Bubble test: Chocolate Marble Loaf

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The Chocolate Marble Loaf is nearly cured with two days left to go. A “lick test” last week revealed that the soap is safe for use – it just tastes like soap and no burns. So before I put the bars away in a cardboard box for storage (or start packing them for gifting/sampling), I like to run a trial on my own test bar (I keep a bar for myself – makes no sense to make soap and not keep one for yourself!).

Testing out my Chocolate Marble Loaf soap

It’s a large bar as you can see and thick too. Would probably suit a man better than a woman but no biggies – you’re not supposed to wash your hands with just one hand and I think it’s better to have a slightly bigger bar for the shower but if it’s too big, especially for teens, you could cut it into half (it takes some force as the bar has harden up considerably). Still, the size and shape is not the issue here as I have ceased to use this mould for a variety of reasons.

At first sign of use, I wasn’t very convinced about the bubbles. This soap doesn’t really produce a lot of the fluffy, light bubbles which you saw with the test on the Grapefruit soap here. But as you go further into the washing process, you get a very nice and creamy lather as you can see in the pic below.

The resulting foam

Now we’re talking. After washing my hands, drying them and taking a pic of the bar, I’m still surprised to see lather on it. In fact, nearly 10 minutes later, the bar is still coated with lather! Talk about some staying power.

I got Nil to use the bar as well and as usual, his comment is that it’s soapy. Heh. My take on the bar? It’s yields a nice creamy lather and even though it’s unscented, my nose picked up a slight hint of cocoa (no sweet chocolate fragrance – sorry, folks!). It’s not too drying on the skin which is a relief for me as my hands have started to chafe and crack really bad this past two weeks due to the sudden cold spell.

The test bar

Now that this test is done and the soap has passed with flying colours, it’ll be packed off to either the storage box or to Nil’s family and my friend for testing while I get back to reviewing some Bogner attire! Hurrah!

A little bit of indulgence…

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Macarons!

…in the form of macarons (not to be confused with its coconut-version sister, the macaroon) from the local patisserie. It costs a bomb thought – about €4.50 for 100 gms (the equivalent of about six macarons). Not fab for my waistline but it’s a once-in-a-blue moon treat for the adults.

Hm, this blog has become a little bit picture-heavy of lately. I wonder if it’s good. Personally I like blogs that have a good balance between pictures and text. Craft, food or soap blogs with just text and nothing else but text bores the heck out of me mainly because I’d like to see what all the hype is about.

V-Day anyone?

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With Valentine’s Day looming just around the corner, I wonder if people have started planning or are in the middle of it OR they just can’t be bothered with it.

We don’t usually celebrate V-Day in this house – heck, I don’t even have my Christmas gift. We have been delaying on the gifting for a variety of reasons but mainly because we don’t need all those things. There is always something more important than buying wants.

This time though, I’m tempted to splurge on myself and buy some flowers. Why not? I reckon it’ll bring some cheer to the house as well. Maybe get Eva to choose from the florist, etc. In some countries, V-Day isn’t just for lovers but extend to include friends and family. I reckon this site – http://www.valentinesdayflowers.com/ – would give us both some ideas as to what will be nice.

Worse case scenario? Just buy whatever that’s available!

Spring Breeze v1.0 (Superfat)

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Spring Breeze v1.0

Spring Breeze v1.0 (Superfat)
Contents | Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii), Cucumber Juice, Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Macadamia Nut Oil (Macadamia ternifolia), Sweet Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Mugwort Powder, Yogurt, Goat’s Milk Powder, Fragrance.

Sample bar weight: Approx 48 gms (start of curing)
Full bar weight: Approx 87 gms (start of curing)

Curing completion date | 8 March

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

* Ingredients sourced from sustainable and/or organic farming.

This is the failed Spring Breeze rebatched (read: cut up, melt and pour into a mould). I did the rebatching this morning and the loaf cooled down pretty fast. My house is not very warm – about 20°C at most so that’s probably why. By evening, I could unmould and slice up the loaf. I took a lot off the edges as I used my silicon mould which didn’t give a perfect rectangular or nearly square shape that my previous couple of soaps have. As a result, the full bars are a little lighter.

I kept the trimmings in a separate container, all roughly chopped up as I’m planning to use them in my next soap (hush, cannot tell!). I did get the hubs to try out a small cube and he thinks it’s nice, although a little light on the lather (that will fix itself up after the usual curing). The fragrance isn’t too overpowering but a smidgen of cucumber coupled with some mint.

In terms of ingredients, I used cucumber juice and some yogurt to give it a creamy feel. In the rebatch, I tossed in some mugwort powder and goat’s milk powder to give it a bit of colour as well as smoothness. Cucumber is a natural astringent whereas mugwort is known for its healing properties and it is said to help tackle skin conditions like eczema, acne and psoriasis. It also helps reduce abnormal cell production and promote healthy cell growth.

Although I like how this rebatched soap looks – rustic and very handmade – I will give this recipe a go again in the future just to get a hang of what went wrong and how to fix it (I have my ideas and a strategy on this). It won’t be any time soon thought as I think the hubby is starting to give me the evil eye! Plus we are running out of curing boxes (and I’m swamped – have to do some read-up on pentair heat pumps)! Gah.

WIP: Noah’s Stripey Blanket

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Since I made a blanket for Eva, I figured I had better make one for Noah as well. I didn’t want anything too complicated and since Eva is at my father-in-law’s place, I thought of whipping up something quick, simple yet cute to boot. No adding to my stash this time as I have enough of fabrics. (Nil is beginning to complain about how my fabric stash never goes down.) But first, I needed a design.

I remember coming across a couple of striped quilts and figured that it would be fun as well as easy to whip out. After hunting the Internet for some ideas, I took a look at my stash. Now, as usual, the hubby always ends up picking out colour schemes that are shocking to boot like super bright orange against dark blue. I was hoping for something a little less shocking, especially for a cute little bubs like Noah. So after some intense negotiation, I got what I wanted. (I learnt from experience not to cave – remember the last quilt I made?)

And here’s the result of a couple of hours cutting, pinning, sewing, ironing, more pinning, more sewing and more ironing! Now to put together a border and hunt around for a quilt batting & backing!

Noah's Stripey Blanket: Top

Simple Striped Blue Pillowcase

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Simple Striped Blue Pillowcase

Simple Striped Blue Pillowcase
Size | 65 x 65 cm
Pattern details | Cotton fabric mix from my stash

I made this a while back but never got around to blogging about it. It was subsequently upload onto Facebook and I forgot all about it until today. Oops.

Anyway, this is my first time sewing something other than quilts for the house. It was a simple patchwork-styled pillowcase for the sofabed in my office. My hubby wanted something that would contrast with the red cover – he always wants something contrasting and bright. Me? I like things to go together, fit well. Needless to say, he thinks he has a better colour palate than I do. Bah.

Going back to the pillowcase, well, for the fabrics, I dipped into my stash. These colours and design were originally planned for my handsewn booties, which didn’t kick start due to a lot of issues with the sizing and pattern. They ended up sitting in the cupboard for a while and didn’t fit in any of the quilt colour schemes that I had. Since the hubby wanted something blue, I decided to destash.

I wouldn’t say it looks awful but I don’t think it looks that fantastic either. Will probably relook at the technical aspects of the design before I attempt another pillowcase. Talk about complicating something as simple as this! Heh.

Bubkins

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Bubkins

Bubkins
Contents | Chrysanthemum-Infused Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Chrysenthemum Tea, Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Sodium Hydroxide, Mango Seed Butter (Mangifera indica), Cane Sugar.

Sample bar weight: Approx 48 gms (start of curing)
Full bar weight: Approx 94 gms (start of curing)

Curing completion date | 8 April

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

I’ve been thinking of adding a little twist of some sorts to my soaps and have been playing around with using tea or infusions in place of just demineralised water. While I was okay with using Western-styled infusions, I wanted to look at my Asian roots.

A visit to my father-in-law’s yielded a surprise – dried chrysanthemum flowers! Nil and I had some (a fat 350gm bag) sent over as a gift when we were in Singapore and the bag was still rather full. In fact, they weren’t too sure what to do with it or how to drink it. I asked if I could have a few handfuls to add to my soap and I was told to help myself. When I opened the bag…ohmy, what a lovely fragrance! And the tea…a very nice yellow which you can see in the soap. I’m not too sure if the colour will stay but no matter, me likes! After checking out reviews on tom tom GPS, I embarked on a test run for this batch.

I didn’t want to do a full batch because it was my first time working with water discount and a recipe that called for a huge amount of olive oil. I am not that gungho to go and try Castile soap (100% olive oil). Soaps high in olive oil (Bastille, Castile, Marseilles – 70-100% olive oil) take longer to trace and set. So I spent a few days over the course of the past two weeks researching on how to go about making my Bubkins soap and decided to utilize the chrysanthemum tea (and infused oil).

So why chrysanthemum? In traditional Chinese medicine, chrysanthemum is known as a cooling herb and is used to clear the liver (anger, stress, and related emotions) (reduces inflammation) and eyes. It is often incorporated in a variety of herbal mixes for treating sinus congestion, fever, complexion problems, cholesterol issues and high blood pressure.

My reasons? I just like the fragrance, smell and colour. Not that this soap will smell of chrysanthemum. I left this unscented as I wanted it to be a mild bar which I could use for babies, people with sensitive skin/nose, etc. It has a light olive fragrance to it though – 75% olive oil in a soap will do just that! Anyway, this batch will be curing for a little longer than usual in order to set, firm up and well, get better especially if you want lather. The initial cure time will be 60 days and after which, I’ll check on the lather and overall soaping qualities. If it doesn’t pass, it’ll cure for another 60 days.

Did anyone mention that these sort of soaps are a test of one’s patience?

Oh, as you can see in the picture above, it didn’t really gel fully, resulting in that clear line between the dark and light patch. No matter, it’ll slowly fade as the soap cures although I can’t say that it looks awful. I’m beginning to embrace my partial gels! Hehehe.