The super fast trace soap

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Mabel

I think I’m starting to build a collection of “mistake” soap batches. First I had overheated soap, then I had soap that traced ultra quick – thanks to fragrance oils – and today, I had soap that traced immediately the moment the lye hit the base oils! I soaped at 40 C and just poured in the lye as usual. Turned around to put the container for the lye into the sink. When I turned back, I could see that the soap batter looked different. OMIGOD, is that what I think it is?

I scrambled to take out my stick blender and stir it with the spatula instead. Within a minute, it hit medium trace so that meant tossing the essential oils in, mixing them well, pouring half into the mould before I toss in the cinnamon and some oil into the remaining batch. By the time I got the top layer in, it looked like thick trace! What is going on????

I suspect it’s either the lye, additives (powders) or the mango butter so I’m going to try this base again. I added in the powders (ginseng and coix seed) to the base oils. Normally it would just sink and that’s about it. As for the mango butter, it was softer than the type I got so I’m wondering if that’s the reason as to why it just went crazy. In terms of lye, I used pre-made lye – I have used this with my previous soaps so I’ll change this first since the previous soap traced pretty fast as well.

The loaf doesn’t look as pale as it was when I snapped the picture as it gelled about two hours ago. I’ll unmold this tomorrow morning and see if it comes out alright. If not, it’s either going into the rebatch pot or bin – depends on how bad it is. In the meantime, I’m going to hold my breath, focus on syntheroid reviews and wait. Hai.

Pompom!

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Mabel

Pompom!
Pattern | Pompom Bear by Amanda Keeys (0-6 mths)
Yarn | 100purewool.com Merino Worsted 3 ply in Blue & Bluish
Needles | 6 mm circulars
Ravelry project page here

Noah’s current hat is getting a little tight around the ribbing and he has long been unable to fit into his Bluey Hat so I decided to make him another (blue) hat! I didn’t want to start using a fresh ball of yarn so decided to go with whatever that was left. This plus Koolhaas ate one entire skein so I’m a happy camper – no more bits and pieces of yarn to deal with.

Definitely a fast knit (I finished in under two days but you could do it in less than a couple of hours if you didn’t have other distractions) and a great way to use up all that leftover yarn! Can’t wait to get him in it tomorrow when we head out to buy some fruits.

In the meantime, the Malaysian group of knitters have decided to start a group project – a granny square throw – for a fellow member as a wedding present. Each person is supposed to crochet two 8″ squares in lilac or pink. While my stash has some of these colours, they are mostly in wool or non-machine washable yarn. I ended up selecting my handspun yarn for the squares. Figured that since the skein is too small for any other project, it should give me two nice squares. We’ll see how it goes.

Marble Cream Cheese Loaf

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Mabel

Eva woke up a little earlier than usual no thanks to the lengthening days – a sign that winter is slowly coming to an end. At first I delayed getting her up and kept telling her to go back to sleep. Finally, I got fed up and decided to do something about it – make a cake. It’s crazy to make one considering that it’s just the two of us eating for the next nine days but I thought why not? It would be fun for her…and sure enough, it was. At least the clean-up bit. She got to lick the spatula clean. Before that, it was going bonkers sniffing the cocoa powder, the sugar, tasting the cream cheese, the creamed butter…well, you get the idea.

Anyway, I have always known that if I stop baking for a while, my skills start rusting. It was true with this one. While I’ve always favoured the use of cane sugar over refined white sugar (castor sugar) because of its less processed qualities and better flavour, the biggest con about using granulated cane sugar is that it takes forever to “melt” and discolours when creaming. Instead of ending up with a smooth and fluffy pale creamed butter, I end up with a pale tan and gritty creamed butter. The grits comes from the sugar, in case you’re wondering. That aside, I’ve always used this gritty mix in my cakes and they still come out fine. Still, seeing pictures of fluffy pale creamed butter always sends me into a panic.

The original recipe for this loaf calls for extra sugar and water. Unlike Annie, I used medium sized eggs which probably accounts for a thicker batter. So I had to improvise and added in some milk in both the cake and cheese batter. The result is a rather spongy and moist cake that is rich in chocolate flavour as well as crunch. The timing was a bit iffy on this one – maybe because I used a loaf pan instead of a round pan like in Annie’s recipe. I tested with my trust cake skewer after 50 minutes when it look a bit browned and cracked a little on the top (typical with loaf pans) and it came out clean. So I turned it off and let it baked for another 5 minutes in the oven. It went even darker so I pulled it out and left it to cool. I suspect that the full 60 minutes would have burnt my cake. My advice? Check on your cake after 50 minutes and test.

But otherwise, enjoy! Me? I’m going to have a slice while surfing the Net for narrow shoes. Hehehehe.

NOTE: Do not overfill your loaf pan – this has a tendency to rise due to the use of self-rising flour AND the addition of baking powder.

Marble Cream Cheese Loaf
From House of Annie’s recipe here

Ingredients

(A) Chocolate portion
180 gms butter
Approx 150 gms sugar
3 eggs
120 gms self-rising flour
3-4 tbsp milk – optional
1 tsp baking powder

(B) Cream cheese portion
250 gms cream cheese
Approx 55 gms sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tbsp milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare a loaf pan.

Cream the soften butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy before adding in the eggs one by one. When ready and well incorporated, fold in the dry ingredients (cocoa powder, flour and baking powder) by hand. Do not use a mixer for this step as it can result in a dense cake. Add the milk if the batter is too thick (it should be fluid like soft whipped cream). Place aside once done.

In a separate dish, mix ingredients (B) until well incorporated.

Pour in half of the chocolate cake batter, followed by half of the cream cheese batter and repeat until all the batter is used up. Using a spatula or skewer/stick, swirl around in figure 8 or criss-cross to create a marble or swirl effect. Be careful not to overdo this otherwise you’ll end up with pale mocha coloured cake.

Bake for 50-60 minutes – test using a toothpick (it should come out clean if cooked). Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the pan. Once cooled, unmould and enjoy. This should be able to keep for a few days at room temperature in an airtight container or a few weeks if frozen/refrigerated.

Only on Mondays…

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Mabel

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Of lately, we have been going out to either run errands or get groceries. I rarely have a chance to take pictures of this town which I have called home for the last couple of months. Since Nil isn’t around for the next week or so (which means that I don’t have to worry about putting lunch on the table by 1230 noon every week day), I thought we could head out for a stroll around town, get some pictures, etc.

We got to a good start but unfortunately towards the end, I don’t know whether it was because it was cold (it was windy – 20 kmh – and temps were around 0-2°C), Noah started fussing so we cut out trip short and returned home by 11am. We’ll probably head out again with the camera tomorrow if the weather continues to be good. It’s Tuesday and that means market day!

Greyscale (Superfat)

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Mabel

Greyscale (Superfat)
Contents | Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Palm Oil (Elaeis guineensis)(*), Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Bamboo Charcoal, Rice Powder, Fragrance.

Sample bar weight: Approx 63 gms (start of curing)
Full bar weight: Approx 115 gms (start of curing)

Curing completion date | 20 March

Visit the soap store here for more info on the ingredients.

* Ingredients sourced from sustainable and/or organic farming

I wanted to experiment with embeds – cubes, to be exact and used sample bars from my previous soaps. Because I don’t use oxides or micas as a colorants, I didn’t have a lot of choice – my soaps are mostly tan, creamy yellow, black-brown or light green. So I settled with tan and creamy yellow. I tossed in some Japanese bamboo charcoal, reducing the amount. The last time I added in 50% more and had a crappy time washing things out. This time, clean-up was easy but as you can see, the colour is not very strong. Still, I like the combination (reminds me of pandora beads jewellery!) even though I’m tempted to go for a full-on black next time.

I also added in some rice powder, a traditional Asian beauty ingredient. Rice powder not only brightens skin but also has moisturizing and water retaining effects on the skin. It is alleged to help increase the production of collagen for younger looking skin.

This is my third loaf using fragrance oils at trace and it went ultra thick within minutes. I barely had time to pour it into my mould and toss in my soap cubes before pouring in the next layer. I wasn’t even pouring the top layer on! It was more like scooping and trying to smooth and smoosh everything together. While thick trace allows me to get peaks as you can see from the picture above (I spritzed the entire log with 90% alcohol to prevent thick layers of ash but I still got some ash anyway – no biggies, it adds that rustic appearance), it also means that I got some air pockets as you can see below. It’s just an aesthetic/appearance thing. The soap will still do its job, just doesn’t look all that “perfect” especially when one side of the soap has no air pockets and the other side does. Heh.

I might be taking a break from soapmaking as Nil has left for Poland and that means I’m alone with the kids for 10 days. I have to play catch-up with my other hobbies, particularly my knitting. My WIPs are starting to pile up and I really do need to finish Eva’s sweater. She won’t be able to wear it this season so hopefully I’ll be able to get it done in time for spring.

Two Tone (Superfatted)

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Mabel

Two Tone (Superfatted)
Contents | Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Water, Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Cocoa Butter (Theobroma Cacao)(*), Sodium Hydroxide, Sweet Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Castor Oil (Ricinus communis)(*), Essential Oil (Ylang Ylang, May Chang, Jasmine, Gardenia), White Kaolin Clay, Bamboo Charcoal, Paprika.

Sample bar weight: Approx 51 gms (start of curing)
Full bar weight: Approx 103 gms (start of curing)

Curing completion date | 18 March

Visit the soap store here for more info on the ingredients.

* Ingredients sourced from sustainable and/or organic farming.

I worked on my layering technique again and am rather please with the outcome this time around. For starters, no accidents with the layering itself – I was very patient and took my time. Same went for the little bits of swirl. I was careful not to overdo things and after 16 hours of bedding & insulating, it was hard and cool enough to unmould (a pop into the oven for 5 minutes did the trick) and as you can see (sort of), no two bar is the same.

I also received my new soap stamp just before unmoulding so you could say that these are test soaps for the stamp. On hindsight, I could wait for the bars to be a little bit harder before stamping (probably within 24-32 hours) but I’m happy with the results. Am thinking of stamping the other blanket side with my other soap stamp but we’ll see how it goes.

This recipe isn’t exactly perfect – I managed to screw up by not adding in my infused oil, hence making up for it by adding paprika powder at trace, resulting in a speckled look. If I were to do this again, it would definitely be just the infused oil. I also played around with some powders I received in the mail last week.

The bottom layer contains kaolin clay which is used because of its ability to draw impurities from the skin without drying it out while exfloliating, cleansing and stimulating circulation. The top layer has Japanese bamboo charcoal, a natural treatment for acne-prone skin as well as ezcema due to its antibacterial properties. It is also known to draw impurities from the skin and pores, making it suitable for acne-prone skin. To help keep skin, especially sensitive, smooth and soft, I threw in some sweet almond oil and castor oil.

Scent-wise, I took a different turn and went for a flowery approach. I have a sensitive nose so strong scents give me a headache plus I also don’t like my floral scents too strong. Since my new stash of oils came in (last week too – it’s Christmas all year round at my place!), I looked around for some nice combinations. After sniffing the blends, I decided on ylang ylang, jasmine, gardenia and may chang. Yup, I use my nose to just find a blend simply because that’s how I work – I follow my nose. It’s not overpowering and very gentle on the nose.

Yes, it was a good soaping day! Now back to my assignment on the side effects of apidexin.

Our home

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Mabel

I never posted about our apartment since we moved in last August. So for posterity sake, I decided to take a few pictures of the place. It would appear that we have “broken into” this place. It feels very much like a home with zero unpacked boxes lying around except those that are left that way intentionally. We took over/adopted furniture from Nil’s deceased grandmother and everyone, especially his dad, is glad to see it in use. “It’s such a pity to see it sitting in the garage. I’m sure Grandmama would want it to be in use.” I got a chance to have my own workspace and area. The next upgrade would be when we purchase a house – I want my own atelier or workshop!!!!

So without any delay, here are pictures of our 120 sqm (I think) ancient (yes, am not joking – it belongs to our landlord’s wife’s parents and they – our landlord – aren’t exactly young) apartment.

(Click to see a larger pic)

Quilt #5: Noah’s Stripey Cuddly

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Mabel

Quilt #5: Noah’s Stripey Cuddly
Width | Approx 75 cm
Length | Approx 84 cm
Pattern details | Inspired by A Quilt Is Nice’s stripe baby quilt here. Top made from cotton stripes from stash (Coton & Colour, Nil’s trip to India and www.fabric.com)
Batting | PSR Quilt Bamboo batting (0.9 m x 1.25 m)
Backing | 100% cotton fabric from www.inespatchwork.com
Binding | 100% cotton fabric from www.fabric.com

I had been thinking of sewing a nice warm blanket for Noah (since I made one for Eva – it’s not so warm but she likes it) but never found the time or inspiration. When it was decided that Eva was going to stay with my father-in-law for the week, I decided to dust off my sewing machine for good and get back to quilting. I dug out a few different fabrics I have in my stash and came up with a few combinations. What initially was to be a repetition of about five stripes turned out into a double repeat of 13 stripes of different fabrics. Nil insisted that I use the fabric he bought from India to add some colour while I insisted that I wanted something pleasing and co-ordinating. We settled for what is the end result – this stripe colour combo.

Because it had so much going on for the top, I decided to stripe to a simple (but not too plain) backing with a stripe of the remnants of the top going across. I hunted the Internet for local fabric suppliers and came across this very lovely black-grey pinstripe pattern. So it was black for the back – I figured it would bring out the colours of the top piece.

For the batting (yes, it’s my first time using batting for quilts), I settled for bamboo batting but only because the cotton ones were out of stock. It is a first for me – basting and batting. Took me an afternoon just to bast the quilt and even then, I didn’t really do a great job as it showed on later when I machine-quilted the top. To make matters worse, my sewing machine doesn’t come with a walking feet so my top fabric ended up bunching. This also resulted in the back puckering – as you can see in the photo above. It took me 2.5 hours just to machine-quilt the top (about 30 minutes or so just to test out the sewing and get the right tension – GAH) and mind you, I was just doing stripe outlines. Towards the end, I cheated and skipped some stripes. It adds some variation to the pattern thought but I think I botched the stripe for the back portion.

And I haven’t even reached the part about the binding. It has been ages since I last sewn binding on anything so I did a couple of errors which resulted in me having to use a zigzag stitch instead of topstitching as I normally would. Well…I don’t think Noah would care if the errors were obvious or not – it’s a bit annoying though. I reckon in time, I’ll forget about it…just like how I forgot about those errors I made with Eva’s blanket!

And oh, those are the woven labels I had made originally for the store’s handsewn items. Since the store is in hibernation until further notice, I thought I would use them for my personal projects, namely sewing and weaving.

Y’know, I’m quite proud at having completely my first batted and quilted blanket. It’s a little on the small side – smaller in terms of length – compared to Eva’s blanket. Instead of getting a nice 116cm as I calculated, I lost a good 30 cm or so due to cutting and trimming. Still, it’s a nice size for Noah…for the first two years before it becomes a cover for his blanket (like what we do with Eva’s – mind you, she’s attached to hers and won’t even let us keep it!).

Mmmm, the sewing machine is now back in the cupboard. Time to focus on my other crafts – soaping and knitting namely. Am so itching to get back to designing lacework too!

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