used a lavender flavor oil and added a titch of a sugar flavor to sweeten it and make it more candylike.

I must say it is truly divine and I'm not being biased - honest!

Yet another change

Don't know about you but I'm never 100% satisfied. This past weekend I had my first vending event in quite some time so I took the opportunity to purchase new bottles and jars and to create new labels for them. I've always loved the simplicity of black and white labels and I think the brown packaging makes everything look a little cleaner and more like my original vision. I'm still not there 100% with the labels but I think I'm pretty darned close.

What do you reckon?

Oh my, is it really October already?

and have I really been missing since May? So yes, I did close my shop so I could...ahem...streamline things. By that I mean, I was supposed to re-open with a more cohesive product line. Great idea right? Well it would have been had I followed through.

So what went wrong?

This is what went wrong. I closed my shop, the orders stopped and I took a sigh of relief. I really long sigh. So long that I couldn't even bring myself to stop enjoying all the new found free time I suddenly had, the new knitting projects, the early to bed nights and the morning lay ins. We won't even mention the days spent reading the week end New York Times or stacks of magazines that I had never gotten to, or books that I'd had for years but never read or the camera I'd had for years but never figure out how to use. So you get the picture I hope. To say it was a lovely time would be putting it very mildly.

Several books and a couple trips later, here I am. Ready to rock and roll again. It'll be interesting to see the direction my shop takes in the future considering the 2 main scents that I was building my "look" around got discontinued (2 separate suppliers btw) which I must say has been a major blow and sort of knock my plans off kilter. One must brush oneself off and carry on right?

Anyway, here are some pics of random ish from this summer.

Feels good to be blogging again :)

What's in a color anyways

Look how hideous.........was going for a light purple since I'm a bit heavy handed in the color department I went real light. Lo & behold we have GREY soap. Grey like wet cement, cold concrete, gunmetal, a dirty pigeon but nothing like the lavender it's supposed to be. Maybe I'll describe it as off white. Reckon it'll fly?

Garden Party in a new suit

Only 2 colors but still kinda wild looking. Didn't intend for this one to be so bright but I kinda like it. It's my old "Garden Party" scent combo but with a new suit. A bit mardi-gras'ish don't you think?

ooh look

...I actually got off my duff and made soap!

There comes a time when you just have to dive in and DO IT. I've been carrying around a notebook and jotting down every idea/thought I've had for my new line. This has been going on for quite a few weeks and it dawned on me a few days ago and writing all this stuff down is doing me no good if I don't actually DO any of it.

So here's my first installment. They look a little rough right now as they haven't been cleaned up yet but still, they turned out EXACTLY the way I'd envisioned on paper but smells a little better. I wanted a look that was a bit unisex for this one since the scent is unisex. I also knew I wanted dark green because it has a rich lush forest scent. All in all, I'm happy. Just need to work on a good scent description and umm.....my photography skills too :)

Lilacs

Yes I know, I've been a bit preoccupied of late with this whole photography thing. I've had this camera for going on 2 years now and am just now getting around to learning how to use it properly. Anyhoo, I just got a new lens today so I've been playing, LOTS!

Here's a picture of some lilacs my co-worker brought me yesterday. They smell delicious!

Thats all, nothing more for me to add here.

OK, in case you are wondering, yes I am working on the new product line......sort of!

It's Definitely Spring

Two years ago I started growing my own herbs and veggies. I'm new to the gardening lark so I knew nothing of what I was doing (actually still don't). At that time I just headed over to the local garden store, bought some little plants and shoved them in the ground. To my delight I had a bumper crop and felt like quite the farmer.

Last year I decided to try my hand at planting seeds in a little incubator type box. Those worked out well also (except for the peppers) who decided not to make an appearance at all. Well they worked out well until we got all that rain. Regardless, I managed to succeed with my cukes and tomatoes and ended up with a TON of both. There were so many cukes I pickled several jars for my pickle loving kid and the rest I pureed and froze for use in my cucumber facial soap.

This year I'm doing the seeds thing again. I've planted 2 types of cucumbers - regular English cucumbers and of course the pickling variety. Naturally I have plans for more face soap and tons of salad too.

I also got some Black Krim tomatoes and some Habanero pepper seeds that I purchased from a fabulous Etsy seller AzureDandelion

I'm quite looking forward to putting these in the ground soon!