Moved

Sorry to those couple of people following me. I've moved over to here:

http://insatiableinsomnia.blogspot.com/

I'm finding it easier to squeeze everything into one blog. I've been neglecting this one and dl's trials and tribulations in the garden so if you could remove these accounts and if you like add the other then you won't have this non active account on your lists :)

The last of this lot

Ok so.. I have since make the lavender, castille and goats milk soaps.  I've really gotten into the swing of things and sadly it will now be time to have  a break from soap making and let them cure.  

The lemon Myrtle has the turmeric for the mustard coluring and the cute little

 poppy seeds so that it looks like lemon cake.  

The lavender has the flower buds on top and smells Divine. 

The castille is the whiter of the plain soaps and it is along side the goats milk.  These are the ones that I am thinking will be for our own use and would be good for our little boy.

Natural soap colouring

Ok so this shot is the last few batches I have been working on.

The far left is the honey oat.  It's a nice creamy brown from adding the milk and honey.  It smells nice on its own without fragrance.

The next from left to right is the choc-chip.  It just has cocoa powder and fragrant oil added, as explained in a previous post.  

The yellow batch is lemon myrtle, which I added a small amount of ground turmeric to.  It didn't need much to change the colour significantly.  Turmeric is also supposed to have healing properties when used in skin products.  (if only I could find that link easily... sigh)

I also added poppy seeds as an exfoliate.  It also suits the fragrance and is much like a lemon/poppy seed cake :D

The last pieces are just the bits I used as the dark chunks in the choc-chip.  Strongly coloured by the cocoa-powder.

Milk honey and oat

Oh this one I had completely forgotten.  It was a huge batch of honey oat and milk that I made and gave 20 to a lady with an online store selling natural products.  But this was all before I found out about NICNAS ect, so things went down the gurgler after that.  

I think I would make the oat size smaller this time, and have a little less honey and superfatting as it does get quiet mushy.  Tho it is very silky and lovely.  

I do like the natural smell.  And it had organic Camellia oil in it too.  

I would make the slices shorter and thicker next time too, they tend to snap in half.  

Choc Chip Soap

This soap used the plastic log mould in the previous post.  

It is coloured with cocoa powder and the Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrant oil from Bramble Berry.

As it is curing the lighter colour is darkening a bit.  I am happy about this is it had turned out lighter then I was hoping for.  

The darker chunks are slices from a previous batch thrown in while I was pouring the new batch over the top.  

The log ended out making 10 good size slices when filled to the line around the top.  It ended out weighing 1342 grams and making 10 slices of approx 130g leaving plenty of room for the loss over curing time.  

I like the chunky rectangular slices too.  Much less likely to snap in half.

Experimenting with moulds

Ok so you guys over on ALS have asked to see what people use for moulds.  So I thought I would show you my recent experiments.  

The plastic containers are baby wipe containers, like the huggies ones but these are coles house brand ones.  I have been too lazy to make up log ones :)  They are fine, they just have little rounded ridges along the bottom but that isn't really bothering me much.  

The other wooden one is a paint box for my acrylic paint tubes, I figure it will make a nice slab lined with plastic.  I'm yet to try that one as it will need a good size batch. 

Soap Swap

I wish I had remembered to take photos of all of the soaps I got in the swap.  At least I was reminded in time to get a shot of this beauty.  This is from Kirsty's shop Gobbler's Run

I was not sure of the scent to begin with but now I adore it.  It has really grown on me. And well the soap is just lovely.  So very smooth and creamy.  Big thanks to Kirsty for the chance to try one of her beautiful soaps.  

Plus I got to have a look at a coloured soap, and see what the clays are all about.  Very pro.

New art site

I've decided to make a site specifically devoted to artwork, so that now leaves this one free for soap and crafts.  

So those of you who were interested in portrait commissions head over here...

http://www.dlartwork.com/

I am currently making a few batches of soap so I will keep records and put them up on here soon.

Portraits - Commissions Open

So after doing the pumpkin still life the other day it got me thinking that a couple of years ago I was quiet into pencil portrait sketches from photographs.  So I thought who better to have a go with then my son.  

I had several suitable photos around.  And I ended out

 choosing one that had plenty of room to play with contrast and cropping, my favourite things. 

I still have a fair bit of paper left that I have been hording since uni.  Too scared to touch.  So I cracked some out.  

I know there isn't much point directly trying to "copy" a photograph, I mean just print it out.  But if you can play with sketchiness and contrast/cropping with a good reference photo it is very convenient when you have limited opportunity for the arts. 

Anyways I don't think I need to justify using a reference...

So this is what I came up with last night.

Happy with last nights efforts I have decided that I am willing to use this style for commissions for people who may have a special photo they would like a drawing to be based around.  

It would be nice if it is a close up portrait, but I am open to negotiation - see examples below.

Obviously I reserve the right to make slight modifications to the image and alter backgrounds and lighting to suit my style.

I would benefit from having a couple of images to choose from or take bits and pieces from.

The images will be in A4 size, on a thick art paper.  Done in graphite and pencil.  

 

Message me here and I will give you my e-mail address to send images to. 

Thanks guys.

Milk, Honey and Oat soap

A little while ago, the 12 of Dec to be exact, my husband and I made a nice big batch of milk, honey and oat soap.  It was our first time. (with milk/honey/oat)

I had originally organised with a lady, who runs an online, natural skin care product store, to make  her 12 pieces to trial with her customers.  

This was before I realised I needed to register with http://www.nicnas.gov.au/ in order to even make a batch of soap for sale.  It apparently comes under the category of industrial chemical, and even tho one of the guys said it wasn't really aimed at the home crafts person, its is still covered.  

I had asked Kirsty over at ALS (aussies living simply)  how she deals with this.  She said she has no choice but to register as she is running a business.  It costs her over $300 a year!  So obviously all of my high hopes of starting a lil stall and business has hit a little bit of a molehill.  I just can't justify that kind of a few just to try make a couple of batches of soap that I may not be able to sell.

Maybe if our situation changes sometime in the near future.  

But for now I am going to focus on painting, and keep the soap as a hobby for family and friends.  

I will take a photo of the honey oat in daylight, not much point trying to add one now.

It had Olive pomace, canola oil, Camellia oil, coconut oil, cocoa-butter, milk, honey, and oats along with the lye.

It feels very exfoliating, and yet smooth and creamy.