The Arty Soaper

The Simply Angelic webshop is live!

2011-11-08T19:06:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been live for about a month or so now *hangs head in shame*, I just hadn't got round to announcing it on my blog!
Gah, I'll never get rich with such a lax attitude!!

Now, I am going to assume that you just might want the web address :D

www.simplyangelic.bigcartel.com

So far, my customers have been very happy with the melts, which is fantastic, and something I am very proud of.

Here are images of some of the melts currently on offer.

Frosted Berry is a wonderfully sweet scent based upon peppermint, vetiver and patchouli.

Brandysnap is a sumptuous Christmas scent of cinnamon, sweet orange and tangerine essential oils.

Bring Me Sunshine is perfect for burning at this time of year as it lifts the spirits on dark, damp, autumnal days.

At £3.75 per pack of 6, these are wonderful for either treating yourself, or as a gift. Bear us in mind when picking out your stocking fillers this Christmas.

xx

Avocado and honey shampoo bar

2011-08-13T19:06:00.000+02:00

Wow, is it really been this long since I last blogged!?! Talk about neglect :s

Anyway, this bar was inspired by the avocado and honey hair mask I use about once a month. My hair loves the mask so I decided to try it in a 'poo bar. Scented with eucalyptus, lemongrass and may chang essential oils to clarify and cleanse the hair, it contains pureed avocado and, yes, you guessed it, honey!!

I'll let you know how I go on with it.....think I'll have to lower the superfat as the avocado is quite oily, which, in my excitement at actually soaping for the first time in months, I forgot to take into account. Nevermind, it smells divine.....hopefully it'll be good to use too.

Deviant Friday

2011-05-13T19:55:00.000+02:00

From here on in I'll be doing a feature entitled Deviant Friday, where the beautiful works of chosen artists will be displayed here. Each week the theme of the feature will change, highlighting artists using various media and subject matter.
As my main artistic interests lie with traditional media, this week will feature artists who work within this category, concentrating on paintings.

Feel free to go and browse the galleries of these artists and be inspired by their unique interpretations of their chosen subject matter.

Daughter of the Sea by loonaki

Miasma by riingo

Playing in the Heat and Cold by nibybiel

Manton by rpintor

From Formless Lips by Hrefngast.deviantart.com

Redemption by greeneyedsiren

Horseportrait7 by jbconcept

Next week I shall be concentrating on digital artwork, specifically photomanipulation.

Oh, and whilst we're on the subject of Deviant Art, you can also find *my* gallery at Sleeping Dragon Art

Until next time :-)

Links of interest

2011-05-07T23:34:00.000+02:00

I've neglected both of my blogs of late so as I'm browsing the web using Stumbleupon I thought I'd share some of the links and pages I find along the way.

First up is a cute little project for reusing the various jars that we all end up having!
Book Page jars

Having been looking at alternative ways to display plants/flowers in my postage stamp sized garden, this next project struck a chord.
Tyre planter

Along a similar theme are these ideas for creating colour in your garden if, like me, you have limited space.
Spacially challenged

A plethora of crafty projects can be found at this lovely site.
A Little Hut

And lastly(because I'm off to bed in a sec!) a lovely way to transfer nature directly onto your art projects
Leaf and flower prints

Enjoy :-)

http://twitpic.com/4sbqc4

2011-05-02T16:10:00.000+02:00

http://twitpic.com/4sbqc4

Appetising, healthy breakfast

2011-04-23T20:12:00.000+02:00

Homemade Organic Granola Recipe
I cannot wait to try this out!

Intoxication

2011-04-09T20:32:00.000+02:00

I'd had an absolutely rubbish night's sleep the previous evening, and made up an aromatherapy blend for myself consisting of vetivert, lemongrass and clary sage. It was a very 'heavy' blend, but it did the job beautifully!
I woke up the next morning feeling inspired, and this...

...is what I came up with.
Using Redbush tea as my liquid, with added coconut cream(my most favourite ingredient....for now anyway!), and tussah silk, and charcoal plus cocoa powders for the swirls, I am in LOVE!
For the purposes of soaping, I added a touch of benzoin to the blend, and upped the lemongrass a little as, as most soapers know, citrus oils tend to fade really quickly, and I wanted to hang onto it for as long as possible.
I very nearly repeated my previous mistake of forgetting to add my essential oils, but just before I split the batter to add colour I remembered, and into the mix they went. All I can say at this point is that I then had to move very quickly. I'm not sure which of the essential oils was the offender, but one of them will have a smacked bottom next time I use it...I just need to work out the guilty party.

Despite having to move like greased lightening, I got the batter into the mould, and styled as I wanted, so all in all it was a successful batch.

Hooray, my soapy mojo is back ;-)

Someone Like You

2011-04-07T11:05:00.000+02:00

Aside from making soap, and occasionally picking up a pain brush, one of my other loves in life is music. It will always be a regret that haunts me that I never had the balls to follow my dream and take up singing as a career. I'm not saying I'd have been any good at it, but there's so much you can say with a song, so much emotion you can convey with a piano and a pure, unadulterated voice.
For me, this song here, by Adele, is everything a song should be. It's beautiful, it's pure, and it's not bolstered by any fancy tricks. It doesn't need any bolstering. It simply is.

Enjoy.

I am officially stoopid!

2011-04-04T11:09:00.000+02:00

I'd been meaning to make this particular soap for a while now, and had settled on a new look for it. So, I get all my ingredients weighed out, put together my essential oil blend of lavender, cedarwood, black pepper and clary sage, and set about putting it all together. Some tussah silk went into my lye water, coconut cream went into my oils and things were looking good.
The soap batter came to trace quite quickly(probably due to the cocoa butter I had included this time) and so I set aside a small portion of the batter to colour(I used a tiny amount of cocoa powder and some alkanet infused olive oil), added some soap chunks I'd cut up from another batch to the main portion, and proceeded to mix them in.

I then placed half of the main portion into the mould( a cute little Really Useful Box I'd bought in town over the weekend), poured a smidge of the coloured portion ontop of that, than added the rest of the batter, followed by a swirled layer of the remaining coloured soap.
As well as the chunks I'd cut up previously, I'd also made up some soap curls using a potato peeler.

So they were placed at specific intervals on the top of the soap. It looked great.
BUT, what I'd forgotten to do, and swore profusely at myself for, was add the dam essential oils!!
One was most definitely NOT amused.
At all.
I didn't want to ruin my visual masterpiece(pfft), so had no other option but to leave it scent-sually nekkid.
Damn. Blast. Buggeration.

*and breath*

I wrapped my nekkid soap up and popped it into the airing cupboard to encourage it to gel. The very last thing I wanted was a partial gel as that would have had me inconsolable.

Anyway, this is what my nekkid Fools Gold soap looks like.

Time for me to go sit alone, in the corner, sporting a very big dunce cap.......

Very quick sneaky peak at my new soap packaging.

2011-03-16T21:51:00.001+01:00

I made the pillow box myself out of 280gsm Kraft card, and I'm really happy with it. Maybe needs a little tweaking here and there, but overall I feel it's a good place to start.

Smoke and Mirrors

2011-03-09T18:45:00.001+01:00

Visually strong, yet very sensitive(much like the perfect man!), Smoke and Mirrors is the latest artisan creation from Simply Angelic. Made with 100% olive oil, with added coconut cream to boost the lather and further enhance the moisturising qualities of this soap, Smoke and Mirrors boasts an impressive array of natural ingredients including oatmeal, cocoa, cinnamon and charcoal powders respectively.


In the mould

The aroma of this very masculine soap comes from a carefully selected blend of pure essential oils including cedarwood atlas, patchouli, clary sage, sweet marjoram, and lavender(yes boys, there is a smidge of lavender in there, but don't worry, there's nothing girly about this scent at all.)
Having just washed my hands with a small sliver I took from the end of the loaf, I keep getting a faint waft of the fragrance as I type, and I have to say it is very lovely indeed.

Web wandering

2011-03-04T19:30:00.000+01:00

Found this lovely blog that I thought might be of interest to my followers, as we're all creative people :D

Kreativling

It's really inspiring, with many great ideas for all kinds of excellent arty projects.

Another fantastic find is here at Arctida . Her handmade jewellery is stunning, the photography inspired, and quality of the overall blog content means that you're sure to keep returning time and time again.

For those of you with Etsy stores, Craftcult offers many Etsy related applications and widgets to increase exposure for your handmade goodies. I haven't had a proper chance to look around the site yet, but it looks very interesting indeed.

Happy wanderings my friends, feel free to comment and add your favourite places on the web.

Happy accident

2011-03-03T20:13:00.000+01:00

You've been there yourself, right? You suddenly become inspired;an idea takes hold and you have no idea where it's taking you, or indeed what the outcome will be, but you just HAVE to find out.
Well, that happened to me today. My clary sage essential oil that I'd ordered arrived *hoorah* and I set about trying to create a smokey, masculine blend for the men in our lives.
I picked out some other oils that I believed would be suitable(namely lavender, sweet marjoram, cedarwood atlas, and patchouli) and added a drop here, a smidge there, until I was happy with the blend. As I do with every experimental blend I create, I mixed the oils into a tablespoon of vegetable oil and put it to one side to enable the scents to marry together.
Later on I began running myself a bath, and as I hadn't used a face mask for a few weeks, decided to conjure one up using a very simple base of bentonite clay, and cornflour.

I use bentonite as my skin has a tendency to be a little temperamental, and bentonite absorbs the excess oil without being too harsh, and the addition of the cornflour means that when the mask is mixed into a paste it is ultra smooth and easier to apply.
Anyway, I digress.
I wanted to add a few drops of essential oil to the mask, but couldn't decide which to choose, until I spied the premade blend I'd made earlier in the day. All the oils I'd used were skin friendly, so why not? I added a teaspoon of the blend to the clay mix,followed by enough water to make the mask into a smooth paste. It smelt divine(not at the top of my list of priorities as the mask is meant to be of therapeutic value rather than for scent alone, but it does help!) and so I retired to the bathroom to have a soak and try it out. I applied the mask to my face, massaging the clay gently onto the skin until I had an even layer on, then sat back while the mask did it's work.
Having waited 10 minutes or so, I cleaned the mask off and examined the results. Wow, wow, wow! My skin felt SO smooth, and looked really healthy. I can't stop stroking it!
I think I may have stumbled upon a recipe worth testing and developing into a saleable product to add to the Simply Angelic range. I love these little discoveries, how they shape us and our future.

Woohoooo, I am officially an happy bunny.

Coconut Milk Castile cut pics

2011-02-26T22:21:00.000+01:00

Gosh I love this soap, really, REALLY love it.

As you can see, there are lines going down the soap from where the dessicated coconut I placed on top has caught on the cutting blade, but that is a minor problem, IMHO. I honestly believe this is my favourite soap, so far.

Awaiting the arrival......

2011-02-26T07:58:00.000+01:00

......of the Clary Sage essential oil I ordered is torture. I want it NOW godamnit!
Clary isn't an oil I've used before, but it intrigues me, so I took the chance and ordered some, along with my staple oil of lavender, which I couldn't be without.
I've read that Clary is a bit of a marmite oil, you either love, or detest the scent. I'm hoping it'll be the former!

Now, I have plans for this little beauty.
First and foremost, I have read good things about it's use in hair care products, so I hope to make a shampoo bar, and eventually a liquid conditioner. Clary is meant to strengthen hair, which would be great as mine is far too temperamental for my liking.
Clary will also hopefully have a role to play in helping me sleep. I'll be using it sparingly in this regard, but will report back with the results as soon as I've tried it out.

Can't wait for it to arrive!!

EcoSoy Aroma-melts

2011-02-23T22:53:00.000+01:00

Showing off my packaging for my aroma-melts.
I'm pretty happy with it, although I need to source some slightly larger organza bags as currently the 6 melts contained within fit a littletoo snuggly inside.
Retailing at around £4 for 6 melts, these will be on sale in my Etsy store very soon.

I'm officially in love.

2011-02-22T18:50:00.001+01:00

With what you may ask?
Coconut cream.
Or, more specifically, my latest soap, a coconut cream Castille, scented with geranium, bergamot and mandarin essential oils.
Traditionally, a true Castille is made from simply olive oil, lye and water, and is known for it's unique feel which is due to the high oleic fatty acid content of olive oil. Some people, myself included, find this feel to be, um, slimy, and not overly pleasant. However, olive oil soaps are known to be incredibly mild, so, being stubborn by nature, I wanted to see if I could find an ingredient that would still keep to the traditional recipe as much as possible, but that would cut down on the slime factor somewhat!
Coconut cream was 'that' ingredient.

I made a small 4 bar batch, and am so glad that I did. What a beautiful soap it has turned out to be with a thick, lotion-like lather......and NO slime! As a bonus, it smells absolutely divine.
Usually Castille soap is cured, and considered much better for it, for months rather than weeks, as is the norm with other cold process soap.
With this in mind, I cannot wait to see just how good this lovely soap feels in around 3 months time.

uncut Castille fresh out of the mould.

Sweet darkness, envelope me.

2011-02-20T18:27:00.000+01:00

A very quick post in honour of some fabulous Deviant Artists.

Feast your eyes upon this little lot.

Enjoy.

All Purpose Beauty Balm

2011-01-11T11:35:00.000+01:00

This little pot of wonder contains my latest creation, Simply Angelic's All Purpose Beauty Balm.
Unfragranced, and coloured only by the ingredients used, it is suitable for even the most sensitive skin.
It can be used either as a traditional balm on sore or chapped skin, or as a gentle alternative to alcohol based make-up removers.
One of the main ingredients of this balm is Calendula oil, known for it's superior skin soothing properties. Calendula itself is known to have anti-inflammatory properties that make this herb ideal for adding to skincare formulations.
Other key ingredients used in our Beauty Balm include beeswax, mango and avocado butters, peach kernel oil and meadowfoam seed oil.

New scents

2010-10-14T17:28:00.000+02:00

I've been away from the blogging world for a while now and felt an update was in order!

My absence has partly been down to not having much to blog about, but also because I've been working on some scent ranges for (hopefully) products for 2011.
First up is Black Rose, a mesmerising blend of geranium, patchouli, palmarosa and black pepper essential oils. This is a seriously sexy fragrance, very feminine and seductive.
Next is Winters Kiss, a cool, refreshing blend of peppermint, rosemary, geranium and bergamot essential oils perfect for banishing the winter blues.
Sahara is, as it's name suggests, a rich, dry masculine fragrance blend of lemon, litsea, ginger and cedarwood atlas essential oils, the perfect scent for a mens range.
Hippy Chick is the fourth of our new fragrances, a captivating blend of lavender and patchouli, reminiscent of peace, love and harmony.
Our fifth essential oil blend, Sandman again utilises lavenders soothing qualities, and teams it up with cedarwood to produce a calming and relaxing blend perfect for helping you wind down at the end of a long day.
Sunny Side Up is a lively, summery fragrance combining litsea, sweet orange and palmarosa to produce a beautiful cheery scent sure to put a smile on your face.
Our last(for now) blend teams geranium with lemon and ho leaf to produce a tenacious, enlivening, playful fragrance named Fortune Teller. Zesty, floral and minty, this is one of my favourites and will cheer even the grumpiest person up!

So, that's what I've been up to........that, and making some lovely ecosoy aroma-melts using the above fragrances. I'll shortly be opening an Etsy store in order to sell these lovely melts in time for Christmas. Watch this space guys.

Until next time

x

Please bear with me

2010-07-20T15:58:00.002+02:00

......whilst I restyle my blog. I should have it done within the next couple of days.

Pear cider + Ebay = Ooops!

2010-07-13T11:40:00.000+02:00

....and first thing monday morning a package arrived containing some amla powder. Now, I vaguely remember skimming through ebay and spotting it, but I don't remember ordering and paying for it *roll eyes*. However, I had done just that, so Google was my next port of call to figure out what I was going to use it for, or rather how I was going to use it as I already knew it was used in hair products amongst other things.

Amla, or Indian Gooseberry, is an ayurvedic powder used in ancient Indian holistic medicine for both hair and skin care which contains a large amount of vitamin C. It has a spicey, sweet scent and is a dark beige colour. Reading various forums and articles gave me lots of inspiration for both formulating products, and self experimentation, so armed with amla tea(made by steeping amla powder in hot water for half an hour then straining) and an amla face mask(again, amla powder mixed with enough water to make a paste) I headed for the bathroom.

I used the amla tea as a rinse after washing my hair with one of my 'poo bars, then applied the mask and left it on for 15 mins whilst I lounged like a hippo in the water!
Having no personal experience of amla at all I really didn't know what to expect from either treatment. However, once dried, my hair was fabulously soft (almost too soft really as it was almost like baby hair), and my skin was quite taut but felt silky smooth, and still does this morning.

For now, I have more Googling to do, and much more scope for experimentation. In the meantime I resolve to stay away from Ebay post consumption of alcohol!!

Butterfly song......latest photomanipulation

2010-06-29T17:21:00.000+02:00

Prints are available here

Photo of cat at sunset

2010-05-22T10:36:00.001+02:00

2 tone Didi, originally uploaded by simplyangelic2010.

Was messing about with photoshop using a picture I took a couple of evenings ago. It was the most perfect night, warm and sultry, as every evening should be. One of my cats was enjoying the it too, snoozing on top of our car, so I grabbed my camera and took a quick snapshot. I loaded it into Photoshop and played around with lighting etc and this was the result.

Creation Collaboration, and an apology.

2010-05-19T23:43:00.000+02:00

I feel I ought to tender an apology to this fabulous collaboration and the ladies who passionately set it up for having been absent in this for the last couple of weeks. Last wednesday was awful, could barely get my head off the pillow and everytime I tried the room span and my head pounded, hence my absence.
I haven't forgotten about you ladies though, I'm here, even if I am a little late. I love visiting other blogs, being awestruck and inspired by the things I see.

These beautiful earrings caught my eye. From the blog of Aga Art these are really elegant, a step away from the 'norm', which is something that always appeals to me. The skill and craftmanship that it must take to produce such gorgeous jewellery is inspiring. Check out the rest of the blog too, you won't be disappointed.

Til next time

xx

Deviant tuesday

2010-05-11T11:49:00.000+02:00

I am an huge fan of Deviant Art and have my very own gallery on there. As I haven't had anything new to contribute to my gallery of late I thought I'd showcase the work of some very talented artists who also have galleries there.

I've chosen my favourite mythical creature, the dragon, as my theme. So much Dragon art is formulaic, and looks much like all the rest. Here are some pieces that for me stood out from the crowd.

And this last one is my absolute favourite.

Sleepy boy

2010-05-09T22:43:00.001+02:00

Sleepy boy, originally uploaded by simplyangelic2010.

I know this isn't either soapy or arty, but I just had to share this picture of my new forest pony, Lukey. He's either asleep, or hyper, there is no middle ground, bless him. This is him in one of his more mellow moments.

Ssshhhhhh, don't wake him up.

Have you ever been drawn to something......

2010-05-08T11:51:00.003+02:00

.....inexplicably?

Browsing on Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's site Shadowscapes tarot I came across this image

I don't know why this card called me....there are so many beautiful images on there, so many bright colours to be bewitched by, so why this fairly monochrome, simple image?

The meaning given for this particular card is

"Exploration, seeking out the uncharted, expanding horizons, taking a long view, leadership"

I can imagine myself standing there, on the precipice, surveying all around me, starring with wonder into the distance, feeling totally calm, at peace.

If you believe in tarot and the meanings behind it you'll perhaps tell me it's a sign. If not, maybe you'll tell me it's simply coincidence that I'm at a cross roads in my life and just happened to find this image.

Whatever the explanation I find myself looking into the future with a certain clarity that wasn't there before.

Spooky, eh?

One thing about blogging that I love

2010-05-06T09:55:00.000+02:00

....is that on one's virtual travels, there are so many delightful things to uncover and be inspired by.

One such thing I found is a most gorgeous soap I came across on Etsy. It's visually stunning, and I just bet it smells divine. Topped with fennel seeds, the lovely delicate blue top is complimented by a creamy light layer underneath. This ladles and jellyspoons, it the top tottie of the soaping world, prime soap p0rn.

Enjoy!

Experimental bath whip

2010-05-01T21:51:00.001+02:00

Experimental bath whip, originally uploaded by simplyangelic2010.

I'm so so excited, and terrified about this product as I haven't a clue if it'll work out, but you don't know if you don't try, eh?
It's basically a kind of rebatch, with additional liquid and oils added, fragrance added after the rebatch, therefore you use less.
It's whipped, whipped, then whipped some more!

I'm also trialling the packaging, so in effect this experiment is twofold......ooh, exciting stuff *giggle*

Acai Oil

2010-04-30T22:44:00.000+02:00

pronounced Ah-sigh-ee.

Where might one purchase this very elusive oil in the UK? I've been doing more research for future products and came across this little beauty.......but can I find it? Can I buggery!!!!

One is not amused.
All I've come up with so far is that anything even Acai related is extortionately expensive.

Rosalie

2010-04-30T21:22:00.001+02:00

Rosalie, originally uploaded by simplyangelic2010.

This is an everyday shampoo bar made with my usual blend of olive oil, walnut and coconut oils, with added sunflower oil and a dash of honey.
Scented with bergamot, palmarosa and an hint of Ylang.

Again, made using the hot process method.

The Sage

2010-04-25T22:23:00.001+02:00

the-sage, originally uploaded by simplyangelic2010.

A new shampoo bar for brunettes, or those with itchy, flaky scalps.
Made with sage infused olive oil, walnut oil, avocado oil and a touch of coconut oil.
Scented with cedarwood, tea tree, peppermint and sweet basil essential oils, all of which are reported to help maintain an healthy scalp and hair.

I made this one HP, as I will be making all my shampoo bars as this allows me to add specific oils/butters and additives for specific hair care needs.

Collaboration Wednesday

2010-04-21T17:10:00.000+02:00

What a wonderful idea, online networking at it's best. Just imagine the journey this could take you on....

Moonlight Path by Lillyrose

2010-04-21T10:31:00.001+02:00

Moonlight Path 2, originally uploaded by Dream On World.

I was browsing some serious soap p0rn on Flickr and came across this delicious soapy beauty.
It's incredibly eyecatching, and visually unusual, which always appeals to me. This is the kind of soap I would buy, the kind of soap I aspire to make.
It really is very beautiful, and deserving of the title 'artisan'.

Cucumber Slumber

2010-04-19T23:44:00.001+02:00

Cucumber Slumber, originally uploaded by simplyangelic2010.

This was made yesterday and I've just finished cutting and trimming.
Although it's unscented it's beautifully sweet smelling, very fresh and mild.
Made with extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil, along with pureed cucumber this little soapy wonder is incredibly mild

Just need to wait for a few weeks whilst it cures!

I Avo Dream

2010-04-18T10:20:00.000+02:00

My latest soapy offering, entitled 'I Avo Dream' in reference to the inclusion of avocado oil, avocado butter, and pureed avocado! Phew :D

Scented with sweet basil, peppermint, rosemary and a touch of litsea......the resultant scent is of mint humbugs, sweet, minty with a hint of something deeper from the sweet basil.

Scaremongering much!

2010-04-09T09:02:00.000+02:00

Whilst I was browsing the interweb for bio-packaging for my products, I came across an article that made me giggle, not because it was particularly funny, but because it is scaremongering at it's best, as well as being ill-informed and poorly written.
Entitled Are cosmetics destroying the planet it contradicts itself in several places, and produces barely credible 'evidence' to back up it's claims.
May I suggest that, if you need to write an article so entitled, you take the time to research the subject fully, not just use gross generalisations to promote your own agenda.

Creativity continued.....

2010-04-07T12:15:00.001+02:00

For once, I have actually managed to stick to my creativity pledge *woohoooooooooo*

I've begun stitching my cross-stitch art card, I've made a soap, and a 'poo bar, plus I've been continuing playing with a recipe for a soap-based shower smoothie, and so far so good.

Here are some pics to prove to the world that I can indeed remain motivated, if I put my mind to it

I'm really happy with both soaps.

Man, I adore this song

2010-04-04T08:31:00.000+02:00

Such beauty, and purity in both voices, such simple yet striking lyrics.

Enjoy :D

Creativity pledge

2010-03-30T21:44:00.000+02:00

This is something I've taken in order to kickstart my creative juices, wake up my lazy muse, and start to feel like I'm accomplishing something.
The pledge is to produce, or do, something creative everyday over the Easter holidays.
I started yesterday with making a little ATC artcard. I don't particularly like it, but that isn't the objective here.

Today, I've made some 'Snap' cards with my son, and began designing another ATC, this time I'll be cross-stitching one as I have oodles of fabric that's just sitting about doing nothing!

It feels good to be using my creative brain again :D

Minty foot scrub

2010-03-25T15:46:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd better post something else, just incase you'd all gone to bleach your eyeballs after seeing the Butt-Ugly Bloke soap I posted about a little earlier!

So here is a visual feast of foot scrubby goodness containing bentonite clay, walnut oil, sea salt, pappermint leaves, beeswax and lavender and peppermint essential oils. It's dreamy to use, and smells divine. Yum!

Butt-Ugly Bloke soap cut pics

2010-03-25T15:24:00.000+01:00

Gawd, what a soapy abomination.......

Butt-Ugly Bloke soap

2010-03-24T21:59:00.000+01:00

That is, the soap is ugly, it's not meant for Butt-Ugly blokes *giggle*

The good news is, I successfully produced a batch of hot process soap.
The bad news is, damn that soap is U-G-L-Y!!

I used green tea as my liquid, and because I'm stoopid, I forgot that it would render the resultant soap a very dark shade of brown. I also used chromium green iron oxide powder, and, again, because I'm STOOPID, used too much *slaps self*.

The scent is very manly........sweet fennel with lime, and a touch of may chang.

It is very definitely Bloke soap. Green and brown Bloke soap. Pfft!

I haven't any pictures of the soap in it's cut state, but DO have some of the process, and the soap hibernating in it's mould.

I sprinkled the top with crushed fennel seeds, just to add to it's already aesthetically challenged appearance.

I'll add cut pictures tomorrow, when I've got over the trauma of producing such horrific soap! lol

Carrying on the Rockstar theme

2010-03-24T10:45:00.000+01:00

Here's a selection of some of my favourite music

I was browsing Deviant Art this morning......

2010-03-24T07:44:00.001+01:00

......and this super cute photo from Liiqa's gallery caught my eye.

I'm a real cat person, and the above picture, to me, is simply perfect.

All together now.......Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ;)

Whipped body butter

2010-03-22T15:58:00.000+01:00

There's something to be said for covering yourself in something delicious knowing that you've made it yourself. A sense of achievement, of pride. Well, this body butter is MY something delicious, and I am so so so happy with it.
Usually shea butter behaves badly and goes all grainy and unco-operative on me, so instead of heating it and holding at that state for around 20 minutes, I heated up, using the bain marie method, my other oils and butters(walnut and chia seed oils, and avocado butter) until the avocado butter had melted, then added my shea and used the heat of the other oils to melt it.
I have to say that the resultant butter is utterly glorious. It's light and fluffy, the shea hasn't(touches wood) gone grainy, and it smells divine. I scented it with lavender and cedarwood essential oils and oh my, sensory heaven.

Here is my little pot of wondrous, whipped delight.

2010-03-22T15:28:00.000+01:00

My latest adventures in soap making have not been worthy of recording in print, and the only reason this latest batch is being blogged about it because I felt I needed to have something to show as
I'm far too embarrassed to post pictures of the croap I've made on the last two occasions! Having become somewhat frustrated by soap making I had to try to salvage something from the failed batch, so incorporated the grated croap, (below), into this batch. It was meant to be a shampoo bar made using the hot process method....PAH!

I had failed miserably at my first attempt at the hot process method(honestly, how hard could it be?), being a die hard cold process gal, and because I'm stubborn to the core I decided that I NEEDED to atleast try to save face and produce something worthy of being called soap!
I'd received through the post the Blue Azulene colour I'd bought from Aromantic and decided to use that to colour a portion of batch. I also added a touch of Blackstar Red mica, something else that is new to me.
Ofcourse, as was befitting the theme of the last week, the batch seized on me, and I didn't have the opportunity to scent it(shame, as I love the lavender/peppermint combo I'd planned), but I was happy with the save, and glad that I hadn't totally lost the plot where soapmaking was concerned! The coloured portion ended up a granite grey, which isn't unpleasant. I'm just dying to find out how the Azulene colour behaves on it's own, so as soon as I find my notes on ocean type scent combinations using essential oils I'll (hopefully) have a new batch to show :)

Prints for sale

2010-03-06T19:17:00.004+01:00

Courtesy of Deviant Art, I have the following prints for sale.

I occasionally delve into the world of photomanipulation, although i don't pretend to be anything other than a rank amateur! It's a medium I hope to develope further, although watercolour is where my main interests lie.

Below are 4 of my favourites from my gallery.

Prints available here ~  

Love You This Much

2010-03-03T10:12:00.000+01:00

As I didn't actually get round to doing any sketching yesterday(a fact I plan to remedy today!),  I thought I'd post an old sketch from last year. It was only a quick flick of the pencil over the page, but I'm happy with it :-)

I'm totally addicted....

2010-03-02T11:03:00.001+01:00

.......to Paolo Nutini's "Candy"

It's just such a beautiful song, and I can't stop warbling along to it lol

Strike whilst the iron's hot

2010-03-02T08:43:00.000+01:00

I've woken up this morning totally inspired and itching to start sketching again. The last piece I began is still sitting, unfinished, on a large piece of paper somewhere. Unfortunately I haven't a clue as to where said piece of paper is, whihc is frustrating to say the least.
I can, however, sketch out some ideas for inclusion in the aforementioned piece, so today will be spent with pencil in hand, downing copious amounts of tea, and quite possibly rather alot of head scratching and swearing!

See you on the flip side ;)

The Arty Soaper

2010-03-01T22:04:00.001+01:00

So, now I've come to posting this introduction to my blog, I'm suddenly lost for words. The problem lies with trying to describe who, or rather what, I am. Am I an artist who makes soap, or a soaper with artistic ambitions? I suppose I am a bit of both. Painting is something I love, something I dream about, something I wish I was better at. Making soap is something I love, something that keeps me busy when my artistic muse is taking a break, something that still allows me to be creative when I get the jitters looking at a blank piece of paper and am too scared to proceed.

I haven't painted anything for almost 2 years, and getting back in the saddle is proving to be a challenge.

I last made a batch of soap a few days ago, and am already thinking about what I can do to improve my recipe, improve the finished article, make it better.

There are parallels there.

So, until I decide what, and who, I am, I'll describe myself as The Arty Soaper, and take it from there.

The Arty Soaper

The Simply Angelic webshop is live!

Avocado and honey shampoo bar

Deviant Friday

Links of interest

http://twitpic.com/4sbqc4

Appetising, healthy breakfast

Intoxication

Someone Like You

I am officially stoopid!

Very quick sneaky peak at my new soap packaging.

Smoke and Mirrors

Web wandering

Happy accident

Coconut Milk Castile *cut pics*

Awaiting the arrival......

EcoSoy Aroma-melts

I'm officially in love.

Sweet darkness, envelope me.

All Purpose Beauty Balm

New scents

Please bear with me

Pear cider + Ebay = Ooops!

Butterfly song......latest photomanipulation

Photo of cat at sunset

Creation Collaboration, and an apology.

Deviant tuesday

Sleepy boy

Have you ever been drawn to something......

One thing about blogging that I love

Experimental bath whip

Acai Oil

Rosalie

The Sage

Collaboration Wednesday

Moonlight Path by Lillyrose

Cucumber Slumber

I Avo Dream

Scaremongering much!

Creativity continued.....

Man, I adore this song

Creativity pledge

Minty foot scrub

Butt-Ugly Bloke soap *cut pics*

Butt-Ugly Bloke soap

Carrying on the Rockstar theme

I was browsing Deviant Art this morning......

Whipped body butter

Prints for sale

Love You This Much

I'm totally addicted....

Strike whilst the iron's hot

The Arty Soaper

Coconut Milk Castile cut pics

Butt-Ugly Bloke soap cut pics