Yes, there thousands of 'how-to' videos on YT and the majority of them are pretty bad. I would highly recommend watching Lisa at "I Dream in Soap"; she has 14 videos on her How To & Why playlist that are excellent and would serve as a guide of how to proceed. Now she doesn't cover techniques/design in this series, but she does have another playlist of You Can Make This Soap, but it's not very extensive. Some other soap makers that I would recommend is Holly at Holly's Soapmaking - Kapia Mera, Teri at Tree Marie Soapworks, Fraeulein Winter (I don't know her name) and Yvonne at Oh我的雙牛寶貝兒/Yvonne.
Now I'm not trying to depress you by thinking "Oh, it's already been done so I shouldn't do it." That's what I thought about my first pattern...I had worked really hard on, had it tech edited and test knitted, and then got ready to publish to find hundreds of the same pattern already published. Then a friend of mine, a well-known designer myself encouraged me to publish because while there may be hundreds of Honeycomb Hats out there...there was only ONE Honeycomb Hat by me.
When I first started watching video on soap making some things that I found frustrating was.....
- camera angle. If I'm trying to learn how to do something, it's best if I can see it the way you see it when you are performing the technique. It doesn't matter if the person is left or right-handed, I can compensate for that, but mirror-images are more difficult.
- batter consistency. Some techniques work better at 'emulsion', some at 'light trace', some at 'medium trace', some where having a 'pudding' is best. Obviously certain techniques take longer than others so starting your batter at 'emulsion' is best to give your the longest working time possible across the board, but you really need xx 'trace' for the actual technique. Also, I have a wonderful recipe that gives me a long working time, but it's also that long working time that creates problems when it comes to layers. You need a fluid batter if you want beautiful layers, but you really want to have each layer set up before you pour the next. I have learned to mix each layer as a single soap.
- substitutions. I don't have cheesecloth or a tea strainer or dividers or loaf mold or a slab mold or a long spout measuring cup or a piping bag or......whatever else. I really want to try the technique...are there other options available and how do I use them?
- the "why". A lot of folks think that soap makers wear gloves for hygiene, no...we wear gloves to protect our hands from Lye. A lot of folks think we "scrapy, scrapy our little containies" as not to waste any ingredients or soap...partly true, but we mainly do it so it makes clean up a lot easier. Why is it okay to spray the top of my soap with alcohol, but I can't mix my colorants with it? Why do we disperse some things sometimes, but not do it other/all of the time? Why can't we use glass? Why only stainless steel? Why do we have to cure our soap? Why can't I use the same equipment for soap making that I use for cooking or baking? Why can't I use Essential Oils and Micas from Amazon and/or 'hobby stores'? Why do I have to weigh my ingredients on a scale instead of using a measuring cup? Why do I need to always run a recipe through a soap calculator? Why do I need eye protection when I wear glasses?
- crap. Loud or annoying music and/or loud or annoying background music. I'd much rather someone use 'mute' if they think the stick bender is annoying or fast forward though it with a note that they SB'd for xx minutes than listen to 15-20 seconds of part of a song or blasting to cover the sound of the SB. I'm perfectly fine with listening to the natural sounds of the activity...if I'm not, then perhaps I should look elsewhere. Too much talking...I don't give a rat's butt about your brother's sister's 3rd cousin's aunt on your great, great-grandpa's son's dog. If you are teaching me how to lay veneer, then that is what I expect to hear you talk about; it's okay to include the weather if it affects laying veneer. Long, drawn out introductions. I'm find with a into placard: "Learn How to do the Taiwan Swirl" or even a short "Hi, I'm Benji with Frazer Soap Works and I'm here to demonstrate the Taiwan Swirl"...fade out.
And FYI - One of the most confusing techniques for me is the ones you make this way, then cut that way, do turn/flip/whatever to get it to show up with the end result.
But as I perceive it, she prefers maintaining her brand identity “Fräulein Winter” to stick out of the crowd of first-name soapers.
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