Boteh Scarf

I made this scarf for either my mother or aunt. Not sure who will get it. Depends on the next on that I make. It works up really fast and took about 3 days to complete in between work and life. I just finished it today...only had to do the edge to finish.

I decided that most gifts this holiday will be handmade instead of bought. I am tired of getting people gift cards. I don't know what they buy or even if they use them. I would rather get the gratification of seeing them opening something that I have spent the time and energy making then something that I just bought because they it was the only thing they wanted.

The soap guillotine

I decided to make a cutting tool with my father to make it easier to cut the soap straight. My father came up with the "soap guillotine". It works really well for making the straight cuts that I haven't been able to do. We made it out of oak and set the dimensions for the cutter to fit snug so that it can't twist or fall out. The structure of it really works well and I have set measurements so that I can cut 1", 1 1/2" and 2" slices. It is wide enough to accommodate any of my blocks of soap.
By the way, the black soap is my first attempt at using active charcoal in my soap. It is a very deep black color and is supposed to help remove oils from your skin. We will see.

My soap area

Well, here are some pics from my soap corner in the basement. I store all my soap by the furnace so that the area stays a little warmer than the rest of the basement. There is also a dehumidifier located in the area to keep the basement a bit dryer. I have about 70 pounds of soap down there right now. Some that has cured for a couple of months are in shoe boxes to open up space for the new stuff. It is very crowded down there right now and hopefully I will find a better solution. I am looking for some bread crates that they use for shipping to store my fresh soap on. They stack nicely and have great ventilation. I am still hoping to come across some of them that are damaged so that I can get them for free. I am a bit cheap:)

Pictures........finally

IKEA soap

Well, here are a couple of pictures. This is the second batch of IKEA soap that I swirled. I still have to take pics of the first version. I did it very easily by putting the soap into 2 separate measuring cups and added the pigments. Then, after the pigments were completely incorporated, I used the measuring cups to add the soap to the mold by alternating the pours.

IKEA soap

Well, I must confess, I would for IKEA. I decided to make some soap for some of my coworkers that was yellow and blue. So, yesterday I decided to experiment with some new pigments that I had ordered. Never worked with anything like it before. It was a bit harder than I would have expected. The soap started of a bit yellow, so I added some titanium dioxide to it. It turned to a rather ugly color of yellowish-white. Not what I would have chosen. I then took some of the mixture and started to work with the pigments. They were really hard to incorporate and I hope that I mixed it enough not to leave dots. We will see. I will post some pictures later when I cut them tomorrow.
On another note, my friend Marion will be coming over tomorrow to soap for the first time. Should be fun. I will cut the IKEA soap when she is here so that she can see the whole process. We will be making salt bars and another soap. Till then...Matt

homemade log molds

These are made of oak that my father had laying around. He has a large woodworking shop at his house, so I didn't need to purchase anything for it. We made them in a day and I was using them the next day. They work amazingly well and now all I need is a miter box to cut the soap into even 1 inch bars. I guess that is on the list of things to do on our next trip north.
I have 2 sizes, 2- 3 pound molds with lids and 1- 6 pound mold with lid. I have found that I really don't need to use the lid since I can just cover them with blankets. They are self-insulating, but I still like to cover them to make sure that the soap gels and is allowed to cool slowly.

my box mold

This box mold came from a job that my partner had. It works great and holds about 6 pounds of soap. It must be lined with freezer paper and releases really easily.

Welcome

I guess this is where I start. I will be posting as I can, showing my successes and failures in soap making and other crafts. I will start by welcoming you and show you some of my soap molds that I made with my father. They are really easy to make and use and very inexpensive. That's it for now, I have to go to work and make money to continue making soap.