I had an “interesting” work time and it left me a bit disgruntled. Lol. I made a bunch of Goat’s Milk lotions, but while I was preparing containers, mixing FOs, and writing down the recipes I ended up doing something weird to my bubble wash. I still haven’t figured out exactly what went wrong. I figure it got a bit too warm without stirring often, since I was distracted. The really weird thing is that it made a film in the middle that would not melt, like it was cold and setting up. I let it cool and it is in the same state, so I put some Saran on the pan while I think about it. Thankfully I wasn’t going to make very much, so if it’s a lost cause I’m not out too much. I’m still annoyed and frustrated with myself, and I’m irritated that I’m still puzzling over how to fix it. Lol.
In addition I blended up the maple pumpkin lotion that I was considering the other night. It didn’t turn out the way that I wanted, that’s for sure. It came out as a softly spiced pumpkin scent, which is probably what I’ll name it (minus “scent” of course). I really wanted that strongly sweet note and it’s actually surprising that it came out so soft. The new FO limitations have really weakened some scent profiles unfortunately, although thankfully I have plenty of them that were all ready within the new guidelines. I like the spicy note to this compared to the buttercream and creamy pumpkin pie profile of On a (Pumpkin) Roll.
I had to work fast to fix a few issues that came up from trying to do too much multitasking. The lotion got a mite more warm than I usually let it and although the emulsifying wax incorporated better than usual everything else had issues. Lol. When I added the FOs the oil tried to separate and some of the components of the lotion did too. I had the brilliant idea that my handheld immersion blender would work pretty well at blending these layers together. In theory it is a good idea and would work well. However…after lotion exploded across my cabinets and I had to wipe it off of my face (*embarrassed smile*) I realized that it doesn’t work well with small portions. Rofl. I don’t often find myself wiping lotion from my glasses, so it made me pause for a few. I went back to my whisk and aggravated the sore muscles (I’m enjoying table tennis on the move P3 a bit too much lately and keep overdoing it), but I got the layers incorporated a bit. As I continued to work and the portions began to cool I was startled to see two tones to the lotions. Lol. I ended up with a liquid section on the bottom with separate oils and a perfect top. *rolling eyes* Back to the whisk, although I admit that I’ve never whisked product inside of the small 4 oz jars. *cracking up*
Despite my hour of snafus I made a few awesome lotions and I’m really close to being fully prepared for the craft event in a couple of weeks. I made a few jars of A Moment in Time (AMT for short) and Arabian Nights. Both have spicy profiles which are a nice change from the food and delicate scents I often work with. AMT has a complicated profile, as I’ve written about before, but it fits in with the holidays well because of some of the deeper notes. I can’t decide if it’s more like an old school Avon perfume or more holiday. I seem to get a different profile with each sniff. Lol. We will see how it does, but I really do like it. My favorite of all that I worked with tonight was definitely Arabian Nights. *happy sigh* It’s so unlike anything else I have and is so exotic. It’s perfect for those days when you need that extra boost to help you feel like a total femme fatale. *grin* I wouldn’t use it as my daily scent, but it really feels special whenever I test it.
Top it off I tried to package the tree soaps. The press & seal version of Saran has a more frosted look, so that got scrapped. The trees totally eclipsed my soap bags. I tried a cello treat bag and although the trees fit really well in them with tons of room to spare for tying off the patterns detract from the paint job that I really want to show off. My salts cello cones would work well except they’d be tied off at the bottom which would look rather odd. Until I figure it out I have them in a gallon storage bag, so at least some of the pressure I’m putting on myself has eased.
Did I mention that I forgot to write down how many soaps I ended up with when I made the recent batch of mechanic soaps? I sat down to do all of the figures so that I could tag the packages, and post on my site, but I can’t remember if I did a single or double batch. Lol. That much variation makes for massively different prices, so I’ll make another batch. With all of the additives I can’t just go off of how much soap is in them. *rolling eyes at my forgetfulness* Did you know that you can get a headache from facepalming too much? Lol.
Anyway…I hope you have a less complicated time with your projects and enjoyed a few smiles with me over the unexpected troubles I had. *grin* I still haven’t figured out how to package those soaps though. 😉
Georgia's Pampering 