Hi! Tomorrow is the local agricultural show and Sharon and I have set up a stall among a small group of people who will showcase their particular skills/wares. As well as (hopefully) selling some of my ridiculous stash of soap, we are booked to do a demonstration of soap making. I have also a couple of loaves of soap to cut to show people! We were in the paper today but the link is for a paid subscription… will take a snap of the article to show you later!
I honestly meant to find some time to do a post that wasn’t soap… but looks like I will have to plan for Sunday to finish catching up on that post processing!
I tried another pebble soap – I timed it this time. Took me 50 minutes to dab the loaf full!!! In comparison, it would take only a few minutes or so to fill normally! Still… its a very pretty effect.
Big events are being shut down on the mainland due to the Coronavirus. They cancelled the Grand Prix but the football is still going ahead! Anyway, our little show is still on. Last I heard there were 4 confirmed cases in Tasmania.
Well.. I have an early start and a long day tomorrow! Fingers crossed for some sales – will drop by to let you know how we went!
Well this looks a bit weird hey? Someone (probably me) was up way too late one night since she had overslept for 4 days… and found some new soap techniques This pebbly kind of design was an exercise in patience. (Because we all know how super patient I am)
Looks like some creepy alien is going to hatch out of those eggs
I did another one tonight and timed it… Took me 50 minutes to fill the loaf mould! You have to make the mixture pretty thin. I separated into 3 squeeze bottles and you dab the base colour in spots over the bottom of the mould. Then squeeze the second colour on top of the first dot and then squeeze your third colour on top of that. THEN you repeat. Many times!!
As you can see, if I cut the usual vertical way I’d get an interesting pattern (as seen on the side) but miss the pebbly design that runs horizontally.
Mind you, I only cut one lot as it really hadn’t set enough to handle easily – but I was too excited to wait longer
Above are thin slices from the very end and bottom – not very aesthetic and since the process takes forever, I want the best look out of the soap I can get even if I am taking some of the soap away. As you can see below – quite the difference!
Anyway, I am pretty happy about how the design worked out and will cut the rest and tidy them up once its hardened up a bit more!
In the background I am working on some of the latest photos but not quite ready – so those stories will have to wait. We’ve been out in the yard a bit and today FINALLY did a very very overdue tip run. Yay!
Hi!! We had some fabulous rainy gloomy days. Would have been perfect to post process a zillion photos and make soap… but… Have been crook in bed!! Think maybe food poisoning? Ugh. Who knows. Anyway, no need for sordid details apart from being happy I bought toilet paper BEFORE the Big Australian Meltdown over poo-tickets. Seriously – people are having fisticuffs in the supermarkets over it!! What is going to happen when there is a REAL shortage? (Of anything) Really shows how badly behaved and selfish people can be which is a bit disappointing. Even in our little town, the supermarket is being stripped of toilet paper!! I went there for something else a few days back and people were lined up with their trolleys full!! I asked the checkout lady if I got bonus points for NOT buying it 🙂
Anyway, I’ve got the hand washing thing totally covered – since soap covers many available surfaces in the house!! Above was my last attempt at the ‘kaleidosoap’ Getting better-ish. Will have to develop another tool for this at some point.
This is an odd one – the red colour just disappears in the loaf!! I wrote to the supplier and they said its something they hadn’t come across in 30 years of soaping haha – of course!! Its a neat effect but I did want three distinct layers of colour!!
I am liking this chunky effect
Today I finally got up out of bed – actually I had to go to a different bed at about 5am as I was so sore from being in our bed so long!! Anyway, got up to see how vertical suited me and it went pretty well. I did a couple of mild domestic tasks and went outside – so nice to enjoy fresh air!! Also had a much needed shower…. and made soap!! haha
I’ve been dying to put this new one together – I had pre made ‘tube hearts’ to embed into a loaf and had enough extra to cut to pop hearts on top. The theory is when I cut the loaf, it will show a couple of hearts in the middle… Can’t wait to see if I’ve got it right or muffed it!
Cheers!
(PS – totally write and tell me if toilet paper is the hot commodity in your town!!)
Hello! We had a nice couple of days so got out into the yard and cleared some of that macrocarpa (burned a lot of the rubbish) and then spent a day doing a few things in the garden.
I was not intending to have a winter garden – apart from the garlic. Just thought I could bed everything down and wait until spring. We’ve just hit autumn and some of the food will continue for a while yet, but it was such a dreadful summer. I think I’d prefer to give it mostly a break
However it is hard to resist a fantastic patch of broccoli seedlings that appeared in the compost, so I relented and cleared a patch, added the cow-poo-straw and transplanted 6 of them.
I am afraid they are going to have to sink or swim – will keep them watered until they establish (or not) and they can look after themselves. I’ve popped on some netting to thwart the cabbage moth… So, I might get some I might not but won’t put heart and soul into it!
And lets face it – if they do fail to thrive, at least that mulch will break down and be gorgeous and ready for spring!
This area has been bugging me for a while. Was past time to get weeding and rip out all the parsley and fennel thats long gone to seed. There are plenty of new plants popping up so no need to save them
My wheelbarrow on overload!
Once I had everything cleared I dumped a whole heap of that straw onto the area. I’ve got some more plain straw ordered – so hoping to top up a lot of the beds over winter with it.
Dug up some self seeded potatoes that were in the way! Not a bad feed for doing nothing!!
Little pumpkins on their way! Will the season hold out long enough?? Dunno. We’ll soon see I guess!
Carrots for the zucchini slice that we had last night for dinner.
These tomatoes are growing rather well – in the middle of all the fallen wood in the yard! Not in a garden. I’ve even picked some ripe ones!! They’ve had no attention at all!
Some of the smaller pieces that Jeff was cutting into more fire friendly sizes.
The weather turned gloomy again today. The wind has kicked up considerably. I do have some indoor plans. This month I am working on de-cluttering and organising the library. Its time to get tough on all the ‘Stuff’ One month – one room. With luck I’ll be able to work out a better set of shelving space for all the soap too! (I made another couple of batches today and we are now at soap space crisis haha)
Anyway – its a goal.
Finally getting to eat some corn!! Unbelievably late this season! The kernels are small but its so very sweet!
