*Offer extended only to people I know. One would think this is a given, but apparently not.

Well, here we have it, the soap I made from the tallow I rendered. Scented with may chang and palmarosa, colored with red oxide.

Easy-peasy.

The first adventure in tallow-making was successful–but not as successful as it could have been. Out of two pounds of beef fat, I only got 10 oz or so of tallow. There was a lot of unrendered fat, even after 4 hours of simmering on the stove. So of course, I’ve got another batch going right now. Only this time, I’m doing it in the crockpot, and I’m probably going to re-render after the first pour. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, it’s a combo of pig and beef fat. I went to a different Safeway this time, and the butcher threw all the scraps into a single bag. The SAP values are not the same, but they’re close enough that I’m not going to worry about it. Plus, I use a high enough lye discount that the recipes should be fairly forgiving.

I was expecting rendering to be smelly and gross, but it smells like you’re cooking beef stew.

The backstory is this: About a year ago, I came across a Craig’s List post for really cheap VCO, contacted the seller … and then never did anything about it. About a month ago, she contacted me and said she was giving it to me. She’s up in Lynnwood; it was as good an excuse as any to hit the Korean Spa. Plus, if the oil turned out to be rancid or something, I wouldn’t be bitter about the drive. To be completely and totally honest, I can’t quite tell whether it’s rancid or not. It could be on the edge … or it could be just very strong smelling … or it could be on the edge … You get the point.

However, it soaps just dandily.

And I have been soaping just dandily too. Behold! A drawer of beauty!

Among other, older soaps that I can’t remember what’s in them, we’ve got:
Coffee Rose (rose fragrance & coffee butter)
Rosemary, ylang ylang & basil
Ahoy Matey fragrance (this is a dupe of Acqua di Sale that smells exactly like the original–I love it)
Ylang & vetiver
Patchouli, ylang, pepper, palmarose & pine
Citrus & anise
Melted dragon’s blood resin with palmarose, copaiba balsam & amrys
Carnation blend (ylang, clove & black pepper)
Rose and oakmoss

And that’s not all … oh no … that’s just what is CURED.

Here’s what’s curing now:

May chang & laurel
Springerle (butter CO2, anise, benzoin resin & clove)

A weird canteloupe fragrance that I got in a fit of reminiscencing about some body wash I used to love; alas, it’s retch-worthy.
Cocoa absolute & peppermint
Something … I can’t remember
Clary sage, ylang, vetiver & violet leaf absolute

So.

I know there are a couple people to whom I promised to send soap and never did. Mea culpa! I promise this time. Remind me. Or if you just want some. And I know you. That would seem obvious, but apparently not.

I’ve never used tallow in soap, though I have used lard. Lard makes WONDERFUL soap. (And before anyone gets skeeved out, if you’ve ever used Dove or Ivory, you’ve used animal fats in soap.)

I got tired of buying lard in the plastic tubs; it’s not all that cheap and it’s got BHT and all sorts of other stuff in there to preserve it. So the next logical step was to render my own. Problem: It’s a little hard to find pig fat to render. Bob’s Quality Meats–a fabulous butcher in Columbia City–offered to order me a 60-lb. drum. I think that might be a little extreme.

However! Safeway butchers will just give you beef fat if you ask for it. They look at you funny (as do the cashiers when they see this big bag of fat), but it costs nothing. And these days, with the economy as it is, I’m all about soaping on the cheap. Plus, how best to recycle? They would just throw it out. So right now, I have a pot full of beef fat, water, and salt simmering on the stove. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

So what to do with all the soap?

Trade, that’s what.

I posted an ad on Craig’s List and got a bottle of homemade Kahlua.

Also, during the Georgetown Art Walk, I saw some lovely felted soaps made by Spiderfelt, and promptly contacted her to see if she wanted to do a trade: soap for felting for felted stuff. She needs more consistency than I can provide, but wanted to do a straight trade. Done. I loaded her up with soap today, and got this in return:

Funnily enough, I had fallen in love with it on her site, and she still had one. I’m so pleased.

Also, Becky, I haven’t forgotten to send you soap. I just haven’t gotten to the post office yet.

Apparently, I am touchy feely:
“Zia needs support.”
“Zia needs to reach the heart.”
“Zia needs to reach out honestly.”

And apparently, I need to drink more:
“Zia needs 30-40 shooters.”

But then I need to drink less:
“Zia needs to be put back in the bottle.”

Okay, five minutes wasted. Back to major soapmaking marathon. I’ve gotten bad about posting soaps, but in the past week I’ve made:

– Lavandin / spruce / orange / litsea / amrys / rose FO
– Another complicated blend that I forgot to write down, and can’t remember everything that’s in there
– Lavender / orange / peppermint
– Another batch of modified castile with beeswax and honey
– Another batch of the all-new the No Stinkum Steve.

Actually, let me waste another five minutes.

The all new NSS is the final NSS. It’s awesome. It’s made with anise, lavender, tea tree, and peppermint and colored with activated charcoal so it’s BLACK. I just cut it this morning:

6 oz coil
4 oz oo
4 oz sunflower
6 oz palm oil
8 oz crisco
4 oz cocoa butter

123 g lye
8 oz fresh carrot juice (instead of water; adds a lovely orange color)

3 TB Karma type EO blend
2 TB grapefruit FO (trying to recapture some zing)

I made it yesterday morning and cut it in the evening. I think I hate it–but of course, there’s no telling until it’s actually used.

7.5 oz coil
2.5 oz olive butter
1.5 oz shea
10.5 oz oo

3.75 oz lye
8 oz water

1 TB frankincense powder melted with oils.

2 TB patchouli
1 TB clary sage
1 tsp carrot seed oil

Topped with frankincense and myrrh tears.

204g oo
218g coil
211g crisco
20g rosehip
27g cocoa butter

1 tb patchouli
1 tb bergamot
1 tb rosewood
2 tb lavender

It’s been a week since I made this, and while the scent seems to be fading, I think it’s going to be a very smooth-feeling soap.