One of the things that I enjoy doing is handcrafting oil & lye based soaps that look like real food. I edited this post after several members indicated that they couldn't see my posted images. Are these now visible? Fried chicken soap with tossed salad and baked potato. The chicken soap has an Old Bay fragrance. The salad has a lettuce fragrance. The baked potato is unscented and was made with goat milk soap. Hamburger soap (with detachable top bun) ... and no, the lettuce, tomato, pickle, and condiments are not real ... they're hand crafted soap products. This soap is unscented. What are your hobbies?
I doubt that it is so unusual but I do still-life shaded pencil drawings either from actual still-life or from pictures. Usually I use pencil but sometimes I will shade in colour. I've begun to explore painting such as pointillism. I find it incredibly relaxing!
HAAAAAA Dave that's hilarious! I like making candles that look like drinks. Like wine in a glass, candle in a coffee mug that smells like coffee, etc.
BTW Dave, where do you get your scents? I got some on Ebay but can't find any interesting ones in craft stores.
I want to see a picture!!! And maybe purchase some :woot: My hobbies aren't that exotic...I guss the wildest one is painting children's murals.
I enjoy making quilts. Raising a garden. Working with our cow/calf herd on our farm. I don't like to clean house. I enjoy each and every student and figuring out how to reach out to them so that they feel special and enjoy school and want to learn if only to please me.
Would I be correct from reading your responses that my pictures aren't coming up? Darn ... I provided image links to a photo album I had at another site. In terms of where I get my fragrances, I don't use Ebay. I use soapcrafters.com. This is a web based business dedicated to supplying hobbyists and home operated businesses. They sell products for soap making as well as candle making. BTW, TeacherNY, I once knew a woman who made candle pies. Her cherry pies were particularly scrumptious looking. I also liked her blueberry. I make soap pies as well ... pumpkin and peach. Here's a link to soapcrafters.com. http://www.soapcrafters.com/
Other soaps I've made ... Fruit soaps - all properly scented so that the watermelon smells like watermelon as does the cantaloupe and coconut half ... Have you heard of soap on a rope? What about soap on a chopstick? Fried chow mein soap (lettuce scent) ... instead of a rope, I have chopsticks. Pull the chopstick out and the chow mein noodles come out in a block. BTW ... the take out carton is real, just in case you were wondering ...
I don't have any unusual ones, just your typical scrapbooking, photography, painting, drawing...but I wanted to say how REAL your soaps look!!! I am amazed! :wow:
I get old bikes (often from the dumpster) and "restore" in a somewhat mutated fashion, usually as one-speed fixed gear bikes, often letting my first grade students paint them. This was my first project. http://velospace.org/files/fixedgear1.jpg
Cool looking bike! Do you ever sell them? Given the economy, I understand that bicycle sales in many areas are up. In this part of Arizona, I'm starting to see golf carts and bicycles on the road. More and more people seem to be parking their gas guzzling SUVs in favor of using alternative forms of transportation.
I used to do wedding cakes. I make the flower pens and put them in pretty flower pots. That's as odd as I get.
Your soaps are amazing Chef Dave! Have you ever done a gallery showing or something like that? I used to make little, tiny tea sets out of Fimo, but I don't do that anymore. Seeing your soaps is inspiring me to do something creative, though.
Wow - those soaps are sooo cool! I don't have any real interesting hobbies - I crochet, scrapbook, read, shop, things like that.
Dave your soaps are too cool! They make me think of that show Ace of Cakes on food network and how they look real.
Dave, those are so awesome! I was just looking at soap shaped like wedding cakes to give as my wedding favors. If you ever want to sell your work, drop me a PM- you're incredibly talented!
Thank you all for your kind comments. I used to sell these soaps when I owned a B&B in Pennsylvania. Some people bought them for decorative displays in their bathroom. I am told that their guests were frequently taken aback to find "food" in the bathroom. Some of my guests who were parents bought these soaps for their children. My oatmeal cookie soaps and chocolate chip cookie soaps were really popular. I am told that mothers found these soaps made young children excited about taking baths. A former guest also once called me to buy more soap. It seems that her maid service had thrown away the "stale hoagie sandwich" that had been unexpectedly found in the bathroom. At one point I thought about starting soap production as a business. After all, the former owner of the Yankee Candle company got his start making candles in his home. The Yankee Candle company now grosses over $250 million in annual sales. Unfortunately, my father felt that such soaps wouldn't sell well enough to support a business, so he talked me out of this. Still ... it's something to think about for the future ...
Yes! Think about it for the future! Those soaps are really unique, and you clearly put a lot of creative energy into making them. They're folkart, really. I'd be happy to buy something like that for my home.
Dave, how do you form the soaps? Freehand? I don't know if I can call this a hobby but I started making doggy biscuits. My dog loves them I guess I can make a bunch, package them, and give them as doggy presents! LOL
How do I make the soap? It depends upon the product. Some are made freehand. Some are made by improvised molding or by pouring hot soap on to a heat resistant silpad. Some soaps use combination methods. I use a mixture of soap products such as oil & lye based soaps made with coconut, palm, and olive oils mixed with lye. The oil & lye soaps are from my own unique recipes. I also use goat milk soap and blocks of glycerin. On one occasion I even used a bar of unscented white Ivory soap. I grated it over my soap danishes, pumpkin pie, and strawberry tarts to create the illusion of powdered sugar. If you ever decide to make your own soap products, you will at the very least, need the following protective clothing: safety googles, a long sleeved work shirt, long trousers, closed toed non-skid shoes, an apron, and protective gloves. You will basically want to cover up as much of your skin as possible. Why? Hot soap can burn ... and lye, which is extremely caustic, can actually kill or disfigure you if you don't treat it with extreme respect. Most home soap makers are actually of the melt and pour variety. They buy glycerin or goat milk in large blocks. They melt the soap over a stove, add coloring and fragrances, and then pour the soap into molds. Only a dwindling number of people make oil and lye soaps ... the reason being that the sale of lye is now under more stringent control because it can be used to produce methamphetamines. Red Devil used to sell a clog remover that consisted of nothing more than lye. They have switched to a gel product. Soap makers can still buy lye in small quantities from on-line craft supply stores but the lye comes in pitifully small batches. While I still owned a B&B in Pennsylvania, I bought a much larger commercial amount from a chemical supply house. Before the manager would sell me any lye, he had his chemist interview me on soap production and safety procedures. He also looked at my business website and confirmed that I was selling soap. I had the dubious distinction of being the first non-industrial business that the chemical supply house had ever sold lye to.
This isn't my hobby, but I get drug along. DH is a saddle bronch rider on the rodeo circuit. He has been riding since 1992. During a typical year, we will hit anywhere from 60-250 rodeos. Some of our LR furniture has been replaced with trophy saddles and I have a Rubbermaid tote in the closet half full of trophy buckles. His father was all around champ in college and his granddad rodeod in the 1930s and 1940s. When we were going really hard a couple of years ago, we would leave on a Friday afteroon, hit a Friday night performance, a Saturday afternoon performance, a Saturday night performance, and a Sunday night performance. Of course, this was when diesel was about $2.00 a gallon. We have slowed down a lot in the past year or so, due in part to fuel prices, the kids getting bigger (we would spend the weekend in a slide-in camper and they don't really fit in the small bed together anymore) and the fact that DH isn't as young as he used to be. I have seen two tornadoes from a rodeo grounds, seen two bulls jump the arena fences and escape, and saw a barrel racer scalped by her own horse. I can only hope that the kids don't decide they want to start to rodeo when they are a little older.
My mom and grandma used to be the docents at some local log cabins in the park. They used to dress up and my grandma would make lye soap in a kettle over an open fire. She made her own lye--something about ashes and a stump??? Your talk of lye just reminded me of that.:thanks:
That's pretty neat! I live in rural Arizona but still haven't met any rodeo riders. For that matter, I was so nose to grindstone last year that I didn't even have time to attend the local county fair/rodeo. I used the day off they gave us for the county fair to get caught up on paperwork. I'm not interested in being a rider ... but as a chef, I'd be interested in observing or even helping with chuck wagon cooking. I've heard of some fairs that have chuck wagon cook offs.
Soaps are very cool chef Dave. My hobbies are somewhat boring...shopping, eating, pooling, reading, shopping, crossword puzzles, photography, scrap booking, sleeping, shopping...I guess that is why I am so broke this summer (shopping, shopping, shopping!)
I'm an active member in our local community band. I play flute and percussion (when needed). I've been playing in the band for about 4 years. I call our Thursday night rehearsals my "therapy". It's 2 hours a week for just me... I don't have to be mom, wife, teacher, etc. I get to be a flutist! :-D Here's our band site: Woodlands Concert Band and our MySpace page: Woodlands Concert Band on MySpace
Dave, somehow, this thread got past me. I love the food soaps. I don't have an unusual hobby, but my bf likes to go airsofting sometimes (not w/ me). I don't care a thing about it. It's similar to paintballing. I wouldn't call it that unusual though.
Those soaps are too cute! Loving the chow main one. I use to do counted cross-stitch, but lost patience with it after a while. Now the only thing I do is bento. I arrange foods in cute little Japanese lunch boxes, which I also collect, then post to my website...which I would put up here, but I've not been a member long enough.
Hobbies? Shoes !!! (NO Crocs except for maybe those high heeled strappy sandal ones I'm considering) Watching my son play baseball
