goo and liquid soap help? (and a giveaway!)

I need some help! If you have any suggestions for better goo or liquid soap after reading this post, please share your advice in the comments. I'll choose a winner from them on the weekend, and send out two bars of my amazing, moisturizing, limited production lovely soap. I hope you win!

*Edited to add: If you have no advice to offer, leave a comment saying so! You'll still be entered in the draw. And it will probably be Sunday when I choose the winner.*

I need help Part 1: Phillip and I made some goo last weekend. I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out as far as how it feels and is manipulated, but wasn't it pretty? (I used some Martha glitter in there. You just can't go wrong with Martha glitter.)

If you let it sit on your hand for a minute or two, it very slowly started to sink down. But it wasn't really stretchy at all; if you pulled it really slowly it would stretch a very little bit before breaking. You could just break it into pieces, and little tiny goopy sparkly chunks would go flying everywhere and stick to everything. I used Elmer's clear glue, and borax dissolved in water, which seems to be the standard. Does anyone have a recipe that's nice and goopy? Stretchy and pliable? I'm wondering if maybe white glue would perform differently? (Insider tip: a mom told me today that you can buy giant jugs of white glue at Home Hardware for around $10. Score!)

I need help Part 2: In other make-y news, I feel as though I should have given you an update on my liquid soap sooner. But I still haven't perfected it, so I didn't want to give any instructions. I will, however, gladly share the secret that I dug up and let you know how I've made out so far.

I often have little bar soap odds and ends around, and have tried to convert them into liquid soap on more than one (or two, or three) occasions. I haven't had much luck. This time, I followed instructions I saw on Pinterest, which didn't work at all for me - I ended up with a gallon of really thin liquid and had to use about 8x the amount of soap to water that was recommended in the recipe. You could take the really thin liquid and put it in a foaming dispenser, but since I don't have one, I searched and searched for another natural, effective solution, and eventually found it: SALT. I wish I had taken a before picture. The soap was clear, and thin. Kind of like maple syrup looks. I sprinkled in some sea salt (maybe 1 or 1 1/2 tbsp to 4 litres (1 gallon) of soap), let it sit for a few hours, and stick blended it. (I thought that this would make it lather more than it did; it just kind of incorporates air into it.) I let it sit again (maybe overnight, I can't remember exactly), blended it again, and then all of a sudden, it turned into this lovely, thick liquid soap!

I've had soap from two different batches on the go in the house for the past week or two. One of them continued to thicken, and the pump is sucking up the water and not the solids. Fail. The other (the one pictured) seems to be starting to separate after about a week, but you still get a nice bit of the thick part and the thin in your hand that does the trick.

To sum up: I have no specific instructions, mediocre success, and am curious if anyone else has tried salt in your grated bar liquid soap. Has it worked? Can you please help me with the proportions / method? I'm just planning on making this for our use here at home, but I would like it to be awesome.

I hope that your week is going well, and thanks in advance for your help!

sunday morning

I bought these daffodils so we would have fresh flowers during our open house yesterday. (Still no house movement.) And so I would be able to enjoy them this week. Aren't they cheery?

We just finished a lovely, late pancake breakfast and then had a great time playing with some vintage Lego that were given to us yesterday. The pieces are too small for Thomas - he still likes to put things in his mouth. But they are so much fun to build with!

I'm planning to get some more soap made today (I got three batches made last night and didn't have quite enough olive oil for my fourth, so I'll need to pick some up). Maybe I'll make a soup, sauce, stew, or something else that begins with 's' and takes awhile on the stove.

I hope that you have a lovely slow day, too.

snowdrop day!

Yipeeeeeeeeeeee! They're here!

in its own sweet time

 Isn't this one of the most beautiful sights you could imagine? I thought so.

Some people we know a little bit tap these trees and have made syrup for the past few years. I looooove it. Not just the syrup, but the whole thing. I wrote last year "The thought of people just making amazing things because they want to thrills me." That still very much holds true. The buckets are all along the road, in people's yards and wooded spots, and they appear all of a sudden at that perfect time of year.

I like to think of them as blossoms of sorts.

 

When someone told me that they have taps at a local little store (one of those places that carries everything) I stopped in to pick up a couple. My Dad has a woodlot, so I think I'll see what we can set up this weekend. I'll keep you posted.

 
 And I took this for you, too - I could have stood there all day.