Show us your work space!

[SoapLover1]

This is my "soaping cart"; I got it from Walmart:

View attachment 65175

It sits flat against the wall next to an outlet. I have a Command Hook for my apron and Stick Blender and a 36" shelf above it. On top I have a15"x20"Poly Cutting Board with "juice well" on a rubber mat. When I first got it, everything fit inside it...bowls, molds, ingredients, stuff. I used clear, stackable shoe boxes for my butters and hard oils and it was a simple matter just to pull out an ingredient, weigh it in the bowl and put it back and grab the next one. The right side rack held Castor Oil, Sodium Lactate, Sodium Hydroxide and 4 oz plus bottles of FOs. On the left is a towel bar where I hang bottles of IPA, Orange Cleaner and White Vinegar. The shelf was added when I could no longer keep all my colorants and small bottles of FO in one of the drawers so it's now where I keep all my colorants. All the FOs moved to a rack in the garage:

View attachment 65176

I bought it to hang on the door like in the above photo, but I forgot that the door to the garage is an exterior, no interior door...so it's now mounted on the wall.


We would like to create a work space in the garage. I had a section from a friend's kitchen remodel set aside for me, but it's gone now due to the pandemic. It would be a little bit of a PITA since I wouldn't have access to running water in the garage as I like to clean as I go, but I would have more work space and wouldn't have to carry freshly filled molds into the garage.

LOVE,LOVE, LOVE Your Workspace! Very creative & compact! Great Job! Blessings!

 

[PepperJack]

Some awesome shelves for my micas.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Some awesome shelves for my micas.

Very nice. Quick question, are your colors in alphabetical order?

 

[PepperJack]

Very nice. Quick question, are your colors in alphabetical order?

Rainbow order

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Rainbow order

Great answer! Seeing as I was just teasing!

 

[Hermit]

Lol.
Now we need to go through the alphabet and try to find a colour for every letter, and tell Zany that we've decided to rearrange the alphabet according to the light spectrum

 

[TheGecko]

Now we need to go through the alphabet and try to find a colour for every letter, and tell Zany that we've decided to rearrange the alphabet according to the light spectrum

I just kind of go light to dark by color...so golds and silvers, glitters and white, then yellow, orange, red, blue, purples, brown and black. I'd never find anything if I did it by name.

FOs are shelved by Supplier...that's it.

 

[DMack]

I keep a large box in the under stairs cupboard for all my ingredients and equipment but i soap outdoors. I have a large patio area with low walls and a table, access to an outside tap and a plug socket just inside my conservatory for my stick blender. We have festoon lighting so I can work in the evenings too. I use a portable camping stove to melt my oils and just carry stuff indoors in a washing up bowl when I’m ready to clean up. Perhaps not ideal but it’s lovely being outdoors

 

[Basil]

Still a work in progress but it's so nice to have my own space to soap. The white board wall is my favorite part!

I use my kitchen and a guest room. I have two large white boards!! Also my favorite part! My husband calls them my “imagination boards”

 

[lianasouza]

I loved everyone's ideas!

Thank You! I got them on Amazon. They are
Aviditi White Corrugated Cardboard Mailing Boxes, 16" x 4" x 4", Pack of 25 for
$52.09. They work perfectly! Hope you enjoy them, too! Blessings!

@SoapLover1, do you use those boxes for curing or just for storing?

 

[SoapLover1]

I loved everyone's ideas!



@SoapLover1, do you use those boxes for curing or just for storing?

I use them for storing in my Linen Closet. I have Soap Trays for curing. I think they’re in the pix! Blessings!

 

[Vicki C]

I have a large workspace, DH1 was a cabinet maker and I have converted his workshop into my studio. I do have space and electricity - heat is a large Woodstove and space heaters that I try not to use. Water is rainwater collected from the roof.


Here’s my main work table. I am thinking about getting a stainless work table. You can see my colorants and utensils, microwave and a bookcase with ingredients.

FOs and EOs, clays and colorants.

Bakers racks with curing soap, ingredients. Infused oils on bookshelf.

“Office”
There’s more. Upstairs is shrink wrapping and shipping. Too messy right now to share!

 

[SoapLover1]

I have a large workspace, DH1 was a cabinet maker and I have converted his workshop into my studio. I do have space and electricity - heat is a large Woodstove and space heaters that I try not to use. Water is rainwater collected from the roof.
View attachment 65306
View attachment 65309
Here’s my main work table. I am thinking about getting a stainless work table. You can see my colorants and utensils, microwave and a bookcase with ingredients.
View attachment 65311
FOs and EOs, clays and colorants.
View attachment 65307
Bakers racks with curing soap, ingredients. Infused oils on bookshelf.
View attachment 65308
“Office”
There’s more. Upstairs is shrink wrapping and shipping. Too messy right now to share!

Love, Love, Love Your Workspace! Lots & Lots of room to spread out! My pool was just completed after 3 months and I’m now thinking that I may build a Pool House as my New Soap Lab with Industrial Sinks. That would be great! Thanks for sharing! Blessings!

 

[Vicki C]

a sink would be nice but I’m grateful for what I have!

 

[AliOop]

@Vicki C that is a great workspace, and thanks for confirming that I do not, nor does anyone else on SMF, have an FO/EO-buying problem. Having racks and shelves of FOs/EOs is perfectly normal. Those who don't have such are the abnormal ones, I say.

 

[TheGecko]

a sink would be nice but I’m grateful for what I have!

I love all your windows.

That is my only issue with converting part of the garage over to a work space...lack of sink. I'm the kind of person who cleans as I go...even after making seven different batch of soap, at the end of the day it'll be like I only had made a single batch. Even though we have access to water/sewer in the garage via the washer/dryer and water heater, it would be very expensive to run lines.

 

[Vicki C]

@Vicki C that is a great workspace, and thanks for confirming that I do not, nor does anyone else on SMF, have an FO/EO-buying problem. Having racks and shelves of FOs/EOs is perfectly normal. Those who don't have such are the abnormal ones, I say.

Hahaha yes! (sheepishly empties her NDA shopping cart…)

 

[Vicki C]

I love all your windows.

That is my only issue with converting part of the garage over to a work space...lack of sink. I'm the kind of person who cleans as I go...even after making seven different batch of soap, at the end of the day it'll be like I only had made a single batch. Even though we have access to water/sewer in the garage via the washer/dryer and water heater, it would be very expensive to run lines.

Yes the windows are nice - I just installed all those Levolor shades - it’s a battle keeping the heat in on cold nights and they will help a lot. And yes water would be nice - but I‘ve developed systems that work for me. I have a container under the table for dirty dishes. At the end of soaping they go outside and get pre washed in a gigantic litterbox I found at a discount store. Like this.

In the winter I lug water from those big pots of rainwater that are on the woodstove outside, fill the dishpan litter box, add a little Dawn, and prewash the dishes. Because they are usually a little greasy I run them through the dishwasher. There is a lot of carrying water around but I don’t mind it. In fact I like the dishwashing routine, I find it meditative.
The concrete floors are starting to get to me even though I stand on a good gel mat most of the day. Hurts my feet and my hips. Idk maybe it’s my age and they would hurt anyway!

 

[TheGecko]

Yes the windows are nice - I just installed all those Levolor shades - it’s a battle keeping the heat in on cold nights and they will help a lot. And yes water would be nice - but I‘ve developed systems that work for me. I have a container under the table for dirty dishes. At the end of soaping they go outside and get pre washed in a gigantic litterbox I found at a discount store. Like this.

In the winter I lug water from those big pots of rainwater that are on the woodstove outside, fill the dishpan litter box, add a little Dawn, and prewash the dishes. Because they are usually a little greasy I run them through the dishwasher. There is a lot of carrying water around but I don’t mind it. In fact I like the dishwashing routine, I find it meditative.

The concrete floors are starting to get to me even though I stand on a good gel mat most of the day. Hurts my feet and my hips. Idk maybe it’s my age and they would hurt anyway!

I was thinking that for the garage, since I was going to need a 'hot plate', I could just put my big soup pot on it on 'low' with some soapy water. I wipe everything down with microfiber towels and then rinse them in hot soap water. I generally don't wear gloves when soaping as I'm between sizes and make a bigger mess with them on, than have safety issues with them off. I'm always wiping/washing my hands so batter doesn't have a chance to cause problems.

I'm 60...my youngest daughter bought me a gel mat for my birthday last year and I like it, but I need one for the whole kitchen floor. LOL I caught my husband, since he does most of the cooking as he is retired, sneaking the mat over in front of the stove. It's really less about my feet and more about my back. Someone mentioned a back brace and I've checking them out on Amazon, but hard to find a size called 'old and overweight'.

 

[JuLeeRenee]

I am so jealous of yall that have a dedicated workspace. My dedicated workspace is a table here, a bakers rack there, micas and fragrances over in that corner, a tote of stuff in this corner, a couple of totes with bath bomb things against that wall in my bedroom and well just about anywhere you look on my house is some sort of soaping stuff. My tool chest workstation that I use to soap on now has my 3d printer on it as I can't keep it level on any of my plastic tables I have.
I could only wish to have a dedicated workspace so I can sell my soaps and be legal about it.