Dusty Tree Soap

Finally a batch of.....Dusty Tree Soap.

I didn't really plan on creating a signature soap for my brand, it just sort of happened.  I mixed this latest batch after much time!!! number crunching on a calculator.  I thought it was going to be a bit different, but I knew on the first cut that THIS is the soap I've always wanted to be called Dusty Tree Soap.  It is the colors really.  I have a mild obsession with green and orange.  LOVE IT!  

I used Nettle Powder for the green shade (both infused for weeks in oil and a bit of the actual powder added at trace) for a nice deep green color.  

Dusty Tree Soap

 2013 Soaps

Ombre Charcoal

Ombre Charcoal

New Years Resolution Take 1

I've been pretty committed to at least one New Year's Resolution and that is to publish some knitting patterns.  So with that I bring you the 'GOING UP COWL'.  Available on Ravelry or right here on my blog!

Oh me oh my we have a winner or shall I say WINNERS!!!

Thank you everyone who decided to enter my contest.  I had a huge response!! (really, I did...I know I only had two comments, but most people must be shy and decided to email me..hahahaha)  I'm blown away by your kind comments and great suggestions for a soap name.

The winner has already received her package of SOAP from me...(did you really think it was going to be anything different?)  I hope you enjoy!!  I was able to hand deliver since we spent last weekend in North Carolina visiting family....so Robin, enjoy the soaps.

Also, I had a pretty big list of soap name suggestions to filter through, but after much thinking I've decided on.....drum roll......OCEAN LAVA.  So yes, David you win too!!  It was interesting to read everyone's suggestions and I had a lot of fun!  Thank you again!

OCEAN LAVA

 

Natural Colorants in Soap -- and a CONTEST!

It was a bit hectic and I'm not sure I'd recommend it or even attempt it again, but I made four batches of soap at once.  My husband was kind enough to watch the kids while I worked in the kitchen.  I thought it would be about the same amount of time as one batch, but no ...much longer! (duh, of course it was...what was I thinking?)  It was worth it since I was doing embeds and not exactly sure how much soap mixture I needed per mold (because of the size of embeds) so I was able to use the extra mixture from three batches to make a fourth.  I simply swirled the left over paprika infused soap, indigo infused soap and sea kelp together.

 Here are the four bars waiting patiently to be cut.  

And here they are cut.......

Red Wine & Chocolate at Sunset

(the brown balls are made with red wine, I coated them in cocoa powder and embedded 

these balls in a paprika infused soap base)

Tomato & Sea Kelp --

Misbehaving Stripes

(made with tomato soap embedded in naturally colored  Indigo soap base)

'The yet to be named soap'

(a mixture of Sea Kelp, Paprika infused & Indigo Soap -- swirled)

As a matter of fact, I think I may do a little contest.  Leave a comment under this blog post for your chance to win a small gift from me.  Please tell me what you think I should name the above soap ('The yet to be named soap')....do this by February 24, 2013.  I will use a random number generator to chose the lucky winner for the small gift and will then read all of the comments and pick my favorite for the name of the soap.   Also please include your contact information so I can email the lucky winner.  Thanks and GOOD LUCK!!!

(one entry per person please!)

Shaken not Stirred...

I've been thinking and experimenting with the hopes of getting a reddish color naturally in soap.  It has been my quest for a few days and wahwahwah....not a chance with what I've tried or how I tried it.

First was just a total jump right in approach with boiling some red wine to remove the alcohol and then freezing it to eliminate the volcano effect.  I mixed the red wine ice cubes with the lye with no extra water.  It smelled horrible and turned a dark maroon brown color....looked kind of yuck.  I swirled this raw soap mixture in the mold with another batch colored with Rose Clay...calling it Wine & Roses Soap.  The red wine soap turned brown after a gel.  Days after being cut it still looks the same...no color change.  Still a brown.  It isn't an ugly brown color, just brown.  No smell remains...purely unscented.

Wine & Roses Soap

After this batch, achieving a red color was still on my mind.  I wanted to try two more approaches.  The second was still red wine, but I was going to add it to the batch by the 50/50 method.  And my third attempt was to use tomato paste.  I added the paste after a light trace directly to the batch.  

Here is a picture of the soap in the mold...the large one is the tomato paste and the smaller one being red wine.

And here they are after a gel and unmolded 24 hours later.  The red wine is still brown but not as dark as attempt number one (with it being ice cubes) and the tomato paste is a nice pale orange color.

I decided to make soap balls with the red wine 50/50 soap (second attempt) and have some soybean oil infusing with paprika for a bright orange base to toss the light brown balls into.  I'll shake the soybean oil everyday for about a week to get a nice dark color.

Here is the making of the red wine soap balls....totally reminds me of peanut butter balls at Christmas time.  As a matter of fact the 50/50 red wine soap looks about the same in color to a batch of peanut butter balls.

Hi, my name is Rebecca and I'm addicted to knitting....

I knit...a lot!  Here are a few of my latest knitting pieces.  

I finally knit a color work mitten on DPN (that is double pointed needles for you non-knitters).  I've been hesitant to do this thinking the colors carried in the back and the needle intersections would pucker.  I finally just jumped right in and decided to give it a go...boy was I wrong.  It was simple!  I'm now stalking my next color work mitten patterns.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I submitted a pattern to a yarn company.  I was denied, but I have to understand that this is a major yarn company who probably gets lots and LOTS of pattern submissions from some well known designers.  I admit that yes I have been knitting for ages, design and knit my own patterns, used to work in a yarn shop in Los Angeles and taught many people knitting basics, fixed major problems and did a lot of finishing work...I have never wrote an entire pattern with the intention of it to be sold or posted for free on Ravelry...so technically I've got the know how and the skills, but I'm a nobody in the 'knitter's world'.  I plan to change that in a very small way in 2013.  I have a spiral bound notebook filled  with many of my own patterns that I've developed throughout the years and I'm going to make some official pdf patterns available on Ravelry. (Ravelry btw is a knit and crochet community online...again for you non-knitters.)  But in the meantime...here are a few of my recently completed or in the works projects.

Northern Lights Mittens

Kung Fu Panda in the works...he needs to have his legs sewn on

Welted Fingerless Mittens

A leafy business card display

As for soap...I've got the oil and lye mixtures sitting on my counter cooling off just waiting to become a batch of Cucumber Banana Soap.....stay tuned for the big reveal later this weekend.