It's 2013

Break out the bubbly. Wish I still had some...

A lot of people make New Year's resolutions at this time of year that they never keep.

I do not.

What I usually do is buy a Moleskine journal and a selection of Uni-Ball pens to start a new year of writing. I love a whole book of clean, blank pages. Such possibilities. And there's no pressure to make myself a better person. All I have to do is write.

This year, however, I'm going to make a list of soap-making resolutions and soap projects that I want to complete by 2014. I won't beat myself up though if I don't actually follow through. Beating yourself up is never a good idea.

Soap-making Resolutions

1.   Learn to cut even, uniform-sized bars ( I might buy a mitre box to help with this).

2. Do something exciting with lavender that doesn't involve alkanet.

3.   Use up all the olive oil infusions I've made before the summer when it's too humid in NYC to make and cure soap.





  

4. Make more soap with embeds. My friend James says he loves when I put "all that Ben and Jerry stuff" into soap.

5. Maybe revisit melt and pour to use as embeds. They do look so fabulous.





6. Only use fragrance oils when doing hot process or re-batches since they have the tendency to wreak havoc.

7. 'Package' more soap with short story booklets like I did with my Heartwarming Holiday Soap (a big hit).

8. Learn to make liquid soap for my mom.

9. Post something on this blog at least once a week.

10. Stop buying more additives until I use up what I already have.

Soap Projects

1.   Coffee, Cardamom and Oatmeal (suggested by Brian Vinerio).

2.   More booze soap (White Star was insanely well-received) including:

            a)    Uncorked (wine)

            b) Shaken Not Stirred (vodka, vermouth, juniper berry infused olive oil with a lime/juniper fragrance)

           c)   Bloody Mary (vodka, tomato paste and black pepper)

           d)   Last Call (beer and hops infused olive oil)

           e)   Vice (Jack Daniels, tobacco infused olive oil and smoked sea salt)

3.   Shampoo bars (for pets and humans)

4.   Shaving soap

5.  Light and Sweet (coffee, milk, sugar and coffee butter)

6. The Ultimate Lemon Verbena

7.  Soap that looks like a NYC sidewalk (would involve 'cement' fragrance from Save on Scents).