01.10.07
Today was soaping heaven . . .
Owen went to Gymboree with my Mum and I sequestered myself in the basement for a 4-batch soaping session today. I can’t wait until these batches are cured, so I can use them, but I guess I’ll cut and wrap them, so you all can try them too! 
Lavender Grove is a blend of lavenders (French and Bulgarian), citruses and woods and evergreens — and a few of my little secrets. The resulting scent is hard to describe, but my “give me anything with lavender in it” customers will be lining up for this one. I’m looking forward to seeing how this scent develops and morphs as the soap cures. Will the woodsy scents stand out more? Or will the evergreen take over? Or will the lavender prevail? No matter which scent wins, it will be a lovely soap, with a peaceful, happy scent and just enough texture from the ground flaxseeds and lavender bud powder speckled throughout.
Verve is a new lemongrass based soap, something most of my customers love. I always try to balance the pungent scent of lemongrass with essential oils that tame it and round it out a bit. This time, vanilla, rosewood, sweet orange, and some woodsy and spicy essential oils were my choices. This will be a great wake up soap, and with streaks of lemon peel powder and calendula powder throughout, it will be toning and healing to the skin.
Shameless is the soap I am looking forward to the most. The scent of the orange blossom, patchouli, ylang, citruses and little secrets still lingers in my nose. Why Shameless? It is a bold blend that could be loved by two types of people — those that appreciate scent as a way of self-expession, and those that become just a little bolder when wearing this scent, in spite of themselves. And I have to say, I am quite proud of my swirls in this batch. I admit, oftentimes my swirls are really glorified streaks or even plops, but the swirls of Moroccan red clay turned out just gorgeous, or I am almost sure they did and I will know when I unmold and cut later this week!
Here’s today’s masterpiece — I actually haven’t decided on a name yet! It was going to be Citrus Rose, but that boring ol’ name doesn’t live up to the beauty of this soap, so now I am thinking about A Half-Dozen Roses Soap, or Rose Six Ways Soap, or something to that effect. I used 2 kinds of rose floral wax and rosewood to scent this soap (with a complex blend of citruses, vanilla and ylang), used rose hydrosol as part of the liquid, added a layer of soap that was colored with rose clay, and pressed red rosebuds and petals into the top of the soap. OK, maybe THIS is the soap I am most looking forward to . . .