Two Strands Soap Works & Attarine Market

Whole, organic herbs in our shop now!

2010-08-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

We have started to post into our shop some lovely organic herbs and spices.

These will make a fine addition to your pantry cupboard or your crafting box. Sold in generous lots and at great prices, they won't last long!

Whole organic Mace

Away for too long - new soap coming!

2010-08-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sweet orange and mint cold process soap with shea butter, neem oil, and vitamin E. Scented with pure essential oils of peppermint, vanilla, and sweet orange.

Lemon cold process soap with shea butter, neem oil, and vitamin E. Richly scented with essential oils of lemon, lemon grass, and rosewood.

Charcoal and myrrh cold process soap with organic, fair trade cocoa butter, vitamin E, and veggie glycerine. Scented with pure essential oils of cypress, cedar, clove, and cinnamon.

All natural D20 soaps - great for gamers!

2010-05-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

The Natural D20 Soap

We are proud to announce that we are carrying our all natural glycerine D20 gamer soaps in our Etsy shop!

These awesome gamer soaps make cool gifts for fans of D20 systems. We have 4 unique fragrance blends to choose from and each bar contains a high quality polyhedral from Chessex.

Touched with a hint of Balinese mica and vitamin E, our Natural D20 soaps are sure to bring grins to your gamer pals!

Will Our Winner Please Step Forward

2010-05-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone!

To Needs Coffee To Live in particular, we need you to come forth with your 4 soap choices from our store on Etsy. Here is the link for you to browse -

http://www.twostrandssoapworks.etsy.com/

Once you've made your choice, we need you to contact us with your name, address, and choices so that we may ship your winnings!

Have a great day!

We Have a Winner!

2010-05-02T07:45:00.001-07:00

Our follower Needs Coffee To Live has WON our fabulous 4 Bar Giveaway! Congratulations!

Super Freaky Friday! Are you in?

2010-04-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

So here's the dealio - make sure you are a friend/follower of the blog by 11:59 pm Saturday. Our 4 bar giveaway takes place May 1st at midnight. You won't have a chance if you aren't a follower! :o)

Also, in our webshop today you'll find a Freaky Friday giveaway with rules posted. It's our way of saying thanks to our customers.

Don't you just love a Freaky Friday event?

Have a great day everyone!

)O( Milaka

Preparation and the Slow Grind Towards the End

2010-04-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

Today I am planning a new soap.

The process is slow, requiring thought, research, and reflection, but eventually I will get there.

Creativity is something that I struggle with, whether it's in making soap, writing, or coming up with art projects for the children I work with to enjoy. It's about learning and experimentation - that's the part I especially enjoy.

What herbs and spices to combine and how will they effect one another, react with the skin, feed it the way food nourishes from within; to cleanse and purify without destroying the natural environment of the skin.

That is where I am at today, tweezing out the delicate threads of planning to find The Recipe, something apparently new with roots in the ancient world.

Have a great weekend!

WIN - 4 bars of our luxurious soap - just by joining up!

2010-04-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

Greetings fellow Bloggers,

Want to be rewarded for your loytalty?

Here's a chance to win 4 bars of our amazing cold process soap! Join my blog for a chance to take part in the drawing on May Day.

You could win 4 bars of our soap, your choice, plus free shipping to your door!

You must be a member for your name to be entered into the drawing. The drawing will take place on May Day (that's May 1st, folks).

The winner will be notified via a blog post here. Once notified, you'll need to provide your shipping info AND your soap choices. Contest winner is limited to US mainland shipping only.

For an up to date list of our soaps, as well as to view our entire product line, please visit our storefront:

http://www.twostrandssoapworks.etsy.com/

Good luck and may your Spring bloom with vitality!

Spring Joy Sale - on now 'til April 4th!

2010-04-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is it - Spring has finally SPRUNG!

To celebrate, I'm running a sale! From now 'til April 4th all items are 10% OFF. Plus, you can get additional savings if you have received one of our savings cards from a prior purchase.

It's been a while since I last posted to our blog, but I've purchased a new computer and have a faster internet connection now. This means that sometime this year we'll be going live with our own website in addition to our shopfront on Etsy!

So come celebrate a little Spring with us and try something new from our ever growing line of all natural body products. Or sample the ancient world with exotic and flavorful Attarine market spice blends.

Blessings to you! May your Spring leap with Joy!

:o) Milaka

Purification Soap

2009-10-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

Purification Soap - Magically Blended and Warded

Here is it! Today I made a custom cold process soap with ritual and magical intent. I'm most pleased - I've spent the better part of many days working and preparing for it, but now it's here and made.

Pic. #1 - the purification soap shows off it's rich, Rhassoul brown color beneath it's "lizard skin," an effect caused by the addition of Israeli Dead Sea Salt after pouring.

This new soap contains herbs traditionally tied to purifying the body and soul, as well as several spirit suggested ingredients, including the herbs Acacia and Asafoetida as wards against evil influences.

Pic. #2 - the wards set up to guard the soap as it cures. Fire spirits were roused for protection with flame and a natural siskiyou cedar incense burned as a token of love. A Pentacle of apple wood and an Ankh of pewter and lapis lazuli are potent wards against evil and malevolent spirits.

I should be able to cut the soap in two days time. If you're curious as to the details of the entire process, send me a note. I'd be happy to oblige you with the whole story! :o)

Blessed Be and Joyous Samhain!

Flora's Dial and a Sale Notice

2009-10-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today's post is in celebration of the brief appearance of the sun after the torrential rains of yesterday! Enjoy!

From Flora's Dial: containing a flowered dedicated to each day in the year, and an appropriate poetic sentiment for each flower. By J. Wesley Handson, 1846

October 18

Rhododendron - danger

Before I gang awa from thee,
I'll speak my heart out fu' and free,

And gin ye listen now to me,

And wee bit wordie, -

'T will do ye good, my donsie, wee,

And bonnie birdie!

Och! dinna trust admirin' man!

He'll gain a heart where'er he can,

And grasp it wi' a cruel han, -

And wound it sorely!

And then, wi' man's and woman's ban,

Ye'll fare but puirly!

~ J.Wesley Hanson, Lowell, 1846

Two Strands Soap Works - Weekly Special! October 14th - 21st

Enjoy special savings on our cold process and natural glycerin soaps! Buy 3, Get 1 FREE!

Details may be found at our website: http://www.twostrandssoapworks.etsy.com/

Weekly Specials Through October

2009-10-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Weekly Specials Mean Super Savings!

It's as easy as pumpkin pie - you drop in once a week and enjoy 25% off on our chosen special!

Through October 21st, enjoy our Buy 3, Get 1 FREE soap event!

This is a great way to try something new or stock up for the holidays before the rush hits.

Depending on how popular our Fall Specials are, we may continue this feature into November, culminating in a BIG sale on Nov. 20th - my birthday! :o)

The picture above is of our new scratch tickets!

Autumn Sale ~ Buy 3, get 1 FREE!

2009-09-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

Celebrate Fall with our big buy 3, get 1 SALE!

It's a great time to try something new - a new soap, a new spice blend, or maybe a new addition to your daily ritual . . . whatever that might be!

It's buy 3, get 1 FREE on everything. And it's just our way of saying thanks for a great summer!

Sale ends Monday, October 5th.

Harvest Time and Natural Beauty

2009-09-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Autumn comes!

Potent and bright, the air of Autumn is somehow clearer, as if a boundary or purpose is being defined for us. A reminder - it is time to prepare.

I love Autumn. To list the reasons is tedious, especially as they are mostly emotional, almost febrile in nature. Autumn leaves me tightly bound.

Last Friday I found myself out gathering, something I've done almost every Autumn for as long as I can remember. As a girl I carryied home pockets full of acorns, grass seeds, and rose hips. I remember the smell of windfallen apples in my parents' orchard, the way the apples gleamed with cold dew even in the late morning. I love that smell. I remember the darkness of rosehips as they withered.

What is it about this time of year that connects us so accutely to the Earth? It's the same feeling I get in the Spring when my hands yearn to be in the ground digging, sewing the seeds that will see the Summer harvest if I am fortunate and careful. It's as if I am inherently a farmer, an animal, and a nomadic woman all rolled into one. Perhaps it is cellular memory.

The seasons run and flow together, ebbing with the Moon and the tilt of the Earth, with the vast force of the universe. It's a beautiful rhythm - a truth for all that lives! Something as ancient as the Earth itself and the dust of stars, all somehow part of the body that is me makes me feel somehow small, but special. :o) Perhaps it's just the spirit of being alive.

So I say this to you today on this cool September morning: take time to enjoy the season for it is truly amazing. Gather seeds, watch the birds and the animals prepare (for even in the city they do it), and harvest - even if it is only by gathering memories! But don't forget to relish the crispness of the air and the last dreaming days of Summer.

Blessed be! )O(

A New Grounding Soap is on the Way, Folks!

2009-09-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

Making a new Grounding Soap and preparing Oil Infusions under Rainy Skies!

(the original pic. of my Grounding Soap)

I've been a bit busy this long weekend . . . .

Well, I could have been busier to be honest, but much like making candy, cold process soap tends to do odd things when the humidity is up. With the heavy rains we've had over the past 24 hours, making more than one batch this weekend just hasn't been possible.

So to make up for that wet fact, I've been busy blending and infusing oils. Infusing herbs in warm oil allows the oil to draw out the healing or nourishing properties of plants and resins, thus capturing them and making the oil potent. Since it's been dark and dismal around here lately, I chose to hot infuse the oils - on a low flame in a double boiler.

See - making this stuff is like cooking! Well, sometimes. :o)

The first hot oil infusion is a base of extra virgin olive oil and castor oil. I poured this onto several famous healing herbs, allowing them to become saturated. This infusion will act as the structure for my upcoming Arnica Healing Salve. Arnica is amazing - if you've ever been bumped, thumped, or banged on, arnica works wonders at speeding up the healing process.

The second oil infusion is a base of extra virgin olive oil, castor oil, and hazelnut oil. These oils saturated a mass of rich and earthy spices - all in preparation for a new batch of Bay Rum Soap. I added a few new herbs this time, just to tweak the recipe and amp up the richness Bay Rum is famous for. I can't wait to see how she handles in the saponification process!

Now as for that one batch of soap I mentioned, it's a new Grounding Soap. You know - the "patchouli for people who don't like patchouli" soap! It's a different twist on the old recipe, as I've added freshly ground patchouli to the almond meal. There's also a bit more sweet orange essential oil this time. I really like this soap and the way it smells once you've rinsed it off. It's breathy and gentle, earthy and tinged with possibilities. I can't wait to see how it pulls from the mold box. I'm having to let her set up a bit longer as the darn thing just didn't want to trace!

Well, that's just a heads up on what I've been up to this Labor Day weekend. I hope you got to enjoy the Full Moon - it was simply to cloudly here to view Her unfortunately. Didn't keep me from acting as befits however. ;o)

Many blessings on this wet, rainy afternoon!

Blended for Beauty with Lucky 13

2009-08-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Making it special, one oil at a time . . . or in this case 13!

I have a particular fondness for experimentation. When working with soap I find myself intentionally blending an army of ingredients just to see what will come of it. How does activated charcoal feel on the skin? How does myrrh effect the appearance? How do lavender and sweet orange smell when combined?

Something special does not result from a half-hearted effort. It takes intention and a curious spirit to bring forth something genuinely unique. For me soap is as much about exploring as it is about getting clean!

Perhaps it's The Muse of soapmakers or my guiding spirit, desert winds at his back as he prods me with ideas. Who knows? Today's exploration is a prime example. Today I am making Awaken Soap.

I've had more than one request from customers asking for more Awaken Soap, a golden bar colored with turmeric and scented with lemon grass. It was very pretty in it's own right, but being one of my first, it was a bit timid in it's ingredients. Wanting to maintain some loyalty to the original recipe, I kept the base the same but expanded it, blending an unbelievable oil base that I'm calling the Power Source or Lucky 13.

Check it out:

Hazelnut Oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sunflower Oil

Coconut Oil

Palm Oil

Shea Nut Oil

Hemp Seed Oil

Safflower Oil

Jojoba Oil

Neem Oil

vegetable Glycerine

Natural Vitamin E Oil

wild flower honey

Of course, to protect the true nature of my recipe, I cannot tell you precise measurements, but that's 13 oils and liquid nutrients! It's the fattest, richest, most nourishing blend I have ever dared to create. I'm so excited to see how the soap pans out (literally) and how the addition of ground hibiscus and turmeric effects the color.

Lucky 13, baby! And not just any soap, mind you - this will be food for your flesh!

I'll get some pics up as soon as she is in the pan and setting up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be making a new batch of patchouli and almond soap, Grounding. It's another one that's been missed at the shop and with my local buyers lately. I like to think of it as, "patchouli for those who don't like patchouli" soap!

Enjoy the day and remember to experiment. Half the joy is in the journey.

)O(

What's for dinner? Ojja bil Mergaz!

2009-08-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok - so what is Ojja bil Mergaz you ask?

That's easy - it's Tunisian Eggah with Sausages, made with my amazing Ras el Hanout spices.

For those of you who are new to eastern cooking, an eggah can be described as a Middle Eastern omlette of sorts. Chill the wine and grab your pans 'cause it's time to start dinner!

Ojja bil Mergaz - the recipe

What you will need = ingredients

4 Tbsp olive oil

4 medium potatoes, cubed or diced

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp - 1 Tbsp Ras el Hanout freshly toasted spice*

3 - 4 cloves of garlic

2 tsp caraway seed

2 tsp paprika

6 small, spicy sausages, sliced or halved

6 eggs

sea salt (optional)

* dilute your measured spice in a little warm water.

How to make it = directions

First, crush together your garlic and caraway seed.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add your potatoes and saute them. Add the tomato paste, the Ras el Hanout solution, the garlic/caraway seed mash, and the paprika. Pour in just enough water to cover. Put on the lid and allow this to simmer gently for 3/4 of an hour.

Add your sausages and cook for 15 more minutes.

Beat the eggs in a seperate bowl and pour them into the pan gradually, stirring well, until they set, but are creamy. Season with salt if you like and ring the dinner bell!

~ )O( ~

You can find my delicious Moroccan Ras el Hanout spice blend and more at my Etsy store: http://www.twostrandssoapworks.etsy.com/

You can find tons of great Middle Eastern recipes online, but I highly recommend simply experimenting with new spice blends on foods you already enjoy. Spices are magical and something as simple as rose petals and saffron can turn rice into a jewel!

Recommended Reading: "A Book of Middle Eastern Food," by Claudia Roden, Vintage Books

A New Soap Makes It's Magical Debut!

2009-08-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

~ NEW to Two Strands Soap Works this month: rich and spicy Bedouin Shampoo and Shaving Bar with ultra rich Neem, Hemp, and Jojoba oils! ~

Our gorgeous new Shampoo Bar will leave you breathing in joy! The delicately spiced aroma of our custom oil blend is warm and deep. Inspired by hot, arid nights and full moons.

Read more about this product on our Etsy sales page! :-)

Allergies and Why I Hate Them!

2009-07-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started like any other day, except at the middle of it everything went crappy.

I'm eating lunch, a soup I've had once before, when bam - my face feels like I've suddenly taken on a 3rd degree burn. My face went hot and sweaty, my eyes burned, my neck . . . then my arms. I itched all over as the heat spread down the backs of my legs to the tops of my feet.

It was awful! For no apparent reason, my body was going cuckoo!

A look in the mirror told me I was in trouble. My face was swollen and red, my arms and neck the same. I called an emergency nurse line and was instructed to call 911.

911 - not a recommendation anyone wants to hear. Now I was freaked.

I called my husband who swept me off to the ER. A few pills and an exam . . . . I'm glad I made it through ok. But at 35 you don't expect your allergies to blow up to the point of having to go to the emergency room or argue with a doctor as to why you don't want an epi shot when you're allergic to epinephrin.

Not me, anyway.

And that's why I hate allergies just a little more today. The world is a scary enough place without having to be afraid that what you put in your mouth may kill you - and faster than you know it.

New Shampoo Bar Pics + Baby Birds

2009-05-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

Before the soap is cut it rests.

Oh it sounds so cozy, like putting your feet up after a long day and grabbing that novel you've been aching to finish. But for cold process soap the resting phase is when the real work happens.

It is during this time that the magic happens - oil, water and lye merge chemically to enter the phase known as saponification - the transformation into soap. The substance hardens, colors fluctuate, and lye is absorbed. That's it - it's all so simple.

This is the one of the reasons I enjoy making soap, especially cold process soap. It's an excuse for me to play "home chemist" in my kitchen, something I truly enjoy. I loved my chemistry classes in High School and now, well . . . . I think my chemistry teacher would be proud. :o)

And so I have endeared myself to the cold process and enjoy spending a little time at the stove, a good deal of time with my nose in books researching the healing qualities of oils and herbs, and nursing an imagination whose heart beats to someone faraway desert chime.

And so I give you, after a week's worth of promises and your lovely patience, two new soaps - Desert Dream and Bay Rum #2 (both Shampoo Bars).

Enjoy the pics. I took these after they were poured.

+---+---+ )O( +---+---+

Baby birds

I've been feeding baby birds on my porch, just two of them, not much smaller than their parents now. They're juncos. I know this because their parents pop around every now and then, more infrequently now than last week. They have some brown bodies and a dark black hood that hides their shining eyes. Beautiful. They remind me of pilgrims, heads shrouded, eyes hidden beneath a pall of prayer.

The birds are so lovely, so innocent. Just ten minutes ago I stood at my back screen door and watched one as she ate, splitting the hulls of the sesame seeds in her scissor-like beak. She didn't mind me watching her, but eyed me curiously. Beauty is everywhere and I see it in her.

Birds are always singing, flitting and flying through the air, giving away their songs of joy, songs of sorrow. The swallows have finally returned, bringing with them warm days fecund with the promise of a hot summer. Purple heads and throats, silk white bodies. Songs in the evening air.

I cannot imagine a life without birds.

Two shampoo bars & the fun of it all!

2009-05-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Ah shampoo bars . . . .

Well, it was an experiment that turned out to be quite interesting; so interesting in fact, that I decided to make two bars instead of one!

The difference between standard soap and a shampoo bar of soap is the oils. Being that it's going on your head and hair, shampoo bars contain superfatty, nourishing oils that are meant to leave hair soft and thick. Thus the oil range and the richness of these bars kicks the pants off standard soaps . . . well not ALL standard soaps, at least not many of my own!

The first looks like a desert sunset - honey yellow, warm orange and bloody reds. The colors are completely natural, as I refuse to use "soap dyes" or other chemicals that tend to irritate the skin (not to mention the environment once it flushes down the drains). Turmeric powder creates an amazing show of colors in the first bar. And why not? So many spices create gorgeous colors when diluted in oil or water. Hibiscus is just one example.

The second bar looks like a dark Florentine paper. The honey yellow base has been dimmed by the addition of black marbling, all created by high grade charcoal (the same kind you'd use to filter water or take internally to cleanse the system). It's astounding. It spent it's first night brewing mercurially beneath the coverlets, ranging from coffee to honey, back into pitch and up once more to it's stable self.

Cold process soap changes often during saponification, which is why I describe the flux of colors in the second soap. Even the first batch, the one that uses turmeric for dye, flushed into a muddy red brown for awhile, before a calico dapple marked it's surface.

I'm hoping to put up pics this week, so you can see my words, rather than simply read them.

Oh, and new today on my Etsy store site - Bright Eyes Renewing Under Eye Salve and a book in my "surplus sale" section, Wire and Bead Celtic Jewelry by Linda Jones. Go check 'em out!

www.twostrandssoapworks.etsy.com

And for all of you who were hoping to buy some Burning Florals Offeratory Blend for Midsummer - you're out of luck! I had a wonderful buyer drop in this weekend and buy the whole lot! She loves the ingredients and the words I chose to describe this precious and rare product, so she is cleaning me out. It'll be late summer before I'm able to stock more as I must wait for my mom's buttlerfly bush to bloom!

Blessings and best to you all

Ra shines and the Ab sings! My heart, my heart, my mother, my heart!

Flora's Dial for Today, May 20th

2009-05-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is dedicated to my friend Derrick - truly faithful in adversity
www.derrickjensen.org

Flora's Dial - May 20
Wall Flower - Faithful in Adversity

When all around grows drear and dark,
When Reason half witholds her ray,
And Hope sheds but a dying spark,
Which more misleads my lonely way,
In that deep midnight of the mind,
And that internal strife of heart,
When, dreading to be deemed too kind,
The weak despair, the cold depart;
When fortunes change, and Love flees far,
And Hatred's shafts fly thick and fast,
Thou art the solitary star
That will not set until the last.

~ Byron

A few of the phrases in here are especially poignant in regards to my friend and his writings. As I see it much of this poem can be applied to the scathing apathy that strives to keep us from seeing and feeling the desecration of the natural world, mother of all life. It makes absolutely no sense to rape and destroy that which sustains us.

It also makes me wonder who among us shall be a solitary star not setting until the last. Who will spend their days preparing the armor and weapons with which to war against adversity, which surely will appear to be cold and unfeeling to those who do not prepare for such themselves. But to be a solitary star means to lift the sacred above the profane, honoring the Goddess our Mother.

And so I say this - War on the outside, Sacrifice within.

Sunny Days and the Health of Friends

2009-05-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

It's one of those days.

Brilliant, cascading - a blue sky gleaming above like no other. No, it's not meant to be trite. It's true and the sky I see today will not be the one of tomorrow, nor is it the same as those in the past. It's unique because I've changed again.

Yesterday my hubby and I drove north to see our friend Derrick speak at WWU. We were both anxious to see him; after all, a distance of 4 years can change people, especially when people are battling an illness as serious as Derrick's. To our delight we found him as potent in words as ever and far healthier. He's precious to so many - to see him healthy was a joy indeed!

It was refreshing to find focus once more in my personal politics as well; to be near folks whose values are along similar lines. Daily life sometimes cuases me to lose sight of what's truly important - the health of friends, the health of the planet, the power of life and love.

Perhaps those words need to be capitalized.

And so it's one of those days. A day of beginning again, rememberance, focus, and self sacrifice.

Blessed be!

My Favorite Soap . . . so far!

2009-05-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

If I had to choose one . . . gosh, which would it be?

It's especially hard when each soap is so unique. Some are simple and work hard, others are highly complex, super fatty to the extreme; and then there are those who were made simply to meet some old, earthy need of mine. Such is my favorite, if I had to choose just one.

See the picture and understand. It took me a while to come up with just the right combination of ingredients to make this beauty whose lather is a dark, ruddy brown. She even had two names before I finally settled on Soul Ab. This soap has been a challenge to my craft and I love it.

Soul for my soul and the souls of those whom I love.

Ab for the Ancient Egyptian name for the Heart and that which rang true in death.

This soap has heart, not only in it's rich organic and natural ingredients, the love I put into making it, but that every once in awhile a bar has a heart deep in the middle - a soft, caramel brown center within the dark chocolate colored body.

I love the soft grit of the apricot kernel and the rosehips, the earthy, desert scent of the cinnamon, vanilla and pomegranate juice. It's like no other and it feels wonderful in the hands.

So yes, if there's a choice I'll take my Soul Ab Soap above the others when I'm feeling especially indulgent. Whether it's the ingredients or the chunky size of the bar, I'll never truly know. I just know that there's something special about this dark soap.

Blessings!

Lenox Knits - You've WON Our Spring Basket Giveaway Contest!

2009-05-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Lenox Knits - the winner of our first Blog Contest!

I'll be building a special basket full of our goodies for you to enjoy and share. I hope you will enjoy it all!

And thanks to everyone for taking part in the contest. It certainly won't be the last one; in fact, I'll be posting the rules for my new contest tonight!

Again, CONGRATULATIONS! :o)