I decided to make a beer soap for Fall using my favorite beer, a dark stout. I added oatmeal and cocoa powder to create my chocolate oatmeal stout beer soap. I also created a video showing how I prepared the beer, removing the carbonation and lowering the alcohol content. :) Continue reading
homemade gifts
Intaglio Soap Carving
This month’s Great Cakes Soap Challenge involved learning a carving technique called intaglio (pronounced in-tal-yoh). Intaglio is defined as an engraving or incised figure in stone or other hard material. We had to apply this technique to bars of soap, carving a design into each bar. For my design, I decided to create a little landscape using various colors and carving small details into the tree and road. Carving away the top layer of soap to reveal the colors underneath was a lot of fun. :)
Egg & Calendula Shampoo Bar
In the Great Cakes Soap Challenge this month, we were asked to create a rustic soap with packaging. What seemed like a simple and straightforward task at first has ended up being one of the hardest challenges for me. I almost didn’t make a soap, but then my chickens gave me an idea. So with their help, some favorite flowers, lard from a local farmer, and a few of my photographs, I created my interpretation of a rustic soap. :)
