Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Weather this weather...
I don't think that the plants in East Tennessee for the memo that it is still winter...
My favorite tree on the ETSU campus, this tall, beautiful magnolia, is already blooming! Come on, tree, it is only February 9th!
My favorite tree on the ETSU campus, this tall, beautiful magnolia, is already blooming! Come on, tree, it is only February 9th!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Magic of FotoFuze
I have been selling online for over a year (my soap shop, and previous shops on Etsy and ArtFire), and I cannot believe that it has taken me this long to find out about FotoFuze!
I was turned on to FotoFuze after
visiting the Etsy forums one night... After reading so many rave
reviews about the site, I HAD to check it out... And I am SO GLAD
that I did!
FotoFuze is a site that works with your
photography. I take my images and import them directly from Etsy. I
can then highlight the object in my picture, and the site whitens the
background! I have heard that it also works great with black backgrounds, but I havent experimented with those yet.
Check out these before and after pics:
Isnt it amazing! The site is easy to
navigate, and their tools are simple and quick to use. They even have video
tutorials for those of us who are visual learners!
Make sure to check out this site if you
sell online. Your photographs will thank you!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Kudzu Experiment: (Finally!) Making Soap
It's finally time to make my kudzu soap!
If you need a recap, here are my first and second blog posts on the Kudzu Experiment.
For both batches of soap, I made tiny 3 ounce batches of soap batter. Both batches contained the same oils: olive oil, coconut oil, and castor oil, which makes a mild and bubbly bar of soap.I did not use a fragrance oil or essential oil in either batches.
First, lets take a look at my kudzu-infused oil soap...
For this batch, I substituted my kudzu-infused olive oil for regular olive oil. The oil had a rich, forest green color, but once the lye/water mixture was introduced, it morphed into a creamy green shade. The batter did not a or d (accelerate or decelerate, which is the speed that the batter traces), which is fantastic!
Next, lets take a look at my soap with kudzu powder...
With this batch, I waited until the soap batter had reached a medium trace before adding the powder. This ensured that the kudzu did not all sink to the bottom once the soap was in the mold, but stayed suspended throughout the bar of soap. Before adding the powder, the soap batter was egg shell white (a nice off-white, traditionally what I get with this recipe), but once the powder was added, the color changed dramatically to a rich green with dark-green specks. This kind us surprised me a bit, because not all plant additives to soap will change the color throughout, but rather just make the soap speckled.
The powdered kudzu has always had a green tea-like scent to it, and I sniffed this soap in the mold last night, and it retained the smell! I'm very anxious to see if the scent lasts through the cure... Usually, with other plant matter, they dont!
If you need a recap, here are my first and second blog posts on the Kudzu Experiment.
For both batches of soap, I made tiny 3 ounce batches of soap batter. Both batches contained the same oils: olive oil, coconut oil, and castor oil, which makes a mild and bubbly bar of soap.I did not use a fragrance oil or essential oil in either batches.
First, lets take a look at my kudzu-infused oil soap...
For this batch, I substituted my kudzu-infused olive oil for regular olive oil. The oil had a rich, forest green color, but once the lye/water mixture was introduced, it morphed into a creamy green shade. The batter did not a or d (accelerate or decelerate, which is the speed that the batter traces), which is fantastic!
 |
| Coconut oil, Castor oil, and Kudzu oil |
 |
| Mixing everything together! |
Next, lets take a look at my soap with kudzu powder...
With this batch, I waited until the soap batter had reached a medium trace before adding the powder. This ensured that the kudzu did not all sink to the bottom once the soap was in the mold, but stayed suspended throughout the bar of soap. Before adding the powder, the soap batter was egg shell white (a nice off-white, traditionally what I get with this recipe), but once the powder was added, the color changed dramatically to a rich green with dark-green specks. This kind us surprised me a bit, because not all plant additives to soap will change the color throughout, but rather just make the soap speckled.
The powdered kudzu has always had a green tea-like scent to it, and I sniffed this soap in the mold last night, and it retained the smell! I'm very anxious to see if the scent lasts through the cure... Usually, with other plant matter, they dont!
 |
| After adding the powder! |
 |
| Coconut oil, Castor oil, Olive oil |
I had a little left over from each batch, so I mixed them together and made two more bars, which will be interesting!
 | |||||
| Batch #1 in top, Batch #2 bottom middle, Mixes of the two on the bottom sides |
These soaps will be in the mold over the weekend. Usually, soap can be unmolded in about 2 days, but when I made up this recipe, over half of the oils are olive oil, so the soap will still be soft. I cannot wait to see what these babies are going to look like after their cure!!
I will be posting a YouTube video of the unmolding (yay!), and I plan on making a second video trying out the soap in about 4 weeks, so keep an eye out for those!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
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