Back To Work!

Are you like me? On December 26th, I am officially in "Christmas is over mode." I'm ready to move on. It's kind of a sad sentiment, but the hype is over, and I'm ready to start the new year, and a new life so-to-speak. With that being said, I'm ready to get back to doing what I love, and that's making soap! I have so many new things in the pipeline that I can hardly contain myself. I've got many new glycerin soaps in the works. While I love and appreciate the artistic skills of a glycerin soap crafter, I am not a glycerin soap crafter. I love working with glycerin (or melt and pour) soaps, but only if I have a really fun mold to use. I don't have the patience or skills of say a Milk and Cookeez, a Soapylove, or a Sunbasil Garden. They make fabulous glycerin soaps, and I will leave that to the experts! So where the heck I'm I going with all of this??? I'm rambling as usual, but the point is, I MADE SOME SOAP, lol!

I decided to use my silicone loaf mold for this batch, and it's scented in a dupe of Jo Malone's (the best dang perfumer in the world in my opinion) Black Vetyver Cafe. It's very spicy, some would even say incense-y, so dudes will dig it too. I love the long slices you get when using this mold. It sorta reminds me of biscotti (After much debating, I ended up cutting the "wings" off the soap. They just looked too weird for me.) I CPOP'ed it because it's now my preferred method of making soap now. So, stay tuned as I bring you more ramblings and of course, more soap!

P Is For...

Perfect gifts! I had a wonderful Christmas yesterday, and I hope you all did too. I just wanted to show off a little bit:) I didn't ask for anything in particular because I don't need anything (but I want EVERYTHING!) There were a lot of surprises under my tree this year like a Garmin GPS (Somehow I think this will be both a blessing and a curse....), and a

Flip Video Camcorder (That means more videos-good ones though!)


But the ones that meant more to me than anything were all the monogram (ok, single-letter) doodads my sister bought me. I l-o-v-e these washcloths. I absolutely needed some dedicated face cloths, and these came at just the right moment! You can never go wrong with note cards and sticky notes. I'm famous for writing notes-just because....

I look forward to playing with all my gadgets. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of traveling now-just because...

Merry Christmas!!!

It's the most won-der-ful time of the year! Merry Christmas to all my friends who celebrate Christmas! I hope you spend this time with those you love and who love you back. Eat lots of good food and drink lots of good drink.

I'm looking forward to spending the day with my family getting stuffed and tanked while singing bad karaoke and talking about our best gift and the gift most likely to be re-gifted (yes, I do re-gift.) I'll be seeing you....

You Can't Judge A Soap By It's Cover

(The soap looks real jagged because I haven't yet trimmed it.)

You know if I'm saying this that the soap is jacked up right? This aint the prettiest soap, but it smells like a slice of sweet cake just baked from the oven. I scented it in Vanilla Bean, and I wanted it to have some white swirls because you know it's going to get darker as it cures. It reminds me of a tiramisu almost. I want to bite into it-seriously!



I used an old wooden box that I got a few years back from the White Barn Candle Co. My regular recipe is only about 3.5 pounds, and this box could easily hold about 5 pounds. CPOP'ed again. Can't wait to use this one....

The Reason For The Season

Sometimes we lose sight of what Christmas is all about. It's about celebrating the life of Jesus Christ, but somehow it's turned into this mass media frenzy, and I usually get caught up in the hype. I don't know what happened to me this year, but my perspective has changed considerably. While I love receiving gifts (and not just at Christmas, but all year round!), I love giving them even more. I cannot imagine not having basic necessities like enough food to eat or clean water to drink. I always ask myself "What can I do to make a difference" or "I'm just one person. My efforts would be futile."

Then I thought that a lot of people must have these same thoughts, but if we all pool our resources together, we can really make a difference. I found this site called Kiva. Kiva's mission is "to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty." How it works is you make loans for as little as $25.00 to low-income entrepreneurs all over the world. Most of these aspiring business owners aren't in it to get rich. They're in business to feed their communities, to save them from disease, or to just be able to live a safe and comfortable life. How profound is that? There was no way I could not get involved, and I tell you that my heart is bursting in just knowing that I've contributed in some way-however small.

I made my first loan to a woman named Suli who lives in Uganda. She runs a small grocery store in her community, and she's using her loan to purchase food and supplies. She has five children (whew!) and hopes to be able to grow her business and educate her children. Now what hardworking mother anywhere doesn't want that for their family?

Remember, tis the season for giving-no matter how large or how small. I wish I could give of my time and money to every worthy cause....

No Cookies For Santa

This year, I'm leaving jolly ole St. Nick some soap. He's jumping down dirty chimneys, and you know he's probably stinking all to be damned from wearing that heavy, felted wool suit. Just kidding, I just wanted a cheeky intro for my latest soap and to show a piece of my tree. Yeah, it's hot pink. I love this little tree. My sister bought it for me two years ago in an effort to cheer me up. It didn't help at the time, but it's doing the job nicely now:)

My latest soap is cpop again and, it's made with all essential oils-patchouli, sweet orange, lime, and a pinch of peppermint. I don't have a name yet, but I love the pattern of the orange. They remind me of flames for some reason...

Now that I'm cpop-ing up a storm, I'll be making lots and lots of soap. Til next time...

CPOP Soap: Blackberry Sage

I have been dying to try this technique for so long, but being the creature of habit that I am, I live by the mantra "If it aint broke..." I am impatient in every aspect of my life. I constantly need instant gratification. Sad, but true. I'd love to try HP (hot process) soap making some day, but I'm just being lazy about it. Truthfully, I love cold process soap making-except I hate the long cure process. So, I discovered the best of both processes: CPOP-cold process, oven process soap making. What's that? I wanted to know too, so I went in search of some answers, and found them on the soapcrafters.com site:

"In CPOP soap after the soap reaches trace and any colors, fragrance, or additives are mixed in, it is poured into an oven-safe mold and put in an oven that has been pre-heated to 170 degrees. The oven is left on for an hour. After that hour, the oven is turned off and the soap is left in the oven for another 11- 12 hours."

DISCLAIMER: I did not follow the recipe posted on the SoapCrafters site.

I used my own recipe using olive, palm, coconut, castor, and avocado oils. Here's a shot of the soap after letting it bake for an hour. Note that I'm using a wooden mold and I set it on an old baking sheet (which you can't see.) It goes without saying that if you try this, you must use an oven-safe, heat-safe mold. Silicone would work well also. It looked faded and pasty as if the life had been sucked out of it.


Here's a photo of the soap un-molded after more than 11 hours in the stove (I'm not basting a turkey here, so it just sat in the oven overnight.) So far, so good. The soap looks fantastic! It's as hard as a brick and looks ready to go! An added bonus to cpop-ing: It fills your home with delicious fragrance for hours!


And here's the final product-cut and nearly ready for use! I have to say that this is one fine looking soap! It's smooth and hard and show no signs of botchery (yeah, I made that word up, LOL.) I did the tongue zap test, and no zip, zap, or zing! By my calculations, this soap will be ready the 1st week of January. Now how's that for cp soap making!?

New Soap: Obsessed

Okay, I'm on the fence with this soap, but before I go there, my pictures have been sucking major ass lately. Sorry to be so unlady-like, but I'm slightly perturbed. I have adjusted and re-adjusted my lighting, white balance, yada, yada, and I just can't get the "perfect" picture anymore. Moving on...

I made this soap the other day, and it's scented in a Victoria's Secret dupe of Love Spell. I call it Obsessed because after watching that horrible Beyonce movie the other day, the word just stuck in my mind. I wanted to make this a very "visual" soap with the colors just bursting and popping all over the soap, but it didn't quite turn out that way. I used four different colors-I think, and I had to work really quickly. It smells nice, but I get a little bummed when the vision in my head doesn't translate into the finished product.

Meet Blush!

I call this soap blush because this is a naked soap. This is my first intentional unscented soap. Noticed how I stressed the word intentional. I've made a few batches that were supposed to be scented, but they faded during the curing process. This one has absolutely ZERO fragrance in it-a first for me. This soap was inspired by Nuria at Jabon Artesanal. I can't stress how much I love this chica:) Every time I read one of her posts, it inspires me to step my game up another notch. Nuria made a soap called Pink Clay Soap. I actually used the pink clay that I won in her giveaway back in June, but I never knew what to do with it until now.

Pink clay is great for normal and or sensitive skins because it does not draw oils from the skin. This would make the perfect "wash the day away" facial soap, and that's how I plan to personally use it. I wear bulletproof makeup during the week because my face is an oil slick, and this soap will be just the ticket to "prep" my skin for my normal skincare regime. Of course it can also be used as an allover body cleanser. I love how "pure" this soap smells. You don't know how I was just dying to put some kind of fragrance in this batch. Can't wait til this one's ready....

A New Lavender Soap

I have a confession to make: I don't like lavender. Well, I don't like straight lavender. When mixed with another fragrance, I can tolerate it. A very good friend of mine who's from Dominica (please don't call her Jamaican-she'll kill you!) is in love with lavender. She pronounces it la'venda. It brings a smile to my face each and every time. I decided to give lavender another shot, but I could not make a straight lavender soap. I'm going to catch hell for this, but it's too "grandmotherly" for me. I needed to punch it up a bit, so I added some orange and ginger essential oils to it. While it's still primarily lavender-scented, I don't get that EWW feeling when i smell it. I'm actually loving this one. I forgot to mention that the lavender is also an essential oil. I'll be reserving one of these for my la'venda-loving girlfriend.

Savon d'olive

Enough bitching, let's talk soap! I love, love, love the boutique L'Occitane. Every time I step foot inside of that store, I want to buy it all! My favorite product from them is the Shea Butter Hand Cream. It's like $25 a tube, but you know what? You only need a little bit, and it's worth every single penny in my book! Anyway, getting back to ME, I wanted to make something very L'Occitane-ish. I've searched high and low for a dupe of anything made by them, and it was under my nose the whole time at WSP!





I've never smelled "Olive" before, but after reading the description, "olive, lemon, lime, and lavender...", I was sold. When I opened the bottle, I was instantly transformed to Provence (ok, I've never been to France, but THIS is how I imagine it to smell!) The scent is so fresh and so clean making it perfect for women and men alike. I colored it lightly with green oxide, and I used my cylindrical mold. I finally got a clue and bought a Wilco silicone liner and cut it to size to insert into my mold. I got the soap out in two good pushes. One thing I didn't take into consideration were the markers on the liner. They left these nifty, unwanted imprints on my soap, but I think it gives the soap character.

Anyway, I've decided to use these soaps for a sample box I'm participating in for February. They're bigger than a typical sample, but not quite large enough to sell independently (I think.) Now that I've tested the waters and actually like this scent, I'll be making a larger batch but this time I think I'll make the olive color a little "dirtier" so that it's a brownish-green. I can't get martinis out of my head now...

Bitch Post #10: Amazon Payments SUCK!

Ahh yes, people, it's time for another bitch post! We're up to number 10, and I am hotter than a bitch in heat! For those of you who are not familiar with 1000 Markets, they only allow payments to be processed through Amazon Payments. That's wonderful for seasoned sellers who've racked up hundreds of sales via Amazon Payments, but if you're like me and have only had a handful, then they literally hold your money hostage for an indefinite period of time. It's their way of safeguarding the buyer. But where does that leave us sellers? The buyer pays, the transaction clears, but Amazon says "We don't really trust you yet, so we're going to use your money as collateral in case the buyer makes a claim against you..."

If I'm reading this wrong, please enlighten me. I've had 3 sales in the last week on 1000 Markets which is like hitting pay dirt in my book because my last sale there was in July! I don't have time to apply for some Tier II merchant level in an effort to have my money released quicker. I have NEVER had a problem on PayPal. The buyer makes a purchase. They pay through PayPal. The transaction clears. I gets my scrilla, and I ship the goods! We're on week 2, and I do not have my money! Meanwhile, in an effort of good faith and good customer service, I've shipped the buyers' goods. After all, they've paid, so why should they be penalized? I'm just sayin....I WANTS MY MONEY!!!!!

EPILOGUE: THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I GUESS IF YOU THROW A PUBLIC HISSY FIT, YOU CAN GET WHAT YOU WANT:)

After contacting Amazon Payments and yes, applying for Tier II status, it was granted. Yay! I'm taking the money and running! Maybe now I'll promote my 1KM shop a little more:)

It's A Black Weekend Deal!

Happy Black Friday! Everyone's buzzing with sales-including moi!

Starting today thru Monday, aka Cyber Monday, I am offering FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING and $5.00 INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING on everything in my Etsy and Art Fire shops. No special codes needed. No refunds to give. All you have to do is shop, and oh yeah, pay:)

International shipping deadline is Dec. 4th.
Domestic shipping deadline is Dec 19th.

Happy shopping everyone! Don't be surprised if you see me buying from your shops!

The Last Soap Of 2009!

Okay, that statement is a little misleading. It's not the last soap I'll make in 2009, but it will be the last new soap for sale in 2009. It's tentatively called Mango Coconut Meringue. I'm sure you can guess which part is which. I whipped the top extra thick because I attempted to form these giant peaks, but it just leveled out, so I rolled with the flow and just spread it like cake icing. I'm a little disappointed in this scent. While the mango is noticeable, the coconut is very, very weak-almost non-existent. The soap is so pretty, I'm not going to write it off as a total loss.

In parting, I wish you all a healthy and safe Thanksgiving! I'll be spending tomorrow with my crazy family. My sister and I will be imbibing sangria all day and night. Well, all day for me. I'll be updating my shops late tomorrow. I heard Old Navy is opening at 3 am. Isn't that a little much? I'll probably be up at that hour anyway. I've got 4 shops to update. Whew!!! Have a good one...

Holiday Soaps

If you haven't already, now is the time to start stocking your shops with your holiday items! I like to make my shopping lists in advance, so when I'm ready to shop, I know what I want and where to find it. I suspect there are many others out there like myself. I'll be adding new things every day all the way up to Friday: BLACK FRIDAY!

I've added a few glycerin goodies to my shops:

Snowflake Soaps

Christmas Tree-O Soaps

Lump O' Coal Soaps

Holiday Serenade Soap

Happy Friday! Yes, I am soooo glad it's Friday. Thanksgiving is in 6 days, and I am too excited. I haven't seen all of my family together since Labor Day, and I miss them terribly! Even though we talk everyday via e-mail, it's not the same. I really can't wait to see my sister. We had a "disagreement" last week, and while we claim it's been squashed, I know there's still some lingering, unresolved issues....Now on to the soap!

This soap smells so good, that I can't describe it. The main scent is cassis, and I'm not a floral gal, but this one really impressed me. I wanted it to be stark white with just a touch of dark berry, but it didn't quite pan out the way I planned, but I can live with it. Right now I'm working on some funky packaging for it since I've crowned it my "official holiday soap."

I forgot to make this soap in time for the kickoff to the "holiday sales rush", so it won't be ready til Dec 7th. Back to work...later:)

Holiday Sneak Peek

I've been working furiously in the lab trying to get ready for the upcoming holidays. I'm introducing a few new things to the product line that may become permanent depending on customer reception. Here's a taste of what's to come:

BATH FIZZIES

These are my take on the traditional bath bomb. The scents will be a combination of fragrance and essential oils. I'm doing some last minute tweaking. I warn you that these fizzies will not be perfect. I like the rustic (ok, fancy term for jacked up) look of these. They're gonna disappear once you drop em in water anyway right?

PERFUME SOLIDS

This is actually Round 2 for these perfumes. I've switched up the packing, and this time the fragrances will be custom blend of fragrance and essential oils.

So that wraps up my sneak peek. I can't wait to see what everyone else has in store!

Wicked Soap-Version 2.0

Old

I cannot get enough of Black Raspberry & Vanilla! Every time I make a batch, it's always how can I improve the look of this soap? I thought about adding glycerin raspberries to the top. Been there. Done that...I thought about making the soap completely black. Umm...NO! I don't have the energy to be too creative right now, so I just improvised a bit on the last batch. I made them much bigger and used a darker berry color. Now I need to buy some shelves or a wire rack or something because I have no space to store all this soap!

Version 2.0

This Cat's Life...

Ahhh...the life. This is what I do best: eat, sleep, and sh...



I live with a fabulous woman who gives me lots of hugs and kisses...



You wish you were me...

Ay Poppy-It's Friday The 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th (it will be for me-it's payday!!) I've been wanting to make this soap forever! I got the inspiration from Bliss' Mammoth Minty Scrub soap. I remember buying it about 6 or 7 years ago, and I just fell in love with the smell and the texture. My version isn't 11 oz or have those little massage knobs on them, but I think mine is much better! The Bliss bar has sodium everything in it. Mine has rice bran, soybean, coconut, sweet almond, and palm oils along with poppy seeds to provide gentle, stimulating, exfoliation. The only sodium is the sodium hydroxide needed to make the soap. My entire apartment smells like a spearmint factory! I can't wait to use this one. Okay, just buy my version (when it's ready in a few weeks). It's better for your skin...heehee

Cranberry Fig Redux

New

The more I smell this fragrance, the more it grows on me. I'm not a huge fan of fig by itself, but when it's blended with cranberry or brown sugar, it's a lot more tolerable. I sold out of the last batch of cranberry fig, and I tried to duplicate the look of it: MAJOR FAIL, but all is well! I had to work quickly as I forgot how this particular fragrance accelerates trace. (Note to self: Start taking notes on the outcome of my batches...) This time it's more brick red than blue-red, but only has minute traces of purple. I still like it though. These bars are heavier than the previous batch, and oh well, I'm jabbering, I LIKE IT!!! heehee

Old

Goes Great With Milk!

More like a milk bath! This is one of my official "holiday" soaps called Ginger Cake. I could eat a whole dang bag of ginger snaps. One of my fondest memories of my childhood is spending the weekend with my grandparents and being able to eat all the ginger snaps I can. My grandmother kept them in a porcelain jar in her china closet (Do you say china cabinet or china closet? I digress too much, but you should be used to that by now:)

I whipped the hell out of this soap too. I wanted it to have little peaks at the top to give it some texture. I also made little glycerin whipped cream dollops that I'll include with each soap (I knew that mold would come in handy for something!) I swear I was tempted to take a bite out of these after I cut them. Why is it your greatest batches are always your smallest ones? These sweet cakes will be ready just in time for Black Friday:)

Love You Honey!

Happy Sunday! This is such a beautiful Treasury that I had to share. It's called Kiss Me Honey Honey, and it features my Honey Bar. I just love the color combo, and it's such a coincidence because I sold my first bar of this soap the other day, and to have it featured in a treasury is a double treat. Check it out!

FOLLOW UP: I KNEW THIS TREASURY WAS FRONT PAGE WORTHY, AND IT MADE IT!!! (SEE SIDEBAR)

Dirty Sexy Soap!

Why do they cancel all the good TV shows? Dirty Sexy Money was just starting to show some promise when they canceled it. I am so pissed! So pissed in fact, that I created this soap in honor of those dirty Darlings. How freaking unrealistic is it that Billy Baldwin's character ran for the senate, was boinking a transsexual with whom he was madly in love, and his wife was criminally insane? Now is that good TV or what!!?? Why do I always blabber on? Because I love segways. I'm giving you the history behind the soap-how my warped mind operates! Anyway........



Getting back to the soap, I'm not in the business of creating these fancy, highfalutin numbers that boast 20 different ingredients and then hype them up like they're this miracle cleanser. I'm in the business of making good soap that cleanses, moisturizes, and smells good. It doesn't always look pretty, but it does the job. Now on to this soap: It's soooo dirty because it plays tricks on your senses. One moment you smell sweet, then in the same breath you smell sassy! I took a chance by blending sandalwood with nectarine blossom, and I love it! I never really study scents in terms of how they may affect the outcome of your finished product. I just follow my heart and go with what I love. I intended for this soap to be stark white with black swirls, but as you can see, it's yellow with black swirls. Sandalwood apparently is yellow or turns soap yellow or something like that...Anyway, this limited edition number will be ready just in time for holiday sales. Yip, yip, hooray!

Let's Get Lard-y For The Party!

If you do not watch Real Housewives of Atlanta, then you have no idea what I'm talking about, but I digress....Here's my latest batch of soap using lard, and it's called Lard-y For The Party. It's scented in raspberry cream cupcake. I sprinkled real candy dots on top, and I have no idea how they're going to turn out once these bars are fully cured. It smells pretty nice-very raspberry-ish. There's no chocolate in this scent. I just colored it this way because, well, that's how it was on the bottle, and I didn't have the brain power to get too creative with this one. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sell this one individually or as part of one of my gift sets. Decisions, decisions....

A Weekend Full Of Treats

(click me)

My Halloween was very uneventful. I was very disappointed by the lack of quality Halloween programming on the tube this weekend. Not everyone has a party to go to ya know? Where was the Jason marathon? The Freddy Krueger fest? I was actually forced to work yesterday to keep from being totally bored out of my skull...LOL! I guess that was the trick, now on to the treats....

(click me)

I was featured over the weekend on not one, but two lovely blogs, The Copper Cauldron (one of my fave soap makers) and Mikiye Creations (a fellow Etsy Twitter tweep). Check them out, and Happy November! Did I just say that???

Look What I've Won!!!

I love contests and giveaways! The winner of my giveaway at Ozark Scents was crowned yesterday (shout out to Amy for being such a gracious host!) What I love more that hosting giveaways is winning them-especially the ones where you don't have to jump through hoops (follow my blog, follow me on Twitter, blog about it...blah, blah...Oh WAIT! That's how I do my giveaways...HEEHEE...) Anyway, Amber over at Amber's Ambry (You must follow this blog! It's often hilarious, insightful, and full of real life adventure-good and bad...) blogged about her newest lip balm, and she was giving it away to the first 5 commenters, and I was commenter #4 (or was it #3?...) Isn't this the cutest little container. Don't you love the blueberry? I think they're hand-drawn too, and it smells like a sweet, plump blueberry.



I've been tweaking my own lip balms, and this one reminds me a lot of my new formula (reveal to follow soon...). Until then, check out Amber's Etsy shop. Her soaps and stuff have that real "old town" feel too it. Where have I been all this time that I'm just finding her???

Don't Even Ask...

Cuz I don't know what it is yet....This is what I get for trying to be cute! I need to stick to what I do best-just make the soap and stop trying to get ultra-creative! I'm a no-frills kinda gal, but I like to get a little frisky sometimes, but the results of this soap is definitely one of those WTF moments.



I won't even go into detail, but I'm selling this bad boy! Why is it the ugliest soaps smell the best? This one is vanilla with rose, jasmine, tonka bean, and bergamot. I put those white dots in there on purpose. This soap looks like it has chicken pox or it needs the H1N1 vaccine. Anyway, I'll give it a cheeky name and list it on one of my venues. Speaking of venues, I think I have too many. I can't keep up. Two of them are free til I sell something, but I haven't sold anything, so I'm not overly concerned.

Where is my lye??? I need to make some more soap. I'm having withdrawal pains...

Busy Weekend!

O-M-G! I was featured in the Etsy Storque last week (thanks to Epically Epic Soap for recommending my soap!), and the power of the press is no joke! Within 2 hours, I sold completely out of this soap after it had been sitting in a plastic bin since I made it about a month and a half ago. Even the ugly bits that I had sold! Now, I've made more-a bigger batch because the inquiries are still flowing.




With that being said, I've also been ordering raw materials and supplies in preparation for the holidays. I'm so disorganized, it's ridiculous. I'm trying to do inventory, but I get so overwhelmed that I can't focus. My mind has a thousand things on it at once! My living room is a disaster, my garbage is overflowing, and I haven't been on Twitter in a week! But I'm determined to be prepared this season. Last year was such a disaster. I didn't plan properly, so my sales tanked. I will not make that mistake this year!

Well, I'm just rambling, so I think I'll shut up now...I've got soaps to make!

I'm Officially A Lard Ass!

Yeah, I said it: LARD ASS! This has nothing to do with my weight (although this could be argued, but then I'd have to kill you..heehee). Remember that scene from the movie Stand By Me where River Phoenix's character is telling the story about Lard Ass exacting his revenge on the townspeople for making fun of his weight? I loved that story! Anyway, I'm referring to my first batch of soap made with lard-you know-the thick, white stuff that's used in some good ole southern-style meals. No? Okay, pig fat! Here's the inspiration for this soap:

The other day I received a very interesting and thought-provoking comment from a reader who wanted to know why soap makers tout their soaps as "vegan," or "vegan-friendly," and why soap makers who use goat's milk, lard, or tallow are viewed as the anti-Christ. Okay, I'm exaggerating her comment slightly, but her point was good soap can be made with animal products. That got me to thinking....I don't use animal products in my soaps-not because I'm vegan (farthest from it), but because I never had an interest or desire to make soaps with animal milk or fat. I have probably 8 oz of powdered goat's milk just sitting collecting dust. I just didn't know how to incorporate it into my soaps. I've read that they make creamy, wonderful lather. But the one thing that really got me going was lard. The name alone gives me the willies. I keep seeing that old coffee can filled with greasy, pork-chop-scented fat on my grandmother's stove. But, I had to give it a try. I went to the Safeway to buy a bottle of olive oil to use for a couple of batches of soap, and decided to see if by chance there'd be any lard for sale. I was really surprised when I found it sitting right next to the Scrapple (loves that stuff! Do you know what's in scrapple? No? The name implies it all! You haven't had good eatin' til you've had a scrapple and fried egg sandwich!). It was packaged in a non-descript white tub. It retails 16 oz for like $1.50. I couldn't wait to open it up, and when I did....EWWWW! Are you kidding me? It smelled like week-old fatback! I forget it is pig fat so it's not going to smell like a smothered pork chop, but I was just taken aback.



This is really a test batch (if it cures well and smells nice, then I'll sell it.) I made this with lard, rice bran, and palm kernel oil. It's scented in Almond, and I sprinkled a bunch of calendula leaves on top for "garnish." This almond is really strong. I like it though. I've never used it before, and I'm quite pleased with it. I think I'll blend it next time though because it's a little too sweet for my person taste. So, what do you think of my Lard Ass Soap?