I was recently made aware (thanks to Megan and Mimi) that I don't mention my soapmaking activities very often on my blog.I'm not quite sure why this is, since my soap has quite a few fans, and I am proud of it; perhaps one aspect is the privacy barrier (or should I say secrecy) that seems to surround and permeate the actual soapmaking process when it comes to the makers.
There is plenty of generous and helpful advice about the generalities and sometimes some of the specifics of formulating a soap, but when it comes to recipes and safety assessments, people stay stumm. This is perfectly understandable, of course, when they have spent barrowloads of time, money and sweat working out their own version of soapy perfection; but it can be wearisome when one is pretty sure one is re-inventing the wheel.
And here is some of the batch I made today - amongst other (secret) ingredients it contains sesame oil, and is scented with YlangYlang and Patchouli. I really dislike the smell of patchouli, but I use it because my DH likes it, and I know of some few others .... The color derives from alkanet, and will not only lighten but turn more purple than blue after curing:
I'll probably call it 'Malayan Midnight'.
