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Something New

I tried a couple of new things today!  First up, I did an awesome new men's soap using nettle seed powder for my color.   I've had some trouble using the natural colorants, and have shied away from them for awhile, but waded back in today to give it another shot.  I blended about 1/2 tsp nettle seed with a tablespoon of water to make a thick paste.  When I added it to my batter for my swirl, it turned an ugly army green (sorry soldiers, no offense!).  And unfortunately, the soap thickened pretty quickly so I didn't get the nice swirl I was hoping for.  I had to do a spoon in and ran my tool through all the layers, with a little contrast swirl on top.  Now that it's starting to gel, it's looking dark, but I think it's going to be pretty.  The scent is wonderful - I did 3/4 Indigenous and 1/4  Black Amber Musk- there should be no darkening with these oils. I'm giving thought to a name for this..it's rich and woodsy with a little ozone.  I'm thinking "Oregon Coast", "Rugged" or "Timberland".  Heck - why not "Army Strong"?!  :)

Next, I have a big ziplock bag full of soap shavings from nearly every soap I've done so far.  I've been wanting to do a confetti blend using the shavings.  So...I used alkanet root powder and cobalt mica, blended separately.  I first added the alkanet root and the batter looked grey (this happens sometimes, but I usually panic and start throwing in other colors when it does!)  So of course I panicked and threw all the mica blend in as well!  Then I stirred in my soap shavings and placed into the mold. I used a soft China Rain scent. I'm hoping the soap shavings will retain their original colors for lots of contrast, but the soap is denim blue because I panicked.  I topped it with more shavings and little curls - it's really cute right now and I have high hopes.  I can't wait to cut it!


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