I haven't done anything soapy for what feels like ages (probably a month in reality). I did go Burlington North Carolina on my motorcycle for two days of rider training.* The second day (yesterday, Sept. 9) it rained most of the day. We trained anyway, learning to do U-turns and sharp swerves to avoid objects on the road. When I took my gloves off at the end of class, it was clear that there had been bleeding; thankfully, not human blood, but dye! I washed my hands right after these photos using Dawn, & to my surprise it barely touched the dye. When I got home a few hours later I washed my hands with one of my Bastille bars, and got about 80% of it off.
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I was struggling for most of August with some emotional health issues (which is part of the reason I haven't posted recently), but seem to be emerging gradually from that dark place. I'm hoping to get back to soap making after my second set of motorcycle training classes later in Sept. One of the things that gets really hard for me when I go off the rails a bit is cleaning, but before I left for my motorcycle trip I spent about 4 hours cleaning my basement & organizing & cleaning my soap bench. It's ready for my next batch, & this is huge because when the bench is a mess, it makes it hard for me to start soaping because I can't soap because it's a mess, and I can't clean because I'm depressed, and I want to make stuff, & I can't, which makes me feel worse... & down the drain I go... My soapy thing for today, once I unpack from the trip & do all of the laundry, will be to finish my soap-tester survey and send it out.
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(photo shows my old workbench, mostly switched over from carpentry/repair work to soap-focused work. There are silicone molds on shelves on the left, a newly-washed plastic-covered bench, stainless steel soap pots on the shelves under the bench, colorants & additives in drawers, solid fats in bags on the top shelves, and liquid fats on shelves to the right. A stick blender has pride of place & my new paper towel dispenser has (somewhat astoundingly) actually been installed & is ready to provide towels to wipe off oil drips & soap batter drops.)
(*The class was totally worth the time & money I invested in it; shout-out to the MotoMark1 driving school.)