My Newest Work of Art (wink wink)

[AlchemyandAshes]

This is a piece I like to call "Rebatch Mountain: A Study In Frustration".
[attachment=0:2nztsqgq]image.jpg[/attachment:2nztsqgq]

This piece represents the plight of the soapmaker, the dichotomy of chaos and peace, the juxtaposition of recreation and necessity...and the crazy that ensues from inhaling lye fumes.

I've lost it. It's finally happened. :twisted:

During my soap marathon yesterday, I mismeasured my lye for this 9 pound batch, and realized it after I had moved on to batch two, so it was already FUNNEL SWIRLED (!) and in the mold when I caught my mistake. Luckily I know exactly what my mistake was and it will be a semi-easy fix...but this is what happens when you multi-task with a 12 year old boy and a husband at home that simply NEED to ask a gazillion questions while you are figuring numbers on a scale. :x

I thought if I at least piled the chunks up nice and pretty, and named it like an art piece I would feel better. That in itself didn't help.

This post has been cathartic. I feel better now. Thanks for letting me share!

 

[sperry]

Piling it up and naming it didn't help? Hmmm. Perhaps it needs a frame? Shrink wrap and a bow?

 

[lsg]

I think the soap is very pretty.

 

[Hausfrau007]

Oh no! I'm sorry that happened to you. Damn that twelve-year-old and that husband! The pox on them both. I do love the artful mountain tho --way to compensate.

 

[Seifenblasen]

Ode to Rebatch Mountain (After Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn, 1st stanza. Apologies, Johnny).

Thou unsaponified mount of chaos and peace,
Thou foster-child of fats and hydroxides,
Distracted soaper, who canst thus express
A swirly tale more vivid than oxides:
What funnel-poured design haunt about thy shape
Of alchemy or ashes, or of both,
In the kitchen or the fairs of crafts?
What oil or fats are these? What husbands loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to trace?
What scales and soap molds? What wild ecstasy?


The real MaCoy:

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunt about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Ode to Rebatch Mountain (After Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn, 1st stanza. Apologies, Johnny).

Thou unsaponified mount of chaos and peace,
Thou foster-child of fats and hydroxides,
Distracted soaper, who canst thus express
A swirly tale more vivid than oxides:
What funnel-poured design haunt about thy shape
Of alchemy or ashes, or of both,
In the kitchen or the fairs of crafts?
What oil or fats are these? What husbands loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to trace?
What scales and soap molds? What wild ecstasy?

OH. MY. GOD. THAT IS HILARIOUS...and perfect!
I shall frame this beauty with a picture of Rebatch Mountain as a reminder of my number comprehension deficit and soaping challenges. I shall overcome!
I may submit it to The Louvre for consideration. All credit to you, of course, for the bit of prose.

P.S. I LOVE poetry :wink:

 

[2lilboots]

I like your mountain of art, a little sideways, but if I turn my head to the left I can see it just fine. Bummer too, because you said you depleted your stock at your last fair. Tell the man and the child to stand down, you are on a mission to fill your shelves with soap for your next fair. They should go watch football games and stay out of the kitchen. nuff said.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

UPDATE:
Rebatch Mountain was demolished...it is now 18 "hot processed" bars of soap. Not as pretty as funnel swirls, but its salvaged and usable! Looks more like a crumb cake...but smells very "hippie-ish" - Patchouli, Orange, Ginger.
In honor of its cooperation, it has been renamed "The Mystic's Dream -13th Century Soap" (which was actually its original intended name).
[attachment=0:3q4vwv3g]image.jpg[/attachment:3q4vwv3g]

 

[Genny]

They turned out very nice & sound like they smell delicious. I love the "natural" look to them.

 

[dyclement05]

Ode to Rebatch Mountain (After Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn, 1st stanza. Apologies, Johnny).

Thou unsaponified mount of chaos and peace,
Thou foster-child of fats and hydroxides,
Distracted soaper, who canst thus express
A swirly tale more vivid than oxides:
What funnel-poured design haunt about thy shape
Of alchemy or ashes, or of both,
In the kitchen or the fairs of crafts?
What oil or fats are these? What husbands loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to trace?
What scales and soap molds? What wild ecstasy?

OH. MY. GOD. THAT IS HILARIOUS...and perfect!
I shall frame this beauty with a picture of Rebatch Mountain as a reminder of my number comprehension deficit and soaping challenges. I shall overcome!
I may submit it to The Louvre for consideration. All credit to you, of course, for the bit of prose.

P.S. I LOVE poetry :wink:

Perhaps a bit of artful processing in Photoshop to dress up Rebatch Mountain, along with the awesome poem, and you've got L'ouvre worthy art for sure! (I'd be happy to photoshop that photo for ya'!)

 

[chicklet]

Those look great! Did you rebatch them in a crock pot? I'm seriously considering rebatching my oozing purple jelly bars. I was reading up on rebatching last night and I do have a crock pot, but I also read that some use the boiling bags so maybe I'll do both and then I'll have something to compare. I also read an old thread (from February of this year I think) about making sugar scrubs with rebatch mountains.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Those look great! Did you rebatch them in a crock pot? I'm seriously considering rebatching my oozing purple jelly bars. I was reading up on rebatching last night and I do have a crock pot, but I also read that some use the boiling bags so maybe I'll do both and then I'll have something to compare. I also read an old thread (from February of this year I think) about making sugar scrubs with rebatch mountains.

Well, I don't have a crock pot large enough to rebatch 9 lbs of soap, so I used a huge stock pot inside a bigger pot like a double boiler. Normally I do rebatch in a crock pot with a crock pot liner bag, then use the liner like a frosting bag to squeeze it into the mold.
This batch was lye heavy because I mismeasured when I switched up which container I weighed my lye into (my usual container weighs 5 oz - the one I used weighs 2.2 oz, so I was 2.8 oz over)...I realized what I had done when I moved on to my next batch . So when I rebatched, after it had started to soften up in the pot, I added enough Olive & Coconut Oil to use up 2.8 oz of lye with a 5% superfat. I also added a few ounces of Coconut Milk. What a pain, but all's well that ends well :wink:

 

[Lindy]

Shawnee those look wonderful and I so totally love the name! Nicely played.

 

[Hausfrau007]

Not surprised that they turned out more gorgeous than any of my most perfect soaps.

 

[deb8907]

Your rebatch looks great. I had to rebatch twice this week. The first was what I thought was finally a pretty good swirl and the second was what I was hoping to be "New York" soap. Lots of great ingredients for a high end product. Both failed and ended up in the crock pot. Neither looks as good as yours. The first looks a little like blue scrapple and the second looks like a fat albino oatmeal cookie.