Ah Fall

I love fall, so I'm greatly enjoying my calendar stating that it's currently November first. Fall is the perfect season - it's not hot and humid, making me feel sticky and like a part of the unwashed masses, like in summer. Winter is blindingly cold, I have a perpetual runny nose thanks to my reaction to being cold (doctor told me that was the cause, I'm still doubtful).

The most glorious part of fall though is Halloween and all the joy that comes leading up to it. Lucky for me M enjoys this particular holiday as much as I do. We were going to try out a haunted forest but pumpkin carving took us longer than M expected. Instead we went for the corn maze at night. We managed to navigate both sections of the maze in just over an hours (1 hour 12 minutes to be exact). It was a blast, except for those young whipper snappers who couldn't seem to understand that if you go through the corn it ruins the maze. Bah, kids these days.

Anyway, one of M's favorite fall activities is pumpkin carving. It's a big deal in his book and is planned months in advance. Really, he talks about it all summer as the pumpkins grown, worrying and fretting that there won't be enough pumpkins for everyone that comes to the pumpkin carving party. There were plenty, but he lamented that the pumpkins weren't larger.

Between the worrying though he took the time to teach me the fine art of pumpkin carving, the proper way (according to M). Carving what I always thought of as elaborate is not actually as difficult are I originally thought. There are so many stencils and directions on the web that will be much more clear than me, as a mere novice, can provide.

I attempted to use a stencil, but I neglected to consider that my pumpkin was still a bit damp from wiping off the stray pumpkin innards. About a quarter of the way through outlining my stencil started to disintegrate. This was not a complete disaster, but did require me to free hand the outline of the design onto the pumpkin. It didn't turn out perfectly but I was impressed with the final product.

On a side note, I decided to treat myself this halloween weekend. No homework was done all night. Instead I knit and watched appropriate documentaries about haunted houses.


*DISCLAIMER: My camera is malfunctioning so any pictures are actually from M's friend or his sister.*

Sudsy

As a girlfriend, I'm never entirely sure what is appropriate to give M's parents as gifts. I wonder if this is common sense to most people? Hm, well let me make a few excuses. I'm from the West coast, but am dating a life-long Midwestern. His mother finds many things I do quite strange. I eat funny foods (Caprese salad, Yum!) Also, my family doesn't really do gifts except for holidays, and birthdays if we actually remember. Gifts just aren't our thing. So imagine my surprise when M's mom gave me a Christmas present - follow that with my embarrassment that I hadn't brought a gift for her. Now that we're all up to speed, our craft will begin.

M's mom has a hard time with perfumes, smelly lotions, and most feminine bath products. So while wandering the aisle of the local Micheal's I saw a kit for making soap. I took that as my inspiration.

I opted not to make lye soap, as the process is more than I have time for at the moment. That leaves the melt and pour variety. It's a pretty basic process.

What you'll need:
Soap Base - I used glycerin this time
A spouted/pourable container - medium measuring cups work well
Soap Mold
(optional)
Essential Oil in desired scent
Coloring agent (food coloring works just fine, in small amounts)

Step 1 - cut up your soap base. (I used glycerin)
Step 2 - melt the soap base.
Step 3 - mix in scent and color
Step 4 - pour in mold
Step 5 - let cool

For the soap molds, you can use just about anything that is leak proof and won't be damaged from holding a very warm liquid. I've found a bunch of fun ice cube trays that would work. But you can also find molds designed specifically for soap. I found some in celtic knot patter that I think M's Irish-and-proud mother would like.

There are a couple of handy tricks I wish someone had told me before I made my first patch of soap a few years ago. The soap will occasionally be hard to remove from the mold. This is not an issue with a silicon or other "soft" mold, but the standard plastic ones have problems. One solution is to spray the mold with cooking oil. I am not a fan of this solution because it leaves an oily film on the soap, and if it's a gift you can't exactly wash the soap. Also, the oil will usually bead up on the plastic and look like bubbles on the pattern side of the soap. Instead I put my soap in the fridge. This not only helps it come out of the mold, but also cools it faster so I can do layers or other fun designs. The being cold makes the soap contract slightly, and harden, so it's easier to pop it out of the mold.

The other piece of advice would be to tap the molds just after pouring the melted soap. This will help to get the bubbles out and make for a cleaner mold.

I used some red dye, to make a pink layer. M's mom is into red, but I was worried that the amount of dye I would need to use to make the soap a real red would also dye M's mom pink, and possibly irritate her sensitive skin. However, to make it a bit more interesting I decided to put in layers. This is simple, and pretty intuitive. Just fill the mold part way, then allow to cool. Melt more soap but dye a contrasting color, or don't dye it at all. Viola, you have layers. My only caution here is to not make the second layer soap too hot as it will melt the initial layer as you pour.

It was a nice break from studying, which has taken over my life as usual. Okay, now I'm off to edit articles....and hopefully sleep.