Cuppa Jo Sunrise Challenge

I have been neglecting the challenges for WAY TOO LONG.  I have to offer my sincere apology for the major delay in fun.  Mad Oils has exploded and not only are we understaffed, but between seasonal colds and unforeseen employee childcare issues, we have had quite a time keeping up with the floods of orders (which we love!  Thanks to all our loyal customers!)  So having been a bit overwhelmed at work and tirelessly navigating my personal life and continuing to improve on myself....I have been a very bad blogger, and I am sorry.... :(

So I challenge you up, baby!

Since I've moved into my new place, I often wake up before sunset, take my fresh coffee and walk, in my pajamas and slippers, to the Intercoastal Waterway/Lake Worth Lagoon, which is only one block from my new place.  I love the salty breeze that wafts into my face and through my short hair..... while I listen to the small waves slapping against the concrete ledge I sit on.  Within minutes, the black sky turns twilight blue and from the horizon, emerges orange and pink colors.

It has been a new experience living near the water and enjoying the sunrises I get to witness when I sit out there and ponder life's curves, dips and surprises.

This one may be hard because I'd really like you to tap into your creative mind and try not to be too literal in your interpretations  (if you CAN).

I want all of you to design and interpret in your own way, my morning cup of coffee at the Lagoon.

If I were to participate in this challenge, I'd start of with a layer of soap mixed with sea clay or mud with superfine coffee grounds (this would represent the concrete ledge I sit on). I'd then make an orange to pink ombre technique.  Ombre is a gradual GRADIENT change from one color to the next.....

{You can see the tutorial that was posted here on The Soap Bar Blog in 2012.  The tutorial was written by Emily Shieh of Shieh Design Studios.}

I think I would take  some dark mica and mix into a cup of soap batter and pour it in blips and plops from high up, so it reaches close to the bottom of the first layer.  One of those bloops would represent me, a figure.  In the photo below shows some designs from the soap I "blooped".

So I suppose even if I did a tutorial, everyone's soap design would end up being unique because of the haphazard way of the plop/bloop "technique".

So there you go.  Challenge has been assigned.  Please post your final creations on our Facebook Group, Soap Challenge Gallery.  PLEASE tag your post with #cuppajosunrise

Challenge starts now and all soap entries (entries are posted photos) are due by April 9th!  The grand prize winner will receive Mad Oils Micas ~ FOUR Mad Oils mica samples of your choice!

Good luck and soap on!

xoxo

jo

Local Yocal Ingredients - Special Soaps Using Special Ingredients

Using local ingredients adds a holistic approach when making handmade soap.  Not only does it feel great to use your own soap in the shower when you're supporting your local businesses or using ingredients from your own garden.  When someone purchases your soap with local ingredients, it adds an element that many who seek the pure, the handmade, love to see special ingredients added to a soap.  Why?  Perhaps it stops a piece of their vacation in time, like if you added sand to your soap and sold it where people typically come to escape the ice storms up north.  Then when they take it back home and use it, it brings them back to the town they loved so much and brings them a sense of relaxation.  I know when I visit an area that is new for me, I love to see local artisan's work, especially when they incorporate their immediate environment's elements.

We had a challenge called LocalYocals and it challenged all the soap makers to incorporate a local ingredients into their soap.  I thought it would keep people thinking about ingredients and how simple one local ingredient could transform a regular soap into a gem.

We had some great entries with unique ingredients!  Here are some to give you an idea of what YOU can do to spark it  up.


Curtis Hayden used multiple ingredients from his area in Charleston, South Carolina:

Basic Beach by Curtis Hayden

"This soap features a cold pressed juice from my local juice shop Huriyali which gets the majority of its produce from local farms. The juice is their "Aloe-Ha" juice consisting of raw unpasteurized coconut water, raw local honey, and much more! I don't see how I could get more local than that! But then I figured out a way to get even more local, I used sand from one of the local beaches I go to all the time on the bottom of the soap!! Scented with 3 different scents and made with a lot of love! The juice shop is actually featuring this soap in their store and the pictures I am featuring of the soap were taken at their store!"

Bhakti Iyata lives in Phoenix, Arizona and used her local ingredients:

Desert Flower Soap by Bhakti Iyata 

"Desert Flower Soap, made with Prickly Pear Cactus Extract (Prickly Pear Products, LLC Mesa, Arizona) and scented with Cactus Flower FO. Hand molded flowering cactus and little hummingbirds on top."

Leanne Timm-Chevallier lives in Southwest France and used THREE local ingredients!

Soap by Leanne Timm-Chevallier

 "Love this challenge ! For the Local Ingredient challenge, I used local organic french green lentils from a farmer down the road here in SW France.... I also used local Duck Fat.  Makes a nice scrubby soap. Colour is Chlorophyll powder."

There were so many good entries......great soaps, but I can only choose a few to feature.  Thank you everyone, for trying out new ingredients!  It always feels like you all take these challenges to heart and that makes me happy.  :D

We will be taking a break from Challenges until well after the holidays, but I'll be back with some beautiful pictures as I spot them.  So keep it real and send me pictures anytime!  Maybe YOU will be featured in my Soap Porn!  Send pics of YOUR soaps to me at joannaschmidt@live.com.  Leave your name, email, where you live and if you'd like to share, ingredients you used.   Have a great Thanksgiving holiday and stay clean!

xox Joanna

Sweet Soap Porn Saturday

I have been taking photographs for my business' new website (not live yet), and also working on post production, editing each photograph carefully until the crop, light and color was just right for the photographs of Mad Oils' colorants.  As a mica supplier, it is incredibly important to make sure the colors I put up on the screen are identical to the colors we carry.  All month I've been photographing micas, fragrance oils, poppy seeds,  (yes, Facebook viewers, most of you figured out that the "Who Am I?" photo I posted was indeed a gaggle of Spanish Blue Poppies.) 

One of my real passions, however, is photographing soaps.  It's my favorite subject matter and I realized that in 2007, when I started this blog reviewing soaps from around the world.  I do miss reviewing soaps, but at some point after a couple of years, there were a bunch of soap review blogs that popped up out of nowhere, so my soap reviews didn't seem necessary anymore.  Other bloggers were doing a great job reviewing soaps, and because I was getting increasingly busy, I turned the blog into my personal diary and for displaying soap.  I basically handed it over and begin something else:  SOAP PORN.  The only reason I ever started the blog was to expose talented unknown soap makers to the world through photos and positive reviews.  Giving the handcrafted soap world a place to reveal themselves was my goal and I think I was involved in something wonderful.

This weekend, I found fantastic soap blogs with better than dynamite photos of super-stunning soaps. Three women soap makers and bloggers. I share with you, the three artists that I think have incredible talent and need to be further exposed.


SOAPJAM, Philippines

 

soapjam

I love everything about Soap Jam's soap, from the colors she puts together, to the designs she creates all the way to the stamp that's perfectly placed.  The photography is also spot on!  Thank you, Sylvia, for being an inspiration and for sharing your beauties!  I am so happy I stumbled on you this weekend!

   

 INFUSIONS, Maya
 

Infusions... I am breathless.  I wish her About page has more information so I could share that with you and also know myself, more about her background.

___________________________________

SAVONS FANTASIES, Jazz

 savonsfantaisies

Jazz, who writes the Savons Fantasies blog, has a wide range of techniques she uses. I do love the different styles she attempts (and does well!) and it's wonderful to see one soaper try all of them.  Some soap makers can find their groove with one style and then find it hard to expand their horizons by trying new techniques because of their comfort zone.  It seems as if Jazz tries everything and does it with style!

______________________________

This is one of the reasons I run Soap Challenges on Facebook (and here).  Expanding the way we think, look at things and reveal the artist within us all.


To wrap it up, I am sharing a photo from Soap Jam's blog of Sylvia and Maya together!  Sylvia on the left and Maya on the right:

I lift my coffee to you both and to Jazz!  Thank you, soapy ladies.

xoxo Joanna

(Joanna began The Soap Bar blog & now owns Mad Oils, a wholesale supplier of colorful micas, fragrances and more soap supplies)

Shake It Up With Photos Skillz, Part One

Some of you want to sell your soap but are having a hard time doing that because getting a good picture of them isn't easy.  Photographs of your product are more important than you think.  Images are what speaks to people more and more these days, because isn't the internet all imagery?

We all have a comfort zone: Things we do that make us feel secure in our abilities.  But in my opinion, that comfort zone needs a little shaking up.  That's what I'm here to do.  We all need to open ourselves to see new perspectives.  Some of us make soap for fun, or for the sake of art, and some make soap for a living, but the one thing you have to do, no matter why you soap, is document your soap journey.  Even if it's just for yourself.  If you are sharing your documentation, you want the viewer to really see your work.  Not just photos lined up with a back drop taken 3 feet away, one - after - another.... It's boring to see "catalog-type" photos one after the other.

If you take pictures of your soap just to get the image on paper (or screen), you need to stop that right this second... just  S T O P !

One of my personality traits that I can't help, is trying to see things from other people's perspective.  I put myself in the shoes of others in order to understand what they see and feel.  And then examine WHY.

This trait carries through into everything in my life.  Relationships, art, political discussions, and crime stories (random, I know, but my whole life I've been fascinated by stories of deranged people doing what they do and then trying to understand why).  Putting myself in other people's shoes helps me with photography.  Whhhhaaaaat??  When I look at a photograph in a magazine or on a website, it evokes a response in me.  This is true for product imagery and that's why advertisers use everything in their power to create emotions in consumers.  Why?  Because consumers purchase things mostly by how they feel when using, wearing or having a product.  If I put myself right into the shoes of a person, for instance, looking for soap, I try to photograph the soap in a way that is intimate or shows a different scene that is out of the ordinary.  Photography creates a silent image, sometimes so powerful that words are not even necessary.  THAT is what I try to do.  What do I want to see?  What do I want?  I use that, too, all the time.  

Evoking an emotion in someone will make them take a second look, which may turn into a soap sale for you.

Natural light and position/perspective are KEY.  I will go into why and where in the next post, but this post is going to focus on practicing the technique of light and position...


Find a new perspective ~~ Basics

So go grab your camera (or phone) during the day and make sure your flash is OFF.  Set your soap on a steady surface near natural light and take TEN photographs of your soap from all different positions.  YOU need to move in different positions, not the soap.  Take a photo from above looking straight down; This will give a dimensional view.  Take a shot from below the soap, looking UP at it;  This will enlarge its presence.  Take a super close shot....get intimate with your bar.

You have to try new perspectives to see what you like.  But you will never know if you like them until you try it.  It's a pretty low risk, taking photos, so just DO IT.

Here are some examples of the same soap photographed from different angles:

My soap:  close up

My soap:  straight on.  Taken at the same level

My soap: photographed from above (and close).

These are photographs of my soap from 4 or 5 years ago, so if you were a customer of mine at Absolute Soap or a reader of my blogs, you've probably seen these already, but they show you one soap, shot 3 ways.  Now, think about what each one makes you think, feel and like.  Which is your favorite position?  Try the all and MORE!

Out of the ten photos, choose one picture (don't forget!  Shoot in natural light and at a different angle than you usually take your photos). That photo will be your entry photo that you need to post in our group on Facebook: the Soap Challenge Gallery.

I want everyone to participate. All entries need to say "#photoskillzpartone" and need to be posted one week from today:  My birthday, JULY 11th and the deadline time is at 3:09 pm (EST), the exact minute I was born.  The top 3 photos will be posted on this blog (and for those of you who don't realize how many people come to this blog, let me shed some light:  between 17,000-25,000 page views per month.  And I only write on this blog, LATELY, once a month.  So participate and fight to get some exposure!

This is not only an assignment to make you better, but it's meant to be fun, so have a good time!

Peace out.
- Jo

A Little Soap Porn, My Dear?

We haven't had soap porn in a really long time.  I've been missing it....

I know secretly you have too.  Here is a handful of new bright and cheerful photos of hand crafted soaps I have never seen:

Diane's Naturally -  Australia

Heavenly Bubbles Soap - UK

Pink Parchment Soaps - USA

Island Coconut Bar - SunyIslandBlu

Hibiscus - CoquetteBath USA

Ginger Grass and Lemon - the charming frog - USA

Lavender - Kirk Estate - USA

I just LOVE staring at handmade soap!  Isn't it just beautiful??

xoxo Joanna

Colorful Memories

It's easy to allow day to day stress to push our fondest memories out of our minds.

This past weekend, my daughter turned eighteen years old and my memories of our past came flooding back. The whole pregnancy was amazing, the birth was hard, and the first few years with her was the finest time of my life.

The idea for this soap challenge is definitely based on your individual experiences from many years ago, whether it be from your childhood or young adulthood.  Bring forth your fondest memories of a time that will always have a special spot in your mind.

"How can I do that in a soap?," you ask.

I imagine that you need to pluck out things, colors, feelings and whatever fits from your memories and show how you felt back then.  Express yourself.  You know that if you make soap, then you are an artist, so don't short change yourself.

Don't minimize your talent and abilities. 

I believe there is incredible talent that you haven't tapped into. 

Believe in yourself.

You have 3 weeks to complete this task.  This project can be expressed however you see fit, but you have to explain it.  Please do not post a soap you have already made.  These challenges are meant to open a piece of you and challenge your inner self as an artist.

I ask that you please take a picture of your soap in natural light and that it be in focus.  When you post it in The Soap Challenge Facebook Group, use the hashtag #colorfulmemories so I can do a search for it and your photo will be included in the judging.

Deadline:  March 27th (Friday), 2015

Good luck to everyone!

Dig deep...

xo  Joanna

Location Is Everything - A Soap Challenge About Your Locale

You people never cease to amaze me with the beauty you create.  Some of the entries were downright amazing but I can only name one winner and one runner up.  Over the years, I have found more joy than you know, seeing your soap creations and what you take from the soap or photo challenges I have offered you.  It brings me such happiness when you stop for a few moments in the madness of your lives and really think of the challenge.  I know down deep, you know you can take on each challenge, because you will try new things and learn new things (scary things) through self discovery, whether or not your final piece comes out the way you want it or not.  Many of my major flops were my biggest learning experiences, which is unfortunate sometimes, but true nonetheless.

Many of you just lurk, but one day, perhaps you will share with us.  If you do play along but don't post your pictures, then I can only hope that this blog has inspired a piece of you to think outside the box and expand your artistic expression.

This challenge was to evaluate your physical surroundings, whether it was your street, neighborhood, city, rural landscape, anything and recreate it in a design through soap and explain it.

Mad Oils has sponsored this challenge.  Mad Oils is giving a $50 surprise gift set to the winner and a $25 surprise gift set to the runner up.  FUN!!

This is the hardest challenge I've had to choose a winner.  There are so many really thoughtful, planned out, gorgeous soaps that you all made.  There wasn't one bad one!  I am so proud of every one of you who tried this challenge.  I feel like you really did DIG DEEP.

UGH...This is seriously hard.

The Winner for this challenge is Kimberly MC with her NYC skyline at night!

"This is my first time doing a challenge and I'm happy it's this one. I grew up in New York City. Once in a while, if you're lucky and on the right side of the East River, you'll catch a beautiful cloudy, red sunset that reflects into the water. Those are the days that you find yourself seeing more than dirt stained concrete and man made towers. You realize that even in the concrete jungle, nature somehow finds a way to share her beauty. Scented with leather and colored with activated charcoal and blends of micas, this soap is my way of saying I Love New York."  - Kimberly

Kimberly:  As you know, I am also a NY girl, and this "scene" you created I've seen a million times.  It's very well executed, the colors are perfect and it is structured without being too unnatural and flows without being messy.  Great job.


The Runner Up for this challenge is Cin Dee Rella with her piece of South Dakota!

"GRASSLANDS OF SOUTH DAKOTA U.S.A. My entry is based on my overall description of S.D. I was born and raised in a big city in CT. so when my husband proposed moving to Lemmon S.D. I looked at the map and gasped they won't even have chocolate up there , I can't live like that. We moved, and I fell in love with the emptiness. At first nothing from my previous life was as scary as being out in the middle of NOWHERE with nothing, no house, tree, bird, dog, NOTHING for a 100 mile radius.  GRASSLAND dominates the state hence my entry which nearly ended up in the trash as my batch was too brittle to play with. It is colored with spinach powder & parsley, the dirt portion is coffee grounds."   - Cin Dee Rela

Cin Dee Rela:  This was a very unique interpretation of your locale.  Kudos to you for thinking outside of the box on this one.  It is not only very good, but a rare piece that shall remain on this blog for years to come.  :)



Kimberly will receive a $50 surprise gift and Cin Dee Rella will receive a $25 surprise gift from Mad Oils.  Please send me an email jo(at)madoils(dot)com to give me all of your information so we can send it your way!

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard for this challenge and every challenge we have done together.  I am proud of you! 

Here are a few other entries that didn't make the top two, but made it hard for me...

Carla Hughes of Smyrna Beach, FL

Curtis Hayden of Charleston, SC

Gorill Olsen who dreams of coming to the USA one day

Carma La of Minnesota

If you haven't been chosen, keep your chin up.  Don't let this get you down.  One of these challenges will be the one where you will shine.  Lots of love xoxo Joanna

Until the next Challenge!  If you have not joined our challenge gallery group on facebook and would like to, please join us:  SOAP CHALLENGE GALLERY


Love, JO

Location Location Location!

This month's challenge is about your individual location in the world.  When I was making soap at Absolute Soap, we were asked by a local magazine, Palm Beach Illustrated, to create a bar of soap that represented Palm Beach, Florida, for their 60th Anniversary glossy magazine edition.  We gave it a lot of thought.  Palm Beach is known for some of the most expensive real estate in the country, Worth Avenue is Palm Beach's version of Hollywood's Rodeo Drive, there were cute narrow side streets with historical and tiny houses and then massive grand mansions with separate entrances for deliveries and separate buildings for the owner's staff to live.  Crazy wealth. We had plenty of ideas to represent wealth, but the idea that kept pulling at me was the beautiful blue-green ocean lining the island along beaches that are mostly untouched and pure.

Our creation for the magazine assignment turned out to be our top selling soap:  Palm Beach Illustrated soap.  Scented with a tropical sweet fruity and floral blend which matched perfectly.  This was our interpretation of Palm Beach's ocean.

 

I added ground oatmeal for my bottom layer (sand), apricot meal pencil line (crushed shells), white chopped soap embed layer (large shells and rocks), blue/green Peacock mica swirly layer (ocean) and topped with a sprinkle of Goldfinger mica (which represents the wealth all around the island).

So the challenge for you is to evaluate your surroundings, whether it's about the traffic or hustle and bustle of your city, or the scenery.  You can be as detail-oriented or as broad stroked as you want about the place you are living in right now.

When you post your pictures on the Facebook page: The Soap Challenge Group, please explain the design and how it fits with your location.  Also include #locationiseverything

The winner and runner up will be announced and posted here on this blog along with their photo, name and business name (if provided in their challenge post).

Thank you for being a part of the Soap Challenge group!  And if you haven't joined the Facebook Group, come and request to join and I will accept your request as soon as I see it!

Challenge due date:  FEBRUARY 7, 2015

I wish you all inspiration and fun on this project.  Dig deep, as I always say....

xoxo  Joanna

UPDATE:

August Sunshine Soap Porn

I have been so neglectful with giving you the good stuff, my little pretties, so here is a little eye candy for you to enjoy this weekend...

Poppy Soap Co.

M. Strand Soap

Bodhi Basics (etsy)

Soap For Your Soul (etsy)

Freedom Soap Co.

Shampoo Bar Challenge

Last week we did a Shampoo Soap Challenge on Soaper's Retreat and there were some very lovely submissions.  I have decided, after many years of being disgruntled with my shampoo options and my aging hair situation, that I need to go au naturale.  Thank you to everyone who participated.  This makes it easier for me to browse options!  ;)

Here were just a few that were submitted..... They were all beautiful!!!

Nicole Sullivan

 Natalia Mijnzeep

Miranda Pollack-Raymond

Hayley Heke

New challenge will be posted by Friday...... :)

Please leave comments on what you would like to see more of on this blog!!!

xoxoxo jo

Macro Art Soap Porn

This week we had another Photo Challenge at Soaper's Retreat (my Facebook group).  What amazing and glorious photos they posted!!  The challenge was MACRO photo:  Get as close as possible to your soap and shoot.  There were more entries, I think, for this challenge than any other.  One thing to keep in mind when posting entries for these challenges:  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IT IN FOCUS.  There were gorgeous shots that I couldn't include because it just wasn't in perfect focus, so be diligent and keep trying.  The art in this group in mind blowing.

Thanks for playing.  I appreciate all the photos you all posted.

Feast your eyes.....

Tianna Schlabach of Shabby Anna Soap

 

 

Vito Halagic

Marianne Rice

Michelle Rhoades of Mossy Creek Soaps

Tanya Chappell of Titania's Dreamy Delights

Kenna Cote of Amathia Soapworks

Heidi Bott

Chris Erkine of Wax and Soapy Water

Robin C. Herz

Tiggy Fiander of Future Primitive Soap

Andrea Gurlach

Hepzi Amelia Evans of Cleanse With Benefits

Juli 'Apthorpe' Denike of Inspiri Body

Lysa Luna of Sugar & Spite Bathery

Lina Vilniskyte

Merilyn Konnerth