Have I been had? I think I've been had.
Sep. 12th, 2016 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
First batch of soap: made. We'll see how it turns out. I don't really have a good place for a soap lab, where I would feel safe knowing that the pets can't get to any of it. :/ I think, once K. and D. move all their stuff out of my garage, I can use that area for a small workshop. In fact, I know I can, because the former owner of this house was a very handy sort of guy, and he had a whole tool setup in there, put up extra lights, etc.
I didn't make a totally basic soap -- if you know me, you're probably not surprised. >.> I took the opportunity to try out some coloring (rose clay; it did NOT work) and fragrancing (orange essential oil; it may or may not have worked. Apparently citrus scents evaporate quickly in cold process soap).
I did not account for how hot I myself would get during the process. My goggles kept fogging up, the chemical-resistant gloves I bought were super annoying, and the mouth/nose mask was so stifling I had to take it off after mixing the lye with water (I know you don't have to keep it on, but I had initially figured, oh what's the harm, it can only help, before realizing it was too hard). I'm going to buy some disposable nitrile gloves instead, and wear long sleeves. Then I only have the goggles to contend with, and hopefully once I get more used to the process, my nerves won't be out of control and I won't sweat so much (out of fear)!
Mixing the lye into the water was no big deal. In fact, the lye seems so harmless in its container that it's incredible how dangerous it can be, and that people can just randomly use it in stuff.
Every soap video I've ever seen, though, that initial mixture starts out super hot, around 180F. Mine never seemed to get quite that hot. It was really difficult timing the heating of the oils with the cooling of the lye; I wanted to get them both around 130F but that did not happen. I think the lye solution was about 135F and the oil was around 125F when I mixed them.
The Cuisinart stick blender that I got on Amazon, so highly rated by members of the community, was annoying as shit to use. Partly that might've been due to the really annoying gloves, and partly it might've been because the blender is annoyingly designed. It has a safety feature wherein you have to press on this button at the top, and then press "low" or "high" to blend, at which point you can let go of the safety button. But if you stop blending, inadvertently or... advertently, the safety button pops and you can't just start the stick again without pressing the button. Argh.
I couldn't really tell when the soap got to a light trace. I still don't know whether I got the soap to a light or medium trace. I thought I had it at a light trace, and figured that stirring in the colorant and essential oil would accelerate it and get it to medium. Instead, it actually seemed to thin the soap, which is very odd... I've never read about that being a possibility. Accelerating trace, yes. Reversing it, no. O.o
I should've waited for my adjustable loaf mold to arrive, but I was impatient to try it out, so instead I decided to use a silicone round mold that would make individual soaps. I won't get to have the fun of cutting them, alas.
By the time I was done, the soap wasn't very hot, which is weird because the saponification process is supposed to heat things up -- in fact, you're supposed to cover it with plastic wrap and a towel (which I did) in order to encourage it, so that gel phase will happen. You don't want that for soaps involving sugar, in fact, you want to put your soap in the fridge to prevent it! But this was just a regular soap. I touched the silicone mold on the outside, both immediately after, and several hours later, and the soap is not hot at all. So now I'm wondering if I even did this correctly. O.o Soap doesn't HAVE to go through a gel phase to saponify -- the lye interacting with the fat does that -- but it is so common that usually you have to take steps to prevent it from happening, and yet I didn't. Maybe it's just that my liquids were already too cool when I mixed them...
They do seem to be hardening, so that's good. Then I just have to wait 4-6 weeks for them to cure before I can actually test one. I hate waiting!
After I was done, I was like, what do I do this all this equipment that has raw soap batter on it? I am separating everything that I've used for soap to ONLY ever use for soap, but I'm so freaked out by the lye thing that I'm like, how do I even clean this?! This despite the fact that I've read up on it before, and basically you're supposed to paper towel everything off, so that raw soap batter doesn't get into your pipes (it could potentially clog it, apparently), and then wash as normal. But I'm like, but then I'll use a sponge on this, that will then be used to clean dishes we eat off of! And I can't have a separate cleaning sponge, because my mom will get confused and it'll happen anyway! And then I thought, but this is LYE. People use lye to clean stuff; THAT'S WHAT IT'S GOOD FOR. THAT'S WHY IT MAKES SOAP. And back and forth and back and forth. Finally I read this post that was like, "You could just leave everything you used -- bowls, spoons, mixer -- all together for 24 hours. At that point, any traces of batter still on the equipment will have turned to soap, which you can just wash off." Ha! That makes perfect sense, and makes me feel better about the potential danger of raw soap batter, so that is exactly what I will do.
I cannot wait to unmold the soap tomorrow and feel them and smell them!
=========
Does anyone know anything about caring for orchids after their blossoms have fallen? I've been meaning to look it up but I feel like that will just bring me down another research hole. :)) Basically a couple months ago I got three gorgeous orchids from work that I took home. One of them got infested with some sort of bug, which didn't look like a bug, only bumps on the stem/flowers, but after looking it up, confirmed it was a bug. :/ It seemed to stunt the growth of that particular plant. And then all its flowers fell off, but it was sort of about time, because the second orchid's flowers also all fell off, even though it had been perfectly healthy otherwise (that I know of). I'm not sure if that first flower is a lost cause, and the bugs will always be there, or if now that the flowers have fallen and we can cut the stem off, we can be rid of the bugs that way?
Anyway, despite the fact that these two orchids both lost their blossoms around the same time, the third one that I kept in my bathroom was hale and hearty for weeks longer! I don't know why it kept its blossoms for so much longer, but I kept it on the windowsill above the tub with the window open (maybe it was the fresh air?), and it looked so nice. I wanted to get a picture of it before its blossoms inevitably fell, too, and I literally took this picture two days before they started wilting! Sheesh! (And then Jaime knocked the whole thing down and two of its leaves broke. :/ I hope that won't hurt it for next year. That would make me so sad.)
=========
Speaking of Jaime, I took this shot back in April and meant to share then, but today it is! We were looking all over for him, and he wasn't responding, and finally I saw where he was hiding, lol.
=========
My three mystery paintings from Afremov have arrived! I was actually kind of dreading them, because after the experience with Misty Mood 2, I was unconvinced that these would be ones I'd like, even though they're originals. But I love them! I do think it makes a huge difference when he does originals rather than replicas. I haven't decided where I'll put them yet
I got one landscape and two vertical paintings. They're smaller than the other ones I have, but that's okay. Variety's good. I was actually pleased that two of them were vertical because everything else I have is landscape oriented. And I was glad that they took my preferences into account and only sent me nature ones, rather than any random dancing cats that he seems to like to do. O.o
"Rain's Rustle"
I might have to call shenanigans on this one. There are other versions of this on his site -- same name, similar painting, though the figures are different -- so is this really the original??? Or is this a replica that he's passing off as an original?! Here's the one on the site closest to mine, but the one on the site is better imho.
"Autumn Stroll on a Horse"
OMG, realizing that about the first one made me look up the other two, and the same thing is true! Is he just passing off these replicas as originals?! Despite the "certificates of authenticity" that I got? I mean, not that it really matters, I'll never be able to tell, but seriously. Here's the one on the site. I actually like mine better overall, but I like the figure from the one on the site more.
"Autumn Stream"
Here's the one on the site. I like the lighter blues he used on the site version more than the darker blues on mine, but mine has a moodier feel, which is fine.
I'm not even that upset; the ones I got are definitely more detailed than the disaster that was Misty Mood 2, and I like them. But now I am burning with curiosity if this is all just some kind of scam, and he just recreates things over and over, and sells things as replicates or originals, he doesn't actually care if you don't. Or do they justify "originals" in some way that I don't get? Because to me, each one of these are replicas of something that was created before. I could ask them, but I almost don't want to put them through the trouble of having to create some elaborate fiction. :))
Whatever. I'm not going to return them because a) I like them; b) it would be a giant hassle; and c) they were inexpensive, as far as "real" art goes. But if I ever get anything from him again, it will be with my eyes wide open! It would have to be like, super cheap and with the promise that it'll look nearly identical to what I'm seeing on the site (I'd still like the real Misty Mood 2, and also Farewell to Anger).
=========
In a final bit of yayness, at work we just moved into temporary digs where we have to all share this giant room (think YMCA gym) with like 75 other people. All our desks are crammed in there. I'm finally used to working in an open space instead of having my own office like I did for the first 10 years there, but this is so insane. It's supposed to be for only seven weeks, though I would be shocked if they actually finished remodeling our other space in time. To make things a little more tolerable for us while we're there, my GM is giving his team Bose QuietComfort 35 Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones, which is nice. I'm getting mine in silver.
I didn't make a totally basic soap -- if you know me, you're probably not surprised. >.> I took the opportunity to try out some coloring (rose clay; it did NOT work) and fragrancing (orange essential oil; it may or may not have worked. Apparently citrus scents evaporate quickly in cold process soap).
I did not account for how hot I myself would get during the process. My goggles kept fogging up, the chemical-resistant gloves I bought were super annoying, and the mouth/nose mask was so stifling I had to take it off after mixing the lye with water (I know you don't have to keep it on, but I had initially figured, oh what's the harm, it can only help, before realizing it was too hard). I'm going to buy some disposable nitrile gloves instead, and wear long sleeves. Then I only have the goggles to contend with, and hopefully once I get more used to the process, my nerves won't be out of control and I won't sweat so much (out of fear)!
Mixing the lye into the water was no big deal. In fact, the lye seems so harmless in its container that it's incredible how dangerous it can be, and that people can just randomly use it in stuff.
Every soap video I've ever seen, though, that initial mixture starts out super hot, around 180F. Mine never seemed to get quite that hot. It was really difficult timing the heating of the oils with the cooling of the lye; I wanted to get them both around 130F but that did not happen. I think the lye solution was about 135F and the oil was around 125F when I mixed them.
The Cuisinart stick blender that I got on Amazon, so highly rated by members of the community, was annoying as shit to use. Partly that might've been due to the really annoying gloves, and partly it might've been because the blender is annoyingly designed. It has a safety feature wherein you have to press on this button at the top, and then press "low" or "high" to blend, at which point you can let go of the safety button. But if you stop blending, inadvertently or... advertently, the safety button pops and you can't just start the stick again without pressing the button. Argh.
I couldn't really tell when the soap got to a light trace. I still don't know whether I got the soap to a light or medium trace. I thought I had it at a light trace, and figured that stirring in the colorant and essential oil would accelerate it and get it to medium. Instead, it actually seemed to thin the soap, which is very odd... I've never read about that being a possibility. Accelerating trace, yes. Reversing it, no. O.o
I should've waited for my adjustable loaf mold to arrive, but I was impatient to try it out, so instead I decided to use a silicone round mold that would make individual soaps. I won't get to have the fun of cutting them, alas.
By the time I was done, the soap wasn't very hot, which is weird because the saponification process is supposed to heat things up -- in fact, you're supposed to cover it with plastic wrap and a towel (which I did) in order to encourage it, so that gel phase will happen. You don't want that for soaps involving sugar, in fact, you want to put your soap in the fridge to prevent it! But this was just a regular soap. I touched the silicone mold on the outside, both immediately after, and several hours later, and the soap is not hot at all. So now I'm wondering if I even did this correctly. O.o Soap doesn't HAVE to go through a gel phase to saponify -- the lye interacting with the fat does that -- but it is so common that usually you have to take steps to prevent it from happening, and yet I didn't. Maybe it's just that my liquids were already too cool when I mixed them...
They do seem to be hardening, so that's good. Then I just have to wait 4-6 weeks for them to cure before I can actually test one. I hate waiting!
After I was done, I was like, what do I do this all this equipment that has raw soap batter on it? I am separating everything that I've used for soap to ONLY ever use for soap, but I'm so freaked out by the lye thing that I'm like, how do I even clean this?! This despite the fact that I've read up on it before, and basically you're supposed to paper towel everything off, so that raw soap batter doesn't get into your pipes (it could potentially clog it, apparently), and then wash as normal. But I'm like, but then I'll use a sponge on this, that will then be used to clean dishes we eat off of! And I can't have a separate cleaning sponge, because my mom will get confused and it'll happen anyway! And then I thought, but this is LYE. People use lye to clean stuff; THAT'S WHAT IT'S GOOD FOR. THAT'S WHY IT MAKES SOAP. And back and forth and back and forth. Finally I read this post that was like, "You could just leave everything you used -- bowls, spoons, mixer -- all together for 24 hours. At that point, any traces of batter still on the equipment will have turned to soap, which you can just wash off." Ha! That makes perfect sense, and makes me feel better about the potential danger of raw soap batter, so that is exactly what I will do.
I cannot wait to unmold the soap tomorrow and feel them and smell them!
=========
Does anyone know anything about caring for orchids after their blossoms have fallen? I've been meaning to look it up but I feel like that will just bring me down another research hole. :)) Basically a couple months ago I got three gorgeous orchids from work that I took home. One of them got infested with some sort of bug, which didn't look like a bug, only bumps on the stem/flowers, but after looking it up, confirmed it was a bug. :/ It seemed to stunt the growth of that particular plant. And then all its flowers fell off, but it was sort of about time, because the second orchid's flowers also all fell off, even though it had been perfectly healthy otherwise (that I know of). I'm not sure if that first flower is a lost cause, and the bugs will always be there, or if now that the flowers have fallen and we can cut the stem off, we can be rid of the bugs that way?
Anyway, despite the fact that these two orchids both lost their blossoms around the same time, the third one that I kept in my bathroom was hale and hearty for weeks longer! I don't know why it kept its blossoms for so much longer, but I kept it on the windowsill above the tub with the window open (maybe it was the fresh air?), and it looked so nice. I wanted to get a picture of it before its blossoms inevitably fell, too, and I literally took this picture two days before they started wilting! Sheesh! (And then Jaime knocked the whole thing down and two of its leaves broke. :/ I hope that won't hurt it for next year. That would make me so sad.)
=========
Speaking of Jaime, I took this shot back in April and meant to share then, but today it is! We were looking all over for him, and he wasn't responding, and finally I saw where he was hiding, lol.
=========
My three mystery paintings from Afremov have arrived! I was actually kind of dreading them, because after the experience with Misty Mood 2, I was unconvinced that these would be ones I'd like, even though they're originals. But I love them! I do think it makes a huge difference when he does originals rather than replicas. I haven't decided where I'll put them yet
I got one landscape and two vertical paintings. They're smaller than the other ones I have, but that's okay. Variety's good. I was actually pleased that two of them were vertical because everything else I have is landscape oriented. And I was glad that they took my preferences into account and only sent me nature ones, rather than any random dancing cats that he seems to like to do. O.o
"Rain's Rustle"
I might have to call shenanigans on this one. There are other versions of this on his site -- same name, similar painting, though the figures are different -- so is this really the original??? Or is this a replica that he's passing off as an original?! Here's the one on the site closest to mine, but the one on the site is better imho.
"Autumn Stroll on a Horse"
OMG, realizing that about the first one made me look up the other two, and the same thing is true! Is he just passing off these replicas as originals?! Despite the "certificates of authenticity" that I got? I mean, not that it really matters, I'll never be able to tell, but seriously. Here's the one on the site. I actually like mine better overall, but I like the figure from the one on the site more.
"Autumn Stream"
Here's the one on the site. I like the lighter blues he used on the site version more than the darker blues on mine, but mine has a moodier feel, which is fine.
I'm not even that upset; the ones I got are definitely more detailed than the disaster that was Misty Mood 2, and I like them. But now I am burning with curiosity if this is all just some kind of scam, and he just recreates things over and over, and sells things as replicates or originals, he doesn't actually care if you don't. Or do they justify "originals" in some way that I don't get? Because to me, each one of these are replicas of something that was created before. I could ask them, but I almost don't want to put them through the trouble of having to create some elaborate fiction. :))
Whatever. I'm not going to return them because a) I like them; b) it would be a giant hassle; and c) they were inexpensive, as far as "real" art goes. But if I ever get anything from him again, it will be with my eyes wide open! It would have to be like, super cheap and with the promise that it'll look nearly identical to what I'm seeing on the site (I'd still like the real Misty Mood 2, and also Farewell to Anger).
=========
In a final bit of yayness, at work we just moved into temporary digs where we have to all share this giant room (think YMCA gym) with like 75 other people. All our desks are crammed in there. I'm finally used to working in an open space instead of having my own office like I did for the first 10 years there, but this is so insane. It's supposed to be for only seven weeks, though I would be shocked if they actually finished remodeling our other space in time. To make things a little more tolerable for us while we're there, my GM is giving his team Bose QuietComfort 35 Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones, which is nice. I'm getting mine in silver.
