...an understandable mistake - I had stored the bars in a candy tin for protection in my luggage. After arriving in town and showing the folks my latest artsy soap designs, we moved into the living room, leaving the tin in the kitchen. I didn't discover it was gone until later, when I attempted to retrieve it to give everyone their soap. Apparently Mom had be tidying up and thought the tin held candy, and so put it in the refrigerator (Dad discovered it later while looking for a beverage). Logical enough. No harm done. A mistake any of us could make. Except, when I opened the tin and handed their soap to her, Mom looked genuinely confused: "Do these go back in the refrigerator?" My...
My experiments with beer soap continue.
Used @Goldspotbrewing microbrewer's "Pussy Riot" stout: made by all-female brewers in response to the election of our 45th POTUS. And not in celebration, if you get my drift...
I like cake. There isn't a more sophisticated explanation - "liking cake" really was the reason I entered Amy Warden's April Soap Challenge: Mirror Glaze Technique. Most artisan soap designers have been told, "OMG - that looks good enough to eat!" when customers view especially ornately designed products. This isn't surprising - many soaping techniques have baking origins. Here's the basic process for this one (feel free to try this with edible ingredients and lmk how it goes ;) ): This technique starts with a base "cake" of soap. I tried a few different shapes - was especially drawn to the flower-shaped molds because the look of glaze can be psychedelic-y anyway. I also used straightforward, round molds as I wasn't sure how easy it would be to work with the flower's multiple side-surfaces...
The February Soap Challenge Club featured "glycerin rivers", an odd, visual texture result reminiscent of the crackled appearance of an aged oil painting. Most soap makers' first encounter with glycerin rivers is usually alarming - wondering if something has gone terribly wrong in the formulation of their soap (yes - this was me). But aside from the unexpected look, there's nothing wrong with a soap containing glycerin rivers.
I wasn't planning to sign-up, but organizer Amy Warden enlisted the expertise of one of my soap SHEroes, South African soap maker/chemistry geek, Clara Lindberg of Auntie Clara's Handcrafted Cosmetics. (Dammit, Amy!)
