Thursday 2 January 2014

Happy New Year to you too!

Assalamualaikum reader(s)..

Selamat Menyambut Tahun Baru Omputih yang ke 2014!!!!

Masa mercun tengah meletup-letup
m dok lipat kain dengan selambanya di rumah..

Waktu dah lewat
kain banyak
jadi untuk tidak melengah-lengahkan masa
 dan menambahkan lagi timbunan kain keesokkan harinya
maka itulah aktiviti di waktu malam new year.

the fun to celebrate is no longer there
when you have so much other things to do.

yes, taking care of the house
doing household chores is really driving me nuts at times..
dont forget the 2 year old in the picture! 
plus the other 32 year old 'baby' in the house!!

haha

jangan mare ye 'baby' if you ever read this.

anyways...

i made soap on the 31st of dec, final day of 2013.

i had a lot of leftovers from a soap project made about 6 months ago!
so I made a new batch and added the leftovers
so it was a rebatch of some sort.
no pictures yet sorry!
managed to cut it last night but i was in a hurry.
it was a clumsy cut that turned out too rustic!
too rustic translates to
 crooked, slanted cuts of possibly 5cm x 5cm x and maybe 3cm. 
it was an almost cube but isnt..
i did say almost..

made the new batch with coconut oil
mixed with the leftovers that was cut in small cubes.

Oh Oh Oh

the fun on that day...

baca tau.

pagi tu m kerja.
tapi m minta kat boss m nak balik awal sikit so i left at 2.30pm lebih kurang..
dah tengok resepi sabun dah so tinggal beli garam sikit je la kan..
my plan was to rebatch and make into a salt soap.
the leftovers were about 15% superfatted
so i thought salt soaps with high content of coconut oil should be ok lah
thats why m decide nak buat salt bars.

measured my coconut oil and leftovers at equal weights
(after 'consulting' the internet). 
lye amount was calculated based on the coconut oil only. 
took out powdered indigo. 
measured my scents for the whole (new and old batch). 
it wasnt an exact amount but still a lot 
about 100 grams of Patchouli, Lavender and Orange EO's. 
those were the only ones i have anyway
from the last project..

the best part was...

i bought coarse salts!!!!
yang paling kasar, yang berketul-ketul tu.
Why?
nama pun nak buat salt bars kan
and i really like scrubby soaps.
the normal ones at the shop was too fine..
so belilah garam yang by kilo tu..

i cleverly decided to use the stick blender to reduce the salt size
 not knowing how tough the salts are and blend away!!

my stick blender went dead on me.

this was an expensive and my most important item for soapmaking 
and it went fish-dead-like on me.
kejap pisau dia pusing, kejap tak pusing, pusing pun lembab sangat-sangat.
akhirnya m pun ambil keputusan untuk pergi kat kedai yang m beli tu because masih lagi under warranty (m siap beli extended warranty k)
padahal dah ada niat untuk tak pergi ke 'kawasan' kedai tu sebab takut sangkut kat trafik.

it was the eve of 2014!
they've had the stage up, closed a road
and i decided to go to Harvey Norman at about 4.40pm!!!!

that was just OMG unreal!!

but i had to! 

semua dah siap, the leftovers + coconut oil was in a bowl heating up, 
my coarse salt was still like tiny stones, no diff there.
but that situation was ripe for my taking you know. 
everything was ready BUT the stick blender!! 
i had to buy!
my first stick sent for repair anytime from 2 weeks to a month
hopefully not more..
so i bought the cheapest one there
which was not the cheapest because it was rm 189. 
sad but true

singgah juice works
lama dah tak beli k.
cut me some slack for spending my money like water that day.
sempat singgah tesco
beli gram kasar tesco brand.
singgah umah sidai kain
ambil baju salin
pick up baby
and balik umah mak to continue my sabun escapade.

lepas maghrib baru start balik dengan projek
with my new stick blender..

blended the leftovers with the coconut oil while heating it..
added EO's and indigo. 
did not measure the indigo, maybe 1-2 tbsp? maybe 1-1.5 tbsp? not sure.
and added the lye+water mixture to it.

no, i did not sprinkle water on my 6-month-old leftover because i forgot.
m terus humbankan dalam coconut oil dan panaskan.

m tak pasti sama ada lye mixture to berjaya me'mingle'kan diri dalam crowd minyak tu sebab keseluruhan mixture dah bertukar jadi plastisin
tak lama lepas m masukkan lye mixture!
it was hard to stir and i dont know if i should add the salt in when i couldnt really see 'trace'

'trace' is a term in soapmaking
mixture jadi pekat tapi texture bukan macam susu pekat sangat
cair sikit tapi bukan macam susu cair, okay?

tak paham takpe, teruskan baca..

i added salt anyway and it was really coarse, unlike my tiny-stones it was still pebble like.
i added about 300g.
of course i wanted to add more but the soap was almost hardening
what else could i do.

glopped it onto the mould
(which is actually an old drawer)
ratakan
banged many times
and it was done.

no washing done that night.
too lazy.
stick blender is currently sitting in a bowl with water.

my cut soaps are 
green-confetti like-crooked-almost cubes 
and are now sitting in an upstairs room
just waiting to be used..
it was not a hot process soap really so 4 weeks is still the waiting time..

patience is not my virtue!!
but 2014 here I come!
be patient with me okay.

ALL THE BEST in YOUR NEW YEAR!!

Chao!