Antique Store Find and Soap Cracks

I was at an antique shop a short while back.  I picked up this box of cotton thread/yarn.  It said to me that it would be a great carrier yarn, or a great yarn to ply in my spinning.  Today, I decided to use it with some Shetland I was spinning.  The Shetland is white, but when spun some natural colors show.  I happened to also have some of the natural colored brown and beige yarn on a bobbin (like the previous post) so I plied the two wool spools and the blue cotton thread together to make my first yarn.  Once I used all of the natural colored brown and beige yarn, I continued to ply the cotton with the Shetland.

I know it is hard to view because of the brightness in the center.  I hope you can sill tell what it looks like.  Yes, this is my old castle type spinning wheel.  All other wheels I have used pale to this one, except for one I tried and it was plain ugly.

I am not sure what I am going to make with this yarn.  I am still spinning the single white yarn and I may make more plied with the blue thread.  The texture of the yarn, especially the three ply with the natural beige and browns should stand out in whatever I make.  As you probably remember, I don't like to make large projects, so who knows...............

I have also done a little soaping.  I am low on laundry soap, so I made some more of the base soap.  Coconut oil, lye, and water.  Of course half of it I had to play with, even though it is going to be shredded up.  To the second half, I added some mica and made swirls.  I also added Irish Spring type fragrance.  You may notice that it got hot and cracked down the center of my loaves of soap.  The soap loaves may have been less hot if I had not placed them all together to help support the edges so they did not bow out.  Once I saw that they were splitting, I sprayed rubbing alcohol on the tops.  A few minutes later I planned to give them some pressure on the top and another spray of alcohol, so the crack would not be so visible.  It really didn't matter if there was a crack since I was going to shred most of this soap up, but you know that damn soapers pride.  Standing there ready to spray, I noticed the two white ones healed themselves.  There is a visible line, but no crack.  The swirled ones have a little crack, but not much, so I didn't do anything except give it all another spray.

If you look carefully, you can see the cracks, but they are only on the very top.  The worst one is the one that is sideways on the left.  It doesn't look bad does it?

Have a wonderful week!  Dawnie

PS  Don't forget to go to my website at: https://www.slipperywhenwetsoaps.com or my website at: https://www.custercottage.com or my Etsy shop at:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage