For the Love of Fiber

Fertile Myrtle

Well, nature is progressing nicely here. The check of the Bluebird Boxes (BB for short) 1, 2, and 3 yesterday
revealed one surprise.

BB #1 - Mrs. Tree Swallow had added a second egg as I thought she would. She will probably not stop at 2.  I expect she'll lay at least 3-4 more.

BB #2 - The baby Bluebirds have really changed in the week that I have been photographing them. Scroll back to see each day's pictures to see the changes. So many more feathers now! They're also getting bigger. Just wait until you see how snug that next will get. I'll have to be careful opening the door of the box at that point. I won't want to startle them or have one fall out. 

BB #3 - Fertile Myrtle Tree Swallow has added yet another egg to her nest. I thought she'd stop she'd stop at 5 but OH NO! She laid a 6th one and NOW she's added a 7th! I'm not sure how all of these babies will fit. We'll see! Wonder when they'll hatch? 

This week will be busy as all heck! Hair appointment, pedicure appointment, new tires on the car, oil change, soap to make, packing to do, Mother's Day gifts to get together, miscellaneous things to also get together, knitting projects to pack, hotel reservations to make, etc. OH, and there's the real full-time job that needs to be done this week, too!

I'm so excited, I can hardly sit still! I'm leaving Saturday and will
head to Virginia to see my boys and their families. Can hardly wait to see everyone! I just saw them in March for Easter so maybe the grandbabies won't have forgotten me in that two month period. This will be the shortest time I've seen them in a row which will be nice. Then, on Monday, I'll head to Danville to
visit Mom and Daddy. I'll also get to knit with my knitting peeps at Starbucks Monday night. Finally, on Wednesday, I'll head to Raleigh, NC for the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild's annual conference.

The conference is sold out with at least 325 attendees from all over the world. I'm taking one class on Wednesday and then the official conference begins on Thursday and ends Sunday night. There will be classes, demonstrations, lectures, and vendors. Most of all, I can hardly wait to meet the soapmakers I've "met" online in the various Facebook groups I belong to. They have been SO helpful to me answering questions, offering helpful criticism, providing endless inspiration, etc. They are my soaping
peeps! My sisters and brothers in saponification!

OH, I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! Anticipation is building!

(Soap picture to the right - a stack of my Revive fragranced with an essential oil blend of Euclyptus, Spearmint, and Tea Tree.)

Changes

Big changes for the Bluebird update! 

Bluebird Box (BB) #1 finally has an egg in it! The nest looks kind of puny but there is an egg!

BB #2 - they are getting big! Lots more feathers on Friday. They must have just had dinner before I arrived and opened their nest box because they were all fast asleep. They didn't move at all when I tilted the nest to take their picture.

BB #3 - I was sure that Ms. Tree Swallow was done but no! Friday, when I checked, she had added yet another egg to the nest. Six Tree Swallows eggs! That is going to be one snug little box!

Friday, I was up early so decided to make a batch of soap before the workday started. I got out my 18-bar slab mold that I've had for months but have never used. Each time you get a new mold, you have to figure out the volume of the mold and then configure your recipe(s) to fit it. I have also had a software program called SoapMaker 3 but have never used it. So, I decided it was high time to get that going, too. 

To use SoapMaker 3, you have to enter your materials. Once set up, the program will do everything but make the soap for you! You enter the cost, amount, supplier, etc. then you make up your recipe. The program will tell you how many grams/ounces of each oil and additive to use in your recipe. It will provide the INCL name of each ingredient and also put them in order of weight. It will also figure out how much it costs you to make that batch of soap and give you a per bar cost, too. The program will also track your
inventory. It's a pretty cool program for a soapmaker to have.

I wanted to do a column swirl for this batch. This is a technique where you place something tall in the middle of your mold and then pour the soap onto the top of the item. The soap runs down the sides of the item into the mold. Once done, you remove the tall item. You alternate colors to make your design. To do this, the soap "batter" has to be relatively thin. Mine became a little too thick to pour and run down so it didn't work as planned. Most of my color ended up in the middle so I used a skewer to move it around. 

Soapmakers use all different shaped molds. I usually use log molds. There are also slab molds, block molds, and
round molds. As you can see from the pictures, a slab mold gives you just that - a flat slab of soap. After I pour my soap into the mold, I lower my dividers into place. Once all the dividers are in place for this mold, I have neatly sectioned off 18 bars of soap. This particular mold has a pink sillicone liner in the bottom which makes it super easy to unmold my bars.

The fragrances used for this batch - Lavendin Grosso, 10X Orange, and Star Anise. I call this "Sunrise, Sunset" because the colors remind me of stunning sunrises and sunsets I've seen. It smells absolutely wonderful! I love the touch of Anise to the mix.

Look for more soap pictures this weekend and, of course, updates of the baby birds. 

Update

Here we are at Day Three of the Bluebird updates. Today, everyone was hungry! Four out of the five, at least. When I open the door to the nest box, the babies get jostled. This makes them think that dinner has arrived. As you can see, they're ready and waiting to eat! Today, you can see more feathers and better wing definition. 

In Bluebird Box #3, Ms. Tree Swallow has laid yet another egg bringing the count to five! I wouldn't be surprised if calls it a day with these five. As these birds hatch and grow, that box is going to be very full!

Tonight, I took a soapmaking class. Yes, I already know how to make soap but you can never know it all and you can always learn something new. It's good to be a student. Even when you know a lot about the subject.

I met Margaret (Nature's Touch Soaps) last year at the Ohio Soaper's Gathering and we became better acquainted this year when we shared a table for the day. She mentioned that she taught classes at various locations of Greene County Library and had a couple classes coming up. I signed up for Soapmaking 101 as soon as I could. 

The class was fun - well organized and full of important information for the beginning soaper. The class started at 5:15 PM and ran until 8:00 PM. Class size was ten and she was full. Some people had taken classes from her before. Others were strict newbies.

First, she did a safety talk and then she demonstrated making a batch of soap. The ingredients she used could all be obtained at the local grocery store. This was great for people who might just want to make a batch or two. I was wondering about equipment but Margaret provided everything for each table - scale, stick blender, cups, spatulas, etc. She brought a lot of different additives so people could personlize their soap. 

Once all questions were answered, we headed to our tables and got to work! I was paired w/ Debbie and we decided we'd use the Wildflowers Fragrance Oil and color our soap with ground rosemary. We used small milk cartons as soap molds and cut and then taped the end up with Duct Tape to hold them in place and prevent leakage. They made perfect soap molds! I couldn't let well enough alone so added poppyseeds to the tops of my soaps. In the picture to the right, my three soaps made tonight are in the middle, a piece of Margaret's lavender soap is in the lower left, her honey almond soap is at the top, and another bar of her soap is at the lower right.

Everything went so smoothly! Ten people making soap together! Very cool!

Afterwards, Margaret took the lead again to show us several mold ideas, to let us cut a recently made log of soap, and to pick a bar of other soap to take home. She also gave out hand-outs that were neatly tucked in plastic sleeves. 

In all these years of soapmaking, I have never taken a class. I found it very interesting watching and listening to the other people. I enjoyed seeing the soapmaking experience through other people's eyes and enjoyed their questions. 

Margaret, thanks for sharing yourself with the community! You're a super teacher!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY! It couldn't get here soon enough!

The Difference A Day Makes

I checked the Bluebird Boxes (BB) tonight.

BB box #1 looks about the same as yesterday.

BB box #2 - The baby Bluebirds look a little less new today. They have a few more feathers and are a little more "with it". They are holding their gigantic (well, to them) heads up a tiny bit better today. One of them is obviously very hungry! I think I can see his tonsils!

BB box #3 - Mrs. Tree Swallow has added a fourth egg to the collection. I love her feathery nest!

I looked out the kithen window today and there was a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak at the feeder. He's very attractive. 

We fed the fish tonight and the big catfish from last year is SO big this year! He is HUGE! We have about four in the pond and they weren't put in there on purpose. One is tremendous and the others are a little smaller. Doesn't anyone want to come and catch them and fry them up for supper?

I need to make soap but there's been no time! I have new molds and want to experiment with them but that takes a little extra time to figure my recipes to fit them. So, I'm going to do that right now! Even if I don't have time to actually make soap tonight, I'll at least have my recipes ready to go. 

Happy Wednesday, everyone! We're sliding into another weekend!

Babies And Beginnings

Twenty-five years ago today, I met a plane. A plane that carried two little boys. Two very special long-
awaited little boys. My sons.

That plane had flown from Seoul, South Korea to San Francisco, California, to Detroit, Michigan, and then, finally to Philadelphia, Pennslyvania. Andy, my parents, and I were all there anxiously waiting. 

Then, there they were. Two scared and hot little boys walked into the waiting area with their Korean escorts. At that moment, my life changed forever. I became an Omah (mother in Korean). As I introduced Andy (Ahbah), my mother (Holmonee), and my father (Halrabojee) to the boys in Korean, I realized that all of our lives had just changed forever. Our family had grown. The long wait for them was over. 

Now, twenty-five years later -- OH! what they've achieved!!! Learned a whole new language, lots of soccer games, Boy Scout meetings and an Eagle Scout, graduated from college, great jobs with lots of skills/talents, fell in love, and had babies of their own! Wow! What a full twenty-five years it has been!

I wish I had some of those first pictures of the boys to add to this post but I have yet to unearth them from our move to Ohio. They're somewhere packed safely away --- so safe I can't find them! So, you'll just have to settle with a newer version of the boys. (This picture was taken last June at Taylor's restaurant. Taylor (younger) is on the right holding Landen, his son, and Brian is on the left.) Mental note to self - take more pictures of the two of them on my next trip to Virginia!

Happy 25th Airplane Day, Brian and Taylor!!!!  

Now, for babies of a feathery kind. The bluebird babies have hatched out in Bluebird Box #2. They are all beaks and feet! I love their little beaks when they are first hatched. They definitely have to grow into them. Bluebirds make neat 
dense nests. This one is primarily made from dried grasses and then lined with horse hair. 

The Tree Swallows are getting serious now. Bluebird Box #1 has the start of a nest and they've placed a couple of fluffy
white feathers in it. So, they're getting down to business. I read once that they will fly many miles to scavenge feathers. Their nests are interesting and so pretty. When they leave the nest, they cover the eggs with the feathers.

Bluebird Box #3 has a full nest and three pearly white eggs. Wonder if she's done or will she lay more? Either way, the wait begins. 

Babies and Beginnings - both are quite wonderful!

It's A String Thing

This weekend, Lebanon, OH, The Golden Lamb, and Abby Franquemont of Stringtopia (and here) hosted a spinning retreat - Spring String Thing 2013. This is the third year for the retreat and my second year attending.

We are lucky to have Abby, author of Respect the Spindle and demonstrator in many YouTube videos, in our area. In late 2012, she opened Stringtopia Fiber Arts Studio where she teaches spinning and other fibery arts. There are social nights where people come to spin, knit, kumihimo braid, etc. 

Last year, I took classes all three days of the retreat but with work pressures, I only took two days this year. Both of my classes were with Beth Smith of The Spinning Loft. I took Finish That Skein where we learned different processes for finishing skeins of handspun yarn. We worked with merino top and horned dorset roving. Who knew a plunger had another use besides unstopping a toilet?!? The second class I took with Beth was Woolen and Worsted. We worked with Romney fleece, top, and roving all day. We carded, combed, and flicked it and then spun it using both woolen and worsted techniques. 

Morgaine, of Carolina Homespun, provided the shop which was packed with all kinds of fibery goodness! I was going to be very strong but succumbed to a blend of yak and silk top and another top of cashmere and silk. That was NOT my fault! The strongest fiber artist couldn't pass up these two combos. A couple or few spindles might have also found their way home with me, too. Oh well, it only comes once a year! Morgaine stopped in Ohio for the retreat on her way to Maryland Sheep & Wool. I was so tempted to hide away in her YarnV for the trip. I haven't been to MS&W since 2008 and that's too long!

We had an interesting addition to our
Woolen and Worsted class. Morgaine demonstrated how to use the Clemes &
Clemes Blending Board. What cool rolags you can make on this board! You "paint" the board by loading it with fiber and then roll it off with a dowel which results in rolags. She made one for me and I spun it up. Very cool! In the picture above are my skeins from the Woolen and Worsted class and my little blending board skein. Wish I had taken a picture of the rolag from the board before I spun it. It was so interesting to see the rolag and then the spun skein.

I have to say, this year's goodie bag was top-notch! So many nice things!!! Here are just a few contributors - Knitifacts, The Painted Tiger, Seven Yaks, Faerie Mountain Fibers, and so many more! Morgaine / Carolina Homespun was very generous, also! Martha, my neighbor from Cedar Grove Farms, contributed bags of her Jacob fleece. There were coupons, samples, a free knitting pattern --- just oodles of stuff!

The retreat was a fun time! It's funny how empowered I feel by knowing how to spin and knit. I feel the same way with making soap. It's almost like I have super powers! Knowing how to make soap out of lye and oils,a sweater from wool off a sheep, a shawl from the threads of a cocoon, hook a rug out of an old wool skirt, or whatever - things that are basic, useful and needed. Yep, super powers! Knowledge is definitely power!

I have six more work reports to do by Monday night but tomorrow really needs to be a soapmaking day! I need more hours in my days.

The countdown is on for my trip southeast! I can hardly wait!

More

Sunday's soapmaking added more soaps to the curing rack. Top shelf - left to right - Pearberry, Tweed, and Sea Salt & Lotus Blossom.

Tonight, I stamped each bar of Pearberry soap with a pear. Adds just the right touch. When I stamp my soaps, I place each bar on a flat surface and lay a piece of plastic wrap on top. Then, I place my stamp where I want it and give it a few good whacks with the rubber mallet. I have to be careful - too much force will cause the soap to crack. Using the plastic wrap keeps my stamps clean and also gives nice neat detail. 

I need to make lots more soap!!! I need more time!!! I'm attending the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild's annual conference in May and hope to have lots of soap orders to drop off in Virginia and also want to participate in a swap
with others at the conference. I'm SO excited, I can hardly stand myself! The conference is sold out with over 300 people attending from the US and other countries. The four days will be full of lectures, classes, vendors, and demonstrations. 

The birds are eating like crazy - building up their energy for nesting and parenting. I have three feeders hanging with suet - two cakes and one big round cylinder. I now have to bring them all in at night because the raccoons have developed a taste for them. What a pain! The rascals will climb my poles (the ones without the baffles) and jump to the main one (the one with a baffle). They eat the suet there or, most often, take my feeder down and work to get it open. Sometimes, they just drag it off - feeder and all. Here's a Red-Bellied Woodpecker checking out the other birds on the feeder before he settles in. We have three types of woodpeckers that visit the feeders - Downy, Hairy Downy, and Red-Bellied.

I walked out to the Bluebird boxes this afternoon to put out mealworms and didn't see a single Tree Swallow. This is MOST unusual. They usually dive and scold me for approaching the boxes. Wonder what's going on?

Report on the Bluebird boxes - BB #1 - it looks like Bluebirds have taken it over from the Tree Swallows. There is the beginnings of a bluebird nest in it. BB #2 - Momma Bluebird is very attentive to her five eggs. She flies out of the box when I get close to it. Those are some warm eggs - the nest is lined with horsehair. BB #3 - has the beginnings of a Tree Swallow nest. They still have more work to do. Their nests are beautiful! They scour the area for miles and bring feathers back. When they leave the nest, they cover the eggs with the feathers. Last year, I even found a chicken feather in the box!

I have a new baby blanket - the Tweed Baby Blanket by Jared Flood - on the needles. I'm almost finished with the center. Then, I will pick up all the edge stitches and knit a 3-color lace border.  Here are my colors. The dark gray at the top is the center square of the blanket. The purple, teal, and light gray are the colors for the 3-color lace border. I LOVE this combination. I put together more than a dozen combinations but when I did this one, it clicked. Very smart looking if I do say so myself! The yarn is Vintage (worsted weight) by Berroco. You'll have to stay tuned to see the progress on this. 

Tomorrow starts a fiber event in nearby Lebanon - Stringtopia Spring String Thing 2013. I'm signed up for two spinning classes with Beth Smith - Finish That Skein and Worsted / Woolen. 

I'll leave you with a little bouquet. I added more Gerbera Daisies to my collection. Aren't these yellow ones wonderful?! I got them at Kroger and will plant them outside for the summer. I winter my Gerberas inside and they bloom all year. They are such happy flowers.

Stay tuned! There's MORE to come!

The Earth's Day

Happy Earth Day!

illustration from www.grayna.com 

Busyness!

When I looked up the meaning of the word busyness, I found this - "1. quality or condition of being busy. 2. lively but meaningless activity." Well, I definitely have a problem with #2!

Last week was a blur. Between work and work, there was very little time for anything else. 

With the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild's annual conference coming up in May (ooooh, I can hardly wait!), I need to move at warp speed to get everything done that I need to do. The conference is being held in Raleigh, NC at a hotel where I used to attend Art in the Carolinas when I lived in Virginia. I'm making the trip into an opportunity to see family and friends and will be gone for ten days.

The Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild conference is a big deal! I understand that they are sold out this year and attendees will be coming from all over the world. There will be lectures, classes, vendors, entertainment, certification exams, door prizes, etc. The best part, though, will be time spent meeting new friends and "talking soap". I am SO excited, I can hardly stand it! I can hardly wait!!!!!

Spring has officially arrived here in Southwest Ohio. The grass is green and Andy mowed for the first time yesterday. Perennials are peeping through the soil - getting a little braver and inching their way upward daily.

Spring is here and the world is pairing up. The birds are nesting. No news re: the Bluebirds in BB #2 yet. There are five eggs and the Mrs. is being very attentive to them. The Tree Swallows are getting a little more serious about their nest building but still haven't finished anything in BB #1 or BB #3. We had these herons visit this weekend. So pretty! The pictures were taken through the upstairs window which makes them cloudy looking. In the first picture, you can see both herons if you look closely. I was surprised to see that I actually captured the one heron in flight in the second photo. 

One sad thing to report - Remember the Robin's nest at my front door in the pot of dried up Christmas greenery? She's abandoned the eggs. Earl Gray and I were walking in the yard and he ran around the corner of the porch and startled her off the nest. He was a good 10-12 feet away but I haven't seen her return to the nest since. Now, I have the nest with two beautiful eggs at my front door. I don't want to undo it! Wonder if I can remove all the dead greenery around it and plant my summer flowers without removing the nest? I'm going to try it.

Something else about Spring --- the varmits are active at night. I'm having a time with raccoons getting my suet at night. Night before last, one opened the suet feeder and ran off with a new block of suet. Last night, I had wired it shut so he had a challenge. At first, I thought he ran off with the entire feeder - set and all. Then, I found it under a bush in the garden. He didn't get it open but still managed to eat a fair bit through the wire feeder. Today, I'll bring it inside the garage to remove all temptation. 

This past weekend, I soaped like crazy! I made eight batches of soap. I actually made ten but two of them were big failures! I tried a new fragrance twice and it did NOT work at all. That fragrance is now marked for perfume, lotion, sugar polish, body oil, whatever --- anything but NOT soap!

Saturday, I soaped five batches. They're shown curing here along with two other soaps that are ready to be boxed. Top shelf, left to right - Sweet Gardenia, Lavender Mint, Good Morning!, and Buck Naked. Bottom shelf, left to right - Acai Berry and Beach Breezes waiting to be boxed, and Plain Jane.

Sunday soaping produced, from left to right - Tweed, Sea Salt & Lotus Blossom, and Pearberry. I'll cut these logs into bars tonight. 

Saturday night, Andy helped me move shelving around in the basement to finesse my soap area. I LOVE it! We then brought six more bookshelves down from the garage.

I sustained a work injury Saturday night. I was reaching overhead putting a large crockpot up on top of the tall wooden shelf unit when the glass lid slipped off and hit me square across the bridge of my nose! My nose has a purplish stripe across it and is a tad swollen. I don't think I broke it - maybe it's just bruised. It throbs, though, and is sore to the touch. Oh well, could've been worse! I'm so glad it didn't break my glasses!

I finally feel like I can start going through the sea of boxes and stuff now that I have a part of the area straight. Before, the WHOLE basement was such a mess that I didn't have any place to put anything. Every horizontal spacewas loaded, boxes were stacked, etc. --- terribly daunting! If I unpacked a box, there was no place to put the contents. Wish I had about a month off to tackle it! I'm very anxious to get the space settled. It's been almost four years - a long time to look for things. I'm going to have to start small - little bit by little bit. It's time.

I'll leave you with a picture of this orchid bloom. These flowers smell like coconuts. They're small and inconspicuous - not at all showy like other orchid blooms. 

Gotta run cut soap! And,I have chicken in the crockpot for dinner. I bought a little crockpot today. How about that - a kitchen utensil/appliance that isn't for soaping!

Soap Challenge 2013 - Week Three - Mica Swirl

I'm behind in posting my Soap Challenge 2013 results!  

Amy's, at Great Cake Soapworks, challenge for Week Three was all about the Mica Swirl. This is an elegant way to decorate the top of handmade soap. I loved this technique and will be using it a lot.

The pictures here are from the making of Acai Berry which was actually for the Week Two challenge. I combined Week Two and Week Three because I knew time was going to be short at Week Three. 

The technique is actually very simple. You mix a little mica in a very small amount of oil (I actually used water here) and then dribble it on top of your soap. Then, you swirl it with a utensil (I prefer a wooden skewer).  

While simple, it does take some practice to finesse the swirl technique. My biggest problem is quiting while I'm ahead! I need to have someone tell me to "step away from the soap" because I could just swirl all day/night long! This is a technique where less is more.

For another challenge, we were asked to photograph one of our soaps with one of our favorite things that is unrelated to soap. This first photo on the left is a bar of my Minty Fresh soap shown with the Bermuda Scarf/Shawl I knit.

Next, is a bar of Jammin' Blackberry nestled in my handspun Coopworth wool and silk. This is the HUGE skein I never thought I'd get off the bobbins. It finally measured 1276 yards, I think. One day it will be a lace shawl. 

I think I mentioned that on our way back from Ashtabula Sunday, Andy and I stopped at North Market in Columbus. Here's a picture of the market and the flower booth inside. The market is one booth after another of interesting things. We had lunch there and it was a tough choice. Vietnamese, Polish, Sushi, BBQ, chocolate, Jeni's Ice Cream, handmade pretzels and pastries, etc. etc. It was all there and it all smelled and looked wonderful!
I bought two pottery soap dishes at one of the booths. I'm sure you'll see them soon in a soap glamour shot!

Well, better run for now. Take care and Happy Wednesday tomorrow to everyone!