Soap: Fit the Tenth (The Poor Decisions Are Unending)

So remember that time. When I thought it was a good idea. To try and make a new soap in the later hours of my evening.

Got that in mind? Good. Cool. I MADE POOR DECISIONS AGAIN.

10:49 PM, May 25, 2023
live from the workshop

I’m adding orrisroot this time, to increase the suds and hopefully solidify it without salt, bUT OH GOD.

11:09 PM

…here’s the thing. The labdanum in the recipe is supposed to be “powdered”.

If you ask a bunch of modern people (also known as “the first page of Google”), they say that you can’t powder labdanum. And this is probably true– it’s a resin, and even in its “essential oil” styling, it’s sticky as fuck.

However, I recall somewhere (Charas? Leméry? One of those two, probably) that the way to “powder” some resins was to mix them with broken up almonds, powdering them both down together.

As such, in the future, I wonder whether I should add powdered almonds to this mix… because I’m at 1-¾ teaspoons of orrisroot, and I am CONCERNED.

11:17 PM

Five minutes ago: I wonder if I can roll this soap yet?

Now: FUCK.

11:38 PM

I have added salt.

12:09 AM, May 26, 2023

This time, the wee fuckos have not clung smoothly together, as they did in version 1.0. I dread what this might mean as they dry further. But for tonight, though, I declare these DONE.

I left it. I went home and to bed. Days passed.

My hopes weren’t high, but I figured they couldn’t be as wrinkled and salty as the previous late-night batch.

They could turn brown too.

…. ಠ_ಠ