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I have mentioned elsewhere on my site that I have been plagued with bad skin since adolescence and that I got no respite with age. My whole soap mission is founded on the creation of cleansers that at the very least will not aggravate difficult skin, and I have touted the benefits of staying away from synthetic fragrances and complicated synthesized ingredients. This has really worked well for me, but that certainly doesn't mean it will work for everyone. This past holiday brought some heavily fragranced gifts into our home and my nose has been running in commiseration. My daughters are loving their body washes, and I am trying to ignore my nose's complaints. Those delicious to some big name brand washes and lotions are working out fine for my girls, and I have to air out the bathroom after they have indulged. I'm politely trying not to make a stink about it because they seem to be suffering no harm. I too was gifted with a synthetic fragrance blend and some lovely goats milk melt and pour soap base. I once sneered at utilising a melt and pour base, but discovered that Lush employs them. I really love the Lush soaps that I have tried and have greatly enjoyed their unbeatable bath bombs. I will never attempt a bootleg of any Lush formulas even for my personal use because I consider this seriously unethical. Since I have never suffered with the use of Lush products, I have bent my personal indulgence standards and so far, really good! I made a trial bar of the gifted melt and pour goats milk soap with an incorporation of bee pollen and the berry fragrance I received and I have been using it daily from head to toe with great results! Unlike the heavily fragranced big name brand bod washes my daughters received, the berry fragrance is not overpowering for me and my bod so far is not itchy after bath. My face is not sporting new alarming out breaks either. I was pleased to see that the melt and pour base did not contain palm oil. The visual asthetics of not staring down another of my rough and humble home made uglies as I lather up the wash cloth is extremely gratifying. It's fun to make some soap with less emphasis on careful handling of hazardous ingredients as well. The worst thing that can happen with melt and pour is a careless burn from a hot utensil coming out of my microwave. I sometimes turn the daughters and their friends loose with melt and pour, molds and additives so that they can safely indulge in some useful creativity when they desire to do so.
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Many soap varieties I make contain lemongrass essential oil, and I have never had a negative reaction so far. I absolutely cannot use any citrus essential oils without unfortunate results and rashes. Lemongrass essential oil gives the lemony without the rashy and photo sensitivity. Lemongrass essential oil is also not a rare oil obtained from endangered plants and is usually not terriby expensive. Lemongrass has so many uses, and this article in Mother Earth Living does a great job imparting some great information: herbs.motherearthliving.com/awesome-benefits-of-lemongrass/
The caustic chemicals that can be combined with fatty acids to make beautiful cleansing agents have proven efficient for these and many other purposes for over 100 years. Soap has been made successfully from less than pure sources of these caustics, but of course, not all recipes result in a safe and useful product. In 1887, a man failed miserably at his soap making attempt in his factory and subsequently died in prison for his crime! Was it due to inaccurate proportions of ingredients, or was it due to injuries resulting from unsafe manufacturing practices? How could something so many of us make and enjoy have such disastrous consequences? The truth is far more freakish and terrible than speculations about errors in the process! Click this link with a mind and spirit fortified against the grim and dark hidden desires of certain specimens of humanity: www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-man-who-dissolved-his-wife
Soap makers come in all forms. Some soap makers have become quite successful due to the quality of their products and intelligent actions, while others have chosen to embrace a much darker path for their creations. Whenever I encounter a tale of the latter, I am amazed and ashamedly, I do admit morbid fascination of a sort. This dark side of soap making has been portrayed in fictional accounts of watered down versions of borderline atrocious behavior. The real characters are indeed insomnia inspiring. For instance, what if you happened to be the unlucky "friend" of Leonarda Cianciulli? Imagine getting a nice little gift basket which she has filled with several handmade items, including a nice bar of herbal soap. You are pleased, and later lather up with her soap, enjoying the way it cleanses your skin. You wonder if she gave a bar to your mutual friend that lives a couple of houses down. You decide to stop by this mutual friends house on your way to market, but discover that your friend has suddenly moved away. Such strange happenings! A week later, you hear a commotion on the street, and look out your window to see police descending on your soap making friend's house! You wait for news, to find out what happened to your friend, and finally, the truth comes out! Gagging, you want to pitch the remnants of her handmade soap as far away from you as possible, but the police might consider it evidence! Want to find out the true story of Leonarda Cianciulli rather than read an imginary scenario? Here is a link: murderpedia.org/female.C/c/cianciulli-leonarda.htm
 I'm ashamed to say that I have been working on this acrylic painting for...a year or so? I'm sticking with what is happening in it right now, although I'm far from satisfied. When is a painting ever really done? This one won't be ready by Christmas! This one may never leave this house! I painted quite a lot about 20 or so years ago, and then the urge just left for a while.
 I once used to tramp all over the land in the fall gathering useful plants until too many eyes glanced askance at my efforts in roadside ditches and seemingly abandoned wastelands and my body decided that it had done quite enough of that sort of thing. Throughout the years, I have not only harvested various useful herbs but also returned with roots and seeds. I have yarrow that I started from roots I found twenty years ago in Cumberland county TN. My most recent and last efforts of bringing some good things home included planting anise scented goldenrod roots and seeds that I had gathered. This year, one of my plantings made it! I had to vociferously defend this little patch all season long to see and harvest these flowers! Of course I left some to be pollinated and in turn go to seed. One should never be greedy and take all. I'll be having some tea later, after I have put some flowers into alcohol for an extract to tide us over this winter. This herb makes a really nice alcohol extract. Mine usually retains that delicious anise scent, and a teeny bit goes a long way. It has been said that this herb is good for sore throats, allergies and kidney/bladder complaints. I do find myself amenable to taking it when I suspect a sniffle may progress to something nastier or perhaps have an allergic component. I do not claim that this has any effect on the retreat of the sniffle, etc, but I find the tastes of my goldenrod concoctions to be quite pleasant and absent any ill effects. One year, I gave some to one of my more adventurous friends, and she said that it helped her mother's bladder complaint. She said that her mother has never had a recurrence after the goldenrod extract, but prior to taking the extract, she had been plagued by recurring problems. One of my daughters has likewise used it for a similar complaint and she prefers the goldenrod extract to cranberry juice. Once again, I am not saying that this plant actually does anything to the body or combats disease because there have been no formal and conclusive tests done here. I'm merely relating what those close to me have experienced at the time of ingestion and that the events could very well be purely coincidental. I prefer to stress the pleasant taste and possible placebo effect of increased well being. I like to make my extract with the fresh unblemished flowering portions of the plant, and to extract with 95% ethanol for greater strength of extraction and longer shelf life. I never use plants that have signs of blight or disease. This may seem like a recipe for seriously nasty and one should definitely not drink any 95% ethanol plant extraction straight or in large quantities. I like a few drops in my tea after the goldenrod season has passed and winter is biting. It carries a taste of fall sunlight into the days quick to darken.
 I took this picture sometime around 5 a.m. last night after an intense pounding and rubbing session, Alas, I wasn't one bit picky about the alpaca I squished into this thing, which is inspired by a big fat bald faced hornet nest. My current handbag is falling apart after serious service, and rather than buy another, I decided to make my own. This one is roomier than my curent modest little cross body bag, so I can cheerfully accumulate more loose change, store receipts and stray tissues. Since I was just indiscriminately combining and piling on the fibers, a finishing shave is required. There are a lot of coarse super long hairs in my bargain buy collections! I like the weirdness of it, or I could just be too lazy to sort thoroughly. When my extremely tired arms and hands recover, I will make the hornets to adorn it, and my new bag will be complete. Who will be brave enough to reach into this fierce container to rummage for sunglasses or keys?
 Now that things are cooling off both family schedule wise and weather wise, I'm back to sorting and washing some hoarded fibers for future projects. Last year, I got some dirty dirt cheap deals on Alpaca and Shetland wool. When I say dirty, I mean that yes, the white alpacas must have really really enjoyed rolling in the dust, and the Shetland sheep most have enjoyed a free life in a lot of brush! I got such good prices because I'm willing to fool with the fibers that most mills won't touch, nor most other people either, I suspect. This means that to get a little bit ready to use, it takes a lot more work with the less than desirable trimmings. I have to do much more picking out of suspicious particles and more washing, but there is some good stuff for my small project needs slowly accumulating! I might be weird, but I really like the scents of unwashed alpaca and sheep and the way it feels to work on the fibers, releasing them from the dirt, washing and carding them.  When I have some sufficiently cleansed and prepared fibers, I can indulge the ideas that have been festering. One of my favorite flowers that smells just so darn good is the moonflower. This summer gave me a few nice vines that sadly have struggled between waterings yet still managed to produce some blooms to grace the night. I'm not satisfied with my first attempt to recreate a facsimile in alpaca felt. If I want to work on perfection, it's time to put in a few hours of preperation!
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