I Haven't Disappeared.... yet

I'm almost embarrassed to be posting again after so long. It's been almost a year since my last post; soaps have been made and sold; possible new products are being made and tested. Life keeps going on.

I now have two market years behind me; it's been educational and a lot of fun. My fellow vendors, and the people who run the East Kelowna Sunday Artisan Market are wonderful people and I've made some lovely friends. I missed one market out of the entire season because we do take an occasional vacation.

At this point in the calendar year, I'm gearing up for this year's upcoming market season. Over the last few weekends, soaps have been made. This one was made for a Soapmaking Forum challenge or, rather, an unchallenge. It wasn't an "official" challenge as December is a very busy month for almost everyone. Instead, the challenge was to create a soap using a new-to-you technique, or something that you've wanted to try but never got around to trying.

In my case, it was mica marbling. I've seen a few soapmakers make soap using this technique and I love the look of it.

I coloured it with Silver Sparkle mica (which turned the soap a really nice pale green for some reason) and used Copper Moon mica for the swirls. It's scented with Lemongrass Verbena fragrance oil. To show the marbling effect best, the soap needs to be cut horizontally rather than the usual vertical cut. I love the look of the bars but I'm not sure how much the mica will "shed". The bars aren't quite ready to be used yet but once they are, I'll be picking the messiest (the one with the most mica showing) and giving it a good try. I'm concerned that the mica may rub off on a washcloth or skin. The small bars, with the heart embeds were made with the leftover batter and a couple of mini hearts I had left from last year's Valentine's soap.

If you're in the Kelowna area, the East Kelowna Sunday Artisan Market will have their first market of the season on Sunday, February 16, from 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. I'll be there; will you?