It's Halloween! It's Halloween!

"It's Halloween, it's Halloween. A time for tricks, a time for treats. It's Halloween, it's Halloween."
- It's Halloween - The Shaggs

Summer is barely a memory, but Salem is already gearing up for Halloween. There's a slight chill in the air here that makes it feel like autumn will soon be on its way. This is my favorite time of year. Even though one could argue that everyday is Halloween in Salem, the countdown has begun for Halloween Proper. Shops downtown are already decorated with ghosts and witches and tons of Halloween merchandise, and soon the leaves on the trees in Salem Common will change color.

In anticipation of Halloween, I'll soon be launching my limited edition Halloween Lip Bombs (TM). Flavors include:

Nightmare on Maple Street - Maple Candy
Shut Your Pie Hole - Pumpkin Pie
Big Apple - Caramel Apple
Trick or Treat - Candy Corn

With at least one or two more flavors to follow. I know it seems too early to start the Halloween festivites in early September, but I want it to be Halloween already! Which reminds me, it's almost time to watch my "Nightmare Before Christmas" DVD.

The Soap Opera Continues

Still trying to make a perfect batch of soap. I've gotten the basic techniques down, but I'm still having trouble with coloring. The most important lesson I've learned is that POWDER PIGMENTS SUCK. I made this batch with a powder pigment that was brick red. I mixed it with a little vegetable glycerin and added it to the soap, and it turned out this pale raspberry color. Pretty, but not the color I was aiming for. I also noticed that powder pigment colors look very dull and matte, not vibrant like the soaps I tried to make with liquid colors. I read on one soapmaking website that they recommended gel food coloring to color melt and pour soap. So I melted this batch down and added some gel food coloring with a little glycerin. There were some dregs of color left in the beaker, so I poured it into the soap after it was in the mold and swirled it in. This is the result: an interesting splatter effect. While it looks really cool and kinda punk, I can't use it because the splatters of darker color come off onto the skin. So I've melted this batch down again and didn't add any more color to it. It's hardening right now so I'll have to see if the batch turns out all right this time. This may delay the launch of my soaps, but I won't list any soaps until I'm completely satisfied with the end result.

In the meantime, I will be introducing three new flavors of my vegan Lip Bombs next week: Vaniller Instinct (Vanilla), God Save the Queen (English Trifle), and Riot Beer (root beer).