Luxury from the garden - Lilac infused oil

The end of July is such a busy time.  I feel that summer is nearly over, almost before it began and there is still so much to do.  I have a long list of things to complete in my allotment garden and my own garden at home is getting very overgrown and slightly neglected.  I was late in dividing the plants this spring, mostly because of the cold weather, so I need to do that in autumn.  I have a few plants that are getting way too big and they have smothered some smaller ones.  So I need to tidy it up a bit this fall, if it is to look decent next spring. But as I sit and look out into the garden I am amazed that is looks quite nice.

I have mostly chosen plants and shrubs with pink flowers (Peonies, Dicentra, Astrantia, Deutzia, Clematis, Honeysuckle, Lonicera tatarica, Lilac, Syringa palibin, and the dainty Saxifraga x urbium) and a few with white ones (Peonies, Rhododendron, Lily of the valley, Astilbe, Amelanchier, Philadelphus), dark reds (Peonies, Astrantia, Hollyhock) some violet (mostly Campanulas) and an occasional yellow (Primulas, Trollius, Rosa Friesia, Honeysuckle, Iris pseudacorous) and blue (Clematis Alpina, Iris sibirica, Geranium and Violas).  I have a small Japanese maple with it's lovely aubergine foliage and a similarly coloured Viburnum diablo as well as my apple tree to contrast all the green foliage of the ferns and shrubs as well a a couple of Euphorbias, one lime green and one purple. So all in all I am pleased with the garden. I do miss some of the plants that I have tried many times to get to grow in my garden, but without success. Clematis montana, Anemone sylvestris and A. hupehensis and many, many Hellebores are among my many casualties.   And all the Mediterranean herbs, Rosemary, Thyme and the lovely Lavender.  I have killed them all repeatedly.

I am always interested in adding new plants, especially if they have a nice scent. I really, really like the ones that smell good and constantly bury my nose in them and inhale deeply.  I have often lamented the fact that it isn't possible to make essential oils from some of the loveliest flowers like Honeysuckle, Lilac, Viola and Lily of the Valley to name but a few.  But I have found a way to capture some of their scent to keep for the winter months.  I infuse their flowers in oil.  So now my kitchen tables are covered in flowers that I am drying slightly which I then intend to cover in olive oil.

I pick the flowers in full bloom when they smell the strongest.  It is of course best to pick them in dry weather around midday, but before it gets hot, but beggars can't be choosers, so I pick them even when it rains.  I just let them dry off a bit before I put them in a jar and pour oil over them, making sure the oil completely covers the flowers.  I am using Olive oil now, but I have used Almond oil, Peach kernel and Sunflower oil as well as Jojoba.  It is best to choose an oil that agrees with your skin and has a decent shelf life.

The important thing is to infuse the same oil at least three times.  I let the flowers or petals sit in the oil for 2-3 days and then strain it and squeeze the plant material well with my hands to get all the oil back in the jar.  Inevitably there is always some water that gets mixed up with the oil and it can look quite gunky.  The smell of the oil may also be slightly off in the middle stages of this process.  Don't let that bother you, all will be well.  When the last flowers or petals have been strained out I let the oil sit for a bit and let the gunk sink to the bottom.  I then use a Turkey baster to transfer the oil into the final squeaky clean container, be it a bottle or a jar.  That way the oil is pristine and completely free from any impurities and the gunk is left at the bottom of the old jar.  It may be a good idea to add some vitamin E to the oil and store it in a cool place to ensure that it keeps well.  I use infused oils as a face serum and body lotion and I also use them in my creams.  They make really nice gifts when bottled in pretty bottles with nice labels.

I am quite excited to be getting my first batch of Lilac oil.  The lilac flowered quite profusely this year so I can sacrifice a few perfect flowers without denuding my shrub.  Last year I made Lilac drink, which was really nice, but this year I am making infused oil from my Lilacs.  I'm also in the process of making Rose oil and Calendula oil and will make some Honeysuckle oil as well when they flowers and another batch of Honeysuckle infused honey.  I still have my rose oil from last year and it smells divine and I can't think of a lovelier way to start and end each day.
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My Icelandic sweater - Dyed with Rhubarb root

I finished knitting my Icelandic sweater.  Knitting it didn't take that long, less than a week.  It was finishing it off that was a bit fiddly as I have never done one that is cut up in the middle.  Like a cardigan.  I actually only knitted one Icelandic sweater before and that was many years ago.  So I'm no expert.  They are usually knitted from rope roving which we call Plötulopi.  It's not spun and it pulls apart very easily.  But you can also just as easily twist it back together.

There are fashions in these sweaters as in everything else and today they are usually knitted with a pattern only around the shoulders rather than at the front of the arms and the bottom of the sweater as well.  The fit is also tighter.  Although I have to say that some of the older patterns are beginning to look quite good to me.  I used a pattern called Héla that available free on the internet, but I adapted it to suit my needs.   I made the sweater longer and changed the rib to a proper rib and I added a steek.  That was new to me.  I found really good instructions for that at the excellent See Eunny knit website.

I made the pattern myself.  It's just flowers and hearts and something.  I wanted to make it girly because I thought it suited the colours.  The sweaters are usually made from naturally coloured wool, so this is a nice change.  I really enjoyed dying from Rhubarb root.  I got very nice colours and there is something really soft and gentle about the colours that is completely different from synthetics.  I also loved to be able to knit with colours that I made myself.

I know my husband wants a sweater so I may start to knit him one soon.  His will not be girly at all and I don't think I'll use my natural dyed wool for his sweater.  It'll be quite traditional with natural sheep colours.  I know that he wants a light background colour and probably brown tones rather than gray.  Now I just need to find a nice pattern.  Since his is going to be in the round it'll take much less time.  I should we able to finish it in one week.

I like to have something to knit or crochet although I only do it sporadically.  I have been crocheting a pattern for a hat from the 40's and am looking forward to putting that together.  I love 40's hats.  I bought one in a charity shop that I absolutely love.  It's black and I use it when I go to funerals.  I used to wear hats all the time in the early 90's, but I guess that went out of fashion.  The one I'm crocheting now, I'm doing it in a shiny red yarn and it could look good.  Or just terribly silly.

I love blog awards

Topcat of Titania's Dreamy Delights awarded me with a blog award. Thank you for that :) Getting an award is just really nice.

The rules of the Versatile Blogger Award are:

1 – Make a post and link it back to the person who gave you the award

(and include their website address)

2 – Share 7 random things about yourself

3 – Award 7 recently discovered bloggers with this award and

contact them to let them know they have won.

The hardest part is to nominate 7 blogs.  There are so many to choose from, but the good thing is that I get to choose someone who hasn't been nominated and I decided to nominate a few blogs from far away. Many of these I can follow by using Google Translate and although I know the translations are sometimes quite approximate (to be kind) I wouldn't be able to understand anything at all if not for those translator. Thank you all international soap makers who delight me regularly with your wonderful blogs.

Happy Tiny Bubbles - Finish blog: http://happytinybubbles.blogspot.com/
Les savons de Lavandine - French blog: http://lessavonsdelavandine.blogspot.com/
Grön Sape - Norwegian blog: http://gronnsaape.blogspot.com/
Delicate Matter - Russian blog: http://tmateria.blogspot.com/ I had a problem posting a comment to her, so I don't know if she'll see that.
Gioia Made Soap - English language: http://gioiasoap.blogspot.com/ Also problem to post comments here, but...what can you do?
Sapo Onis - Spanish language (I don't know from which country) http://sapo-onis.blogspot.com/
Monchi Soap - Japanese blog: http://monchisoap.blog102.fc2.com/ I just have a hard time posting a comment on that site so I don't know if she'll see that.

The seven random things about myself:

1.  I have two Bichon Frise dogs.  They are Perla, the mother, and Táta, the daughter.  Perla is my sweetest darling, she is most beautiful, well mannered and dainty.  Like me, she is a fussy eater.  Táta is very boisterous and she'll eat anything that crosses her mouth and as a result she is a bit chubby.  She's constantly ona diet, but it's hard because she'll eat the bird food and the goldfish food (and her mothers food if she can).  She loves to get wet.  And she loves absolutely EVERYONE.

2.  I like to wear white.  Specifically White Levi's 501's, White Jockey T-shirts and White Keds.  I got really bored with all the black clad women here in the dark North.  I mean, I know black is sophisticated, but when EVERYBODY dresses in black ALL THE TIME it just gets depressing.  So I rebelled.  I wear my whites when I garden, so sometimes, technically, I wear brown also!

3.  I'm 5 foot 10 (177.5 cm) like Princess Diane.  I wanted to be small and blond with curly hair and brown eyes when I was little.  I added: A smaller nose and bigger boobs to that list when I got to be a teenager.  Now I'm just really happy with the way I am "warts and all" so to speak.  I even made peace with my straight hair.

4.  I love American Country music.

5.  I sip cod fish oil from the bottle every morning.

6.  I work out with a good friend of mine 3 times a week.  We lift weights, go to spinning classes, do Yoga and Pilates.  My favorite form of exercise is Pilates, by far.  I think it's because it's easy and it doesn't have to cost anything (have I mentioned that I'm a closet cheapskate).  I used to do it at home, on the floor, every day for an hour.  Boy did I look good then :)

7.  I am a HUGE fan of Terry Pratchet.  He writes fantastic social commentary books in the form of Fantasy literature.  Best known are his Discworld series.  My favorite characters are DEATH and the  Wiches, particularly Granny Weatherwax.  I plan to be like her when I get old.

Was that too much information, perhaps?  Oh, well!
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Lupine soap - looking for lime green, but no such luck!

It isn't often that I'm lost for words.  Some members of my family would say that is impossible.  I talk a lot.  I just seem to deal with things verbally.  But now I feel stunned.  I just don't know what to say.  I probably shouldn't even mention it.  I mean I'm sure to offend someone if I admit to wanting to take a baseball bat and give my husband a good whack on the head.  Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly.  But what is it with men that makes them live life in a way that can only be described as:  Suicide by lifestyle?  So there!  Now I've said it.  I feel better all ready.  (And he is slowly regaining his health and way to frail to be able to take a whack on the head.  So I just give him a kiss every now and again.  It measurably improves his oxygen saturation.)

I did make a soap while he was in the hospital.  I woke up in the middle of the night and got this strong urge to visit him.  Which I did.  I have learned always to listen to such urges.  When I got back home I was still wide awake and decided to make a soap using the leftover Lupine decoction I had from dyeing earlier.

Lupine is an alien in Icelandic nature.  It was originally imported as a soil improving plant, because it has the ability to bind nitrogen in the soil.  Unfortunately it is a thug, colonizing large areas of land and in the process it eradicates the more delicate native species.  Instead of 20 species cohabiting, we now have this one.  Very showy, but a poor substitute for the local Flora.  But since it gives a very lovely lime green when used as a dye plant I've sort of semi-forgiven it.  And at least by picking the flowers, I can prevent it from setting seed and spreading even further.  So that is a satisfying, if quiet, revenge.

Lupine flowers make the most wonderful dye.  One would think that they would produce a blue or a purple, but they give the most wonderful lime green colours to both protein (wool, silk) and cellulose (cotton) fibers.  Naturally, I wondered if I could get the ever elusive green colour in soap by using Lupine decoction.  It would have been so much fun.  But it didn't work.  Instead I got this quite soft yellow.  Not bad, but not green.  I fully intend to try it again and use lower temperatures next time to see if that makes any difference.  Since I made this soap in the middle of the night and was quite tired, I didn't bother to wait for anything to cool down much, so I soaped this one at unusually high temperature (130F instead of the more usual 90F) and that may have had an effect on the colour.  I'm also pretty sure that the temperature is the reason it seized on me, but I did get it into the mold alright, in spite of that.

Lupine soap

Olive oil 40% 200g / 7oz
Coconut oil 30% 150g / 5.3oz
Grapeseed oil 10% 50g / 1.8oz
Rapeseed oil 10% 50g / 1.8oz
Cocoa butter 10% 50g / 1.8oz

Water 33% 165g / 5.8oz (this was water that I had simmered Lupine flowers in for an hour)
Lye 70g / 2.5 oz

I added some lavender and Cubea Litsea EO for scent and that smells lovely.  Lupine doesn't have any scent itself.

I was thinking as I made this soap, tired at five o'clock in the morning how amazingly relaxing it is to make soap.  I realized that I now relax by making something, creating something rather than trying to relax by laying down on a couch like I used to.  And what a wonderful way to relax.  And have fun at the same time.  Naturally.

Rhubarb hair colour - and that is the last of the Rhubarb recipes

My Rhubarb talk went really well.  The venue was this folk museum that has some of the oldest houses in Reykjavik and it looks like a small village in the olden days, complete with animals and people in the national costume.  The weather was incredibly nice and the turnout was good.  People had to squeeze to get into the room.

I gave them all the recipes that I've posted and then a few others.  I was a little surprised that people were surprised that you could do something other than just jam and pie.  So the ice cream, soup, drinks and muffins recipes were all enthusiastically received.  But I did save the best for last and I think that really, really surprised them:  Hair colour from Rhurbarb!

I was a bit surprised myself when I found them and I have to admit that I haven't tried them, but I just had to share them anyway.  And please let me know if you dare to try.  And, no.  The photo's are just for fun and in no way reflect the outcome of the recipes.

This recipe is for lightening hair and originally comes from a book called "Natural Beauty" by Aldo Facetti, but I found it on Ehow

1 oz. (30 g) rhubarb root, finely chopped or powdered
1 pt (1/2 liter) cider vinegar
2/3 oz. (20 g) chamomile flowers
2/3 oz. (20 g) marigold flowers
Juice from two fresh lemons, squeezed and strained
2 oz. (50 g) acacia honey
2 oz. (50 g) 95 percent proof liqueur
Thick conditioner

Boil the root in the vinegar for 10 min.
Add the flower petals and simmer under lid for 5 more min. and then let cool.
Strain and add the lemon juice, honey and liqueur.
Add enough conditioner to make this into a creamy consistency.
Apply to hair and cover with sower cap.
Rinse with cool water and let hair air dry.

Here is the recipe for dark hair. I found it on Harmony Green blog where there are also a number of other recipes for herbal hair dyes.

3 tbsp Rhubarb root, mashed
2 cups water
Kaolin clay to thicken

Simmer the mashed root until half of the water has evaporated.
Add enough clay to make into a paste.
Wash hair and divide into sections.  Apply the paste to every sections like any other hair dye.
Leave for 15 min and check the colour by rinsing and drying a strand.  Leave for additional 15 min. and keep checking until the colour is dark enough.  After 1 hour the root will not give any more colour.
To make hair even darker, repeat after 2 days.

I am pretty sure that the blond recipe works because all the ingredients are tried and tested hair lighteners and it also contains honey and conditioner so it shouldn't be too harsh.  I hae to admit that I am a bit intrigued by the other because there the root is supposed to mae the hair quite dark.  Now I know that in acidic environment the rhubarb root colour will turn yellow and that in an alkaline the root will turn a lovely mahogany brown.  I guess the clay must be alkaline.

I might have to try this out to satisfy my curiosity.  But not yet because I am putting finishing touches to my Icelandic sweater.  It is very pretty in it's summer colours from Rhubarb and I look forward to wearing it.  But I guess that is the subject of the next post.  And then I'll have to start to think about something else!

Rhubarb to dye for

When I started to look into natural colours to use in soaps I was inevitably led to websites about dying fibers with natural materials like plants and bugs.  I was fascinated because I had always thought that the only colours you could get from nature were dull beiges and browns and maybe some greens.  And that didn't appeal to me.  I like rainbow colours, vibrant and clear.  So I was pleasantly surprised to see the exciting pink that the Cochineal bug gives and the deep purple of Logwood, not to mention the fabulous blue of Indigo.

I have been collecting bits and pieces of dye stuff for just over a year.  I came across a website that sold some natural dyes and I ordered some like Madder, Alkanet and Logwood which I tried to uses in soap, mostly successfully.  But I also ordered some mordant even if I had no clue what it was.  I only knew that it was used in the dyeing process, but didn't really understand it's function.  Then I started to notice books about dyeing and I bought some.  In my Icelandic book about medicinal plants and also in general books about the Flora of Iceland there is always the mention of how each plant was used in the past, either for food, medicine, dyeing or other practical purposes.  I found all this absolutely fascinating stuff!  It's hard to explain, but I find it somehow comforting to learn how to make things that usually come out of factories.

When I was a kid, we were taught a lot in school.  We had cooking and baking lessons and handiwork lessons where we learned to knit and crochet and sew and embroider.  Or rather the girls did, the boys learned woodworking and such which I would also have liked, had I known that it was possible for females to do macho things like that.  But I didn't know about sexism then and now I am very thankful for what I learned at this early age.  I remember when I moved to the States and heard my American friends talk about baking "from scratch".  I had no clue what they were on about.  Scratch?  What was that!  Some ingredient?  Equipment?  I couldn't believe it when I found out that it was possible to buy something in a box, add water and eggs and call it baking.  Hmm.  Where's the fun in that!

So anyway, back to natural colour.  I wrote a post about my first dyeing experience using Dandelion  - Taraxacum officinale) and this cold spring I have been busy dying with some plants that are in season as well as some of the dye stuff that I have bought.  I have now dyed from Cochineal, Alkanet, Comfrey, Rumex, Lupin, some Lichen and now Rheus (Rhubarb to you and me).  And this post is about my Rhubarb colours.

When I was asked to do this little talk about Rhubarb I wanted to show a lot of different ways to use the Rhubarb.  One of them is obviously to use it to dye yarn and fabric.  And what colours!  Beautiful soft yellows, through orange to corals to green (with the help of some copper).  I can't wait to finish my sweater.  The Icelandic sweaters are usually made in the natural sheep colours of greys, browns, white and black which I really like, but knitting one using my own home dyed yarn is just so cool!  I've almost knit enough to be ready to knit the pattern.  I just need to make one up.  I want it to be a flowery, girly untraditional something.  I have to see what I can come up with.

It is possible to use both the leaves and the root of Rhubarb to dye animal fibers.  I don't know how cotton receives the dye.  I need to find out.  But wool and silk take the colour quite well.  The dyebath is made beforehand by simmering the chopped dye stuff (either the root or the leaves) for 30-45 minutes and strain it and let it cool.  The leaves give a geenish yellow, but the root gives the most lovely range of colours in the photo.

The wonderful thing about Rhubarb is that there is no need for a mordant.  That means that there is no pre-treatment required.  All one needs to do is to wash the fiber to get it thoroughly clean and wet.  Squeeze out excess moisture and put it into the cold dyebath.  Then the whole thing is heated up to about 80C (very, very slowly if one is dyeing wool.  It should take at least an hour) that temperatur held of 30 minutes and then let cool down over night.  The fiber is then rinsed and dried.

I have a few books about dyeing.  I own everything that has been published about it in Icelandic that I have been able to get hold of, some of the old stuff has been typed up and photocopied.  But out of everything that I have seen on the subject there is one woman that stands out to me as the most generous and reliable source of knowledge.  I have two of her books and love them both.  Jenny Dean has a blog that I recommend to everyone and her newly republished book, Wild Color, is not only beautiful but also invaluable to those who want to learn to dye with natural colours.  I can only humbly thank her and all the other women who have written books and article and blogs about dyeing and shared their knowledge with me.