Nom de Plume

I stumbled across this somewhere, and if you need to waste two minutes, here it is … five minutes if you blog it. Google “[your name] needs” and see what you come up with.

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:

I was sooooo looking forward to getting Brambleberry’s Karma type essential oil blend (based on the Lush perfume). I even devised a special recipe. But when it came in the mail — and I had stupidly thrown caution to the wind, buying the 4 oz size — it didn’t do a thing for me. It didn’t smell like my perfume bottle at all. It wasn’t a sprightly. But I was committed; the oils were all measured and just needed to be warmed up. So I forged ahead:

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.

Basic batch + 2 TB bitter almond fragrance oil and 1 TB ginger EO + vanillin sprinkled on top.

So named for the combination of frankincense, myrrh, and patchouli.

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.

I despise patchouli. Or at least, I always thought I did. But when combined with other scents, it can actually be quite nice. So this is without the lime and spruce of Dave’s soap.

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.

All my essential oils are stored in an old file cabinet in the office, which doubles as a guest room. Dave was here when my new order came in. And every time we went out, Dave riffled through my supplies looking for something that smelled good. “Where’s the patchouli?” he’d ask. Or “Wow, rosewood smells good.” Then he’d dab himself behind the ears. When I said I was making soap, he thrust the spruce and lime at me. “These’ll smell good together.” And thus, a new soap was born.

280g oo
252g palm
252g coil

114g lye
197-295 water

I added some other stuff to the lime/spruce combo, so:

2 tb rosewood
1 tb lime
1 tb bergamot
1 tb spruce
2 tb lavender

It smells divine.

What do you mean, play some more?

No, thanks. We need to sleep now.

Or rather, soapmaking is back.

After making 20 batches in a 2-month period, I got tired of it. But my soap stock has been severely depleted. My mother wanted soap to give away — so I sent her about 60 bars. I’ve given about 40 more bars away since then. And Geoff came over the other night to lend me a rolling pin, and I loaded him up with more. “I just love your soap,” he gushed.

Well, what’s a girl to do in the face of that fulsome praise?

Go back up to Zenith Supplies, that’s what. Last night I made a new batch of 60′s Porn Star — this time with nothing other than melted amber resin and a lot of it too.* (And by the way you sick folks, you may think that you and your little Google searches are alone in a dark room with the curtains drawn but my stats know who you are. That would be you, Mr. 76.1.200.154.)

The best thing is that I’m feeling inspired again. Ix-nay on the fragrance oils, nothing but pure essentials from here on out. And here’s my challenge: to come up with five new soaps using no other scents than my depleted essential oil stock. This should be interesting. Tonight? Lemon fennel.

* 252g oo, 252g palm, 252g coil, 108g lye, 8 oz water, 56g light amber melted with the oils

Obviously, my soapmaking posts have gotten fewer and less frequent; I confess, my interest has waned. This is, in large part, due to the fact that my last three batches have used fragrance oils (sandalwood, some fresh linen thing, and honeysuckle). I don’t like them. At all. They smell cheap. I need to order more essential oils. And it’s probably a good thing, but no one surprised me with the still …

“Pull up the blog,” I said. “See the picture?”

“Oh, God.”

“I really want it.”

“Oh, God.”

“Does that mean you don’t love me enough to spend $400 on something I will use twice?”

Silence.

“Okay, I’m kind of thinking about just buying it for myself.”

“That’s just crazy.”

“You can make booze in it.”

“Buy it!”