Me and Stuff

My journey in the soap world has been a wild roller coaster, to say the least.  As some of you know, I started this blog as a way to give soap makers of handmade soap exposure to the world.  I started reviews and it just took off.  At the time, there were no soap blogs doing this that I could find.  A whole world of soap opened up to me and shortly after I began, other soap blogs popped up and handcrafted soap seemed to be everywhere.  I am so happy I tapped into that world, because I soon became part of it. 

My readers...YOU.... encouraged me to try my hand at soaping and when I finally pulled the trigger, the addiction began for me.  I loved it!  Now my business is almost all soap and I'm so happy with the direction my company is taking.  I work tirelessly at making my soaps better, my designs unique and using some of the best ingredients to the table.  It took years before I could say I am truly proud of my final product.  In the beginning, I made good soap, but the years of trial and error and endless researching, I can say I have a solid bar that I am pleased with.

I guess I knew it would take years of learning, doing, failing, loving....

I have let my blog writing fall to the wayside for a while now and I apologize to you all.  I have been focusing my energies elsewhere and I am sorry I have let you down. I want to bring you soap porn, reviews, tutorials, new ideas and business musings.  I'm not sure if my experiences will help anyone else, but perhaps I just need to share them and let you all take what you need and fly with it. 

Please leave comments on this post about what you want to get out of this blog and I will try to address them.  I can not promise I will post all the time, but I can try to be much better about it.  I do need your help.  If you are interested in sharing something here that you think others may be interested in, please email me and let me know you'd be interested in guest blogging.  I am open to any ideas.  This blog gets about 10,000 unique visitors a month, and my guess is that a big percent of those visitors are soap makers looking for inspiration, learning tools and a feeling a sense of community.

I am looking forward to being a part of The Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild annual conference this May in Raleigh, North Carolina.  I will get to meet a bunch of you.  Please seek me out and come introduce yourself.  I will be doing a demo on soap making with milks and I am nervous as heck.  I do not consider myself a public speaker and I loathe being the center of attention, but I want to do this and I know I will grow as a person having done it. 

Thank you for continuing to be a part of this blog, the active group on facebook, and general supporter of my vision.  Thank you.  Let's continue to grow together.  Here...hold my hand.

hugs, jo

Close-Up Challenge at Soaper's Retreat

This week, we had a challenge for the group members of Soaper's Retreat and it was all about getting close-up to the soap... the most recent soap made.  Of course, it was fantastic!  I am in love with close-up photography because instead of seeing the entire subject, we get a detailed and personal look at it.  I posted two of my own soaps as examples....

 DEJA VU by me!

RED HOUSE by me!

Here are some of my faves from the submissions:

ANIMAL INSTINCT by Renne Lillie 

BLOODY MARY  by Danielle Martin

 RAINBOW SHERBERT by Nat Kinlay

LAVENDER & LIME by Hajni Kele

I LOVE YOU by Lina Vilniskyte

MARDI GRAS SOAP by Robin Blood

Thank you to everyone for participating!  Let's keep pushing the envelope and thinking outside of the box for our images.  You all make such amazing soaps!

*

Surprise Oops Challenge

As soap makers, we've all had at least one batch of soap that came out completely different from what we intended, but were pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  So this week's challenge on Soaper's Retreat (SR) was to post pictures of surprise soap.

Summer Rains, a member of SR, is responsible for this challenge idea.  "Fun!", I thought.  Thank you, Summer, for the suggestion!  

Here are a few that caught my eye:

Joy Barnes, "The Blob - Planned orange with a black swirl. I added all of the EO to the orange and by the time i got through my 2nd layer the orange had formed a large thick blob, with the black still very runny, so I grabbed my spatula and started slicing through the orange to break it up a little, to let some black run in...was sure it would be a horrible grey mess"  Looks like hot lava.  I think it came out great!

 

Nat Kinlay: "I made this one the other day. Its Rose Jelly. I rarely get air bubbles. Not sure why this one is positively filled with them but there's so many it kinda looked like it was meant to be. Perhaps I should call it Rose Jelly Soda Pop."  Looks like a fun cocktail! :)

Barbara Potter: 'I used nettle-infused oil in one part and charcoal in another for an in the pot swirl. I got a partial gel that created a very eery soap! Surprise!"  A Halloween full moon with branches.  That's what that reminds me of.

Marianne Rice: "...it was my most troublesome batch to date. Yuzu & Coconut . . . not sure if it was the coconut milk or the yuzu fragrance, but it seized up on me, I had to push the soap into the molds with a spatula, and bang it on the floor until I thought I would break my molds (also waking up the kids:), it had a few air bubbles, but all in all, the marbled look (caused because I didn't have the usual fluid movement of the batter) and tops turned out great! It was a total relief to see how it turned out . . . the downside, it was one of my favorites soaps and I'll never be able to recreate it!"  Absolutely love it!

 

I also want to thank everyone for being a part of the Soaper's Retreat on Facebook.  We opened the group 8 months ago and we just hit 1,000 members!  Woah!  Let us remember to always put ourselves in other people's shoes so that we can act respectfully to each other.  The group is meant to be a place for us to come for support and guidance.  Treat each other the way we want to be treated.

Much love,

Joanna

Photo Challenge - Fave Smelling Soap

We had another Soap Photo Challenge in our facebook group, Soaper's Retreat over the weekend.  I like to challenge all of you to spread a little beyond your comfort zone and use natural light to take pictures instead of a flash or straight up blinding sunshine which can be very contrasty.

This challenge, I asked all of you to choose your favorite smelling soap and tell us why you named it what you did.  I'm not sure everybody read the entire challenge because a lot of entries didn't have an explanation of their soap's name.  That's okay.  I will be more clear next time. 

Here are the entries that I loved the most this week.

 

RED NIGHT

"Patchouli grapefruit.  First of all, the smell I associate with the color. Patchouli for me it's something deep, rich and sexy - dark red, black. Love that rich scent :)"

by Lina Vilniskyte

SANDALWOOD VANILLA

 "I am horrid at naming soaps and tend to use just the scent but this is one of my favorite scents.... 

It's deep, it's sexy, its sensual, it's slightly sweet, its just plain delish and the two scents are made for each other."

by Sacha Staffanson

Nature's Alchemy "Petals -n-Pods". 

"I named it this hence the organic,fair-trade chamomile infused soap with madagascan vanilla seeds in the top layer. Then the soap is topped with both organic chamomile & vanilla beans. 

I love the warm, grounding essential oil blend of this soap which consists of: Peru balsam,clove,&orange.Yum! The herbs are more in focus than the soap but that's okay, they can have center stage-they are deserving!"

by Kira Johnston

The next challenge shall be posted this week for next week's blog post.  Let us know if you like these challenges!  Leave a comment!!  Tell us what you'd like to see more of. :)

xo Jo

Shieh Shieh Shieh

Emily Evily, of Shieh Design Studio, sent me soaps many months ago, before I moved across town...only to have to wait ions for my soap review.  It has been a stretch to keep up with reviews, as the move, life, kids, new puppy and restructuring my entire company has been eating up all my time.

But she deserves this, because her soaps are so fine.  And gorgeous.

Gelato Twist Soap

First of all, Emily is an artist and every bar she produces is a work of art.  I'm not really sure how she does it, because every new soap of hers that I see tops the last one.  How is that possible?  Because she is a true artist.

The soap:  I took that baby in the shower with me, and it performed with lovely lather and silkiness I hadn't expected.  The blended fruity scent was not overpowering but gentle on the nose.  I'm not a big fan of overly scented soaps, so I was very pleased to be in that shower for a good 20 minutes.  The soap left my skin nourished and clean.  Just the combination we all hope for in a bar of soap.  Not tight and dry.

With the bar wet and rubbed out a little, the swirl design popped and I could see the delicate nature of the soap.  Three or four colors, gently co-mingling together and perfectly swooped with such a delicate nature.

You can take a look at some of her recent works of art at her shop, but here are a few of my faves:

Oatmeal, Milk & Honey

Dark Star

Teakwood Cardamon Buttermilk Banana Soap  (YUM) I want this one!!

As you can see, the all look scrumptious and sound heavenly.  Every ingredient, every nook and cranny...all make for a luxurious experience. 

Thank you, Emily!

Etsy Sunshine Sporn!

Oats and Honey Soap by The Soap Lab

Fresh Rosemary and Lemongrass Soap by Empire Soap

 Yellow Marseille Soap by Morning Calm

Turmeric Root Soap by Whole Truth Beauty

Lemon Sugar Soap by Dress Green

Honeysuckle Goat Milk Soap by goatmilkstuff

Natural Orange Citrus Soap by Dr. K Soap Company

A fine selection of bright and cheery yellow soap for today!

Bar Soap: The Comeback Clean

Danielle Martin, of The Soap Distillery, has generously offered to write a guest post on the popularity of bar soap:

As a fairly new soap maker and user of bar soap, it wasn’t that long ago for me that I was questioning the consistent use of such an, what I thought to be, archaic product. I thought to myself, “bar soap is so drying. Why wouldn’t people just want to use shower gels?” and I’d head over to my local get clean/smell good store and buy some commercial bath and body products. I loved the way the packaging always looked. I loved all the colors they used and the images that the printed on the bottle. “Oooh, this one is all natural because it has added aloe in it!”, I’d screech. I have always had sensitive skin, so, seeing products with aloe in them was always a plus for me. As I got older (and subsequently fatter) I started to pay very close attention to the things that I ate. I was always the one in the grocery stores looking at the ingredients and nutritional value for packaged and can goods, and eventually I stopped eating processed foods all together. Besides, there is a level of consumer knowledge that needs to be exercised so you can make informed decisions on what you are putting inside of you. But, what about the stuff that we are putting on the outside?

One day, I said to myself, “I’m going to start using all natural skin care products. I need to take just as good of care of the outside of me as I do to the inside”, and that’s where my personal journey began. More and more these days I’m seeing the skincare isles at my local health food stores being full of customers looking at the ingredients labels and making informed decisions about what they are buying. But, if you’ve never used an amazing handmade, gentle, and many times all natural product, you may be wondering why we’re all putting so much weight on the subject. You may be thinking about those soap bars that your grandmother or great grandmother used to make, and how they used to be so strong that they’d take the hair off your knuckles. Well, let me tell you something: bar soap is making a comeback.

Bar soaps these days offer so much more than the soap of old did for us. Many companies have been making soaps since the dawn of time, and in reality, their soap really hasn’t gone anywhere.  However, we can see that so many other companies have begun the large scale manufacturing of soap bars and people are buying them up like fast food French fries. Many people are attributing the popularity of these new soap bars to the fact that most of them are only comprised of a small percentage of actual soap, and the rest of the bar is made with synthetic detergents which offer a lower Ph that is gentler on our skin. Is that the case? I’m wondering how many people would still buy those soap bars if they realized that they were made with the same ingredients that make up powdered dish detergent...is this why bar soap is the new black? I think not.

This could be why bar soap is making a comeback…is it chocolate, or soap? I wanna eat it.
Photo credit: Blossom and Twig Artisan Soaps and Aromatics  



Soap is no longer just your average white molded bar of soap. It’s beautiful, it’s loaded with amazing oils, and perhaps the best part…it’s REAL. 100% soap. It’s being made with luxurious vegetable oils, calming essential oils, high quality fragrance oils, natural pigments, natural exfoliates, etc. They use flower buds/petals, charcoal powder, coffee, etc as exfoliates instead of artificial materials. They are being superfatted with oils that are loaded with vitamins and provide skin softening benefits that artificial ingredients can’t touch.  And one of the most amazing things that most commercially manufactured soap is NOT offering is the aesthetic beauty that you can only get from a soap that is handmade by a talented soap artisan that treats every bar of soap like it’s the first and the last.

Yeah, it’s a cake. A SOAP cake.
You can’t tell me you’ve never wanted to shower with a slice of cake.
Photo credit: Mianra Artisan Soaps 






Soap makers are putting time and effort into not just making a bar of soap that will clean and moisturize you, but they are also putting lots of time into every little detail to make your soap a work of art. The design, colors, and photography is all designed to peak your visual interest first, and once they draw you in and you actually use this artistically crafted bar of soap, you can’t go back.

This bar of soap takes getting you clean seriously. It doesn’t mess around.
Photo credit: Cirmes Tonsorial Parlour


In all, yes, soap is making a comeback. But let’s give credit where credit is due. The education that customers are getting about what they are actually using on their bodies fuels the desire to use the best products that they can get, and this demand for the best product possible has allowed us soap makers to do what we do best: make a beautiful bar of soap that not only looks good, but will properly clean you and drape your skin with the best ingredients we can get our hands on.

Thank you Danielle, for your inspirational post!

Soap Porn Hump Day

I have been doing test batches of soap for months and just when I thought I had finalized my formula, I changed my mind.  I have become a perfectionist, I think.  When I was less knowledgeable, I kind of flew by the seat of my pants with basic ingredients.  Never tweaking SO much because my soap was just fine and smelled so good! 

Well, having tried hundreds of other soaps from soap makers around the world, I realized that my soaps just aren't as good as they could be.  The smells?  Yum, but the soaps themselves aren't particularly extraordinary.  This got me into the soap studio and batch after batch after batch, I tweaked, changed, drastically changed, researched more and more and made MORE changes, until yesterday (sigh), I made, what I am hoping will be THE BAR.  Haven't unmolded it and I am nervous to even cut it, too.  I have spent more time with the new formula than focusing on Christmas sales.  Crazy, I know.

I had to get out of my head and into other's soapy madness, so on the Soaper's Retreat Facebook Group, I asked for everyone to post their most recent soaps.  I titled it, "Soap Porn Hump Day" (it was Wednesday yesterday).  Wow, oh wow.  Gorgeous soaps were posted.  As Michael Kitney, of My Planet Earth Soaps said so perfectly,

I am humbled today as I see the amazing offerings for Soap Porn Hump Day! What a fantastic and talented group of people we have in this room! :)

I will only choose five to post here, but you should go to the group to see the others.  Well worth the trip.  We have some amazing soapers in that group.

My favorite of the bunch (which may have to do with the fact that it looks like a dark chocolate dessert), is the first one, but they all are so wonderful, aren't they?????

'Queen of the Night', by Clara Lindberg (Auntie Clara's)

Vanilla, blackcurrant & vetyver. Charcoal.

Full Moon, by Shieh Design Studio
made with evaporated goat milk

Cupcake slice, by Raelene Albery

Rosemary and Sage Soap, by Nikory Bath Treats

FUNGHI soap by aromaNature Savon Naturel

~

Soap Porn's Back & It's Golden!

Nubes de Jabon

Kristina Dievulienė

MijnZeep

Тонкая Материя

feisty suds

How can you not love a photo of golden scrumptious soaps?

.

Eye On Detail

The latest photo challenge on FB Soaper's Retreat was another close up photography in natural light challenge.  What can I say?  I love to see detail and natural light makes things stop time and creates silence for me.  For that moment, nothing else exists.  That is why photography can be so moving.  A photograph can create a mood or do nothing at all with the same subject, depending on how the subject is captured with the lens.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”   
   – Henry David Thoreau


Danielle Martin is the inspiration behind this new photo challenge. (this photo below is Danielle's soap) Her Gin Thyme is breath taking!

 Gin Thyme by Danielle Martin

So the challenge was to get as close as your camera could get while focused, then to choose the most interesting "frame" of your soap and post it onto facebook's group: Soaper's Retreat.   Then, list:
What soap is featured
Location of photo (back porch, laundry room, sock drawer....etc)
Name of your company (if you have one)   


There were so many beautiful postings for this challenge.  It was really hard to pick, FERSURE!  I will say that I noticed something that  a lot of you may have overlooked.  Part of the challenge was to get as close as your lens could possibly focus to and then find the best shot from there.  Also, there were some really great shots, but a lot were just out of focus, so let's be more detail oriented.  I am not busting horns just to bust horns.  I am only trying to make us better at presenting our work and being more mindful of presenting the beauty that IS our work.  Be proud and don't shortchange yourself!  These are masterpieces and they deserve the red carpet.

Winners are....

Lina Vilniskyte
Gel phase... Milk, honey, oats
Light source: Cloudy day at the window
https://www.facebook.com/GrozisIrGeris

Stacey Sherman Johnson
Victorian Christmas
 In the soap room
The Little Flower Farm

Michael Kitney
Rosemary Mint - AKA Get Your Zombie-Like Ass Out Of Bed and Wake The Hell Up!
Afternoon sun on my soap table
My Planet Earth Soap Company



Congratulations to the winners!!  Lots of love to all who participated and those who watched.  Let's keep plugging along soaping the soap or watching us soap!  :)