Friday, April 4, 2008

Taking Cuttings

I'm still having minor problems with the lining. It got crinkled, so while the corners are square at the ends, the edges aren't perfectly square. I know it's silly and that aesthetics don't have much to do with how the soap works as far as cleaning goes, but it's turned into a challenge and I have every intention of getting this mastered. Someone on Ravelry suggested getting sheets of heat proof mylar cut at the craft store, then trimming those down and sticking them into the mold. She says they probably won't need replacing or even need any spraying with any vegetable oil or anything to make it easy to peel it off when it comes time to unmold.
I must say I'm not mad about the color, but since this was supposed to be a shampoo-type bar, I didn't think adding any clays as colorant would be a good idea. I could have added something like calendula petals, which would have made it even yellower (the picture doesn't show it very well, but it's sort of a soft golden color because of how the lye reacted with the beer), but since the soap traced so quickly and I didn't really think about it before I got started, I didn't have time to add anything for coloring or fragrance.
Willow, who knows more about soap than I could ever hope to learn, suggests that it'll take more than four weeks of curing: the longer it cures, the better the bar and the bubblier it'll be, she says. So it may well end up being closer to eight weeks or so. Sigh!

It seems I've been tagged! O.O I've never done a meme before, but here goes:
Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules.
3. Share a 6 word philosophy of life
4. Tag 3 other people

1. Madame Melissa done it!
2. Rules.. see above.
3. Philosophy in six words? That's a toughie. I'm not sure I have a life philosphy... certainly not one I can encapsulate in six words.
3. Three people to tag... Rachael (of course!), Lyndsey-Jane (who needs another meme :P)... and I honestly can't think of a third person at this precise moment.

3 comments:

theyarnwhisperer said...

I think the bars look lovely.
They look very organic like you should just wrap a string of raffia around them. You know how us pagans are about organic things....mother earth and all...

La Duchesse said...

E-mail me your postal address and I'll send you a nice chunk or two when they're finished curing. *hug* I used to use strips of scrapbooking paper and labels we printed on the computer when we went to craft shows; I like your rafia idea, though!

RaeS said...

Yay!! Pretty soap! It looks yum... like homemade toffees or something...

I will have to see if I can figure out something for this meme...