My First Groupie Soaps

[Tienne]

Pasito is my soap hero and last night I tried for the first time to make a pair of Pasito inspired soaps. These soaps are not my own design, but merely a crude copy of one of his fabulous soap sets. (He has 5 holes in his version.) These are my first attempt and I still have a lot to learn. To begin with, I am concentrating on getting some of the techniques in place that I need to be better at before attempting anything more difficult, so I chose one of his simpler designs to start with. I am practicing getting edges and cut-outs clean and sharp. It's harder to do than it sounds!

There were a few annoying streaks in my soap batter that didn't show up until I planed the soaps and that's what those couple of whitish lines are you can see in a few places. It's not a big deal since these are just practice soaps, but it's still annoying, but that's how it goes with soaps. There are always imperfections... unless you're Pasito, of course. His soaps are always so perfect.

Anyway, here's my feeble attempt at emulating the Master.

Thanks for looking!

EDIT: Here's a link to Pasito's blog and to the original version of the soaps:
http://elomar-pasitoapasito.blogspot.se/2010/08/mini-serie-miguel-angel-y-yo.html

 

[Hazel]

I think you did an excellent job. I'm impressed by how well the cut outs look.

 

[Pepsi Girl]

WOW! That's pretty cool! You did a great job!

But I have to ask Who is Pasito?

 

[Derpina Bubbles]

They look awesome. Googled Pasito. Think I'm a groupie now too.

 

[Pepsi Girl]

I did no soap I'll try again

 

[Obsidian]

Your soaps look very good. Nice cut outs. Pasito is only the best soap designer ever http://elomar-pasitoapasito.blogspot.com/

 

[Pepsi Girl]

Ok you have to google Pasito soap! Duh!
That's some fancy soap!

 

[hlee]

Love those.! <going to check out Pasito now>

 

[Khanjari]

I had heard about Pasito in an earlier forum! His soaps are really fancy!

Nice work! I love the cut outs! Very clean and crisp!

 

[MzMolly65]

OMG .. why did you have to show me that link??

.. what's crazy is .. all the random internet soap pictures I found and saved for inspiration originated from that webpage. I'm grateful to finally know the true maker.

ETA: anyone know how he does those cutouts?

 

[CaraBou]

You're on your way to your very own fan club! And we'll all be like "Yeah, I remember Tienne when she was just embracing the ash!

 

[TVivian]

OMG .. why did you have to show me that link??

.. what's crazy is .. all the random internet soap pictures I found and saved for inspiration originated from that webpage. I'm grateful to finally know the true maker.

ETA: anyone know how he does those cutouts?

I'm sure he has a workshop full of tools that most of us only dream about!

Those are great Tienne!

 

[seven]

Yay! You did it! I'm in love with them, Tienne!!

Are you planning on filling the holes? I reckon it looks awesome as it is. I like how you make the curve cut. I know it aint easy to make it smooth like that. In his tutorial, the master used a guitar string to make the cuts. The photos make it look so easy, but boy, try it and you'll see the opposite!

 

[grayceworks]

ETA: anyone know how he does those cutouts?

There's tutorials on several of his posts. Also, if you go alllll the way back on the blog, you see the very first posts of much simpler soaps. It's fun to see how it progressed!

And the comments he makes in his blog are amusing (and thought inspiring) too... Like from the above posted blog entry: "I have had the great fortune of seeing the wonderful work that is David. Michelangelo missed my soap, for dying prematurely. "

or:
"The big difference is that his work persists and will persist until who knows when and mine is ephemeral and will disappear for a drain. That's so sad! " (this made me crack up laughing at work)

 

[grayceworks]

Pasito is my soap hero and last night I tried for the first time to make a pair of Pasito inspired soaps. These soaps are not my own design, but merely a crude copy of one of his fabulous soap sets. (He has 5 holes in his version.) These are my first attempt and I still have a lot to learn... It harder to do than it sounds!

There are always imperfections... unless you're Pasito, of course. His soaps are always so perfect.

I think they look amazing! My hands would never be steady enough to do anything that intricate! If that's your first attempt, then you'll be on his level in no time!

And in reading his blog, I noted that he comments more than once on how something didn't turn out how he wanted or expected.

It's interesting to note that the title of Omar Lopez's blog, "Pasito a Pasito", literally means "small steps" or "very leisurely or gently" and if you look at his blog from start to finish, that's what it really is... baby steps to his goal...

 

[Tienne]

You're on your way to your very own fan club! And we'll all be like "Yeah, I remember Tienne when she was just embracing the ash!

OMG, that made me laugh bigtime. That is SO kind of you to say, but I think it's going to be quite some time before I can even begin to reach Pasito's level of expertise, if ever... but his blog does shows what's possible and it gives you something to strive for and it sort of forces you to try new and harder things.

It's particularly great for me to try, because I'm just a little home soaper and there are only so many loaves you can make and give away before you're drowning in soaps. This way, I can soap all I want and hone my skills at the same time, plus I get to spend a lot of time with my soaps, holding them and polishing them and coddling them and all that other crazy obsessive stuff that goes with being a soap addict. LOL

I have just gotten a new little two-soaper mold, that can make anywhere from just 2 to 6 flat soaps and as soon as I have gotten the basics down, I want to try and make some of my own designs. They are next on my list.

@Seven. No, I'm not going to fill the holes on this one., but just leave it as is. I will be trying that soon, though. It'll be a lot easier now that I have my two-soaper. I made these ones out of some of my months old Dead Sea Mud bars and those things were rock hard, which didn't make it any easier, but I reckon it's good to learn how to do things when the going is really tough. Doing it that way should make it easier to make the designs when the soap is at a more optimal consistency. Anyway, I love a challenge so it was a fun experiment.

Thanks everyone for your very generous and kind comments. I really appreciate it. It gives me courage to try even harder. You guys are the best!

(I've added a link to the original soap set on Pasito's blog up in the first post. I just took it for granted that the whole universe knew who Pasito was so didn't think to add it. LOL)

Here's my new two-soaper:

 

[seven]

btw, what did you use to carve the soap? i imagine a month old soap will be a tough one to carve/cut.

 

[Tienne]

^^^ The soaps were hard as a brick! I don't have any punch tools or a wirecutter tool yet, so I just split apart a ballpoint pen and used the casing to make the holes. For the bigger side cutouts, I just cut them out using the same casing. I just took a little bit off at a time until the semi-circle was big enough. That was a challenge in itself, getting it to end up perfectly round. The casing wanted to slide off all the time and because the soap was so hard, it wanted to flake, so I had to be really careful and do it ever so slowly, so the soap had time to think and know what I wanted from it. (So to speak )

 

[Derpina Bubbles]

I was already impressed with how well you made them. Now knowing how you got there, I'm even more impressed! I can picture the soap trying to crack and flake when you cut it. Love the new mould too. Can't wait to see your designs.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Looking at his soaps, I think he uses very intricate molds rather than carving. I might be wrong (it happens now and then). There are posts on the blog that seem to show wooden molds for the inserts