cheese that does not smell like cheese :)

When I was little, I remember some of the best souvenirs I would ever receive were the tiny wrapped bars of airline soaps my aunts give me from their flights to goodness knows where.  So tiny and magical, even normal sized bars of soap were always something I would squirrel away, much for some of the same reasons I now realize that poopie snakes are so precious to tiny chumley. From its lovely smell and often awesome packaging, from its variety of interesting shapes and colors and the chemical processes required to bring it to life, soap is a wonder to behold.

As I grew older, the practicalities of liquid soap overshadowed bar soap, but bar soap still holds a unique fascination for me that until recently I always thought would be something I would appreciate as the work of others. At least the hard core stuff, because I've done melt and pour but not the kind you make from scratch with danger lye and fats and all the smelly stuff that makes handmade soap so cool. And thanks to the light shed upon me by my very can-do makey friend Robin, and the continued (but getting better yay) limitations thrust upon my by my slowly but surely unfreezing shoulder, I have been suiting up and making cold process soap this summer.

I'm pretty excited that I am now at the point where I can play with the aspects of soap making - actually of any making - that interest me. When I can add smell and color, influence design, shape and feel, develop packaging, and think about how it might be something that would prove shop worthy.  This past weekend, tiny chumley and I completed test batch number 6, adding charcoal, and earl grey tea flecked inclusions,  and a dollop of silk melted in lye water and turned into the invisible luxury that is silk enriched soap.  Or at least I think so anyway, because I won't find out for another 6 or so weeks when the soap has cured and it is ready for use.  (Okay if you are really in the know, then as baxter would say, u know i know u know i know that i know u know i know i could use it sooner than that if i really wanted to. But I am not. Or at least I am going to try not to because the cure time is six weeks.)

My experiments in soap making aren't exactly a secret by any means, but for one little wolf, all the smells and delicious looking bottles of oils and the parts of the process where he has to be kept safely away have all built up a curiosity that can hardly be contained anymore, making his current jail time feel that much more restrictive, and raising his suspicions as to what exactly is going on up there. 

mom, I know it does not really smell like cheese from here but if u r making cheese that does not smell like cheese, I am compelled 2 remind u of the agreement made in the fair incarceration act of 2015 which states and I quote, "the little wolf food tax rates for 2016 shall include a 3 percent surcharge regardless of physical involvement in the creation and manufacture of said taxable and edible product. all taxes are due immediately and must be paid in full to said little wolf regardless of incarceration status.  form of compensation shall be determined by the following: a) if the product is completely edible with no anticipated digestive distress then the three percent surcharge shall reflect the amount of product by weight or volume as mutually agreed upon by both parties or by a ferocious falcon in the event that both parties cannot come to satisfactory closure on this matter. b) if the product contains edible ingredients but the final product deemed inedible by traditional and accepted dietary assessment methodologies, then the three percent surcharge shall be applied against the resulting average of six months worth of pre-incarceration meal sizes and payment made in kibble. c) if the product is completely made of -" wait, I would go on but I am pretty sure I smelled olive oil when u were making it, so really, whether it is b or c I think it is best to just pay up now, dontchoo think, mom? :)