Buzzed

I'm all buzzed up with excitement.  I am going to the Handcrafted Soap ans Cosmetic Guild's Conference and I am beyond excited.  Not only am I crazy nervous, but totally excited about speaking at the conference.  I am SO looking to fly on a jet plane out of my "real life" for a few days and talk soap and have fun with some wonderful people that I have become friends with on Facebook.

I am really not a social creature by nature.  I have been going through, I guess, something of a growth spurt (or...uh..upheaval) in myself.  Taking notes, reflecting, growing through life's memories and traumas and placing my inner self under a microscope for inspection.

Whatever mess has been occupying my brain for the last couple of weeks has taken up a lot of space.  The opportunity to connect with people is refreshing, because I don't mingle much.  I get out, I meet up with friends and family, but mostly, I'm a homebody.

I decided to share some photos of mine as I am in a reflection period....

 

  

 

Soap With Shoes?!

We are having a blast over at Soaper's Retreat (facebook group) and the challenges keep on coming.  This week, I decided to do something a little different, ya'know....to get people out of their comfort zone, to think outside the box.  That's always what I loved about certain teachers at Antioch (where I went to college).  I was constantly challenged to view from different perspectives, to analyze and feel things from a different view, whether it was art, music, education or philosophy.  I quite like the challenge of thinking outside the box and approaching things in new perspectives.


This week:  Shoe Photo Challenge

My pic was this one with my favorite pair of shoes....my old, worn Uggs.

Here are some of my favorite photographs from all of the entries:

Julie Weghorn

I adore this shot!

Michelle Rhoades

This girl nailed it!

Jennifer Farmer

Only entry with the shoe ON....well done Jennifer!

Rosie Carbajal

Excellent framing!  Reminds me of the vintage Vogue photos.

I want to thank everyone who participates in these challenges, to all of the members in the Soaper's Retreat Group and for every single one of you who read my blog.  Your love for soap and your support and encouragement of me and this blog make me feel pretty special.  Thank you.

Favorite Soap Top Photo Challenge on Facebook

One of the reasons I set up these photo challenges, is because I think we can all work on our photography skills.  Even ugly soap can be made beautiful with the right angle, light and focus.  I encourage all of you to step outside your comfort zone and really play, flounder, hone in and improve your own setting-the-stage for your soaps. 

There were some amazing soaps submitted this week.  I am truly floored by some of the talent out there and are inspired by the images... the soap itself.  Again, this wasn't about the most beautiful tops (which there were dozens of amazing ones!), this was about photographing your favorite tops. 

Many of you have created a mood so deep, that it has successfully taken me to another place outside of my room.  As if I experience a few seconds on another plane, in a different time and space and if I were connected to a breathing machine or heart rate monitor, I'm guessing the images actually had a physical impact as well.  Not just creative thought.

Imagine for a moment: an image that you've seen that transformed your mood or gave you relief even for a moment.  Then get behind your camera and move around your subject until you FEEL something and click.  Then stay behind the lens and do it again.  And again.  I took a photography class in college and I was taught to examine images that gave me an emotion or took me to the past or rekindled a memory I had forgotten.  That is special when you can examine, then reexamine why it moved you.  Was it the light, the blurred background, the colors, expressions on faces, the unknown....what wasn't said?  All this works to tell a story.

Soap may not tell a story to most, but to us it has a history within ourselves.  Our hard work, our love for science or art, our sweat and tears and sometimes our feelings of worth.  These are our creations and because they are special, we need to deliver all of that information, emotion and love, outside of ourselves and into our image for others to view and experience.

These two are mine, though not thought provoking necessarily, but the first one has a sense of playfulness.

 Joanna Schmidt

SoapTops

Joanna Schmidt

Detox

So, without further ado, here are the photographs that moved me.  Not just beautiful soap, but a mood that captured my attention and took me from my own reality for a few seconds.

Clara Lindberg 

Creamy mohair and goat's milk soap with cinnamon & neroli.

 Kate Boisoneau

Poppet: smoky sweet caramelized sugar, roasted almond, rich cocoa, and airy, creamy marshmallow

 Hajni Kele

Witches Brew

Just because most of these are close-ups, doesn't mean those are the ones that are moving to me.  Lighting and focus have an impact as well.  The one interesting thing about macro shots:  it brings attention to details that are normally overlooked.  Many times it shows the care and beauty that isn't normally seen upfront.  It lures the viewer in and captivates them.

What are your thoughts?  Please share in the comments below...

xoxo Joanna

Madame-Von-Diarrhea-of-the-Mouth

It has been way too long since I posted here.  I've been so so busy getting my business reconfigured with the new website, new all natural soaps and new name: Absolute Soap!  The new website took 6 weeks to create.  My husband, and business partner, did it all.  He took a basic template and tweaked it until it was all to his liking, and the results show.  I took all the photographs of the soaps and scrubs and I'm happy with them, too.  I love photography, so it made my job easy because I love doing it.

Making business goals and achieving them isn't easy and I, for one, have a hard time focusing.  I'm like Doug in the movie UP.  "...Squirrel!"  And I'm outta there.  I have amazing focus, actually, but as soon as I think of or see something that needs to be addressed, I switch my energies to the new thing (which always is important, too).  Imagine me in a room.  I am working on one end of the room and turn to get something.  I spot something else that needs to be put away or filed, and so I put down task A and quickly attend to task B, which would normally be fine, but when I return to the room, I forget what I was doing or see something else that needs work, or remember something needs to be researched or achieved, and I go off to deal with task C.  You see, I am a hard worker and work long hours, but sometimes I feel like I don't get things done.  Some may say that I have attention deficit disorder (ADD), not the hyperactivity part, because if you knew me, you'd laugh if someone told me I had me attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because you know I am pretty low key, kind of mellow and love to sleep.  I'm patient, understanding and most of all genuine, but sometimes I must look like I lost chicken with its head cut off.  But not in the running around kind of way.

Make sense?

It's important to look at our own shortcomings, so we can improve, or at least understand them.  Mine is attention.  So get this.  My doctor says to me, "well, it sounds like you have ADD.  Let's try Adderall."  Did nothing.  N-o-t-h-i-n-g.  Honestly, I don't even get why kids these days use these pills for speed ?!?!?  Guess what?  I took a three hour nap.  Speed, please.

Back to soap.  I love to soap and I love this community.  LOVE YOU GUYS.  I am so excited for the  Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild conference in Raleigh, North Carolina this May.  If you don't already know, I am doing a demo on hassle-free milk soapmaking, which is crazy.  Who am I to have been asked to be a "speaker" at this well known and highly esteemed conference?  Totally blown away and so honored.  Thank goodness for Leigh, the director, who convinced me that people would be interested in it, because I was all...like... ummm, I think people know this technique and it's no new thing.... and she tells me that people like to see easier ways of doing things with shortcuts.  So I was picked.  :D  Could I argue?  Not really.  I have never been to the conferences and I've always wanted to go.  But, I am in shock how quickly the last four months sped by and now it is right around the corner.  Soooo... yeah. I feel self conscious at a large table of people let alone being in front of 100 or more people, but I will figure it out and know that I have people out there who are supportive and I will be imagining all of you in there naked, so watch out.

Part of the reason I felt the need to share my attention problem is that I don't write these posts and then edit them.  I am sort of a Madame-Von-Diarrhea-of-the-Mouth kind of writer, and it shows. I am not deluded by thinking I am some writer, because I have never claimed to be.  My husband is a writer!  I make grammatical errors all the time, my thought process is kind of all over the place, and I often just linger and never return to the original thought, like right now.... but that's the way I like to write because if I try to make it perfectly written or grammatically correct, my thoughts come out guarded and that's not who I am or what I think you all want from me.  I imagine that you want my guts, my thoughts and my honesty.  Most of you probably don't mind my run-on sentences and flighty conversation.

OR... I could be totally wrong and I annoy the crap out of you.  Either way, I am who I am and I thank all of you for being here with me as I grow over the last 6 years!

Sorry I have been MIA...

xoxo
Jo

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!

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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!