I thought why not try something new an make scented soap? The easiest and safest way appeared to be making hot process soap from soap flakes. Hot process means: You melt old soap or a new, unscented bar of soap. I bought unscented curd soap for the experiment, the brand name is  Dalli (non-perfumed dalli care curd hard soap). It’s very basic soap for all kinds of purposes, and it is rather soft and easy to grate and work with. I am pretty sure there’s something similar available everywhere.

Linked below is a very nice tutorial video from “Elly’s everyday soap making”. She has a small soap business, so she is working on a level of professionalism I can only dream of. But this procedure is so uncomplicated and safe that it’s easy to follow the steps. What you need is a cheese grater, a bain-marie (or a pot-in-a-pot-cooker), some essential oils you like and soap. And time! You don’t want to do this in a hurry. It can take a while, so better get a good audio book ready.

Just in case you don’t see the embed, here’s the link. Make sure to leave her a like!

Youtube Video: How to use soap for making new soap

If you only want to use your soap to scent your wardrobe and never use it on skin, you don’t need to worry about an essential oil dosage that might irritate your skin. But if you want to take a dive into essential oils and their use in soap or aroma therapy, here’s a lot of information: Everything you want to know about essential oils

There are some basic rules, for soap making as well as making your own perfume (or oil blends for a diffuser) though.

The scent of some essential oils fades rather quickly. Those are mostly citrusy oils, the first scent impression you get. They are called top notes. Other oils last longer, the richer and often flowery scents. These are heart notes, or middle notes. Those heart notes define the main character of your soap’s scent. Then there are base notes, those oils last longest. They are often woody and deep, Sandalwood or Vanilla for example.

To be honest, I felt slightly overwhelmed by all the information and blend options. Sure, I do know some scents from baking or flowers, but other than those I know to smell nice together? I wouldn’t know what blends well. So I did what I always do when I dive into something new. Research it and attempt to structure it.

The result is this: It’s an incomprehensive list of the more common oils and some blend suggestions, according to the information out there what blends well with what. I didn’t test them all. Essential oils are expensive, and I didn’t want to waste what I have on scent-tests with random combinations. I narrowed my testing down to the combinations that have been tested by others and seem to be well-blending. I went by the heart notes I wanted and looked for matching scents for the top and base notes to go with them. I colored them according to their use, I found it easier to work with the information that way. Some cotton pads, some drops of oil together: I found some favorites pretty quickly.

So if you want to make some Lavender soap e.g., you can see which top notes and which base notes might blend well, and try if you like the smell of those together.

If you try this the first time, you might want to take notes. How much soap flakes, how many drops of oil, etc. If the result isn’t satisfactory, you can grate it and make a new attempt.

I hope I didn’t bore you, I had fun making these! The darker one is an Orange-Lavender-Cinnamon mix, and I added a pinch of nutmeg (yes, the spice). That’s  where the brownish spots come from. It smells lovely and rich. I did follow Elly’s instructions to get rid of the air bubbles, but obviously wasn’t that successful. The lighter one is a Tangerine-Neroli-Cedar mix with one drop of food-coloring. This is so much fun! Lots of Christmas gifts for my friends :).

Have fun! The next post will be about dolls again, I promise!

But since my dolls are in a closet for light and dust protection, there are easier ways to make them smell a little nicer. I use to hang moth balls in the closet, because some of the doll cardigans and wool wigs attract them. They smell of lavender, and the dolls or rather the doll’s clothes smell of it, too.

I am not particularly fond of the moth ball smell, so I thought why not try something else? My mom used to store her soap in the wardrobe, and all her clothes had that very specific scent. When she passed away, I inherited an antique cabinet- and her soap. A more than fifty years old bar of soap, and it still smells lovely.

I learned that “soap in the wardrobe” thing from her. And since I love scented bars of soap, this post will be about soap, scent and other not exactly doll related things. It’s hard to find soap with a long lasting scent over here, since all the regular soaps you use to find in the drugstore are bio-this, hyper sensitive natural-that, and even if they do smell nice, it usually doesn’t last. Neither on the skin nor in the box.

The fifty year old soap is a bar of Roger Gallet Mignardise, and this scent has been one of my favorites for years, along with Fleur De Figuier and Bois D’Orange. It’s quite expensive, and although it’s perfect to put in the wardrobe, I wouldn’t want to use it for washing my hands. Even though it doesn’t make your skin dry like some of the bio-olive oil soaps I tried.

Two other brands I love to use even for washing my hands are Borotalco (Italian soap with a unique scent of lemon and baby powder) and Jabon Maja Clàsica (Spanish soap). I fail to describe the scent of the Maja soap, it’s warm, spicy and exotic. Borotalco adds a lovely fresh scent to your towels in the drawer. Both are tolerably affordable for daily use. I love to have nice smelling hands.

Italian and French soap making has a long tradition, and some brands and scents have been around for decades. Italian Nesti Dante soap or Saponificio Artigianale Fiorentino soaps for example. You can get those as single bars as well as gift packs. If you enjoy fruity or flowery scents, those might be worth trying. These are lovely wardrobe scents as well.

I like to use soap bags in the shower, and since I had 2 yards of a wide lace I couldn’t make use of for anything else, I used it to make lots of soap bags. You put the soap in and use it while it’s in the bag, just in case you’ve never seen something like it. They are quite popular over here, you have a much better grip on the bar, the soap dries quickly and the bag adds sort of a peeling effect.

And last but not least, I made wood squares for the doll cabinet and my wardrobe. These are sawn off a squared timber, and I left them rough. The rough surface makes it easier to saturate the wood with fragrance oil. I use carnation and cinnamon most often (and my dolls smell lovely of this mix now), and lavender for the wool drawer. For some reasons I get a headache from using aroma lamps or incense sticks indoors, and these wood pieces are my choice for a more subtle scent.

And now I am curious: Do you like good old soap bars? If you have that one scented soap you wouldn’t want to miss, what would it be? Do you place something with scent near your dolls to make them smell nicer? Let me know in the comments 🙂

What’s your name?

I am once again struggling to find a suitable name for a new girl, and I am curious how other collectors go about naming their dolls.  Sometimes it’s very easy, the doll in question basically tells you who she/he is, but sometimes it’s really difficult.

And since I want to know how you pick names, I am going to share a bit about my naming habits and struggles. After starting with my first BJD in 2013 (Tristania was the first doll in the house) a couple of unstrung dolls found their way into the collection in later years as well. I find that I make a distinction between the BJD and the unstrung dolls. It’s not an active decision I made, I just feel differently about them. The bond is not the same, and as a consequence naming the Barbies, Blythes, Monst dolls and other unstrung dolls is much less of an effort.

I name them when I want to introduce them on the blog, but they only get first names. Most of them give me an idea of what name would suit them – an impression of their personality. But I don’t think of them as characters, they are “just” dolls. So I don’t really care if the names are unique or popular as long as I like the sound. Sometimes I forget their names again and have to look them up on the blog. I think I have never spent more than 15 minutes on finding a name for one of the unstrung dolls.

But with the BJD it’s a completely different story.

They come with a lot more personality, and with the customization they become “people”. When I think of them, I think of them with the names I gave them and an idea of their personality in mind, pretty much like I would think of humans. Finding the right name for them is sometimes just as much of a struggle as finding the right wig or background story.

Since BJD come with a sculpt name, some of the collectors I know don’t bother to find new names for their dolls. But when I frequently see other people’s dolls online that have a name, dolls I admire for their unique face up or style, I tend to remember their names.

Back to the struggles of finding a name. With some of mine I had a name and a character in mind even before I ordered them, those are the easy ones. Seraphine, Ludivine and Everett for example. Others come to life with giving them their face up. They tell me their background story, I know who they are, but I still can’t find a name that fits. My current struggle to find a name for my Raccoon doll Rose is one of those cases. I wanted to name her Harper, before I found out that the name became really popular in the US lately. There’s even a Rainbow High doll called Harper Dune, that really put me off that name choice.

Some of my doll’s names are made up, I just liked the sound (Tristania and Amanthis for example are my creations). But most of the names I chose are existing names. I try to find unique names that are not very popular and easy to pronounce for English speakers. Some of the names may sound funny in other languages, but I try to research that as well. I always have to smile about the Popodolls (Popo=butt) or other daring choices.

And since my BJD all have surnames as well as first names, the search for a good name doesn’t end with the first name. Most of the time I try to find a combination that seems to originate in the same geographic region.

And when I have decided on a name, it’s time to google the combination to find out if there are any namesakes you wouldn’t want for your character.

Very inspirational but a bit overwhelming are baby naming sites

There are a lot of them, the most popular one is probably Nameberry.

It’s a very extensive collection of names (not always accurate as far as the spelling of European names is concerned). But since it’s created for an US audience the US version of those names is probably just what people are looking for. Very helpful are the comments about possible quips invited by similar sounding words. If you are not a native speaker, picking names with an English speaking community in mind can be difficult. Every culture has their own outdated names, fashions and connotations with names. And what sounds nice following the standard pronunciation of one language might sound ridiculous in other languages.

Behindthename is another great resource if you want to look for both: First names and surnames.

I love their advanced search options by origin, letter and syllables. For some reason I like Nordic and Irish names, so searching by origin is always helpful to narrow the results down. You still get a lot of them, with all possible user provided variations. Sometimes that’s just a bit too much. Interesting, though.

One of the sites worth exploring is OhBabynames

I am not sure if it’s my browser, but the advanced search doesn’t always seem to work. Ohbabynames provides a lot of information for each name if you like that kind of stuff. Let’s say you want to know more about Adam…

These are just a few of many if you want to spend time browsing for inspiration.

I have collected a list of names I like, and when I am looking for a name I check that list first. But sometimes it’s just like the wig box. You have an extensive collection, but nothing wants to fit right.

And I am still undecided what I should pick for my Rose (thank god she has a sculpt name I can work with for now). I know she is a sophisticated strong personality, her name should reflect that. No flowery three-syllable melodic name would suit this girl. Solveig, Jorike and Idun are favorites. Or something with a hint of masculinity, but not a fashionable unisex name? I guess I will have to think about that for a bit longer. Maybe Rumpelstilskin after all?

I hope this wasn’t too boring to read, and I am really curious how much effort you put into finding a name. Want to tell me in the comments?

The first one is the classic Barbie. The second one is really just a quick sketch of a 1981 Barbie, that was my first and only childhood Barbie. I have no idea what became of her.

And the 1981 Barbie…

This is just a bit of Sunday afternoon fun. I have to go back to job-drawings, now. 🙂

Update: I add this here, since I want to keep the drawings together in one post:

Do you have boxes with doll stuff? Lots of them, maybe? I thought I’d make some labels for doll stuff.