What Happened???

[ilovesoap2]

So I found this site a few months ago and got super excited about making my own soap and adding fancy ingredients and then I got a fancy idea that I would sell fancy soaps as well. I did a lot of reading and excitedly shopped for soaping supplies. I even bought a nice cabinet because soaping stuff was beginning to be all over the house. I could walk into the kitchen right now and make almost any soap I want. I have tons of lye, quite a few fragrances, some colors, I have soapcalc access but for the love of me I am not making soap...what happened guys? where is all this excitement I was feeling when I was doing hours and hours of studying? I remember my first color purchase, just a good sized envelop filled with color and only colors. I've made 2 soaps so far and that was weeks ago. The other day I decided to store shea and cocoa butter in the fridge just in case I don't get around to soaping soon

Has this happened to anyone else? I am not a shopaholic but I've been wondering why I had such a high shopping for this project? I got quite a few items from the local thrift store and because the prices were so good I pretty much beamed walking out the store.

I desperately need to soap, if only to use up the stuff I have. How do I get back in the grove, what the heck happened to me. Please guys, I need words of wisdom

 

[Saponista]

Is it the fact that you can't use the product of your efforts straight away? It might pay to make some lotion bars or bath salts or something that give you an instant result to enjoy, while making some soap at the same time. Then you will still feel a buzz of creating and using something you've made and get that feeling again in a month when your soap is ready. Also all the cleaning up can be a pain so being tidy and organised with that is important.

 

[Twiggy]

The same happened to me all the time! With all my dear hobbies - tarot cards, cooking, backing, soapmaking Don't worry it will come back one day, just don't push you self, stop thinking about it. I had the feeling that I think too much about the soaping on some point, I was really tired from reading, watching soap and so on. Give you self some time! My last break was around 3 months - now I'm again chasing new ideas, and making soap like before Just protect and store safely some more delicate stuff like oils with short shelf life, and in future buy less even is tiny bit more expensive
What I also did, I sold out some of my oils I knew I will not use - in a sets on ebay. Little money, but I didn't have to watch them going bad on shelf, and then use them just before expired day risking DOS on my soaps. When you soap mood will come back buy small quantities to use in next few batches. I buy even 100 ml (3,5 oz) oils and I know I'll use them or I will discard very little of it.

I just hope I got your post right and my answer is not out of the blue LOL

 

[ilovesoap2]

Is it the fact that you can't use the product of your efforts straight away?

I've definitely talked to myself about the cure time. I never thought that it might me holding me back but that could very well be part of it. I've told myself more than once that the longer I take to start making batches is the longer it will take me to do what my plans are. I have to get with it

 

[ilovesoap2]

@Twiggy
You're right on the money. That's exactly where I am. Maybe I'm panicking because I've gone through this before and I recognize the sign of 'lost interest'.
This soap interest has been pricey though so I desperately need to get with it!

 

[Twiggy]

The good thing about it is, that even you will stop for next year, that is something you know, you know how to do it now, and is so easy to come back to it! You have all equipment, most of the oils will make it through even until next spring - thinking of basic oils, cocoa butter, CO, PO, OO... Don't worry, more u worry, less desire u have. Sit back, and really, don't think about it at all. Watch movies, do something else, it will hit you again I'm sure of it!

 

[Sagebrush]

I think motivation is always a factor with anything a person is involved in, whether they love it or it's a mundane task that needs to be accomplished. I love making soap, but I constantly have to push myself and give myself little short-term goals (like, Tuesdays are soaping days or Fridays are days to just check in and see what I've accomplished and what I still need to do). Goals may be different for you because you're not selling. But maybe you could try setting a date in about a month to make a batch, put it on the calendar, get yourself amped up about it, maybe tell some friends what you're planning so you have somebody else excited; make it an event! You obviously enjoy the craft and want to do it...like other people mentioned, you're probably just overthinking it! Keep it light!
Best of luck to you!

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I've done that. I go through those bouts with every hobby I have. I often do come back to it. Also, there might be other factors contributing that I may or may not be able to control. For instance, my desire to sit down and soap or make lotion bars drops when the kitchen's a mess. Cleaning it up allows me to feel more like I *can* soap again. And when it's hot out, I can't knit or crochet, so those hobbies get set aside for when the weather cools down. (I seriously hate the way yarn feels going over sweaty hands, and holding yarn makes them more prone to sweating in warm weather!)

 

[ilovesoap2]

@Sageonthemountain
@FlybyStardancer
Thanks guys.
My brother and dad knows my plans but they have no interest beyone 'ok'
I probably just need to relax about the whole thing...but, maybe, just maybe later today I'll do a batch...wish me luck in following through.

 

[Tienne]

This time of the year is planting season and as a relatively newcomer to "homesteading", I am sometimes so overwhelmed by all the work I have to get done, that having the time or energy to soap after a long day of chores just isn't there. If I cave in to my daily exhaustion, I would never get any soap made at all. What I do when I feel like that but still want to soap is, I will break up the prepping into bite-sized pieces. I might only have the energy to pick out a specific soap to make and nothing else. (Sometimes I want to make ten different soaps and that in itself becomes too overwhelming because I can't decide which to start with and end up making none at all, so I just pick out ONE to start with and stick to that.) Then I'll print out the recipe and maybe just think about colours and additives and so on. Then I might not have the time or the desire to do any more. Then the next day, I might only have the inclination to line my mould and nothing else. Then, I might say to myself, "just weigh out the oils and premix some colours and then go to bed." Then, all of a sudden, most of the prepping is done and all I need to do is melt the oils, mix the lye and get going and all of a sudden, I have made soap!

It also helps me to set aside a specific amount of time for all my chores. I say to myself, "Just prep for half an hour. After that, go get some rest." A half hour is over with quickly. Sometimes, the biggest hindrance for me is simply getting started and sometimes once I have begun, it's easier to keep going if I do have the energy after all. Other times, that half hour is more than enough and then I don't feel guilty for walking away after that time and leaving the rest for next day, because I kept my promise to myself and did spend a half hour prepping.

Break up the tasks into bite-sized or time restricted pieces and it's way easier to get started and get going when you most of all feel like doing nothing at all. I do hope you get your soaping mojo back.

 

[ilovesoap2]

Break up the tasks into bite-sized or time restricted pieces and it's way easier to get started and get going when you most of all feel like doing nothing at all. I do hope you get your soaping mojo back.

Thank you

 

[welsh black]

For me, the things that stop me doing the creative thing of soapmaking is the prep work. So now I masterbatching lye and oils. All my colours are pre mixed ready to go. I've stopped lining my moulds with paper, and now use foam liners in my mould which take seconds to fit. I've learned all this by reading all the posts here!!