WOYWW 480 Felt and Sourdough

I’ve been really tired this week and still getting intermittent headaches so I’ve rested as much as I can. I finished knitting the striped scarf (one of my famous UFOs – UnFinished Objects!) and sewed the ends closed, and when I did the ironing at the weekend, gave it a good press so it’s now looking OK.

To finish it off, I’ve decided to add lots of fun embellishments instead of a regular fringe. Ages ago I found a brilliant image somewhere online which inspired this idea, and now I can’t find it for love nor money – I had an idea it was on Pinterest but I think it must have been taken down, and I didn’t download it, so I shall just have to remember the impression of how it looked. This is probably a good thing because I won’t be tempted to copy it, but make it my own from a memory that inspired me.

The first step was to make lots of felt balls. I’ve started these off to the pre-felt stage, using needle felting, which is more time-consuming than wet felting, but at least I can do it sitting on the recliner. I made quite a lot, and then decided it was a waste of the coloured Merino wool tops so I started making white ones, which will have coloured wool needle-felted on top.

They are in a variety of sizes and after wet-felting they will be smaller. I can string these on crochet chains and also attach tassels to them. I am also thinking of adding a bit of embroidery to the larger ones.

I have also started making a few needle-felted flowers, some of which will also be suspended, and others will be sewn on the scarf itself.

I’ve chosen colours as close to the knitted colours as I could manage. I think the effect will be quite striking.

Sourdough

Esmeralda, my sourdough starter, has been quite active in the fridge, where she is supposed to be asleep, and after I fed her she started going bananas again so I took some out, and made pancakes again. I didn’t make any sourdough last week, but just fed her and put her back in the fridge.

Last week I was doing some more research into improving my sourdough technique and found a superb Youtube video which showed how to get a good texture from a relatively low-hydration dough. The higher the hydration (very wet dough) the more difficult it is to handle, especially for beginners like me, but if the dough is too dry, you don’t get the characteristic sourdough texture.

This man had a different technique which involved folding the dough several times over a period of six hours, after having chilled the dough and then leaving it at room temperature overnight, so quite a long process. I was able to do things in between, of course. When I turned it out ready for baking, it maintained its shape brilliantly and didn’t subside into my usual flying saucer! I baked it using the Dutch Oven technique, using my mum’s old iron casserole which creates a micro-climate around the dough and keeps it moist during the first stage of baking, allowing for what they call good “oven spring.” – the final rise in the oven.

This was the result.

From the side, you can see how much it has risen, and what a good shape it is.

Cutting it, I was slightly disappointed that the crumb wasn’t quite open enough, but this can be improved upon with higher hydration.

Following along with the Youtube video while I was folding the dough, mine was a lot stiffer than his, even though the hydration was the same. I think this is because I used a combination of white and rye flours, and the rye flour is a lot more absorbent than the normal bread flour. Next time I shall increase the hydration and I think it will be easier to handle, and also give a better crumb.

Unfortunately I had to make this into a single, larger loaf in order to use the Dutch Oven method, because I couldn’t get two small ones in the casserole side by side. My bannetons are too small for a loaf of this size so I had to use a bowl for the final proving. I shall either have to buy a bigger banneton, or revert to the original method of baking in the oven on a baking sheet, with a tray of boiling water underneath to produce the steam to prevent the dough drying out too much initially, and stopping it rising in the oven. Even when pre-heating the baking tray in the oven, it doesn’t stay hot enough when you take it out to turn the dough out onto it. The casserole, being solid cast iron, remains incredibly hot – I had to get out my old fashioned oven gloves in order to be able to handle it at all! The Dutch Oven method is definitely more successful, but without the banneton, I don’t get the traditional spiral pattern on the loaf. Appearance? Quality? It’s a no-brainer, really… However, the main thing is that this bread tastes absolutely fabulous. This is Real Food. Watch this space.

Other fermentation

The kaanji I attempted to make was revolting, and ended up being poured away. Can’t win ’em all.

This week my large fermentation vessel and bottles arrived, along with a Scoby (Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeasts – looks a bit like a dead jellyfish) so I started some kombucha (fermented tea) which is going very well in the airing cupboard – I can see definite evidence of fermentation activity. It takes about a week to ten days. After this, it can be bottled with a bit of fruit for second fermentation which will flavour and carbonate it. I can’t wait to try it.

(It looks a bit like a kid playing a shepherd in a Nativity play!)

I tasted the kimchi I had had fermenting on the kitchen counter and it’s delicious, but really fiery! I think I might have put in a bit too much of the Korean chilli powder. I stirred a little into the sourdough starter pancake batter and it was great, but next time I’ll add a bit more to give more of a kick. It’s now in the fridge, to arrest any further fermentation.

This week my hubby brought in the first crop of apples from our tree, and I’m attempting some fermented apples. I’ve added dried fruit (dates and raisins) and some spices (cloves, cinnamon) and it’s doing its thing on the floor of the pantry. I am very interested in how this might turn out.

Apples on the left (fermenting) and kimchi.

We are still continuing with the kefir. I start a new batch every night. The grains increase, and I put the excess in a jar in the fridge in some milk, and I’ve given the first lot away to a wholefood shop in Totnes – she was very grateful as she often gets customers asking if she has kefir starter kits.

I’m running out of jars. I’ve got half a dozen 1-litre Mason jars on order from Amazon. As for fridge space, that’s now at crisis point!

Kitties

Just one picture of them this week, taken with the zoom from the bedroom window.

They don’t like the rain and have taken to coming in and out throughout the day, and sleeping more in the daytime.

For some reason quite beyond my understanding, last night Ruby suddenly decided she’s gone off kitty biscuits and started trying to eat her sister’s wet food, so we’ve started giving them both the same food again! When they were quite small, Ruby made it quite clear she hated wet food and would only eat biccies. What has suddenly changed her mind again? Can anyone fathom what goes on in the kitty mind? The question remains unanswered, along with what happened to the ill-fated Marie Celeste, who killed Cock Robin, and whether the moon is made of cheese. (Funny, even after putting men on the moon, NASA didn’t tell us this. You’d think they’d know.)

Health Update

When I was in hospital, my surgeon said he wanted to see me two weeks after my discharge, which was at the beginning of May. The NHS runs on a different time-scale from the rest of us. Two weeks = three months. My follow-up appointment is tomorrow. Oh well. It’s a good thing I’ve been OK, isn’t it. I rang the stoma team a couple of days ago to see if I could see the nurse while I was there, and was told they are very short-staffed (two on holiday, and one with a broken wrist) but they’d see what they could do. Not too impressive. My surgeon told my GP months ago that I couldn't go back on the Rivaroxaban (anti-coagulant) until I’d seen him in clinic so I’ve been off it all this time, and am not sure what effect this is having, and whether I still need it or not. If I do, my health could have been put at risk all this time. No doubt I’ll get the chance to discuss this with him on Thursday.

My studio remains a total tip. Hopefully in the coming days I shall have more time and energy and actually get back in there. I don’t understand how mess multiplies when one isn’t even using the room. Another conundrum to go with the kitty mind one.

Happy WOYWW everyone.

My New Brushos

The first of two posts for today.

Today my friend Lucy called round with the Brushos she bought recently. We’d agreed to go halves on these because you get plenty in each pot, which would probably last more than a lifetime because you use so little. I had bought some little pots in readiness for transferring my share over, and a few days ago, I proceeded to label them so that they were ready – in their dry form the colours are not easy to distinguish from one another.

Brushos are water-based pigments in crystal form. You can use them in a variety of ways which makes them extremely versatile. Their main feature is the intensity of the colour. You can sprinkle a few crystals onto dry paper and then spritz it with water, and from the rather dull looking crystals, the colour explodes like fireworks! Alternatively, you can spritz the paper first, and then sprinkle on the crystals. Using the sprinkle and spritz method, some of the colours break down into their component colours – for example, the black one gives quite an array of subtle shades, which is very exciting – from a single colour, you can get many colours! You can also sprinkle a little onto a craft sheet or palette and add water with a brush, and use them like ordinary watercolours. Because they are dry, you can also use them to colour moulding paste without altering the consistency, and because you can mix them, you can make custom colours of any shade you like. The possibilities are endless.

Using the sprinkle and sptitz method combined with a simple stamped image in archival black, you can make simple cards very quickly – cards that have real impact, and no two the same, as the results with the Brushos are somewhat unpredictable and random. You can add as much or as little water as you want, for a less, or more, blended effect according to your preference. They make great backgrounds.

Watch this space to see what I do with my Brushos! I have got some nice stamps to use with them, and need to get on with a Card Factory in the near future as my stash is, as usual, pretty empty of ready-made cards and I hate having to make them to a short deadline.

Here are the little pots that I bought, ready to be labelled.

Having measured the tops of the pots and found that they were 1 1/4 inches in diameter, I chose my 1 inch circle punch, and began to punch out circular labels from a roll of self-adhesive address labels. Epic fail. On the first one, the punch jammed! I had to go online to discover how to unjam it, and one suggestion was to put it in the freezer to shrink the metal! I didn’t want to hang around, so I tried their second suggestion – to spray the punch with WD40 penetrating oil. After a few minutes, the punch released itself, and I managed to pull out quite a bit of gunk from inside – sticky label, backing sheet – and then had to wipe the punch clean of oil.

The best path to trouble-free punching of sticky labels is to punch them along with a piece of scrap paper. No trouble after this. Lots of nice circular labels ready to apply.

I wrote the names of the colours on each one – again, gleaning this info from online. I was assuming Lucy had bought the standard set of 12 Brushos. The darker colours would obscure the writing somewhat, but I had my white marker pen ready to re-name those.

Then another problem – boy was it hard to peel the labels off their backing sheets! Even with pretty decent fingernails this was an absolute pain. Got there in the end, though, and stuck the labels on the pots.

I decided to labels the pots in two ways. For the lids, to mix up a small quantity of each Brusho and paint it on like a regular watercolour, and for the labels on the sides of the pots, to sprinkle and spritz them, so that I would get an accurate representation of what the colours looked like in both forms.

Here are the pots after I’d transferred my share of the Brushos, with the completed labels. You can see how intense the colours are. In each case I sprinkled a very few crystals onto my craft sheet and mixed them with a wet brush, and painted them on – in each case I had to wipe up what was left. A tiny amount goes a very long way indeed. You can also see the labels for the sides of the pots in the making – I used four self-adhesive address labels each divided into three to give the total of twelve.

The next photo shows the Brusho crystals being sprinkled onto the first label using a dry brush.

Spritzing with water. With this first one, I used a bit too much water and it spread quite a lot.

Here are all the side labels complete. I think they look great with the spritzed effect.

The pots of Brushos complete, with all their labels. You can see that I have re-written the colour name on the black and purple ones because the black pen was obscured by the dark colour.

A selection of colours, showing that when you spritz some of them, the pigment breaks down into its component colours, giving an interesting range of colours from one Brusho. I think my favourite of all is the black one – just look at those gorgeous colours you get! The leaf green one breaks down into green and yellow, and the emerald green into green and turquoise. Some interesting effects.

I think my pots of Brushos look a lot nicer than the original packaging! They are fun and colourful.

When you buy Brushos, they are labelled only on the sides of the pots which is a bit of a pain because they tend to be stored up against each other in the box, and you have to lift them out to see what colour they are! A lot of people make labels for the tops, which saves a lot of time and aggro. They also make a hole in the top, which they plug with a paper tack or a cocktail stick – the general consensus is “DON’T open the pot!!” but I have seen some interesting videos online where the person definitely does open the pot, and picks up a few crystals on a soft brush, and taps this over the paper to release the crystals – I think I prefer this method as one does have a little more control. I also think that having a hole in the top is going to prevent the pot being air tight, and if you live in a damp area, as we do, the crystals could start to get damp and clump together in time. It’s a matter of preference, really.

Opening Lucy’s pots so that I could transfer half over into my pots, I found the original pots very difficult to open. I suppose that’s a good thing if you aren’t supposed to open them, but as I shall be using a brush, I’d rather have my pots with the screw tops which are easy peasy to open, and give a good airtight seal when closed.

Now all I need to do is have some fun with them!

Decorations for Half-Tester, New RUBs and a Health Update

I haven’t been blogging much lately because we’ve had major problems at home with Mum and I’ve had a bit of a reaction and felt very poorly, and the stress has made my creative mojo take a walk! However, I’m feeling a bit better now, and now I’ve started the embroidery on my bed decoration pieces, this is something I can do while in the sitting room, and I am making slow but steady progress, and really enjoying it.

Embroidery

I have completed the embroidery on a few more pieces – one or two I had worked on before, but felt they needed a bit more, and some starting from scratch on the machine applique. Here are the four latest pieces:

and here are the detail shots of each one.

I added a lot of French knots on this one! Love the bobbly texture.

It’s very disappointing how photos never show up sparkly stuff – the metallic threads look quite lost in these photos, looking more like raffia! The top one has red and gold lurex thread, the second two gold, and the bottom one has copper. The little shi-sha mirrors don’t show up that well, either, but they really twinkle in the light.

If you look closely at them, you can see that the shi-sha stitch encases the edge of the little mirror, like the setting of a cabachon jewel. The stitch is a variation of chain stitch with two parts to it – you stitch alternately around the four-sided scaffold you work initially to hold the mirror in place, and into the background fabric. I love doing this stitch. You can use it to attach other things too, and I’ve done experimental pieces in the past, attaching shells and flat pebbles. I’ll have to dig out the piece sometime and photograph it, because I don’t seem to have any photos. I did a talk on shi-sha at the embroidery group I used to belong to in Plymouth and this was one of my demo pieces. I also made this purple bodice with a mount-board frame as an example:

Here is a little box I made, using the technique. To open the box, you squeeze the ends together. There is a shi-sha mirror on each of the three sides.

Looking back at this work, it makes me think I really should be getting back into embroidery again – I love it!!

Hopefully I’ll have some more photos of the bed decorations to show you soon. I’ve got a lot of work to do before I can start making them up, and then I shall make tassels to go on the end of each one – something I am really looking forward to doing, and I am already collecting images on Pinterest for my inspiration.

ARTHaven Organisation – RUBs

I have started adding to my existing collection of Really Useful Boxes (RUBs) again. Eventually nearly everything in my ARTHaven will be stored in these, and I am also collecting them for the shelves under the counter in my en-suite bathroom. I am delighted that after doing a lot of research and endless measuring and comparing, I have discovered that there are boxes that fit exactly in the various spaces I have! The effect is so much tidier than my endless scruffy cardboard boxes; they also keep the stuff better, and you can see through the box to see what’s in it. They have a nice uniformity of appearance whatever their size, and are starting to make my ARTHaven look really good! As the pennies allow, I shall add more in time.

On the RUB website, the prices are quite reasonable, but you have to pay postage if your order is less than £500 (and I certainly can’t afford to pay £500 all at once for boxes!). I have discovered a lot on Ebay, and you can sometimes buy multiple packs (2, 3, 5, 10 etc.) of a particular size, and many of them have free postage. Even when the price per individual box is a bit more than on the RUB website, in the long run it saves money because the postage on the RUB website bumps the price of each box up quite a lot, and also, you don’t have to buy a whole lot at once, and there are some good deals to be found.

In this photo of the floor units under the window, you can see I’ve supplemented my 9-litre collection, and also got some of the 9-litre XL boxes, which have tall lids. These are very good for storing bottles and jars, and anything that sticks up above the top edge of the box. The capacity of the box itself is the same as the regular box. The shelves in the floor units are just right for both these sizes. On the left, this large pull-out unit on casters had been a complete mess since we moved, full of a mixture of Dad’s old workshop tools, some of my tools, brackets and fixings, and my decorating stuff. This has now gone into the RUBs and once I manage to spend some time organising the contents properly, I should be able to lay my hands on what I want with ease.

I love how the blue handles clip in place, locking the lids.

Moving over to the storage area on the other side of the room, I have the free-standing cabinet that the previous owner of the house left in my bathroom. I am delighted that each of the open shelves in the centre exactly accommodates one 19-litre RUB. I had a couple of these, and have now completed the set.

Unfortunately, because the doors occupy some space, I cannot get them in the cupboards, but that doesn’t matter because when closed, the contents don’t show anyway. The cupboards are full of fabrics, picture frames and Ikea mirrors for altering, amongst other things.

On the wall opposite the window is the large wall unit, and in this picture you can see the progress I am making. On the left, the shelves are filled with plastic containers that I got years ago from our local supermarket – they had contained things like coleslaw for the deli counter, and I asked them to save them for me, and some of them had margarine in them – I used to buy large quantities for baking, and saved all the boxes which have been incredibly useful over the years – in their first incarnation they were kitchen storage boxes, and like many of my kitchen things, eventually found their home in my ARTHaven! These containers will remain, and not be replaced by RUBs. They contain haberdashery. The centre shelves now house two 9-litre RUBs end-to-end, and one of several of the long 22-litre boxes I have, which are useful for storing rolls of paper. Not all the RUBs stack with each other, but I have found that I can stack two 9-litre boxes end to end on top of a 22-litre box. The contents won’t necessarily stay as they are – the whole thing is still in a state of flux.

I am so looking forward to replacing the untidy cardboard boxes! I shall be getting some 25-litre boxes to go on top of this wall unit, and on top of my mixed media wall unit over the other side of the room as well. The shelves on the right of the large wall unit will continue to be used for drawing stuff (my Zentangle stuff is there) and I shall keep the pretty box on the top shelf, which houses my metallic embroidery threads and embroidery sequins and beads. It all just needs tidying up and organising a bit better.

The bottom shelf in the middle at the moment holds all my soap making stuff. The brown plastic box on the left has essential oils and other liquids for soap, beauty and cleaning products I am going to make. The rest of the soap stuff will go in RUBs once I get them.

Once I get the large black shelf unit in the storage area better organised, I will show you photos of that. I am very thrilled that this unit, which is all that remains of a much larger unit which came out of a shop that was closing down, is exactly the right size for some under-bed storage boxes I had (not RUBs), and also accommodate the 22-litre RUBs end-wise, and the 9-litre and 19-litre boxes.

Health Update (Not TMI, I hope!! No need for the more squeamish among you to read on…)

I am now in the throes of preparation for my regular two-yearly colonoscopy which is taking place on Monday morning. On Wednesday I stopped taking my colitis medication and also my iron, and yesterday was the first day of the special low-fibre diet you have to go on. Today is the second day. During these two days I am not allowed any fruit or vegetables, and can’t have my lovely breakfast porridge (oatmeal) and have to have cornflakes instead – I always say there’s more nourishment in the packet than in the actual cornflakes! They are soooo boring… I can have white bread (I am eating French bread which I love) and butter and other dairy stuff (milk, yoghurt, rice pudding etc.). I can have potatoes with no skins, and white rice but no whole grains or nuts. I can have protein such as chicken and fish, and I can drink apple juice, tea, coffee and plenty of water.

On the final day (tomorrow) I cannot eat any solid food except jelly, for 24 hours before the procedure, but if I have my breakfast at a reasonable time that will be OK. For the rest of the day it will just be clear soup, apple juice, water, tea or coffee without milk (which I don’t like so will avoid, apart from green tea with honey). I am allowed jelly, and jelly babies for energy! I am encouraged to drink plenty of fluids right up to the time of the examination.

Tomorrow the worst part will be taking the powerful laxatives to purge my system. I have to take a bottle of senna, and then twice during the day, a sachet of Picolax dissolved in water. The effect of this is severe and acute diarrhoea, so I intend camping out in the bedroom so I can make frequent quick dashes into my en-suite bathroom! Previous experience has shown that my rear end gets very sore, and they recommend the application of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) to soothe the skin, and I am also prepared with two packs of unperfumed moist toilet tissue. The whole business is most unpleasant, and to make it easier, I am planning on surrounding myself with my laptop, a collection of DVDs that I’ve been saving for the purpose, my embroidery, books and my iPod!! Also containers of jelly, jelly babies, a Thermos of my best Jewish chicken soup (of which I could drink gallons, no problem!) made in advance, and jugs of water and apple juice!! With the kitties for warmth and company, I should be fine.

On Monday morning my hubby will drop me off at the hospital, and they will give me a sedative before inserting the camera into my bowel. They usually need to pump you up with CO2 (they used to use air, but with the muscle relaxant drug they give you, this caused an unacceptable amount or discomfort from wind retention afterwards – the CO2 is absorbed painlessly into the body). Because people who suffer from ulcerative colitis are at higher risk than the normal population of developing bowel cancer, they will look for pre-cancerous polyps and remove any they find, and will probably take a biopsy as well. The procedure really isn’t too bad, and afterwards, because of the sedative, one remembers very little about it. There is a recovery period, and then they will give me some food. Last time I asked for brown bread egg sandwiches and a cup of tea (I had two large cups) and it tasted like a king’s banquet – even the disgusting hospital tea!! Once I am home, I can start eating normally again, and go back on my medication.

I’ll let you know how I get on…

WOYWW 289

For information on how to join in the nosey fest where we all see what everyone has on their messy work desks, please click on the WOYWW logo in my sidebar, which will take you to our hostess Julia’s blog.

Sorry folks – couldn’t get online last night and then this a.m. forgot all about uploading this post and signing up for WOYWW! Better late than never, I suppose. It is still Wednesday, after all!!

My main work area has been cleared now that I have finished my recycled mini-album, so nothing of interest to photograph! However, this is the work surface on the other side of the room, where I have dumped all the soaps, bath bombs and bath melts that I’ve made in the soap making class, together with some wrapping materials, ready to wrap them and prettify them ready to give away! You can also see the box which contains my essential oils and other bits and pieces, and the bottles of my home-made infused lavender oil.

Please see my previous post for details of the final three soap making classes and some photos of the soaps etc. that I made. I simply hadn’t the time to keep up to date with posting about those, being so busy completing the album, and there’s been lots of other stuff going on, too. My mum had 3 TIAs last Thursday and in the late afternoon we found her on the floor and couldn’t get her up, so she ended up in hospital for a few days. She made a good recovery and came home again yesterday. We are busy trying to get things organised for her so she is safer around the house. There is no guarantee she won’t have more of these mini-strokes and they could be the prelude to a big one, but all we can do is continue to give her her warfarin and hope for the best.

With my hubby’s broken wrist and not being allowed to drive, this has complicated matters considerably. Thank goodness all our amenities are close by, because we’ve had to rely on taxis and lifts. It is likely that he will have to remain in plaster for another four weeks after Christmas until they are sure that the tiny, but very important, bone, has mended properly. Never rains but it pours, does it.

I have heard from the hospital with details of my upcoming colonoscopy which is now to take place in January. That will be nice to look forward to in the New Year (not…)!

Yesterday I managed to pick up my knitting again and am working on the final stage, picking up the stitches for the neck. I am hoping to finish it this week and hopefully have some photos of it for you to see.

Happy WOYWW, everybody, and again, my apologies for visiting so few of you last week.

Third, Fourth and Fifth Soap Making Classes

I’ve got really behind with posting about the soap making classes, because I was going all out to finish the recycled mini-album and have been very busy with other things.

In the third class we did layering and embedding with the soaps. The first one we did was supposed to be like a snow globe, but unless you use crystal clear soap base (which is not SLS free and may not be hypoallergenic) it is rather translucent and spoils the effect a bit. We were provided with little plastic gingerbread men to embed in the soap, suspended on wires while the soap hardened. We were supposed to put glitter in the clear soap, but of course Shoshi forgot, so hers is a snow globe with no snow lol! (Global warming, perhaps?!!) Anyway, most of our results fell short of satisfactory, with most people’s gingerbread men coming out at a jaunty angle and looking drunk, and mine certainly fitted that description, made worse by the fact that his feet were sticking out through the base!

I was very unhappy with this. This style of soap isn’t what I’m interested in making anyway, because as you know, cutesy isn’t my style… However, my lovely cleaning lady loved it, so I am giving it to her! At least someone is happy…

The other two soaps we made were much more satisfactory.

First of all, we made tiny red hearts from white soap base, in small moulds. We then put some white soap base (coloured if we wanted, and with fragrance added) into the base of a full-sized heart-shaped mould, and the teacher took these away to pop in the freezer to speed up the setting process. When they came out, we scored the surface to roughen it, and sprayed it with a little rubbing alcohol, both of which helped the next layer to adhere properly. We then poured in some clear soap (also coloured and fragranced as desired) and while it was still liquid, we added the little red hearts we’d made earlier. These came out very much better.

In the fourth class, we made bath bombs. This didn’t grab me at all… You mix bicarbonate of soda with citric acid (both white powders) and then spritz with water, taking great care not to make it too wet or it just fizzes away. For colour, we used powdered colour rather than liquid, and added a few drops of essential oil or fragrance oil for scent. We mixed it up well and kept spritzing until it had the consistency of wet sand, and then squashed it into a mould and turned it out onto the table and left it to dry.

I hated doing this; the powder got into my mouth, nose and eyes, which was most unpleasant, and I had a job getting the consistency just right. I managed to make quite a good selection, though, and once wrapped, they looked pretty good.

I tried one in the bath, and after an initial fizz, that was it! I much prefer a good soak in bubble bath, so shan’t be making these again. The ones I’ve made will be nice for presents because I know a lot of people do enjoy bath bombs.

In the fifth and final class, we made bath melts. This was a lot more satisfactory than the previous week’s efforts. We mixed shea butter and coconut oil with some almond oil, in some empty tin cans the teacher provided – she had made wire handles for these. They were lowered into a pan of boiling water on the hob, and melted gently. Once melted, we could add fragrance and/or colour, and then pour the liquid into moulds to set. Again, the teacher put them in the freezer to speed things up, because these take quite a long time to set, preferably being left overnight, and we had to have them hard enough to carry home.

Again, I don’t think I shall bother to make these again. Really they are just a base for introducing fragrance into the bath, adding a bit of moisturising along the way. Not bubbly enough for me!

The other night I had my first aromatherapy bath. I’d read online that you should not put neat essential oil into the bath because it tends to clump together and can come into contact with your skin, which can cause irritation because it is incredibly strong. There are very few essential oils which are safe to apply direct to the skin; normally they are diluted in a carrier oil. One website said that you should mix it with a tablespoonful of carrier oil (I used olive oil) and pour that into the bath. I used lavender oil, and also put some in the top of my little oil burner that has a tea light underneath, and leaving the bedroom lamp on and turning off the other lights, I lit several candles and had a wonderful soak – I’d also added some fragrance-free bubbles – it was the most fantastic experience, really relaxing and lovely, but oh boy, the state of the bath afterwards… I use an inflatable bath lift (known as Boris!) and also a non-slip rubber mat, and everything, including the bath, was extremely greasy. After feeling so relaxed after the bath, all I wanted to do was fall into bed and enjoy the benefits, and not waste the whole effect by spending half an hour cleaning up the mess, so I left it till the next day. It took me ages to get it clean, and I had to use some multi-surface cleaner to disperse the oil (Ecover, made of natural stuff, but even so, that stuff gets in my throat and makes me cough!) – I was NOT a happy bunny.

I went on the soap making forum I have joined – they have an essential oils section – and asked for advice on a painless way to clean up, and several people said that they never used the carrier oil as the clean-up was such a bore, and I now have some instructions for home-made bath salts, using Epsom salts, into which you sprinkle some essential oil and keep it in a jar. You can colour it, too. It looks gorgeous! I now have some Epsom salts on order and am keen to try.

This is all a huge learning curve, and it is great fun learning how to make my own beauty products, and I know exactly what’s gone into them, and can colour and fragrance them as I like. They also make gorgeous presents. I am also learning about making my own cleaning products which will be natural, and also very cheap to make, and not full of harsh, strong-smelling chemicals, which I have come to dislike intensely since I developed M.E. – many people develop chemical sensitivity, and it’s nice to be able to avoid these things.

I’ll keep you up to date with the things I make. I’ve gradually been collecting bits and pieces online, mostly from Ebay – moulds, essential oils, soap bases, etc. I shall also be using my other skills to create pretty labels and packaging for them, and I am saving suitable empty bottles and containers.

Second Soap Making Class–Natural Soaps

Last night I had the most fun ever, at our second soap class. After starting last week with basic mould-and-pour using fancy moulds, tonight the shapes were more basic, but the soaps themselves were just wonderful, coloured and fragranced with natural materials.

We used the basic mould-and-pour soap bases we used last week – white and clear. For colour, instead of using synthetic colours, the teacher brought natural powders such as turmeric and cosmetic-grade clays in various colours. The fragrances were all natural too – essential oils and the natural scent of the various additives. She also brought along bags of different botanicals to add for colour and texture, such as tiny flowers, petals, wheatgerm, cinnamon sticks, and dried sliced orange. Everything looked so wonderfully natural and subtly coloured, and as for the smells! My hands continued to smell lovely for several hours afterwards! If none of the subsequent classes are as fun and fulfilling as last night’s, I shan’t mind – I think most of my own soap making from now on is going to be along natural lines.

Having M.E. I can be a bit sensitive to chemical smells, and last night I spent some time going through the two boxes of liquid fragrances the teacher brings – firstly the essential oils, and secondly the fragrance oils, which are synthetic. The latter did not appeal to me at all! They all smelt very artificial and unpleasant to me. However, the essential oils had no detrimental effect at all and with a few exceptions I loved them all. This gave me an idea of what to get for my own supplies.

At the end of the class we spent some time wrapping our soaps from our teacher’s big bag of goodies. I completed this process when I got home.

One of the soaps we made was orange soap. This was made from the transparent base, coloured with natural orange colouring (turmeric) and fragranced with orange essential oil – this smells totally gorgeous… When we turned them out of the moulds, we took a little melted soap base and dipped half a dried slice of orange in it and stuck it to the top of the soap.

Another soap we made was cinnamon and wheatgerm. This was made from the white base, coloured with natural powder colour, with the wheatgerm adding colour as well, and fragranced with cinnamon essential oil. The powder colours cannot just be added to the soap or they go lumpy. You have to put them in a small container and pour in a small amount of melted soap and make a paste, a bit like a roux in cooking, which is then returned to the soap. After pouring the soap into the mould we added a cinnamon stick to the top. The mould we used for this soap was round, with straight sides, so there was no “up” or “down,” which meant we could add any embellishment to the top after pouring. Normally the top of the finished soap is at the bottom of the mould, and if you put something in the bottom of the mould it tends to float to the surface, so the embellishments have to be added afterwards with a shaped mould.

As you can see, I finished the wrapping of this soap with some raffia. I love the choice of natural packaging for natural soaps!

Finally, my favourite soap of the evening. This was a seasonal one, and quite stunning – gold, frankincense and myrrh soap!

This was made from the white base and some people coloured theirs with natural powder colour; however, I followed the teacher’s lead and didn’t add any extra colour, but depended on the botanicals to give a subtle colour. We added frankincense essential oil for fragrance, and ground up myrrh gum, which still had a somewhat grainy appearance. I was intrigued to hear that the gum is supplied in small lumps called “tears” – considering that myrrh is symbolic of death, embalming and the tomb, this seemed appropriate. Finally, the gold… After the soaps had come out of the moulds, our teacher produced some 24 carat pure gold leaf, and we added flakes of this to the top of the soap using a soft brush. This is soooo beautiful… The soap also smells out of this world, and as it is not a specifically feminine fragrance, but more spicy and exotic, it would be suitable for a man, too.

Before I show you the photo of this soap, I will show you the process of making a decorative band which would do justice to this precious soap. At the class, I merely wrapped it in cellophane (necessary to protect the soap from the air and from fingerprints).

I looked in my “card strips” box to see if there were any offcuts that were suitable. I found a strip of Core’dinations “gemstones” in a soft gold colour, and put this through the Cuttlebug, using the Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades “Damask” embossing folder. First of all I tried highlighting the embossed parts with gold gilding wax but this didn’t show up as much as I’d hoped, so I painted it with burnt umber acrylic paint.

Adding a layer of iridescent medium just made it look too silvery, so I mixed some with some more burnt umber and painted this on, working it well into all the recesses in the embossing.

When it was dry, I squeezed a little metallic gold acrylic paint onto my craft sheet and picked it up on my brayer.

Rolling it carefully onto the embossed strip, I was able to apply gold to the highlights.

I decided it was a bit too wide, so I trimmed down the sides (keeping the narrow strips in my card strips box – never throw anything away lol!) and then matted and layered it onto a scrap of gold mirror card, which really finished it off.

After making a bow with my bow maker, I wrapped the band around the soap, added some of the same ribbon as the bow, and attached it with glue dots. This is the result.

I really think this packaging does justice to this beautiful soap. In the picture you can see the gold leaf reflecting the light. This has to be my absolute favourite soap ever! It is really special.

Here are the three soaps I made, wrapped and embellished ready to give away. I still need to make labels to stick on the back of the soaps.

I am definitely going to make more natural soaps. All of these are gorgeous, and there are so many more combinations to discover and experiment with. I have seen natural soap made in a large mould and then sliced once it was set – this gives a beautiful hand-made effect, and it looks gorgeous with lots of botanicals on the top! I have also seen this with different layers, which show across the slices. Clear soaps can have botanicals suspended inside so you can see them. The possibilities are endless!

Before we leave the subject of gold, frankincense and myrrh, when I told my hubby about the soap, he found something to show me – a little box which a friend had given him several years ago. I had never seen this before, and I was entranced.

The box itself is beautiful – made of thin wood, very plain.

It hides a secret within!

Some detail shots.

I think the design on the inside of the lid could be adapted to create a beautiful label for the soap. Pulling the little tabs inside the box removes the semi-circular covers, revealing this.

Between the purple tissue are sheets of gold leaf, and in the compartments, real frankincense and myrrh. Isn’t that just perfect?

Finally, yesterday I strained and bottled the lavender oil I have made. A couple of months or so ago, our neighbour from opposite was cutting back her lavender and gave us a huuuuge bunch, asking if I could do anything with it! I said that yes, I certainly could, and decided to make some infused oil with it. Making essential oils is a difficult process involving distillation and I didn’t feel up to that, but you can make wonderful fragrance oils by distilling things in oil and leaving them to steep for several weeks. I filled a jar with the flowers that I pulled off the stems, and then poured enough grapeseed oil into the jar so that it came up to the top. Grapeseed oil is very good for this because it has no smell of its own. It is a pleasant, pale green colour, and easily obtainable from the supermarket. Over the first week or so I stirred the mixture daily, and kept it for the whole time in the airing cupboard, covered with kitchen paper to let it breathe but to keep the dust out, and stirring occasionally, when I remembered. I strained it into bottles. The small bottles are blue glass (not particularly visible because the finished lavender oil is quite a dark green colour). I bought three with dropper tops to give away, and one with a pipette dropper for my own use. The bulk of the oil has gone into a larger brown bottle which had had some medicine in it. I made some labels, using a permanent black pen and colouring with distress inks (Milled Lavender – appropriately! – and Mowed Lawn).

This oil smells out of this world! I shall be using it to fragrance my soaps, and also the lotions and creams that I intend making.