War

on ants... yes I am totally crazed. My poor family, we came back from a camping trip to a seven lane freeway to the dogfood bowl that I left out. Odor ants, I think. O.M.G, and I do not use this vernacular lightly. Two days of pulling out appliances, looking up every reasonable (no spray) option, running all over town looking for solutions. Finally, I think I have them. I have caulked, I have "great stuff-ed" (probably over great stuff-ed, I took it to potential mouse holes outside too, man that stuff overexpands), put out grant's ant traps, homemade bait with sugar and borax, put up defenses around the houses and under the appliances with diatomaceous earth, cleaned like crazy, dumped out the pork-sung that was a secondary happy place for them and finally... FINALLY I think they are on the run. There goes two days of my life and high obsession.

Soap...

Soap: so, I've been making soap for a bit, I tried keeping a separate soap "log" but I can't find it anymore, darned paper books. What I've learned:

1. I love homemade soap, or expensive soap... seriously makes for a whole different and wonderful shower experience, and I think the homemade stuff is actually better.

2. I love citrus smells the best and I can't seem to make them stick. To make a scented soap you need A LOT of essential oils. Like 2 tablespoons or more. Even at this quantity, the citrus smells disperse... alas.

3. Coloring with clay is fun... but a little goes a long way!

4. Freeze set-up soaps to get them out of the molds... much better and a bit easier (though still requires some work) to get it out.

5. if you use oatmeal or any other additives, grind it up. I used some calendula petals and it made the surfaces look kinda yucky.

Okay... Most recent batch: Split one batch in half.

first half: colored with 2 tbs activated charchol and clary sage, I think I really like the smell of clary sage. soap result: black like coal.

second half: peppermint and red clay. I actually split this half in half with the intention of making peppermint like soaps, didn't exactly turn out like I thought it would, but not too bad all in all. About 2 tbs red clay for that quarter recipe and also, very dark. Oh well, in the future I could probably half the clay addition.

One more doll today. I used a stenciled t-shirt by Val and made a little boy for Owen and a brother stuffie for G's baby doll.

Though he worked with me on it, specifically asked for it, etc... shortly after it was finished he did his darndest to rip its arm off and did a pretty good job of it. Sigh...

Grace likes it though! Owen did also work on a stuffie of his own design... this is Fred Fred Freddy, also goes by Will.... he will only answer to those names though.

Update 9/8/2011 on soap. Next batch. Basic base that I use +1 tbs lavender e.o. about 20 drops bergamont e.o. and a tablespoon or so of ground lavender flowers from our garden. You can barely see the flowers, and I"m not sure about the smell, pretty flowery, but we'll see as it sets, usually the smell changes. I used three large soap molds, three small silicone flowers and 2 of the large tuperware molds for one full batch. about 3.75 lbs soap

Update 9/19/2011 on soap.  Okay, one more batch... Unscented but I added about 1/8c powdered buttermilk, 1oz honey and 1 oz sweet almond oil and a good sprinkle of ground almonds.  Made a pretty orangy soap.

Update 3/21/12

So made soap again, finally.  As a note I liked the charchol/clary sage one, nice, smells nice, fun to use black soap :)

Okay new batch split in two...
batch 3/21 a:  1/2 oz basil, 1/4 oz lime, 1/4 oz sweet orange and about a teaspoon of dried chlorophyl for a pretty minty green color.

batch 3/21b:  1/2 oz vanilla, 1 oz honey 1 oz sweet almond oil and 1/8 c crushed almonds. 
Actually this was much less than half because I can't eyeball things to save a hoot. I wish it was a bit more, smells lovely.

I wanted a rough estimate of what this costs.  so let's say:
12 oz coconut oil:  $6
12 oz olive oil pomace:  $2 (maybe)
20 oz palm oil (organic):  $5

6 oz lye:  maybe $1

E.O. :  this is tricky 'cause they range in price but for a whole batch you really need like 2 oz or two bottles if you want it to smell... I usually under scent by a lot.... but let's say on the outside $10. 

This last batch I made six large muffin heart shaped soaps, four ovals, six rectangles and two tuperware dishes so 18 pretty normal sized soaps.... so without too many bells and whistles and without particularly great prices on anything about $1.30 per bar.  Yes you could buy soap for less, but I really love the soap and use it for yummy gifts more often than not so probably a good deal all in all.
Um, I melted my molds a bit with the heat section on the washing machine.  I know, I know you're not supposed to put them in the dishwasher, but they get soo greasy and its just easier.  Solution.. well, partial solution... I'll say put them in the oven set at 200 for about 1 min 30 sec -- maybe a few seconds more.  reshape.

Dolls

I've been thinking about making a doll for G. for a while now, but didn't really have the guts. My neighbor does fantastic dolls and she suggested the bit of whimsy patterns and she was right! I got the Jo doll and made two, one for Alice's birthday and one for Grace. The undersea/mermaid fabric is perhaps my favorite of all time, I mean, I actually fell a little in love with the whole line it when I first saw it. It's a little hard to get your hands on it anymore, so I am excited to have Grace have it for her stuffie. They are really cute! Grace LOVES her baby in solid 30 min spurts (which is pretty good for a toy around here), particularly the legs which are longish and good for swinging and hanging around your arm, your neck, wherever and however you want to carry your baby. I did get a wool blend felt for hair and only got 1/8 or a yard, I'd get a bit more 'cause I like to wash it first, and it shrunk too much, well almost, I was able to stretch it back to size, but it took some work. ANYHOW... cute! Right? I also did some nested easy puppets for Nate and for G. before our vacation a la made by joel. The set we kept I accidentally made the "mom" the biggest, but got it right for nate's! The kids love these! Grace loves to wear the little girl around and talk with her.... crack-up.