Lemongrass and madder - Unexpected combo

Those Russian ladies are always cute. I have no idea where
I got them.  Is that weird? The braiding I got in my favorite
flea market The Good Shepherd for about 4 dollars. I used
some of it on my little daybed that I recovered. That post
is still a draft :)

Trying to match fragrance to colour is a challenge, especially when one is committed to using natural colours only.  This combo may or may not be repeated.

I used Madder root for this soap and this time I used a bit more than I have done previously.  The colour is more of a tan than the warm red that I was hoping for, but that may suit the scent better.  Although somehow I guess Lemongrass should be either yellow or slightly green. Which reminds me, I need to try dried Parsley soon!

But I love Lemongrass scent, it lasts so much better than lemon.  The soap smells lovely and I used dried bits of Lemongrass on top.  Tha may not be such a good idea because it was a bitch to cut.

This recipe was the same as the one I used for the Palmarosa soap apart from the colouring material and the scent.  I think I need to wait to use the soap before I decide what I think about it.  I may learn to like it yet.
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Annatto - A silky ray of sunshine in the middle of winter

I dug out my tablecloths to use at the wedding, so I have
rediscovered their beauty even if I hardly ever use them.
I bought the lamp shades for an old and rather ugly
light fixture but they were the wrong size.  Typical.

I've been wanting to try to use Annatto seeds to colour soap for the longest time.  I finally did and I have to say that the result is a very pretty yellow.  Much mellower than unrefined Palm oil.  I have read that the colour fades, but I'm willing to accept some fading.  That's only natural...with natural colours.

This soap also has silk fiber.  I just had to try that after Hellen at Strenua Inertia gave me that tip.  I have quite a bit of silk left over from sewing the wedding dress and pulling a few threads is very easy.  I can't wait for this one to be ready, I've never tried silk soap.

The scent is the classic combo, ylang ylang and orange essential oils and I put dried flowers on top to pretty it up.  It hardly needs it though.  The colour is lovely, the scent is to die for and I have high hopes for this one in the skin caressing department.

The recipe was a simple but trusted 40-30-20-10


Olive oil 40% 200g / 7.0oz
Coconut oil 30% 150g / 5.3oz
Lard 20% 100g / 3.5oz
Cocoa butter 10% 50g / 1.8oz

Water 30% 150g / 5.3 oz
Lye 72g / 2.5 oz

I used about one tablespoon of Annatto infused oil and put some silk tread into the lye.

This soft yellow colour is the same as the colour of the sky this afternoon, just before the sun set.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We are having dry and cold weather now and it is so nice to have clear skies and sun, even if it is only for at few hours.  I love this time of year, the advent starts on Sunday and I have bought everything I need for the advent wreath which I make every Christmas.  So making that and baking some cookies is the plan for this weekend.
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Milkmint - A milky white and minty soap

One of my friends is and artist and I just love the colours
she uses. I don't wear much lace, but have a hard time
resisting buying it and this scarf made it home with me.

I am so proud of this one.  I think I wrote somewhere rather nonchalantly that some soapmakers try to get their milk soaps very white.  My attitude was rather like: "As if that matters".  But I had to try.  But midway through the experiment I decided to cheat and put a little bit of Titanium dioxide in there.  I didn't quite trust the soap that I painstakingly made to be as white as I wanted.  But I am pretty sure that I wouldn't have gotten it this white if the bases hadn't been very white...Or would I?  Well I'll never know.  But I don't care.  I think this is my all time favorite soap.  At least right now.  I tend to love best the latest soaps.

I had read somewhere, probably in the book I have about making milk soaps, that the trick is to dissolve the lye very, very slowly in the frozen milk and not let the soap heat up too much.  So I did that.  I half froze the milk and put a bit of the lye into it and stirred until the milk was almost completely thawed and then I put it back in the freezer.  I waited for it to freeze again and then I put a bit of the lye into it ...  Repeated this many, many times until all the lye was dissolved.  Obviously the last time the lye/milk solution should be at about room temperature and so should the oils.  I combined the two and the soap came together perfectly.  I added some TD and Peppermint EO.

I got the brilliant idea to crumble some dried mint on top.  I had the last mint of the summer that had gone to flower and I had dried that even if they say that it should be picked before flowering.  I think it's my German genes that make me ignore advise like that.  So I put it on top of the soap.  It was so pretty.  But I made one mistake.  I put the soap in the freezer and I think that resulted in the pretty green and purple herbs on top turning brown.  OR, it could have been that I wrapped it too soon.  Oh, I could have cried!  But not for long.  Chuck it up to experience.  I'm going to make that again and this time not put it in the freezer and absolutely not wrap it too soon.  But the smell is lovely.  I really like peppermint essential oil.  It is nothing like artificial scent.  Just pure and fresh.
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Palmarosa - Perfect for pre-Christmas tension

The cups and saucers were my grandmothers. I never
use them, they are too small. But I really love them.

This year is the first in many that I'm not thoroughly annoyed with stores for starting to advertise Christmas in October.  I realize that Christmas is in fact about fifteen minutes away!  So I've begun to make lists for Christmas.  It is very easy to do my Christmas lists because I write the lists in my Book and I have Christmases past in there too.  The Book is also where I write my soap and cream recipes.  It is a Moleskine unruled which I bought because I couldn't find a squared one.  I always write better on squared paper so I prefer that.  Then I got a squared one and I figured I would just finish the one I had started.  That was in 2007.  So now I have an overview of my lists of presents, people  and food for three Christmases past and a lot of recipes in between.

I have been cutting and wrapping a lot of soaps lately and one of the prettiest in the pink Palmarosa scented one.  Palmarosa smells a lot like roses but is a lot more affordable.  The essential oil comes from Cybopogon martini a grass that is related to Lemongrass.  The benefits of Palmarosa EO is said to be to balance the skin's production of sebum, stimulate cell regeneration and moisturize.  It is also antiseptic.  In aromatherapy it fights depression, anxiety and anger.  It is relaxing and uplifting for the mood.  What a great combination.  In fact absolutely perfect for the preparations for Christmas.

The soap is coloured with my favorite, Rumex oil, at about 20g per pound.  It never ceases to amaze me the way that starts out tan or beige and turns overnight into a pretty pink.  I got the idea to put the rosebuds on the top at the spur of the moment and crushed a few as well.  A friend gave them to me some time ago as a tea, but I couldn't bear to use them.  I really like the result, so I made a few other soaps with similar decorations, but different flower stuff.

I made this recipe with lard and grapeseed oil both of which I find to be very nice ingredients in soaps. The total weight is 741g, a whacky number, but...

Olive oil                34%     250g / 8.8oz   (25 gr of this was Rumex infused)
Coconut oil           24%     175g / 6.2oz
Lard                      18%     130g / 4.6oz
Grapeseed oil        16%     116g / 4.0oz
Cocoa butter          9.5%      70g / 2.5oz

Water 30% 222g / 7.8 oz
Lye 103g / 3.6 oz

I reduced the water from what I have used and I think that worked really well.  I cut it after a much shorter time and now I know why I have read warnings about soap getting to hard to cut.

The fragrance is lovely and I really look forward to using this soap.  I like the decoration.  I have been playing with that and I have gotten wise to the fact that you really, really need to plan the cut and decorate with that in mind especially when using larger pieces of flowers or buds.  These I had to be creative with to be able to cut them without ruining the decoration.

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My gift to myself - Madder root and Neroli soap

That lovely little tablecloth I bought in Slovakia. The
little lantern is from the Good S as is the glass bowl.  What
a fantastic shape.

I love making new recipes for soaps.  Mostly because I get new ideas, but sometimes I just don't have the ingredients that I need, so I improvise.  I try to use all my soaps to see how I like them and I really use them for a while to get a strong feeling for my preference.  I recently have been reaching for the same one, and realized that I really liked the way it lathers andfeels on the skin.  So I decided to make that recipe again, just for me with my absolute favorite fragrance, Neroli.

I also welcomed the opportunity to use Madder root again.  I really loved the colour I obtained last time, but it did fade to very, very light pink.  I therefore used about twice the amount as before.  But this is a facination of natural colours.  They reward me by being different every single time and I never get bored.  This time I got a very lovely peach colour.  A little bit more delicate than I intended, but who am I to argue with nature?

The recipe I used was a bit different from the one I intended to recreate because I didn't have enough Almond oil, so I improvised.  It will be interesting to see if I like the soap as much as the other.

Madder root and neroli soap.
This recipe is for 700g

25%     Coconut oil            175 g / 6 oz
25%     Lard                       175 g / 6 oz
20%     Grapeseed oil         135 g / 4.7 oz
17%     Apricot kernel oil   118 g / 4.1 oz
7%       Almond oil               50g / 1.7 oz
6%       Soybean oil              45g / 1.5 oz

I put about 2-3 tbsp of Madder root into the lye water and let it sit until cool enough to use it in the soap. The soap turned a nice pink which I felt was quite blue pink tobegin with, but it rapidly changed to a much warmer pink, ending in peach.  The scent I used was mostly Neroli, but I added some frangipani that I had left over and some ylang ylang as well.  It smelled wonderful and I do hope it stays.  I put the soap in the fridge to prevent trace in the hope that it would also result in the fragrance holding.

The smell of lye is gone now and it seems that the scent comes through in a nice and gentle way.  That is the way I like it, so perfect for my birthday present which is in a few weeks.  I look forward to it.  I know I'll get a great  present!
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Sugar scrub cubes (or dollops) - A new way to rebatch

I love the enameled electric stove that I picked up for a
song.  I can use it for dyeing. The tablecloth is a simple
cross stitch that I loved and for some reason I started to
buy the milk glass. Nobody seems to want it. 

I've been intrigued by Sugar scrub cubes since I first saw them, but my distaste for Melt and Pour bases (at least the ones that are sold here) has precluded me from making them.  Apparently they could only be made using that.  Oh, the hardship of being a fanatic!  But I had been thinking that since I melt soap to rebatch soap, surely regular handmade soap could be used for those.  Not wanting to reinvent the wheel I started to search the Internet and found the answer on Mayren Abashed's blog: Mayren's Sugar Scrub Cubes using CP/HP Soap shreds the 1-2-3's Method.

She, somewhat ingeniously, had come up with a simple recipe that I had to try.  Her sugar cubes are actually cubes, they look great and she makes them in wonderful colours and adds scent to them.   Me, being the way I am (and not having a cube mold also), made ... well I decided to call them dollops rather than blobs, although that would describe them too.   And I make them scent free also, since I just wanted to try out the recipe to see if I could make them (and I was getting low on EO's).

It is actually quite simple, like the 1-2-3 name suggests:

1 tbsp oils/butters
2 tbsp soap shreds (I grated some of my natural homemade soap)
3 tbsp sugar

I grated some of my soap finely and used that.  I used Olive oil and Cocoa butter and put those into a bowl with the soap shreds and put this into the microwave.  This I then heated in short bursts and stirred regularly.  When everything had melted I took it out and let it cool just a bit and then stirred in the sugar.  Mayren suggests 3 tbsp when using 50/50 hard and soft oils, 4 tbsp when using all liquid.  The sugar mix quickly turned into something like a dough ball, which is what should happen and it was really hot.  This is the stage to add scent but I skipped that.  I guess the colours could go into the oils before the sugar.  Now, since I don't have any small silicone molds, I used a teaspoon to make my dollops and tried to shape them as best I could (hot, hot, hot) and then I rolled them in sugar.  That improved their appearance a lot!

Now, I tried this in the shower and found that I used up the one although it could have been a bit smaller.  I liked this shape a lot as it fits nicely in the palm without me dropping it.  I liked the combination of soap and sugar and the great thing about sugar is that it does dissolve and doesn't end up in the sea doing harm to sea creatures.  I have read that these sugar cube scrubs will leave the tub slippery, but I didn't find that mine did.  But I'm sure they may do so the next time.  Probably depends on the oils and soap used.

I think these could make great Christmas presents, especially if coloured and/or scented.  I need to see if I can come up with some natural colours that are oil soluble.  I can think of Alkanet root and Annatto, so red and yellow.  I wonder if there is a green possibility?  Maybe clay?

Update:  With the addition of a few drops of essential oils and some colour infused oils, these can be made into the most lovely gifts.  Ice cube trays are very easy to use and much quicker than using a spoon.  Just fill up the cavities and pop the ice cube tray in the freezer for a few minutes and the sugar scrub cubes will  easily pop out.

To make the best of a bad thing - Rebatched Sea Buckthorn soap

Last chance in the garden.  Everything has pretty much
died down, except the Hollyhocks which are blooming
like crazy. This lovely cream colour is just lovely. 

I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that winter is here.  Today is the "First day of winter"  according to the traditional Icelandic almanack.  We have had the most wonderfully mild weather this fall and I've enjoyed that so much.  Almost for the first time that I can remember we have had all the leaves on the trees and bushes turn their beautiful red, orange and yellow colours.  Usually they are blown away be strong winds before we get to see their glory.  I have also enjoyed the last few flowers in the garden that have continued to bloom all the way into the first frosts, among them are some Hollyhocks that are in bloom for the first time.

I made a soap quite some time ago that included a some Sea Buckthorn oil and a lot of other goodies.  It was a great soap (I think) except it was so soft as to be almost mushy.  I waited  and waited for it to harden up, but finally gave up and decided to rebatch it.

It has now been curing and has turned into a very nice yellow soap.  The colour is quite a bit lighter since I mixed this with some whipped soap that was mostly white hard oils, but hadn't turned out the way I wanted.  So that was a lot of hard oils that I combined with all the soft ones.   I've been meaning to post about his rebatch except I lost my notebook so I couldn't find the recipe.  When I found the notebook I discovered that I hadn't written it down in the notebook at all.  So I searched for it on my little computer and I found it.

The combined recipe for this rebatch turned out to be:

Lard                  34%
Olive oil            24%
Coconut oil       22%
Jojoba oil          10%
Cocoa butter       8%
Wheat germ oil   1.5%

The water was 1/3 water and 2/3 a combination of Oat meal tea and Aloe vera.  The additions to the yellow soap were Sea Buckthorn and St. Johns Wort oils along with about a tablespoon of honey.  When I rebatched this I used yoghurt as a liquid.  The precise recipe is hard to figure out, but I like this soap as a gentle bath soap.  The lather is very soft and creamy.
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Farewell gifts

I have a wall where I hang family photos so I am always
on the lookout for nice frames, preferably old.  The
three children are my grandmother and her siblings and
I think she also owned the pearl necklace. 

In a recent post I mentioned that I was making soaps as farewell gifts for a group of people that I have been meeting a few times a year.  I made a soap with Patchouli EO and decided to make a pink one for the women in the group.  I used Geranium and Lemongrass with Rumex oil to make it pink.  This one I used 15 g. to 500 g. of oil and I put the oil in at trace.  It still turned out a very light pink.  And the center, which gelled is a lot darker than the outside.  I don't mind that, but some may do.  The solution is to either wrap the soap to have it all gelled or put it in the fridge.  But anyway, I am pretty certain now that putting the Rumex oil in with all the others will produce a stronger pink colour than putting it in a trace.

I haven't been particularly involved in thinking about packaging and labels, although I've thought about it a lot.   Mostly I'm still thinking about some sort of stamp of a logo.  I have it in my head, waiting to jump out on a pice of paper.  I realize that to sell soap they must be packaged and that is also true for when they are given as gifts.  From what I see from others, they put as much effort (and money) into packaging as they do into the soaps.  I am in awe.

But I had to do something so I got some cellophane bags.  They were way to big (couldn't find small ones) but I solved that by cutting in half and using the bottom for the girl's and the top for they guy's.  So different soaps and different packages.  To make this a bit simple for myself I had cut little pieces of soap and made o hole in the corner, through which I tied a piece of raffia.  I then used the raffia on the outside as well.

Not terribly original, but fast and easy.  I did intended to photograph the packages, but I was finishing them at the last minute.  I made a few extra and figured that I would bring some back and snap a photo of those, but I ended up giving the staff all the extras for husbands or wives.  They were all delighted with their soaps and everyone of them put their gift up to their nose to have a sniff (and we are talking about a few very middle aged men here).  And even if I put all the ingredients on a label on front, the ones they were most interested in were the scents.  So much for unscented soaps!  

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I've been tagged

I was tagged by Courtney Robyn at Courtney Robin's nest.  I love the great community of soapers from all over, although I also kind of like being slightly anonymous.  But I'm happy to play along today.  So here are my answers to those questions.

1. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Airport security - I'm soooooo sick of discussing my cosmetics with middle aged men and being felt up by strange women.  I just don't understand why they can't leave me alone.

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Oh, that's easy.  Somewhere (anywhere) sunny and wonderful.  I love Sorrento in Italy and that area.   France is also tempting.  Sarasota in Florida is great.  In my utopia "nothing to do with reality" I'd like to live on my grandparents farm in the northwest of Iceland.  Preferably with them in the house that they built, but was crushed in an avalanche ten years before I was born. My grandfather was very innovative and farmed with all kinds of animals, grew strange vegetables and taught my father about the many different plants that grow there.  I'm sure he would have been the first ,bee farmer in Iceland and we would have a few hives and probably have heated arguments and passionate discussions.  My grandmother and I would make soap and creams and jams and herbal potions and blood saussages.  She was a very gentle and sweet woman, my father told me, and  I would have loved to know them both.

3. Have you ever been searched by the cops? (LOL inquiring minds want to know)
No, but airport security has a special fondness for me.

4. What is the one thing on your mind right now?
My masters thesis, my french classes, my mothers bathroom and my daughter's mirror and....
And of course the next soap.  What do you mean one thing? One thing?  On MY mind?

5. Favorite song right now.
This one is my favorite for many, many years.  It's sung by Gail Davies and Emmilou Harris is in the background.  It's called "It's a lovely, lovely world" and it's the happiest song ever!  I used to ride along in my beat up old car when I lived in Colorado in the early 80's and sing along and just become happy. I never thought much about it's name or who sang it and it took me 25 years to find it again and buy it on itunes. I haven't found anything public with this song and it so deserves to be played more often. I made a slightly sentimental video for our anniversary two years ago (husband kept complaining that I wasn't romantic enough.  After making this video, I hardly need to civil anymore.  I SO won!).  
That video is private so even if I posted that for a bit, it was always going to be for a short time
But do look the song up and if you like it it's cheap to buy on itunes, something like 99 cents.  And that is the best depression therapy I know!

I also love Jean Shepherd's "Slippin' Away", especially this video on YouTube.  I have this song on an old record, but her voice is amazing even at her age.  

6. What talent do you wish you had?
To speak French fluently.  Alternatively, if we can be not practical I wish that I could stretch time. I have it on expert authority that one needs to go very, very fast.  

7. Favorite drink.
Ginger ale, especially the one I make myself, and my husband says tastes like Landi (Moonshine) (which I have never tasted, so I can't say).

8. In one word, how would you describe yourself.
Yeah! - See here's the thing.   One word doesn't work for me at all.  I talk a lot and have done since I was little, I'm told.

So I'm not sure how to tag other people, except to name the ones that I want to tag AND haven't already been tagged by Courtney.  So here is my list in no particular order:

Texia - Sanga Natual

Tiggy - Future Primitive

Potions & Chaudrons

Michelle - Soap Pixie

Hellen - Strenua Inertia

Heidi - Happy Tiny Bubbles

Swanee - By Swanee

Edith - Innoscents Handmade Soaps

Lyn - Lynnz Artisan Soaps and Candles

Miss Polly - Miss Polly Soap 

Those who feel so inclined can play along.  It's really up to the individual, but others can go and check out their blogs all of which I read regularly and a lot more.
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Rose hips - full of vitamin C

I really wanted to make these into a necklace they were so
pretty. And I really would like to be able to make oil from
those seeds. There's so many of them.

Autumn, not at all my favorite season, does have a few redeeming qualities.  One is the crops that are there for the picking.  I'm not a cook, but I love to bake and make sweet stuff.  That of course includes jams, jellies and syrups.  I have posted a few of my recipes but one I haven't posted yet is rose hips.  I picked a lot last year.  I in fact only discovered them here last year as I was walking the dogs.

There is this huge overgrown bush close by my house in no mans land and suddenly it was full of these lovely red fruits.  I quickly realized that they were rose hips and having read about them in Danish magazines for years (decades) I excitedly went a picked a few.  And then a few more and then even more since I started seeing them everywhere.  I think I still have some in the freezer since last year and I guess I'll use those to feed the birds this winter.  My only regret is that I am not able to extract oil from the seeds because there are so many seeds, it's unbelievable.  I did find a something on the internet that was supposed to do that, but It was too expensive.  But it would sure be fun to be able make my own rose hip oil.  I have infused rose hips in oil, but it's not the same.

But this summer was very good and so far the only sign of autumn is in the shorter days, so now we can light candles in the evening (and taking photo's without flash is getting increasingly difficult.  But temperatures are still in the 60's (we call that summer over here) so I have to wait a bit longer to gather a decent crop of rose hips since they are at their best just after the first frost.  And I read somewhere that rose hips have the most vitamin C in the coldest regions so here it must contain mega quantities.  But I have started to collect a few to make into a jelly to join the red currant and gooseberry jellies that I have already made.  I like to make small quantities, so my recipes are usually enough for maybe 6 jars or so.  Although i only had 3/4 of a jar of gooseberries, but boy are they good!

I like to make fruit syrup as well a jellies and one of the advantages of not making jam out of the rose hips is that there are a lot of tiny hairs inside and they used to be used a an itching powder by naughty boys in the olden days (before my time) and most recipes recommend that the seeds and the hairs be removed.  I'm too lazy to do that.  It's just too much work.  So here is my recipe for a jelly where that stuff is just sived away.

2.3 liters / 2 quarts   Rose hips
1.7 liter / 1.5 quarts  Water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 packet pectin (depending on what you use the directions can be different)
1/4 tsp butter
3.5 cups sugar

Top and tail the rose hips and put them in a pot, pour the water over and let simmer for about 1 hour, or until the rose hips are soft.  Mash this in the pot with a potato masher or use a food processor if you wish.  The pour this into a jelly cloth contraption and let the juice run of for at least an hour, longer if you can.  Squeeze out all the juice.

Now measure the juice, you need 3 cups.  If there isn't enough then add water.

The juice along with the lemon juice is put into a clean pot and this is heated.  Add 3 tsp of sugar to the pectin and set aside.  Add the rest of the sugar to the pot and when that is dissolved, but the butter in and boil the whole thing hard for 1 minute.  Then add the pectin/sugar blend and boil for another 1/2 minute.  Pour into sterilized jars.  Close them when cold.
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Orange dog soap

The old books were used as props for the wedding. They were
stacked here and there in the house. We got them for free at the
Good S. Those fall colours we had this year were fantastic.

I thought I would do an orange soap to keep Jennifer at Jenora soaps company. One of the reasons is that I saw unrefined Palm oil in an asian food store the other day and I just had to have it. I have never used Palm oil because it isn't sold here. I know that there is a lot of controversy surrounding Palm oil and I respect that. But I wouldn't be human if I didn't succumb to trying out a new oil!

I decided for some reason that this would be a good dog soap and that it should go into a tube. I had intended to cut it into long half rounds since I thought that would be a good shape to fit nicely into the palm as I wash the dogs. I did cut a few that way, but some I cut smaller. I have no idea why, but ever since I have been thinking of trying to do a landscape, using this as a setting sun. That would be very patriotic.

The soap is without scent, but with some herbal oils because Bichons have a tendency to have skin problems and I thought it would be nice for my bitches to have nice skin conditioning ingredients.

Recipe:

Coconut oil               25% 125 g / 4.4 oz
Palm oil                     25% 125 g / 4.4 oz
Olive oil                    25% 125 g / 4.4 oz
Soybean oil               20% 100 g / 3.5 oz
Castor oil                     5%   25 g / 3.5 oz

Water                        38%  190g / 6.8 oz
Lye                                       71g / 2.5 oz

In addition to this I added 1 tsp. of Comfrey infused oil and 1 tsp. of Yarrow infused oil, both infused in olive oil. So the SF is a bit more than the 5% that the recipe reports.

But the soap traced very, very fast and I had quite a time getting it into the tube. I was therefore a bit surprised that the soap was quite soft when I took it out of the mould. The colour is a very strong orange-yellow. It is a little bit too saturated for my taste.  The colour is not dissimilar to the Sea Buckthorn soaps that I did some time ago but it is more orange, so not a bad try for an orange soap.  But maybe I'll try to use more socially acceptable colourants next time.
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