Layers Upon Layers

I love layered soap and I love the different interpretations of what that is... how it looks, the way a design makes me feel.

And the colors!





mother earth by julia of cocobong
(I am so in love with these colors)






red bean orange soap by bie's junkyard (blog)
photo source: Flickr

jasmine by inner earth soap
congratulations, Erin, on your wedding!  Happy days ahead!! xo







chamomile soap by mellow stuff
photo source: Flickr






adzuki bean soap by mwri
photo source: Flickr









cocoa mint by sparta soap (not sure if Sandy still makes soap, but here is her blog)
photo source: Flickr




infuse: a blend of lemongrass and infused green tea
by beguile









jelly premium found on blog: P*2





ginger blossom by shieh design studio
photo source: The Soap Bar Flickr Group



There were so many to choose from... I could have had a post 1000 pictures long of beautiful soaps!

Some Of My Recent Soap

I have not been able to make soap for a while, but here are some of my latest batches.Hawaiian Sandalwood - close up top

Hawaiian Sandalwood 

Bubbling Cider

Bubbling Cider - close

Fat Boy

Fat Boy, close

Macsoapy's Creativity Makes Me Swoon

Gabriele Kappes, a.k.a. Macsoaapy, is an inspiration for me when it comes to soap making.  There is something very intimate, beautiful and simple about Gabrielle's soap that make me swoon over them.  I fell in love with her soap way back when... when was that, anyway?  I just checked.  It was way way back in 2008 when I first wrote about her.  Last year, I got a chance to actually TRY her soap and it was fantastic.  I loved the bars and raved about Lustbirne which you can read about here.









 

Soap Swirl

 

300 - 365 

327 - 365

 

Dangerous Liasons

 

252 - 365 (my daily soap)

 

13 - 365  shelf with soap logs

 

87 - 365 (Gabrielle's soap booth at a market in Augustusburg)

Gabrielle has mad talent with photography and I admire her eye for beauty.  You should absolutely look at her photostream.  Here are a couple I really like that I just found today:

 

 

Flea Market

Chamomile + Calendula

Chamomile and calendula are soothing for your stomach if made as a tea and they are calming to the skin.  For me, they create mental rolling meadows and remind me of a simpler time when summer meant few responsibilities and games of cards and backgammon.

Check out these great looking, creamy soaps:

CHILL by Stella Marie Soap

chamomile and neroli

CHAMOMILE + CALENDULA SOAP by  Joy Soapworks

SUNSHINE - shampoo soap by Beautiful Soaps

Chamomile calendula citrus

CHAMOMILE TEA + CALENDULA by Dancing Garden

a combination of herbal chamomile tea, slightly citrus, earthy with green notes. A very slight hint of floral.

PATCHOULI CALENDULA by Pleasant Earth Soap

made with organic soymilk, calendula and chamomile

 FARMERS MARKET by bubs and scrubs
 blend of fruits and florals with dried flowers including calendula and chamomile

Autumn - Greens and Ambers

You know I have a thing about green, but I also love oranges and amber, too.  It really has gotten to be that time of the year that green and amber go together on this side of the planet.  Sadly, I am in Florida, where the change of season really isn't that drastic.  The only leaves that fall are from my plumeria trees so they are left standing with their outstretched branches reaching for the sky.  They actually look heavenly bare, too.  Also, here it goes from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to about 75 or 80 in the winter.  But we are NOT there yet.  Yesterday was 90F.

This goes out to all the folks that can not enjoy the Autumn changing of the leaves.

Hubba Hubba by Kiss Designer Soaps

"cranberry spice  (which I think smells like hubba bubba bubble gum)"

Jabón de aguacate (Avocado soap) by Jabones Ramy

taken from The Soap Bar Flickr Group

Green Bamboo by Mountain Farms Soap

"wonderful clean fresh scent"

soap-31 by Lumb.ru

Dirt Soap by The Pig and The Peacock Handmade Gifts

"smells like a handful of fresh earth, aka dirt. It's perfect for fishermen and 

hunters who want to camouflage their scent."

Chocolate Mint Soap by Naiad Soap Arts

"decadent soaps scented like rich dark chocolate and mint!"

Citrus Sage by Soap For Your Soul

"Lemon, Lime, Orange, Sage handmade Cold Process Handmade 

Vegan Soap- Earthy Fresh"

Rocky Top Soap Shop + Carrot

Tony might just be the nicest guy I've met on the internet yet.  He is generous, humble and wants to learn.  The man has talent.  Tony set off to live in Maine where it's simple and pure.  Just like the soap he creates.  No frills, no perfumes.  I thought at first, "how many soaps can you make if you don't add scent?"  And then, I thought about skin types and ingredients and realized how never ending the possibilities were and then I went to his shop.  Sure enough, he has a selection of soaps filled with incredible ingredients.  Made me really think how much wasn't in my soap.

Some soaps listed in his Etsy shop:

Black Tea, made with (duh) black tea.
Cambrian Blue, made with Cambrian blue clay.
Cucumber Yogurt, made with cucumber puree and yogurt.
Totally Pumpkin (which I am eyeballing right now), which is made with pumpkin seed oil, pumpkin butter and organic pumpkin puree.

Tony and I have been emailing recently.  I couldn't believe when he told me my blog was an inspiration.  I have to say that Tony's soaps have completely inspired me.  Now I don't care so much about making plain soap.  I want ingredients that will DO extra good things.  Purposeful soap.  All of my new soap creations "post-Tony" have had additional treats put into them that will benefit skin, and so, I take my hat off to the Maine Man for the inspiration.  To you, Tony, for coming up with a line of unscented soaps and kicking ASS on Etsy in such a short period of time.  I need a lesson or two from you, sir.  Not the other way around.

Ok, on to telling you about Carrot.  The soap that was sent to me as a gift (thank you!).




This is what Tony sent me.  Yes, he sent me samples of so many little soaps with labels and everything!  I have to tell you... I love Carrot so much.  I have been showering with it for two weeks, and every time I get in the shower, it's the only bar I reach for (I have about 5 in the shower right now).  No smell of carrots, although there is something earthy about the scent.  A beautiful mild scent.  Not like dirt-earthy.  Anyway, the lather, is gorgeous and bubbly with a creaminess too it.  I can tell it has shea butter and castor oil in it.  The fact that it has avocado oil in it doesn't surprise me because avocado oil makes for a luxurious lather and feel on the skin.  I used to soap with it all the time.  Remind me why I stopped?


Showering with Carrot is pure pleasure.  Rocky Top Soap Shop

Thank you, Tony, for breaking off a piece of your Kit Kat bar and allowing me to have some.  -Jo

Blue Greens + Summer's End

Blue green and the many shades of it is beautiful and reminds me of the empty beach and its peacefulness. Driftwood, sand, beach grass, breezes... overcast.

Rustic Pine by Besem Natural Scents

"We combine sweet, fruity top notes with deep greens of the

forest--pine, cedarwood, fir balsam and treemoss"

Blue Agave Nectar by Product Body

"... a unique fragrance that has a mildly sweet nectar smell but really smells like the beach wind.

Sandy dunes, ocean breeze.....we're not talking coconut, or fruit or tanning oils.

We're talking a desert plant with an ocean dune. Catch THAT in your net!"

Cute Aqua Koi Fish Water Garden PondMargarita Shea Butter Soap (vegan)

by Kawaii Cosmetics

"...has a fun and fruity margarita scent!"

Pacific Blue by Frontier Angel Soap

"This soap was inspired by my precious memories growing up by the beautiful Pacific coast. In shades of blue and green with real kelp powder sprinkled throughout. The scent is a blend of rosemary, lavender, spearmint and lemongrass"

Mint Yogurt Soap by Renata at xrenka.blogspot.com

This soap is made from 9 oils and butters and greek yogurt.

Scented with mix of essential oils where peppermint dominates.

LE Blue Bamboo Soap by SV Soaps

"Top notes of Bamboo, crisp Aloe, and Jasmine, with hints of Citrus. Bottom notes of sandalwood, cedar, amber and musk. This bar is layers of green, and blue with jojoba beads, and Rhassoul Clay, sprinkled through out for light exfoliation. The top is covered with raw sugar, soap spheres, swirls, and dusted with Rhassoul Clay"

Cupcake Soap by Duffin Soap

This is on a blog in a "how to make cupcake soap" blog post.

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Word Cloud Of This Blog For August

you can click for a bigger image

Thanks to Celine of Soaperstar for this great idea. She mentioned on facebook that she created a really cool word cloud on Wordle.net. They create word clouds of your blog.

"The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes"

.... so you can see, we talk soap here! ;)

That was fun!

Now, off to my radio interview for Product Body. O______O

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Random Beauty In Soap

I love good lighting in soap photography. Natural lighting is what catches my eye, so I found some today that I share for no other reason than the sheer beauty...

of the bar

.

.

.

Cinnamon Almond Soap by Amber's Ambry

Amber Reddinger makes beautiful soap, knitting projects, creates garbage into

household and garden art, gardens, plays banjo and is the ultimate house magic mama.

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And then I found this gorgeous soap.... holy moly:

Gentleman's Salt by Alisavon (Anke)

So very whimsical. Check out her blog; The soaps are very beautiful...

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Blowing Bubbles by Beacon Creations

"A fruity berry combination of strawberry, blackberry and wild huckleberries touched with a hint of pineapple and soft rose on a sweet caramel bottom. This scent is a mouthwatering treat with berry notes that explode into the sweet realm of fun! "

This looks amazingly sweet, bright and fun! I've been an admirer of Beacon Creations for about a year since I discovered her shop. I'll have to purchase a soap when I get through the ones I have! :)

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Sheep's Milk & Lavender (actually on sale!) by Briny Bar Soap

"Macadamia nut butter, sweet almond oil and avocado butter deeply moisturize the skin while calendula infused olive oil and raw sheep's milk acts to calm and sooth. Lavender essential oil has been used to moisturize skin as well as aid in the healing of scar tissue. The sheep's milk was hand milked (by me) on a small farm in central Minnesota."

I love Dennise's photography!

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Bubbly Grape Soap by Anita's La La Land

"This candy scent reminisces of sweet and juicy grape soda. The dark purple color comes

from alkanet root, a traditional natural herbal dye"

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Vanilla Dream by Sacred Water Soap Co.

"Enjoy the sweet comfort of rich vanilla..Instantly it evokes a sense of tranquility."

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Hunting Camp Deep Exfolating Soap by Portland General Store

"made with pumice, sandalwood exfoliating powder, frankincense powder, spikenard powder and moisturizing natural oils. Just right for the sink at your North Woods cabin—but looks and works great at home too. HUNTING CAMP has a deep sandalwood fragrance and is slate black in color, from the addition of activated charcoal, which naturally lifts toxins from the skin"