Soap Challenge #3 - Rimmed Soap

Amy's soap challenge of this month was rimmed soap.

Step 1, make soap in a slab mold, gel it in the oven, and slice off a 4-5 mm sheet of soap, and make a cylinder to fit a Pringles chips can.

 I don't know what the white dots on the surface were, but not too worry, it has been sliced off.

Step 2, make another soap and pour the batter into the cylinder. I chose 100% coconut with 20% super fat, and scented with lime, bergamot, and lemongrass.

Every step I had to take to make this soap was new to me. I had never made soap in a slab mold, never forced soap to gel, never rolled soap... Actually, fitting the sheet of soap into a Pringles can was the most difficult step for me.

And... Here it is !

My first rimmed soap! It smells very fresh :) Because of the colour and the scent, I'm calling it Margarita soap.

And, another one (below). I call this one cantaloupe soap because of the colour combination.

Update

I have been very busy lately.
最近、またどんどん忙しくなってきました。

My main job, teaching ballet, is getting busier because the competitions, ballet exams, choreography for the recital, etc... However, it was expected because this happens every year.
毎年のことなので驚きませんが、本職のバレエは、コンペティション、生徒の試験、年末のリサイタルのための振り付け、と大忙しです。

My (future) part-time job, soap making, is also busy. I was surprised that I emptied the 5 liter buckets of coconut oil and palm oil I bought last June. Wow! But soap making is half hobby, so I can actually relax when I make soap :)
副職の石鹸づくりは、忙しいですが楽しいので大丈夫。

And the school! I don't want to talk about it... It's going well, but when I think about it, it stresses me out.
大学院は。。。触れないでおきます。　順調ですとだけ書いておきます。

I would like to give you an update about my blog.
さて、私のブログですが、

This blog is becoming my diary, so, I created more dedicated, focused blogs.
このブログはただの日記になってきているので、バレエ専門のブログと、石鹸づくりのブログに分けました。

For ballet blog (in Japanese), visit Profession of Ballet Teaching.
バレエのブログをご覧になりたい方は、こちらへどうぞ。日本語です。

For soap blog (in English, and lots of photos!), visit CHICHI.CA.
石鹸づくりのブログがご覧になりたい方は、こちらへどうぞ。　英語です。でも写真がいっぱいあります。

I am also creating e-commerce website Chichi.ca for selling my soap. It's not ready yet, so when you visit the website, it will show the maintenance page. I will let you all know here when it's ready :)
石鹸販売のためのウェブサイトも製作中です。今はまだ工事中ですが、出来上がったらこちらでお知らせします。

And... I created a logo for Chichi.ca soap store.
お店のロゴも作りました。

If you want to know why I have a camper as my logo, this blog post will tell you the story.
どうしてこのロゴに行き着いたかは、こちらのブログ記事でどうぞ。

New soaps

St. Patrick's day soap.
I was going to make St. Patrick's day soap, but didn't have enough time to cure new soap. Then I saw this blog post from soap queen! The ingredients are different, but the look of the soap is almost the same. I hope mine is as good :)

The soap below is purple snow flake soap. I coloured this with alkanet root powder, so it's all natural:) I made this in the early Feb, so it will be ready by the mid March.

And, I made Easter soap (below) on Sunday. It turned slightly brown because I used the fragrance oil that contains vanilla... Lesson is learned!

This will be cured and ready to be used in 6 weeks. Wait! Easter is in three weeks?! Oops... I can give them to people with big letters saying "Good AFTER April 15th."

__________________________________________________________

My work is getting very busy. I just sewed 5 costume decorations! I hope my students appreciate my effort...

Soap Challenge #2

I am participating in the soap challenge again :)

(You can participate too! Click here)

The challenge of this month is Winter Wonderland. You have to have cold processed soap with some kind of element of snow.


I wanted to participate in the all-natural category.

I didn't have any natural colourant that would make soap blue, so I used a very small amount of alkanet and hoped that it would somehow turn blue. But magic didn't happen, and it was purple (of course)...


So, I decided to go for the synthetic category.

I used a snow flake shaped mold as a base, a bear shaped mold and an iceberg shaped mold (you don't see much of iceberg but the bear is using it as a pillow), put them together, and created the theme of a polar bear enjoying a very cold snowy day.

The soap looks slightly crumbly because it's a salt bar. I thought salt would make it look icy, and it did :)


And... IT'S HERE!!! I think the polar bear looks very relaxed in the snow.

CHICHI Co. Product #2

I made shampoo!

I have tried to use handmade soap as a shampoo bar, and have tried to make liquid shampoo from liquid soap in the past.

Using regular soap as shampoo seems to work for many people, but not for me... the pH level was too high and my hair just got really really dry.

I wasn't sure what type my hair was, so I chose the recipe for normal hair.

And here it is!

I only made such a small amount because it's a test batch. Mmm... I think I needed a thickener.

Pineapple Body Butter

Recently, I have been reading the blog "Point of Interest!" written by Susan.

She is very informative, and everything I wanted to know is on her blog.

I picked her body butter recipe because that was the only thing I could make with the ingredients I already had.

I should be able to make other things if I had more knowledge about substituting the ingredients, but unfortunately, I don't... And I needed my first body care product to be a success in order to keep myself going :)

And... here!

The ingredients are:

-          Water 118g

-          Glycerin 6g

-          Sweet almond oil 30g

-          Shea butter 20g

-          E-wax 16g

-          Cetyl alcohol 6g

-          Geogard ultra 2g

-   Pineapple fragrant oil 2g

 
Yay:)

Valentine soap

I made Valentine soap about a month ago, and it's fully cured!

with pineapple fragrance oil

I was worried that the red colour would become more orange-y, but it turned out ok!

Another soap I made yesterday.

Lavender essential oil, pink+purple drop swirl

_____________________________________________________________

I finally received the result of my final assessment of the 1st semester, and I passed!

I passed with a good grade!

Soap Challenge

This month, I'm participating in the soap challenge hosted by Amy Warden.

The challenge of the month is to make a lotus using the technique called Circling Taiwan Swirl.

My first attempt didn't go too well.

first attempt

As you can see, the blue colour faded because of heat loss...

I think the second attempt went better.

second attempt

I had fun!

Photo studio

I really shouldn't be doing this right now but I can't resist!

I got a portable photo studio kit as my Christmas gift, so I had to try.

Chocolate cake soap

Coconut Lime soap with natural colorants

And more!

Facial  soap

Forgotten haunted houses (I was going to give them away on Halloween but I forgot)

Face Serum

美容液を作ってみました。

アルガンオイル、ローズヒップオイル、イブニングプリムローズオイルなど、高級オイルを使用。

オーガニックのティーツリーオイルで香りづけしました。

本当はアルガンオイルの代わりにククイナッツオイルを使いたかったのですが、高級すぎて購入を断念。。。

夜寝る前につけて、カナダの厳しい乾燥対策をします。

It's been so long

I submitted a draft of my final assessment so... I am free as a bird until I receive feedback from my tutor!!!

I was so busy writing my paper especially the last 3 days before the submission, I feel like I'm forgetting something when I have free time...

This is what I do when I have free time! Soap making!!

Conditioning Shampoo Bar

The weather in Winnipeg was really nice until yesterday. Now we are covered in snow as usual:(

Personalized soap mold

I got my very own personalized soap mold made by my friend Bob!

It even has the slit so I can cut each soap in the exact same width.

I can't wait to make soap in it but.... I'm currently very busy working on the assignment for my Master's program :(

After finishing this assignment, I have another one right away.

And then, I have to do a research on my students for the final summative assignment.

Meanwhile, I may have to fly to Ottawa for a few days.

It looks like I won't have time to enjoy my hobby for a while.

Shopping

It was a good day today (even though the temperature was minus)!

I went to pick up my package from the soap supply place. There were essential oils, cocoa butter, Shea butter, and this (see photo below) in the box.

Soap colorant sample

Even though I ordered them and paid for them, it felt like Christmas:)


And then, I went to the fabric store and bought some fabrics because they were having 50% off sale!

I liked these fabrics because they reminded me of Japanese Kimono.


I also got my printer ink cartridge refilled at Costco for 14 dollars. Now I can print out the articles which I have to read for my master's program.

I should read them on my computer to save papers. But unfortunately, I can't focus when I read things on a computer screen :(

Rose geranium

私が教えるバレエスクールで一緒に働いているピアニストのキャロルが、ローズゼラニュウム、タイム、レモンバーベナをたくさん持ってきてくれました。
My VIP (Very Important work Partner, aka pianist), Carol gave me a bunch of herbs for my soap making, rose geranium, thyme, and lemon verbena.

雪が降り始める前にいつもは刈りこんで捨てている分を、今年は私が石けん作りを始めたと知って、使えるんじゃないかと持ってきてくれたのです。
She grows them in her backyard. And I already ordered chamomile for her to grow next gardening season;)

まずは乾燥させたローズゼラニュウムをウルトラ抽出し、石鹸にしてみました。
I dried rose geranium, infused it into olive oil, and made soap with it.

色があまりきれいではなかったので、少しだけクロレラパウダーを入れて緑色に。匂いも消えてしまうだろうので、ローズマリーとパルマローザのエッセンシャルオイルを入れました。
The colour wasn't too pretty, so I put just a little bit of kelp powder. I also knew that the sent would disappear, so I put rosemary and palmarosa essential oil. Too bad I didn't have rose geranium essential oil...

ウルトラ抽出中のローズゼラニュウム

２日後に型から出します

石けんばっかり作ってるみたいですが、バレエも頑張っています。こちらのブログは、ただの日記みたいになってきていますが、バレエのブログは別にありますので、よかったらそちらも覗いてみてください。→クリック
It must look like I'm making soap all the time, but I'm doing ballet (dancing and teaching) and my masters degree too!

もうすぐコンペティションのリハーサルが始まるので、仕事も忙しくなりそうです。
I just started working on my students' solo pieces for the competitions. It's going to get really busy!

Chocolate lip balm

Ever since I came to Canada, I need lip balm a lot more than I did when I was in Japan.
カナダは日本より乾燥しているので、リップクリームが手放せません。

I have two chap sticks but both are very close to going empty so...
家で使った後カバンに入れ忘れて仕事に行ってしまった事が何回かあり、それ以来いつも２つカバンに入れるようにしています。でも両方ともなくなりかけているので、

I made some!
作ってしまいました！

I had all the ingredients already available from my soap making except the chocolate I wanted to put in my handmade lip balm. I hardly waited for the store to open at 12pm (it was Sunday), and got some chocolate.
基本の材料は石けん作りとよく似ているので買い足す必要はなかったのですが、どうしてもチョコレートを入れたレシピを試したかったので、お店が開く１２時まで待って買いにいきました。

Belgian chocolate and sweet almond oil were recommended in the recipe that I followed, but I replaced them with organic milk chocolate and camellia seed oil. I think milk chocolate is just fine, and camellia seed oil is great according to this article.
レシピでは、ベルギーチョコレートとアーモンドオイルが使用されていましたが、オーガニックのミルクチョコレートと椿オイルを使うことに。椿オイルはビタミンEが豊富でリップケアに適しているとインターネットで読んだからです。

This is all I needed

And done!!

During the process, it smelled great, just like hot chocolate. It was very hard to stop myself from licking the spoon that I was using for mixing and stirｒing the lip balm.
製作中はチョコのいい匂いが漂うので、うっかりとリップクリームをかき混ぜているスプーンをなめてしまいそうに なりました。

I already tried some on. It works really well.
使用感は、しっかり潤ってとても良いです。

Aloe + Calendula soap

Ingredients:
Olive Pomace oil, Coconut oil, Jojoba oil (Calendula infused), Castor oil, Aloe gel juice, Calendula tea, lye, Carrot soap (as confetti), Titanium dioxide, Essential oil (Teatree, Peppermint, Marjoram), Gold mica

It will be a great facial soap after curing for a month!

Long weekend soap making

日本は体育の日で月曜は祝日のようですが、奇遇なことに、カナダもThanks Giving Dayで月曜はお休みです。
Looks like people are enjoying the long weekend in Japan, but I am having the Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada too!

せっかくの連休なのですが、カナダでは祝日の日はお店もたいていお休みで、仕事が休みだからショッピングに出かけよう！とか、外食しよう！という事にはなりません。下手すれば、冷蔵庫が空っぽなのにスーパーが休業で食べるものがない！という事態にも。。。
In Canada, because most stores close on the Mondays of long weekends, you have to be well planned in terms of food, otherwise, you may have nothing to eat!

この連休を読書に費やし、大学院の勉強を先に進める予定です。
I will (correction* am planning to) study, and read the articles for my master's program this weekend. 

でも、まずは楽しいことから。
But first, I have to do things I like doing. (I like studying but that's only because I know it's good for me...)

石けん作り。今回はアーモンド石鹸。
スウィートアーモンドオイル、アーモンドフラワー、アーモンドバターを使い、アーモンド尽くしの石鹸を作ってみました。（水の代わりにアーモンドミルクを使えばよかったと悔やみ中。）
New soap! Almond soap with almond oil, almond flour, and almond butter. I should have used almond milk too instead of just water.

昨日の夜作ったので今日型から出し、カットしてみました。
I made it last night, and I un-molded and cut it tonight.

バレエの方も順調です。
Dancing is going well too.

ここのところやっと柔軟性が戻ってきたかなというところで、チェケッティディプロマを踊っていたころの体力や筋力に戻るにはまだまだかかりそうですが。。。もしかすると年齢的にもう戻れないのかも？！
I can finally feel that my flexibility is back but not stamina and strength yet. It will take time to get back in shape as much as when I was working on my Cecchetti Diploma, or maybe... it's never going to happen because of my age...?

バレエ三昧

先週の日曜、ロイヤルバレエのロミオとジュリエットのライヴショーを映画館で観てきました。

CINEPLEXという映画館が行っている、Front Row Centre EventsのDance Series で、シーズンを通してロイヤルバレエやボリショイバレエのライヴショーを映画館のスクリーンで見ることができます。

インターミッション中は、ダンサー、振り付け家、作曲家などへのインタビューもあり見ごたえがあります。

火曜日は、ロイヤルウィニペグバレエのソリストで、今回ジゼルの主役に抜擢された友達がバックステージパスを取ってくれたので、舞台リハーサルを観にいってきました。

本番をみるのはもちろん楽しいですが、バレエ教育に携わる者として、そうやって舞台裏を見られる事はとても勉強になりました。

そして、１０月１日はWorld Ballet Day。一日中Youtubeで世界中のバレエカンパニーのクラス、リハーサル、舞台裏などが放送されていました。終わった後もYoutube上で映像を見られます。↓のリンクをクリックしてください。

World Ballet Day　最初の11時間
ロイヤルバレエ 

3年ぶりにクラスにも復活し、また1から身体の鍛え直しです。え！私、こんなに難しいことやってたの？！ と思うこともあったり、クラスを受けるたびに筋肉痛になったりしていますが、楽しく頑張っています！

Back to Canada

長い夏休みが終わり、カナダに戻ってきました。

日本はまだまだ暑い日が続いてると思いますが、カナダでは夜になるとジャケットが必要なほど冷え込む日もあります。昼間も、Tシャツだと寒いです。

生徒たちも元気に戻ってきました。これからまた９か月間、教えに奮闘する日々が続きます。

大学院の方は、今学期はリーダシップについての研究です。まだ始まったばかりなので何とも言えませんが、去年よりも内容が実用的なので勉強し甲斐がありそうです。

そして！今シーズンは踊る方にも復活しようと決め、母校であるロイヤルウィニペグバレエ、ティーチャーズプログラムのディレクターに連絡を取り、週に２回とはいえクラスを受講することに！次の教師資格に向けての準備をするためには必要不可欠な選択だったと思いますが、しばらくは筋肉痛に悩まされることになりそうです。


石けん作りも続いています。(石けん用のフォトブースをつくってみました。）

ローズマリーの香り

パイン・ココナッツ

そして、安かったので試しに買ってみたら思った以上に便利で気に入っているKindleのケースも手作りしました。

ちゃんと中綿もはいっています。

今シーズンの今までに増して忙しくなりそうですが、楽しみながら頑張ります！

Getting Ready for Season 2015/16

I received the emails from RAD about tuition fee payment and a list of the books to buy for the next semester.

I also had a skype session with the program manager to discuss my next target.

The next semester will start on September 1st, but I have to slowly start getting ready now (that means I should start reading the books on the list).


This coming season will be very exciting.

The modules I will take are Leading Learning for the first semester, and Assessment Issues for the second semester. I think these are the most important and useful things to learn as an educator.

I am also planing to go back to RWB and take some classes in order to prepare for my licentiate exam. Between the full-time work and part-time study, I don't know how much time I can put into my licentiate preparation. But I would like to take at least 2 classes per week, and possibly take my licentiate exam in April.

I want to go back more toward ballet (I have been slightly away from it mentally), so I purchased a season ticket for the ballet movies, called Front Row Centre Events' Dance Series. This should bring me back to where I just loved ballet blindly.

And... Soap making! It's been too long to not make soap!! Soap, soap, soap...


During the break, I got two gizmos.

One is a Kindle. I got it for about $40. It was on sale for the prime people. I joined prime for free as a trial just to buy a Kindle cheap :)

The other is a Dyson vacuum DC45 animal! Apparently, 'animal' means that it is for a house with pets. I don't have a pet even though I really want one (maybe a goat). But since the vacuum I bought was $75 off, it no longer matters.

I never owned a dyson vacuum but I liked dyson so much because I hear so many good things about it. (I talk about how good dyson is like I work for dyson.) Bye-bye to dusty rooms and hopefully my allergies :)