Flock of Little Birds Contest Entry

I was thrilled to read about SJ Tucker's contest with art inspired by lyrics to a new song, "Little Bird."  I'm fairly certain I will be the only contestant to use soap as a medium!  The lyrics that struck a chord with me were "Little Flame" and "Little Thunderstorm."  So here is my little flame and little thunderstorm soap!

I used Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Vitamin E, and shea butter, and added them to distilled water and lye to create the soap base.  I scented the soap with essential oils of litsea cubea, orange valencia, and peppermint.  Finally, I added oxides and some charcoal to color the batter and poured it into my mold.  The technique I used created drops of water in the flamey portion.  It smells minty and spicy.

Flame and Thunderstorm

Beauty Shot

I love the drops of water!

Cutting Flower Power

I cut flower power!

I love all the different colors, but next time I will not do the two vertical lines through the soap.  I think that they take away from the overall look.  Also, I will try to use smaller glops of soap or fewer colors- it ended up very busy.

Find it on etsy here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/160453140/flower-power-handmade-patchouli-cold

Flower Power

Today I made lotion bars for the first time that I hope will turn out well.  I also made a batch of Patchouli soap.  I used a variety of oxides to color the soap (I think I used every color I had) and glopped it in similar to the spoon technique.  I did a little decorating on the top and two strokes all the way through the soap.

I really liked the spoon swirl technique look and I hope the swirling I did helped.  It was hard to stop swirling! I was having fun but I did not want it to get muddy.  Not the look I was going for.

Dinner Rolls

I found this recipe via pinterest and decided to tweak it for my own needs/ wants.  

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water (hot tap water is usually the right temperature for yeast, but you might want to check yours if you don't frequently bake)
1/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 1/2 cup white flour + more for kneading
1/3 cup flax seeds
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal

Directions
Combine water, oil, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.  While it proofs, pulse oatmeal in a [clean] coffee grinder until ground (optional).  Mix flours, flax, oatmeal, & salt. 

Add dry ingredients and egg to yeast mixture.  Use dough hook and knead until it does not stick to the sides.  I had to add a little more flour.

Cover the top with oil and a hot damp towel and let rise for about an hour.

Break into 16 spherical rolls and let rise again.  (Optional: freeze portion of recipe for fresh baked rolls later.)

Bake at 350 until done (about 15 minutes in my vintage oven).  

If you don't have time for the double rise, definitely check out Koti Beth's version linked above as it is a quick rise recipe.