Smoke swirl

[ResolvableOwl]

60s calling! They want their LSD soap back.

There is an infinity of possibilities to combine colours. The ones you chose aren't exactly my favourites (the red and purple are a bit too “close” on the colour wheel), but that's a matter of taste. But that lava lamp-like swirl looks great and fits perfectly to the “Drunk Bunny” name.

 

[TheGecko]

I just can't do the swirls that I see other people doing. So I just decided to go with what I can do and hope for the best.

There is that old saying: You can please some of the people all of the time and you can please all the of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people of the time. Some advice I got from a veteran soap makers was NOT to try and please all your customers because you'll end up with a bunch of inventory you can't sell.

Over the last two years, I have watched thousands of hours of soap making videos on YouTube. If you pay attention to the more 'popular' soap makers, you will find that the majority of them have a niche... a 'signature' if you will. Katie at Royalty Soaps has her High Tops, Tiggy at Future Primitive Soap has her chopstick swirl and what I call 'The Tiggy Top', Karen at Edens Secret does extraordinary Cupcake Soaps, Julie at Ophelia's Soapery is the Queen of slab molds, Patrick at Soapy Oaks Farm is my go-to for unusual ingredients, Clyde at Vibrant Soap is well-known for his color palettes.

I don't make a lot of 'fancy' soaps myself. I have a good base recipe for my Regular and Goat Milk Soap with my only 'additives' being Sodium Lactate and Kaolin Clay. My GMS is scented, but uncolored (outside of what the FO might do). The majority of my Regular Soap is single colored or may have an ITP or Drop Swirl and I don't do a lot of texturing as I have mild Trypophobia (which sometimes makes watching soap videos problematic)...just a light infinity surface swirl.

That's not to say that I haven't tried other things...my Neapolitan Soap turned out pretty good thanks to @Zing and @cmzaha so I will be making it again...won't be a 'stock' soap since it's a lot of work. Salt Soap and I don't get along at all...I've made a good dozen different batches and they were mostly crap (or worse)...so no Salt Soap for me. My second attempt at a Mechanic's Soap has tested well, but it's not a fancy soap...just my Regular Soap with Pumice Powder, single color, pleasantly scented. Tried Hanger Swirls...I don't get it. I tried imbeds...little mini donuts made from my Regular recipe. What a PITA and it took forever for those little suckers to dry out enough for me to get them out of the mold! My granddaughter like them so yeah...I'll do it again for her. Have no interest in Column Molds or Pull Thru or Landscape Designs or using Soap Shapers or Soap Dough. I did buy a small Slab Mold and some plastic from the Dollar Store to try a Taiwan Swirl...just because.

One unexpected thing...found these really cute cavity molds on Amazon...not very fancy or expensive...makes a 3 oz soap. Had an idea of using them for a 'luxury' soap made with some fancy (expensive) ingredients, beautifully packaged, limited edition. So I bought two molds, made a small batch of my Regular recipe...pastel pink, rose scent. OMG...local folks went nuts over them! I made 8 bars, had given 4 of them away as gifts and had taken three of them (was keeping one for myself) to a crafting weekend. One lady offered me $20 for two of them! Of course I took her money...I'm not stupid. She then asked me if I had any more...in additional scents. Working on it.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

There is that old saying: You can please some of the people all of the time and you can please all the of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people of the time. Some advice I got from a veteran soap makers was NOT to try and please all your customers because you'll end up with a bunch of inventory you can't sell.

Over the last two years, I have watched thousands of hours of soap making videos on YouTube. If you pay attention to the more 'popular' soap makers, you will find that the majority of them have a niche... a 'signature' if you will. Katie at Royalty Soaps has her High Tops, Tiggy at Future Primitive Soap has her chopstick swirl and what I call 'The Tiggy Top', Karen at Edens Secret does extraordinary Cupcake Soaps, Julie at Ophelia's Soapery is the Queen of slab molds, Patrick at Soapy Oaks Farm is my go-to for unusual ingredients, Clyde at Vibrant Soap is well-known for his color palettes.

I don't make a lot of 'fancy' soaps myself. I have a good base recipe for my Regular and Goat Milk Soap with my only 'additives' being Sodium Lactate and Kaolin Clay. My GMS is scented, but uncolored (outside of what the FO might do). The majority of my Regular Soap is single colored or may have an ITP or Drop Swirl and I don't do a lot of texturing as I have mild Trypophobia (which sometimes makes watching soap videos problematic)...just a light infinity surface swirl.

That's not to say that I haven't tried other things...my Neapolitan Soap turned out pretty good thanks to @Zing and @cmzaha so I will be making it again...won't be a 'stock' soap since it's a lot of work. Salt Soap and I don't get along at all...I've made a good dozen different batches and they were mostly crap (or worse)...so no Salt Soap for me. My second attempt at a Mechanic's Soap has tested well, but it's not a fancy soap...just my Regular Soap with Pumice Powder, single color, pleasantly scented. Tried Hanger Swirls...I don't get it. I tried imbeds...little mini donuts made from my Regular recipe. What a PITA and it took forever for those little suckers to dry out enough for me to get them out of the mold! My granddaughter like them so yeah...I'll do it again for her. Have no interest in Column Molds or Pull Thru or Landscape Designs or using Soap Shapers or Soap Dough. I did buy a small Slab Mold and some plastic from the Dollar Store to try a Taiwan Swirl...just because.

One unexpected thing...found these really cute cavity molds on Amazon...not very fancy or expensive...makes a 3 oz soap. Had an idea of using them for a 'luxury' soap made with some fancy (expensive) ingredients, beautifully packaged, limited edition. So I bought two molds, made a small batch of my Regular recipe...pastel pink, rose scent. OMG...local folks went nuts over them! I made 8 bars, had given 4 of them away as gifts and had taken three of them (was keeping one for myself) to a crafting weekend. One lady offered me $20 for two of them! Of course I took her money...I'm not stupid. She then asked me if I had any more...in additional scents. Working on it.

Good advice. I have decided that my recipe will speak loud enough to overcome my lack of design. And so far people have never commented on the design or color, just how well they like my soap and the scent is a very distant 2nd. So I guess I'm the only one who cares about the design lol.

 

[TheGecko]

Good advice. I have decided that my recipe will speak loud enough to overcome my lack of design. And so far people have never commented on the design or color, just how well they like my soap and the scent is a very distant 2nd. So I guess I'm the only one who cares about the design lol.

I'm not seeing lacking in your design. While Drunk Bunny may not appeal to me, I definitely like Lady Goth. Of course, that could change if I was able to smell them. Grace with From Grace to You, Holly with Holly's Soapmaking, Fraulein Winter, Teri with Tree Marie Soapworks and Marina with Creamy Obsession, Lisa with I Dream In Soap...these ladies are perfection with it comes to soap artistry. I tossed (donated) a ton of soap my first year because there was simply no way I could achieve that level of perfection no matter how hard I tried. And then they whip out their vegetable peelers and their edges...OMG, it was enough to make a person want to weep and drown in their 35lb bucket of palm oil.

I have two bars of GMS sitting on my desk. One is from the second batch of GMS I made (the first batch...let's just say that it wasn't good) and the second I made a few months back. Same recipe, same mold...but what a difference just a year made. It's not technically 'perfect'...had a bit of an issue with the frames hubby made for my silicone loaf molds so it's not a perfect rectangle and it's smaller and weighs less that what I would sell, but soap wise...it is perfect. It is a creamy looking bar of soap...not a hint of any color but neutral. When your hold it, your thumb glides smoothly across the surface. And it smells...clean.

Find YOUR perfect. Not someone else's.