Happy New Year

Here's to a Happy New Year 2010!

Lovely pomegranate soap; Christmas present my boyfriend's cousin brought from her trip to Thailand. At the moment it is displayed on my curing shelf, but I will soon try it. Perhaps I should also use the pomegranate perfume oil I bought a while ago and make my own pomegranate soap...? So many ideas, so little time.

Snowflakes are dancing

Outside, snowflakes are whirling and dancing.



Inside, soapaholic is sitting snugly on her sofa with a nice, warm, lovely, steaming cup of tea, felting soapsballs lest they feel cold without their little felt jackets.

Peppermintsoaps

Here are two lovely soaps Peppermintpatty gave me some time ago (and which are, unfortunately, long gone by now). The first one was made with lavender and goat milk. Love the birdie stamp!

The other one is called Hafersahne. Made with cream, scented with "Oatmeal, Milk and Honey" perfume oil, a couple of lavender seeds in the middle. I loved the smell, but most of all I liked the colours - the soap looked nice and creamy like Fürst Pückler ice-cream. Link to Pattys Fotostream

Seelengebunden / Binds on pickup

This soap is called Seelengebunden ("Binds on pickup", named after a certain kind of item in a certain mmorpg I used to play). It was a collaborative effort of Peppermintpatty, E. (another friend who is now hooked on soapmaking), and me.






Ingredients: water, palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil, rapeseed oil, avocado oil, NaOH, yogurt, perfume oils (Blackberry Sage and Almond, both by Brambleberry) and a special kind of clay which dyed the soap base a pretty shade of light pastel pink. Unfortunately, after we added the yogurt, the soap base turned beige. We dusted the moulds with gold and silver mica so that the soaps didn't look too bland.

Soap Recipes - Omnibus Edition

This wonderful little collection of soap recipes was a joint effort of some members of the Naturseifenforum who contributed their favourite recipes and fotos. It was Montylee who organised and edited the book with a loving eye for detail, and who had it printed. When the first book proved a bestseller, she even published a second volume. In the pictures you can see the omnibus edition.

When I don't have the time to make soaps myself, I love to pick up this little book and to be inspired by all those wonderful creations. Just look at the soaps in the picture below (and note the professional design by Montylee)!