Chix Nail Wraps

I bought some UK made wraps to try out and compare to the Jamberry ones - they are Chix brand http://chixnails.co.uk/ and come with the same instructions as Jamberry but much less in cost - even with postage from the UK to Australia. I bought 3 sets and it only cost me around $34 total. Worth trying out (though you only get one manicure from one set unless you want to cut up the toe ones). 

They took just over 2 weeks to arrive and I had to try them out when they did - I put on the Pink Gold Shimmer ones - I noticed that they are a more stretchy vinyl than the Jams so easier to put on and almost shrink into shape on the nail too. I will see how they last - fitted on 10-12-15.

I have 2 other designs to try in this brand too. Will keep you up to date with these ones!

Misconceptions about soapmaking

You know what really annoys me? People who have no idea about how real soap is made, who have an absolute hissy fit when they hear that to make soap you have to use sodium hydroxide (caustic soda). If you don't use caustic soda you don't have soap - if the thing you use to clean your body doesn't have caustic soda in it (listed sometimes as saponified ...oil) then you are washing with a synthetic detergent - you know the type of stuff you wash your dishes and your car with! When you mix oil and caustic soda/water (lye) together it causes a chemical reaction called saponification and changes to a safe item called soap - there is no mystery in it - it is a very basic chemical reaction and once the saponification is complete - usually about 24 hours with cold process soap and a couple of hours with hot process soap then what you have has no sodium hydroxide/caustic soda/lye in it. If it did it would burn your skin! Handmade soap got a bit of a bad name in the good old days of "make it yourself or go without" they didn't have access to sodium hydroxide from the hardware store or supermarket like we do - they used soda ash - this is the ash left after burning wood. Sounds safe doesn't it? Well no, because you mixed the ash with water to make the lye but you never knew how much to put in and whether you were making a mild soap or a very harsh burn-your-skin-off soap. It was pretty much guess work. So the old soaps sometimes were not the best for the skin even though they were completely natural. These days we have access to soap calculators online that tell you exactly how much sodium hydroxide you need, how much water and you put into the calculator the oils you are using and it works it all out for you. No guesswork and a completely safe soap in the end. 

People seem to think that the caustic soda is still in the finished soap - well it isn't! You MAKE soap with caustic soda but it is NOT in the the finished soap due to saponification.

So if you see sodium hydroxide, or lye, or saponified on your soap ingredient list don't worry - you will probably find the only other ingredients are very natural, like oils and a bit of colour and fragrance - compare that to the chemical list on the back of your shampoo and conditioner bottles, the wrapping on your soap free shower gel and other items you put on your skin.  

Another thing that people get confused about is the curing time for cold process soaps. They think that this has something to do with making the soap safe to use - well it isn't - the soap is safe after it is completely saponified which is around 24 hours if you made it correctly. The cure time is for the soap to harden. When you first make the soap it is pretty soft, safe to use but soft - so you would use it up very quickly. When the soap sits on a drying rack for 4 weeks the moisture in the soap evaporates and you end up with a nice hard bar that will last well. Soaps also get milder as they age too. Some soaps that are made with a high amount of olive oil need over 6 weeks to harden enough for use, some need even longer (months). But the soap is safe to use even if its soft. Most soap makers test their soaps the next day to see what its like - they wouldn't do that if they thought it was going to burn their skin off. 

Not sure I have allayed all your fears about soap but perhaps if you check the labels on your shower items and compare to a handmade soap you might see what I am on about. You can always look up those ingredients online to see what they are (but be prepared to be shocked).

Check out how I make my soaps here  

 
 

My latest hobby Melt and Pour soap

A while back on my felt group (Fun_2_Felt on yahoo) someone said they tried to make soap and it didnt work out and ideas were given how to do it correctly. That got me searching to see if it really was that easy and came across Melt and Pour glycerine soaps - you buy the base and melt it, colour it and fragrance it and pour into a mould and its done (well you do have to wait for it to cool and set but you know what I mean).

These are my first ever soaps - I bought a kit off ebay to start out with and to see if I liked it (yeah ok so I did and Im hooked!) They are all glycerine clear base - green is lime fragrance oil (FO) the orange one is peach FO and the grassy looking one is lavender essential oil with lavender flowers in it (the grassy looking bits)

the next ones I made were rainbow soaps using some new base (clear and white glycerine base) and new pigment dyes that dont bleed into each other. I made it in a silicone cake tin and you do each layer one by one waiting for each to almost set before pouring the next. I ended up with lots of soaps - we use these at home as we seem to go through soap rather fast here and that is why I started making soaps - as a craft and to save having to buy soap! Not sure it saves any money but I do have fun doing it!

I got some more moulds - silicone ones are so great and easy to use - you can buy soap ones or just use cake ones which can give you some interesting desings like the gingerbread men. 

 Now I decided to get a bit more adventurous! This mould I bought from FreshSoap Ideas in Brisbane - she had done a soap in yellows and gold but I realised it could look like an African Violet if I did it in the right colours. So I bought some micas there too and poured the colours carefully to make this soap. What do you think? I love the micas as they give it a lovely glittery colour in the clear soap. I do the background in a plain colour over white base.

The next soaps are more experimenting - the pink ones are using a clear stamp in the bottom of the mould to give an impressed pattern and if you do it right and get the coloured layers correct it can turn out very well - better than mine Im afraid! 

The blue one is an embeded soap using some left over bits placed into a clear layer

The gold soaps were ones my son suggested as he wanted to try the gold mica and see if you could make a "gold bar" not quite but very pretty.

 This is another new mould - a silicone brownie tray - made lots of flowers in all different fragrances and colours - lots of fun!

bought some more muffin tins in silicone - this time hearts and the tiny ones are icecube trays! So did some embeded soaps - tiny ones inside the big hearts. I will use the other tiny ones later

I bought a set of cookie cutters in the shape of flowers and made the embeds for these soaps with a thin layer of soap cut out with 2 sizes of the cutters and a hole punch for the yellow centres. I then fitted them together and placed them inside the silicone flower mould 

Similar thing with the rectangle ones above too but a simpler flower

Here are some more versions of the flower and leaf mould - you can do any colours you like really! Im thinking of having these on the craft table at the African Violet show in October. 

Hope you like all my soaps and when I do some more I will do another post.

 

Free pattern by Emma's Bears

free pattern by Emma's Bears

Im trying out a free pattern by Emma of Emma's Bears - the bear is called Gracie and its a nice easy one to make, so try it out. Im making mine from a thick pale blue acrylic fur and she is turning out rather good. Photos as soon as Im finished and that shouldnt be long! Ive done the head and body, done some flowers on the foot pads and just have to sew up the arms and legs and join it all together and stuff it (LOL). I hand sew all my bears so they take a little while to do and I ran out of the strong thread I use for hand sewing (C Lon nylon thread) and had to order some more. It was just as easy to order from the UK than drive down to the Gold Coast to the bear/bead shop I usually get it from. Anyway photos soon!

This is Gracie by Emma so you can see what the original looks like

My Bumble Bear finally finished!

Well I finally finished my Bumble Bear a week ago and wanted to show you the photos. He turned out really nice after all - wasn't sure I liked him till I trimmed his nose and then he started to look cute. I changed the original pattern so that the muzzle was 2 colour instead of one. I changed the body so that it had stripes. Im happy to say the changes worked and he wasn't misshapen like I thought he might be.Hope you like him!

My latest craft project... well one of them

Im sure no one cares as no one reads this blog but in the off chance that in years to come this blog is still here and someone comes across it they may be wondering why the bumble bear still hasnt been finished. Well the African Violet show is in Oct and I always put as many crafts as I can on the craft table to sell. I usually make a couple of hundred $ from sales so I think its worth while. Usually I start just after Mothers day in May to make a heap of crafts so I have plenty to sell by Oct but its almost July and I havent even looked to see what I had left over or thought about new things to make.
I dont know where the idea came from but I decided to make some little felt covers for notepads. You can buy the little spiral notepads for less than 50c each in a pack and I had lots of bought felt on hand. I make the cover and hand sew the edge with blanket stitch. Then I am making little flowers and leaves with my clover moulds by needle felting them into shape. I then attach the flowers and leaf by felting them onto the cover and then embroidering on the centres of the flowers and the stem of the leaf. I can make one cover from start to finish in around an hour. I can also do them while I watch tv so that is good as I hate watching tv without doing something else at the same time.
Im not sure what to sell them for - perhaps a couple of dollars to cover costs? Maybe $3? They are only small and measure 12 x 9cm (4½ x 3½ inches).
What do you think of these? I also have an address book to cover - it was given to me and I really dont need it so I will make it look pretty and sell it too.

Just thought I would show you the cute little dolls I made over the last few weeks (my internet connection was on go-slow and had to do something instead of surfing the net). Each doll is needle felted over a wire armature and is about 10cm or 4 inches high. The hair is mohair and the dresses are made from bought felt and needle felted on the edges to join. I am selling them on Etsy (link on the right >>>>) except for the purple one which I am keeping as that was the first one and I love purple.

Im still working on my bumble bear - here are a few photos - the pattern Im using is nothing like the way this bear will turn out, the body is now striped, cut and sewn together with 2 different fabrics as is the muzzle. I love the little clips I use for holding pieces together when I sew them & all my bears are hand sewn. More photos to come.