The Villainess Blog

« Threefold Favour | Main | Sneak Peek »

August 14, 2008

Teaser

Today, I made a brand new “special event” soap that I hope to have ready to go by the end of the month. It was a big production - I made 3 huge batches, and split each one into 3 layers. So we’ve got a striated soap that should look just like layer cake.

First layer - amber, sweet myrrh, a splash of frankincense, peppercorns, and ginger, and a touch of tonka bean. This is one of the best things I have EVER smelled, but then I am a sucker for resins and spice. This isn’t my typical black-pepper-trick either. I adore pepper, so I’m usually tempted to throw it in and spice up everything, but generally it lends a biting sort of greenness. This is a very warm, woody pepper that just lends heat to the resins. It’s seamless, and not a bit jarring.

Second layer - vanilla spice cake. It smells like baking, for real. Verra light on the spice - a touch of ginger, cinnamon & nutmeg - just enough to draw on the undercurrent of warmth in the resinous layer.

Third layer - pink frosting, and berries. It’s a positive riot of raspberries and blackberries mostly, you get that sweet/tart impression. Very juicy. And again, just a touch of vanilla/baked goods, to help flow w/ the cake layer.

By working with layers (and not marbling like we sometimes do), I tried to create a visual distinction between the discolouration of the fragrances. The resinous layer will almost certainly be a dark cocoa by morning (they’re sitting in the molds at present), and the cake will be lucky if it’s caramel, and ‘though I reinforced our berries with titanium dioxide (I wanted a white frosting effect) there’s just enough vanilla that it might end up a very pale tan. I may shimmer a bit o’ pink on that frosting layer, just to get the effect I was after. And then, for kicks, I threw in a good handful of pink soap marbles, so the whole affair will be polka dotted. Should be stunning.

Sneak peak tomorrow after we cut the soap. And, feel free to take a stab at guessing what “special event” could possibly be slated for early September! This is an event that I myself managed to forget - so don’t over think it.