Soaping adventures

I couldn't wait any longer to soap with the new fragrance oil that I got from Lezlee. It is called Inis and puts me in mind of Irish hills. So, I decided to make a green swirled soap with it. I didn't want to use my green oxide, so I was trying to figure out what to use that was natural and with help from some online soaping friends, I decided on ground parsley. A quick grind in the coffee grinder pulverized it very well.
Here's a pic of the slab after I took it out of the mold earlier this after noon.
It was really an adventure for sure. Pulverized kelp was the other choice for coloring it. Decided not to risk having 'fishy' smelling soap!
Parsley looked the most promising for this batch. So, that is what I did. But, I felt like Lucy! (Where is that Ethel, when you need her?!) I like to use oat water in my soaps and I usually use it half & half with plain distilled water. This time I forgot and just measured out straight oat water. Ugh, when I added the lye, it clumped up and scorched in the bottom of the bowl. Oh, man! I had to dispose of that batch of lye and start over. Fortunately, I had more oats soaking. This time I did that right. I'm so glad that I took the advice that I have often seen and put my FO in the base oils. About 10 seconds or so of stick blending and I was at light trace. Blast! I hurried and threw in some ground oats and blended a few seconds. Yow, I'm afraid I'll get soap on a stick blender if I don't get a move on! (That's no small feat for this fluffy person.) O.K., grab the ground parsley and throw it in and hand stir. Ick! Doesn't look great. Ummmm, grab the ladle and a little container and slop some soap in it, quick toss in some gr. parsley and mix, mix, mix. Yah, that's good. Sling it into the pot and do a fast "in the pot" swirl. Oh boy, not really great. Well, no time to cry now. Get it over to the table and start dumping this 3 lb batch into the.....uh.. .er...Oh no, its the 5 lb mold. Can't do anything about it now, just keep pouring, girl. Hey, where did the swirl go? Man, oh man the swirl is gone. Smooth it down and check the depth. Not quite enough, but it will have to do. Throw it in the oven and try to stop shaking. And DON'T cry over it.
I've talked myself out of being upset, now I just think it was funny.
My men don't care if it has nice swirls or if it is the usual nice thick bars. They will love the scent and I ain't tellin' them what it shoulda-coulda been. Bwa-ha-ha-ha- ha! BTW, it's a pretty light not-quite-granny smith apple color. I likes it, I has to, I can't change it now.

I'm happy to report that by the light of the next day, it is a subtle swirl, more like 'veining' and is perfect for this scent. This pic of the cut bars is a little darker than the actual soap. It is closer to the color of the pic of the slab, above. It smells wonderful, looks so kewl, and I'm a happy soaper today. Whew!

Ta, DJ