Written by Elinor on March 10th, 2016.
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We had a sobering event last week. A DDoS attack.
It appeared briefly on Thursday afternoon and the website was unavailable for an hour.
On Friday afternoon, the website disappeared again. I needed a password to change our server, but the company who hosts the website (not Zeald, the website provider, who worked tirelessly all weekend to fix things) keeps gentlemen's hours and doesn't work over the weekend. I couldn't get the password until 9 am Monday. It took two minutes to fix then a few hours for the change of server to kick in.
I couldn't do any work all weekend so we had a great time watching season 4 of House of Cards and being grateful that it wasn't an earthquake, a drone attack, or a bomb and that we were all fit and well.
For the curious, a DDoS attack simulates millions of computers trying to access a website at the same time. This puts tremendous stress on the online infrastructure, and can make access to a website difficult, or impossible.
Written by Elinor on February 11th, 2016.
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Organic beard oil
(Makes 100ml)
For a gift, put in 20ml dropper bottles.
40g organic argan oil
30g organic jojoba oil
30g organic hemp oil
Combine the three oils in a beaker then fill 5x 20ml dropper bottles. |
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Written by Elinor on January 19th, 2016.
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Colour blocks for M&P soap
Each block will colour 1kg of M&P soap to the shades shown: clear (left) and white (right).
Very easy. Just melt the block along with your clear or white soap base and stir gently to blend. |
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Written by Elinor on November 30th, 2015.
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Turtle in a red cap
It wasn't until I looked at this mould carefully that I realised the turtle had a cap. It looks really cool.
This mould was poured in two parts.
1. The hat: clear M&P and red mica. Pour this into the hat part of the mould. Leave to set.
2. White M&P with green mica and a fragrance of your choice. Mix this and pour into the rest of the mould. Leave to set.
Unmould carefully. |
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Written by Elinor on November 17th, 2015.
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Our favourite sheep in black
Quite easy to make with M&P soap.
Pour white M&P into the head.
Once it's set, pour clear M&P mixed with black mica and fragranced with whatever you fancy.
Once set, cut off it's wee legs and pour white M&P into the holes.
Unmould once it's hard.
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Written by Elinor on November 11th, 2015.
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A great Xmas gift idea.
Send a gorgeous pot of French clay.
Three to choose from, with instructions for use on the label.
The pic shows the green clay.
Clay mask recipe:
2 tbsp clay. Mix with enough water to form a paste.
Apply to your face and leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off. |
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Written by Elinor on November 5th, 2015.
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Delightful honeycomb M&P soap
Yesterday I made a great little M&P soap that could be a good gift idea.
It was poured in three parts.
1. The bee was made from clear M&P with gold sparkle mica.
Pour that into the bee part of the mould and leave to set. Doesn't take long as it's so small.
2. The white honeycomb part is just white M&P. Pour carefully and scrape away any soap that is on the hole part of the comb. Leave to set.
3. For this, use clear M&P and add 1 tsp of honey and half a tsp of litsea cubeba essential oil. This gives the clear soap a yellow tinge and a lemony fragrance. Leave to set. |
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Written by Elinor on October 19th, 2015.
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Bubble cakes
Dry ingredients
240g baking soda
240g sodium cocoyl isothionate (SCI)
45g cream of tartar (you'll need to get this from the supermarket)
Wet ingredients
30g glycerin
30g cocamidopropyl betaine
30g lauryl glucoside
Extras
1 tsp rose essential oil, cosmetic grade
1 tsp red mica
Method
1. Stir dry ingredients together. Add the rose essential oil and stir in.
2. Melt wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients.
3. Put on some gloves and knead the wet and dry ingredients until they stick together.
4. Divide the ingredients in half.
Add the red mica to one half and knead in to blend.
So now you have a lump of white and a lump of red ingredients.
5. On separate pieces of clingfilm, flatten each lump into a rectangle about 5mm thick.
Place one rectangle on top of the other and roll up into a log.
Cut slices and leave to dry overnight.
To use, place a slice in the bath under the running water.
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Written by Elinor on October 6th, 2015.
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Now stocking NZ kaolin clay.
Make your own kaolin face mask.
Take 2 tbsp kaolin, mix with enough water to make a paste.
Apply to your face with your fingertips and leave on for 30 minutes. Wash off.
Clay in CP soap
MIx 30g into about 1kg of soap mixture when the soap is at trace.
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Written by Elinor on September 25th, 2015.
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A mould or two, some micas for colour and a fragrance - hours of satisfying creative fun for kids that like making things.
You may like to keep it simple with a kit or a mini-kit.
A wonderful gift, each kit has instructions and all ingredients.
Or choose your own mould, micas, soap and fragrance. |
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Great plain or coloured.
Older kids can colour feet, face, horns by adding mica to a tiny bit of melted soap.
As it's used, it keeps its sheep shape to the very end!
This black and white sheep soap was made using white M&P and black mica. Also looks great with just white M&P |
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A small soap, 35g, but one that can look good with colours.
Made with white M&P soap and green mica. |
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Great for groups of friends!
This sturdy mould makes six of these flowers, each 30g.
The red flower was made with clear M&P soap and red mica; the white one just with while M&P soap. |
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A beautiful fairy... made with white M&P soap and purple mica. Lavander essential oil would add a lovely fragrance to this soap.
Silver mica looks magic brushed on at the end when the soap has completely cooled. |
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This is a gorgeous mould that works amazingly well!
An older child will have enormous fun colouring the petals with different micas.
Made with clear M&P soap and red mica.
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Made with clear M&P soap and red mica. |
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Really cute. A delight.
The turtle was made with white M&P soap and green mica, the hat with clear M&P and red mica.
Green apple fragrance oil would scent this soap nicely.
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A bath bomb mould, some baking soda and citric acid, maybe some witchhazel, and a bit of this and that...
making bath bombs is simple and fun. Recipes here.
Lip balms are very easy, and quite cheap. You need beeswax, a carrier oil, fragrance and a container. Recipes here.
Written by Elinor on September 23rd, 2015.
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New in today: Calcium bentonite from NZ!!
We love having NZ-sourced ingredients.
Bentonite is great for soapmaking and skincare.
To make a mask, mix 1 tbsp bentonite clay with enough water to form a paste. Apply to your face, or skin generally. Leave on for 30 minutes and wash off.
In CP soap, I would use about 30g for each 1kg of soap. |
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Written by Elinor on September 15th, 2015.
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Dead Sea mud powder
Our Dead Sea mud is no longer available, so we have imported the powder for you to make the mud yourself.
This is much better actually, as if you are using it immediately, no preservative is necessary. If you want to keep it for longer, you can choose what preservative you use.
To use:
Mix with water to form a paste (about equal quantities of powder and water), apply and leave on the skin to dry for 30 mins.
Rinse off and moisturise.
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Written by Elinor on August 20th, 2015.
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Most of us can't afford the real thing, so we've just managed to buy some sandalwood fragrance oil from our favourite perfumerie in Grasse, France. |
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