Between Friends Handmade Soap: tallow

Showing posts with label tallow. Show all posts

Friday, September 17, 2010

Biting More Than I Can Chew

September has been a busy month for me.

I started a new job, and I decided to go for a big exam at the end of the month. Both the new job and the exam require lots and lots of studying, and I find myself wishing I was young again. Oh how much we could learn when we were teenagers!

Having been an "executive personal assistant" to my hubby for many years, getting back to work while studying for a test has proven to be more time-consuming than I originally thought. I miss taking my time to whip up a nice batch of soap, or testing out a new recipe from the latest magazine issue.

I made these soap discs a while back, when I still lived in my previous place and had a very small fridge to store all my tallow. In order to create my perfectly even layers, I opted to heat the soap in the oven (to speed up the hardening process) while I whipped up the next layer.

What I did not anticipate was how heat also expanded those tiny air pockets on the silicon surface. Those tiny air bubbles gave these discs a sponge-looking texture, and I was so disappointed! I had to take one and run it under the tab to rub off that sponge-looking layer. Now, that looks better.

I wonder if there's anyone out there who has also experienced the same "bubbling effect" when doing CPOP with silicon molds.. or is it just my mold?

Oh by the way... Courtney, I still remember my promise to you! I've postponed my stamp making date till sometime next month ( really need to catch up on all the reading I've managed to procrastinate). Hopefully when things slowly settle down, I'll be able to sit down and make more stamps!

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Chocolate Square

I love baseball.

But I'm not what you call a baseball fanatic. I enjoy watching baseball games, but don't ask me about last Friday's game because I usually forget everything by the next morning. But today, I find myself still replaying yesterday's game in my head.

I went to the ball park with a girlfriend yesterday. The weather was perfect - sunny with occasional clouds, warm but not too hot. The pitchers from both teams had a hard time keeping the bats quiet, lots of hits and lots of runs. The final score? 17 - 11! The home team was hitting homers left and right, and the balls were like pop corns popping from the home plate. The long balls definitely entertained the crowd, and I had never been to a ball game with so much thrill! By the end of the game, my hands were red from clapping too much too hard.

The soap has nothing to do with the game or baseball. I just like to get the last bit of excitement out of me and turn it into words. ;)

The original plan for this batch was to create two smooth lines and embed squares (cut from my Chocolate Soap) between the lines. Everything went as planned, and I even started to giggle a little by the time I finished pouring the last drop of soap when I saw the bottle of castor oil sitting quietly at the corner. Yes, you guess it right, I forgot to put in castor oil and this beautifully molded soap was lye-heavy!! By this time the mixture was already at heavy trace, but I forced myself to suck it up and dig everything out. I weighted the oil, remixed everything, poured again, and I was so stubborn that I had to re-create the original look. Of course it didn't come out right, but somehow I'm happy with the look anyway.

Maybe it's the sweetness of saving a bad batch that makes me love these soaps so much.

Ingredients:
Olive oil, Tallow, Coconut oil, Almond oil, Corn oil, Castor oil