Soaping during Tropical Storms - a saga - as told by denise/deBRAT

Preface:For those that like my stories of soaping mis-adventures, this one is a doosey! enjoy!

NOVEL:Okay so I know better. I'm an adult. Have been for many years. I have been known to make good decisions in life but sometimes I forget myself and make decisions like I am that 16 year old that my mind's eye still sees my physical self as.....

Last night was the third night of dh being away on a business trip. Monday night as you may recall, I made three different batches of soap with varied results with Crystal (soap virgin) there. Tuesday I wound up at dinner with my gf and her three kids so no soaping stuff that night. So last night was the last night I could do any soaping until I go to Judi In Jax's this weekend!

I drag all my stuff out of the hallway where I left it Monday night, because I COULD with dh away. And I'm sure there are others who read that with the proper appreciation for inflection of the word could. And I decide to make a double batch of the 3 oil batch from Monday night that lathers so nicely and inexpensively and moves so quickly to make. Recalc the lye at www.the-sage.comand measure out the lye, decide to go with just water this batch and as I am begining to pour the lye into the water a downright DELUGE of rain falls from the sky! OH crap! What was I thinking? Of course, it will rain heavily and the wind will kick up because there is a Tropical Storm now effecting my area of Florida and I am trying to soap. stupid ninny....

so I proceed, as my lye is now in the water and I sure as heck am not going to risk forgetting the lye water is there on the table and pack it all up... and then have dh come home and feed the water to one of my plants or something. and i'm not going to go out in the DELUGE and pour it some place safe as a disposal method.... so I plod on hoping that the wind stays rather lowish and the rain stays on the out part of the screen room.... measure my oils dump them in the crock pot to begin to warm in hopes of "meeting" the lye temps soon and......

drip drip drip goes the water.... drip drip drip my lanai roof is leaking? Oh crap! (again)
I decide well if I'm going to make soap during a Tropical storm it should smell like I did, and find my lovely special-ordered-only-at-Gathering Tangerine Rain(lebermuth).... oh how appropriate..... measure it out on my scale and think(I should NEVER think) lets see how this might smell with a touch of black pepper in it......

we will never know.....

I came back with my black pepper (TFO's) and what do my HORRIFIED eyes spy????????
one disinigrating-before-me styrofoam cup of Tangerine Rain FO..... I cannot change the font in my post.... be assured it is now at like 72 pt font CAPS and BOLD when I say oh CRAP!

So now I scramble. Trying to salvage the FO only to realise that the cup is melting, not just a hole in it, literally melting away like it was the Wicked Witch with a bucket of water on her. (Can you jear Dorothy laughing away at me?) I grab the paper towels (I use a LOT of paper towels when I soap LOL) and try to mop it up some.... oh CRAP! my scale is plastic.... the FO is making my scale very very very very tacky! Not as in not-chic, but sticky tacky....so i take out its battery and rush to my sink and try to figure out how to remove most of the FO from the scale without the water ruining the scale's ability to weigh.... at $30 I sure did not want to buy another one this soon into my soapmaking career.

Conclusion: Well I made soap but I am now hoarding what remains of my Tangerine Rain and the soap has a nice lemon California scent with chamomile tea leaves added to it instead. And the second batch came out okay and it too is NOT Tangerine Rain but lavendar and oatmeal and I think I should give up on that combination, that one NEVER has a successful batch. OH! and guessie what? I made them both only to trace and additives stage.... I put them in the molds to GEL! I did cold process... well sort of as I continue to heat the mix in my crockpot until trace then cut off the crockpot.

I also ordered a bunch of molds from Upland yesterday and they are winging their way to me as of yesterday late afternoon. Hopefully, with all the rubberbands the molds need.
I have a pic of the cup and of today's cuttings but the camera is at home. so will try to find time to download them tonight and post tomorrow. If not, it will not be until tuesday or wednesday some time til the pics show up.

so just to let you know that it started with the DELUGE at about 6 pm last evening and as of noonish today the "should have stayed in bed" continues. today from when I woke up and the one mold won't release my second batch of soap, to the unexpected traffic delay (did you know that 15 mins in traffic is just long enough to make another bad decision and try to drink your Sunny Delight from a travel coffee mug that will not cooperate and wind up with Sunny D in your lap? And the number of papertowels/napkins in your car is directly related to the equation: paper's absorbancy %= 75% of ounces of liquid spilled and soaking into clothing item) to the student STILL with an account problem since last friday's phone call at 5 mins to 8 am and it goes on and on my friend like that song....

soapy disaster prayers and hugsdenise/deBRAT
Thought for the day: if grease takes out grease (oil laundry sticks) does this mean that salt soap will clean up sweat? I was mighty mighty sweaty after last night adventures and cleaned up with a salt swap bar :)

Thanksgiving Day Soap Pictures!

Hey all,

Here is a picture of the Thanksgiving Day Soap after it has been made and cut since July 26th. This AM I cut a bar into 3 samples and look at the cool coloring it currently has. It is in the bottom right of the picture.

To the left, in a flower shape, is my peppermint EO salt soap cut into thick sticks with a clear and melt overpour with Rosemary EO that has the claim to fame of being my first (and only) bar of soap sold! Woohoo! I'm framing one of the dollars she paid me with :)

To the upper portion the pink rectangle is the BUS peppermint EO Salt Soap in its original form. Too ugly to send off as part of the swap but too wonderful to pitch and way too hard to rebatch, plus all that salt in there..... did not want that just melting away to nothingness.... so Anhoki/Angela suggested the melt and pour over pour. Of course, as I march to the beat of my own stubborn drummer, I should tell you that Anhoki/Angela made that suggestion after the first batch failed. I, my non-listening self, managed to foul up several more batches before officially panicing about the impending arrival date deadline and doing the resulting overpour. by the way, it is one of the few soaps I put the WHOLE bar into my own shower.... smile.... but by far my two favorite soaps are the peppermint salt, ugly though it may be and the Thanksgiving Day soap... now to experience the adventure of trying to re-create the same recipe (yes, I kept notes) and getting the same results!


Okay, you have waited long enough for the picture!

hugs and happy soaping adventures,
denise/deBRAT