Soapy goodness!

 But first, OPTOBER! My October op-shopping tribute of the day..
I am pretty lucky, I have a couple of dozen op-shops within a 5km radius so whichever direction I head, there'll be somewhere I can stop. So if I'm out and about, for this month I'll stop at an Opshop. Today I had to head near one of my faves. The little old church type. Right opposite a rather large Salvation Army store and you know, I don't even bother crossing the road for that one.
Today (amongst other treasures) I picked up a tee for $1 that gave me a chuckle, though  it is sadly all too true. This is for my DS who is soon to fight for the right to see his daughter and for her to be a part of our lives.

I hope it gives him a smile. You've got to laugh, it beats the alternative..

I promise tomorrow's shared treasure will be either charming, kawaii or both and I promise not to mention the buttons. (teehee)

Now onto the serious crafty stuff..
Here are some freshly unmoulded hot process soaps I made recently. Not very pretty, lol. One of these days, I will make some  cold process soaps, just so I turn out something that looks as nice as it smells and lathers.
Here's the slab waiting to be turned out and sliced. You don't get much more unattractive than that!

Even using a silicone mould doesn't make them pretty though they are a lot cuter.

People tell me cold process is easy and yet I have only made hot process. Because if you know me, I somehow manage to make the simplest things difficult for myself!
Luckily once the slab is sliced there are 5 smooth sides to the one ugly side. Slicing soap is like slicing cheddar cheese.

The benefit of hot process soap is that it can be used almost immediately compared to the months of curing that cold process requires. I don't do delayed gratification very well, though I guess  it's something I should work on. The best things in life are worth waiting for after all.

But my hair needs washing NOW! it really does..  I use a coconut oil/castor oil combination to make these a multipurpose shampoo and body bar. I delayed getting this batch made and resorted to using commercial soap and my skin is back to being annoyingly itchy.
Again, I could just use a recipe from one of my soap books or the myriad of available internet recipes,  but where's the fun in that? Instead I use soapcalc to compute the fat/lye/water ratio. Sort of like re-inventing the wheel. That's me.. I follow the crockpot technique found here in case you are tempted to make some too.