Everything’s Comin’ up Daisies

Gerbera Daisy

This dang daisy has noticed the longer daylight hours, but Mother Nature is ignoring that fact. Winter seems to chug on without a hiccup. The 10-Day Forecast has us at least staying above zero, with tonight as an exception.

It is Soaping Confession Time.

Soaping Disaster

Ingredients: saponified olive and coconut oils, annatto, parsley, paprika, essential oils of patchouli, lavender, grapefruit and cedar wood.

I got so busy calculating to subtract the colored oils from the recipe that I forgot to add the coconut oil. I had to melt the missing oil and add some to each of the various containers containing essential oils and colorants. Since I just couldn’t do the math, this batch is a crap shoot.

The second stupid thing I did was to add cornstarch to the bottom of the lye water BEFORE I added the water and then the lye. It cemented to the bottom of the plastic container and wouldn’t mix. Then the mixture turned into gel and I had to strain out cornstarch clumps.

I made a total of five colors from natural ingredients commonly found in any kitchen: ground parsley, annatto, turmeric, paprika and one that is a mystery, as I hadn’t labeled the jar of oil containing the herb believing I could remember what it contained. That's a joke I sometimes play on myself.

When confronted with six colors (one being the base), I became confused was at a loss as to what to do. I didn’t want to do another funnel swirl like Tequila Sunrise, so after I had added a few lines to the bottom, I flung the soap diagonally. After I had filled the mold, I did a back and forth swirl with a chopstick. I forget the name.

This was a mess to clean up and I don’t know if the separately and unevenly added coconut oil will react to the lye after the 20 minutes that had passed. Plus I don’t know about the gelled lye mixture.

Three days later, I unmolded the disaster and after a week it sits on paper towels, gradually seeping oil and still too soft to cut. The good news is, predominantly olive oil soap always seeps and is soft for a prolonged period. My fingers are crossed.

Do the Funky Chicken--wasn't that a dance?

I tried the egg mold, but my batter was too thick so the eggs are weird looking. 

 Here is the hand milled batter I have shaped into cylinders to use for embeds in landscape soap when I feel confident enough to tackle that project. These embeds aren’t perfect but I think will work.

This will be the desert "sun" in landscape soap

Whew! This soap making certainly requires stamina!