Whoosh- Where Did October Go?

I cannot believe it has been a month since I posted.  It is not for lack of things going on here, there has been lots.  I try to cram so much into my weekends, I am spending less and less time on the computer.

I got started on my November piece for Tangled Textiles- but to see that, you'll need to wander over to the Tangled Textiles blog.  We are posting our process for this challenge- and since I don't do a lot of sketching, this has been a bit of a challenge for me.  I am happy with the progress I made this weekend.

And I have been soaping like mad, trying to get stuff done in time for Christmas.  I figure this is the last weekend I can soap and be sure they are ready.  I am really happy with what I've done!

 Top soap is Barefoot in the Sunshine, scented with green guava and pineapple and peach fragrance oils.  The second is unscented goat's milk soap.

 Turquoise and cocoa soap, designed for a particular bathroom.

 Color Block soap, colored with all natural colorants- annatto, alkanet, cocoa powder, and green clay.  It's scented with eucalyptus and lime essential oils

 Green clay and Salt bars, scented with eucalyptus essential oil

 Secret swirl soap, unscented (the batter moved too fast!)

 Pumpkin Beer soap

 Red Clay and Charcoal soap

 Rose clay and charcoal soap

The combination of chemistry and artistry just fascinates me- it has many of the same elements that fabric dyeing does.  And, like fabric, I have a product I can use when all is done!!  I have gotten really hooked on using hand crafted soap, I don't think I will ever go back to a commercial product when making this is so easy and fun.  Next is lotion making- I now have all the supplies!  Think of all the money I could NOT spend at VS, or BBS, or the BS.

I have some older soaps that I will be felting, since they have lost much of their scent but are still very usable.  The felted soaps went over really well when I sold at the quilt festival over the summer, and I figure it is an easy way to use soaps that might otherwise go to waste.

This weekend I made my last three batches before Christmas-

Christmas soap, scented with Champagne and ginger fragrance oils, and

another small Christmas soap, scented with champagne and pomegranate fragrance oils, and lavender swirl soap, scented with lavender, coriander, and eucalyptus essential oils.  Those won't come out of the molds until Tuesday- I can't wait to see how the swirls look!


So that is how I split my time now- fiber and soap.  Either way, it is feeding my muse!