The living room is a tad warm from an overly efficient woodstove, so it was a perfect time to get some work done while avoiding that room. Lol. I am slowly getting stuff ready for next month’s craft fair and although I really should make some more lotions I decided to focus solely on soaps tonight. I tend to get restless and lose interest when I’m not creating new things, so soaps work perfectly since it isn’t unusual for each soap to be a bit different. The obsessive part of my personality freaks over that, but I’ve finally realized how much the restless part of me loves working at fixing that, and knowing it’ll never fully work. Lol.
I worked on the ice cream cone soap for awhile, but then got the urge to make some embeds while it cooled. I got a small flower silicone mold over the summer and decided that would be really cute embedded in a clear bar or round. The first batch I made another pour of the strawberry used in the cone, but then I decided to totally explore one of my untested ingredients. *struggling to control the excited squirming* I went unscented and will scent the outer soap, instead of a two scent layer soap like the first batch, and made them a super soft lavender. Okay, okay, I’ll be honest. I was shooting for a darker shade, near violet, but after 5 drops I decided a lavender was a better option than running the risk of turning someone’s skin purple. Lol. Anyway, I pulled out the untested iridescent soap safe sparkles and mixed it into the soap. I saw the fantastic shimmer when the soap caught the light as I poured into the flower mold. I really hope that the sparkles stay suspended in the soap instead of sinking, but it might be really cool if they do sink to the front. My biggest hope is that the soap sparkles catch the light as well when set as while they were being poured. I can just see a little girl in my mind’s eye lifting her two-toned soap up to the light and smiling as it shimmers. I had to fight the urge to pop the mold into the freezer for a quick set, but I did the right thing and will let them set properly. It’s still a bit like being five and waiting for Eve to finally become Christmas morning though. *grin*
Lastly I decided to make a big batch of the improved mechanic soaps. Larry tested the experimental batches awhile back and said that the guest rounds actually worked better, so I stuck with those molds this time. He said at the time that guys would probably like a pine scent to them better than Pop a Wheelie, although that isn’t bad. I truly tried to make a woodsy scent, but I’m not too sure what this will smell like once the set. Lol. I had added a tiny percentage of Musk FO and then a ml of Christmas Wreath FO, since it has an awesome mixture of balsam and other notes, and then whisked in my additives. I noticed that the scent was a little odd at that point and figured that it was just too soft, so after I reheated the mixture (it drops temp quickly when lots of additives are added, especially when whisking) I added another ml of Wreath. I still didn’t think it was overly impressive and added a tad more musk. That helped, but I tell you it was still a really odd smell. I’m not sure if it’s the oatmeal, pumice, ground flax, or ground apricot seeds, but one of those is really altering the FOs. I reheated the mixture again and knew I needed to try to save the batch since it isn’t the best idea to reheat yet again. I reached into my flat and grabbed for Sand Dunes, which is part of what I use for Pop a Wheelie, but it turns out that I grabbed Sands of Morocco. I added a ml of that and it gave a nice, spicy twist to the mixture. It’ll be interesting to see what it smells like after it sets, since I’m not sure if the culprit will continue to change things while the soaps cool. After thinking over comments Larry has made in the past about the soaps I decided to not worry unless they smell horrible, since he said most guys don’t care what stuff smells like – just that it works as advertised. Lol. I need to make them smell masculine enough for women to think it’d be a good scent for their guy apparently. *grin* I’m crossing my fingers!
My soaps are covered and cooling in the few higher spots that I can reach that my kitten can’t, and my cone soap is all wrapped up to finish setting, so I think it’s time to settle in with an episode of Once Upon a Time and hopefully fall asleep. I just need to keep my mind off of wanting to un-mold the flowers and embed them. *grin* I hope you are slumbering peacefully while I write this and that I am when you’re reading this. 😉
Georgia's Pampering 