Thanks for the prayers! I've been thinking about what I want to do know .... the IT profession is pretty much contracted out to India .... or we'd have to move to some city ....
Some pics of the Mint Euc and Lav Mint .... inside pictures are bad ... those CF bulbs are so yellow! The colors are so much more vibrant IRL
Mardi Gras (Lavender Mint)
Mint Eucalyptus
Also made a custom ordered log of soap ... Lily of the Valley ... It was slow to trace but I got a nice medium trace so I could do an in the pot swirl. Poured it into my vertical log mold. Within 15 minutes it was overheating and had a rust-brown goo bubbling up.
When I unmolded, it had tunnels and a couple pockets of brown goo about 2" from the bottom. Looks as though the FO wasn't thoroughly blended. Strange ... I added the FO after the milk/lye solution and was SB off and on for over 10 minutes.
Told the customer & made another batch. This time, I made up enough oils for both the log and 30 bar Kelsei mold. I added the FO to the oils and stirred well. Then went about making up the milk/lye solution.
Still took long to trace, but no overheating in the log mold. Came out beautiful! Now, the slab mold ... since I didn't gel it, I'm having problems getting it out of the mold. I'll let it sit for a week or so.
Heard back from the customer (a repeat, it turns out) and she asked if Lily of the Valley was the same as my Lily of the Wood ..... um, no ... Lily of the Wood is a patch/lav/LOV mix .... sooooo, I need to make another log.
In the meantime, I cut up the failed batch of LOV (should have used gloves) and crockpot it. Turned out well, but my hands are suffering.