i had to climb over a car to make this soap..and i'm not speaking figuratively..i literally had to scale a celica..it's a mixed blessing letting my son store his vintage car in my garage while he's away for six months..for one thing i had to do a bit of long overdue clearing and cleaning first..it was a case of three days work, nature strip donations and some excited hoarders..one of whom brought a trailer..and i loved being able to help my boy out..the downside is that it's now a mission to get to stuff like my soap making paraphernalia..i did get my boy nick to check that i could access the narrow passage between the car and the stuff stored along the sides of the garage..he did a quick shimmy..i was satisfied it was possible..but later when i tried myself it was a different story..i hadn't accounted for our differences in agility and circumference!
rosemary and lavender cold processed soap recipe
tea with hazel
ingredients
1000 gms olive oil
500 gms copha
25 gms beeswax
215 gms sodium hydroxide
400 mls filtered water
a cup or so of rosemary leaves*
lavender*
method
~ process 200 gms of the olive oil and the rosemary and leave to infuse for a couple of weeks
~ strain through muslin
~ follow the instructions here for making the soap except after pouring the soap into the container sprinkle with lavender before covering and insulating the container
notes
* i picked the herbs from my garden..i used the rosemary fresh but the lavender i picked and dried last summer..it's a french lavender that doesn't look anything much in the garden and it doesn't smell particularly lavendery when fresh but once it's dried it has the nicest lavender scent of any i've grown..
~ each bar cost approximately $0.65..the beeswax i found at an op shop for $0.50!
 |
| it doesn't show up but the soap is a lovely soft green colour with some pretty shading on top caused (i'm guessing) by the lavender |
i'm looking forward to using it in a few weeks time
That looks good enough to eat Jane...you are very clever, and thrifty! x
ReplyDeletethanks jane..soap making is such an exciting process..it's a bit like bread making in that there's a lot of anticipation about the final product..and it's great to know what's in the soap i'm using..x
DeleteJane, they look fabulous. I will have to dry some lavender, I have so much. It self seeds here.
ReplyDeletethanks glenda..i've dried lavender before but i've never had one retain its colour and scent like this one..x
DeleteFor some reason your catchpha is having a tanty at me and telling me that I don't own my blog site?! Strange! I will try again! Your soap is gorgeous and I am going to have to make some myself as apparently everyone who is anyone is making their own soap. Surely I can't stuff it up that bad can I? Surely?! ;)
ReplyDeleteit's not hard fran..it's just like cooking but one of the ingredients is caustic and dangerous if not treated with care..x
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, I eventually got around to drying the lavender and today made some lavender soap - thanks for the inspiration. I am interested in the infused rosemary oil. Does the soap smell of rosemary and has it held any green colour? I made some parsley leaf infused soap a few months back and it has all but faded.
ReplyDeletehi glenda..sorry i took so long to reply..been away for a week..the rosemary soap doesn't smell of rosemary per se but it does have a pleasant scent and the colour hasn't faded at all..so far anyway..x
DeleteThanks Jane, I still like the idea. Pity there is not much fragrance.
ReplyDelete