Post Happy Hour Tornado and Internet Wandering

After looking for the library at Cornell and finding out that there are several libraries and I didn't know which was which, I called it a day and met some friends for happy hour. I think that seemed like a reasonable reason and a more than reasonable way to end a day.

It was a bit of a celebration as I've gotten a job! More details to come soon, but my earlier mornings at the bakery and my struggle to catch up to the skill sets needed to produce in high volumes are over. It was a great experience and it taught me and Jesse a lot about our future artisan bread bakery and what we want from it: smaller volume, more speciality products, and variation. I thought a lot about how you cultivate your own clientele and how you have to decide how much of your product will change based on feedback and how much will just stay the same and wait for customers to alter their own perceptions. My mind spins thinking about it, thinking about how difficult it is to make those decisions. Most importantly, I learned two things: I don't have much of a sweet tooth and I want to add salt and pepper to everything; if possible, onion and garlic too. Bread seems a better fit in this way. Also, I learned that it takes time to teach yourself a new skill and you have to make time for that learning. Jesse and I have a lot of work ahead to become self taught bread bakers--a lot of work.

This week was mother's day preparation: soap for moms, grandmoms, and fabulous ladies who are similar to moms.

Soap flavors were "pantry" based: oatmeal honey, ginger and honey, cinnamon and clove, lime and almond, lavender and vanilla, and coconut and lemon. There was a lot of zesting and grating. 

I wanted to make tags that said "mother" but realized I never call my mother "mother" anyway.

After the clay dried (this is just sculpting clay and it was "no bake"), I painted a bit of yellow paint and rubbed it off so it settled into the stamp groove. Some of my rubber stamps didn't take well to being in clay, they just weren't happy.

I separated the varieties with craft paper, wrote the flavors on it. If this was more "professional," I would have liked to have print pressed the labels since my handwriting makes it look a bit homespun (though it is homespun).

Then I added ribbon (from my grandma's old store, I love this ribbon and can't imagine what I'll do when the roll ends) and tied the labels on to the whole thing. I haven't decided how to box them yet so the tags don't crack, but much tissue paper will be involved.

I rather like the individual one and am considering how I could use food coloring to "stamp" the paper design into the soap next time.

Aside from packing, I feel ready for Mother's Day!

These soaps smell great and I added vitamin E or coconut oil (if there was a coconut flavor) to the batches so they're extra good for you. I'd like to learn how to make milk based soaps, I know glycerin is safe, but it just seems like a milk base would be even more natural. And I'm playing with more exfoliants like seeds and thicker zests next time too.

To give credit, I got the idea for the tags from Poppytalk's polymer gift tag tutorial; these are way more professional looking and she used higher quality clay (I suggest ones that can bake) and I love the smaller cutters she used for shapes whereas mine are just exacto knifed.

Otherwise, I've spent the week resting up for the new job and trying to practice, in my head, the new responsibilities...self actualization right?

Of course, I've been daydreaming too:

Summer leaf printing seems like an absolutely necessary craft: Here's a pretty example from ahyiyi

Of course, these large scale driftwood projects seem good too: Mitsuru Koga

I'm really glad there's still reason for spicy soup in warmer weather because this carrot and apple soup is something I'm going to make this weekend while Jesse's in Houston.

I did say that if I got this job, I'd detox or start to get healthier since I've been using uncertainty and job transitions as a reason for sundaes and peanut butter binges. So I'll be trying the Martha Stewart 28 Day Mind and Body cleanse. I'm starting Friday!

If we ever finish building the print press, this is our next project: Woven Leather Stool

There's a whole pile of wood that I want Jesse to bring home from work so we can play around and make something like a DIY pallet headboard or a spool table (for outside!).

from First Came Love

Spring cleaning and spring detoxing starting tomorrow! Looking forward to changes. Speaking of changes, my song of the moment surprised me: Jakob Dylan? You've changed, and it's for the better. I love this song.