What soapy thing have you done today?

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Hi everyone! I haven't been able to make soap for a while but that's for another post. Finally getting to some semblance of normal here and trying to get my fall line out so I can finish Christmas! I've missed you all.
 

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Hi everyone! I haven't been able to make soap for a while but that's for another post. Finally getting to some semblance of normal here and trying to get my fall line out so I can finish Christmas! I've missed you all.
So cute! I love your tops and how you staged them all.
 
So hind sight from my absolute seized soap the other night….I had the start of yet another Covid virus and I think I may not have been feeling great that night.

Here is a pic of the cut soap which really is not as bad as I thought it would be.
hope you feel better soon. the soap looks like a lovely watercolor painting
 
@K.C. love 💕 the corn and cabbage. What fo or eo did you put in that one? Your soaps are fantastic. Very Fall! I can't wait to see your Christmas soaps
I had BB Lush Succulent FO on hand, a fresh and green mix of cucumber, vetiver, grass, honey, bamboo, geranium, sage, patchouli, oakmoss, and sandalwood.
 
I made my one and only winter/Christmas soap today. I don't usually make seasonal soaps because I don't like being left with Christmas-themed soap in March. Buyers at my main market really don't seem to get into "seasonal". I'm okay with that but I did want to make one that had a wintery theme. I did something similar a few years ago and it did go over well. It's scented with Holiday Heritage from Voyageur.

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I'm hurting tonight but feels good to be getting caught up. The first 2 are fall line: Midwest orange/cranberry and Midwest flannel dupe.
The 2 smaller loaves are test batches with formula tweaks as well as trying out new fragrances: green is MM envy with Midwest Tobacco & Bay Leaf and purple is MM pow pow purple with Blazing Bonfire. I just really wanted to use that purple 🥰
 

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I have been busy with prep for several larger fall/winter markets - and have had roofers at my house yesterday and the day before. They are done and the work looks just amazing - it was overdue. The owner of the company is a 50-ish guy, a little rough around the edges. (Dropped out of high school at 15, works extremely hard, very good at his job.) I ended up giving him a tour of my soap studio and I gave him a bar of soap scented with WSP’s holly berry and plum. He couldn’t stop smelling it and was really delighted. He asked me what I called it and I told him I didn’t have a name for it, and I asked him what he thought I should call it. Without hesitation he looked at me and said “Cranberry Mist.” Brilliant! I should have him name all my soaps. Here’s a rough pic of the soap (not cleaned up, it was just for my records.)

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Fall is done and dropped! 😩 I'm exhausted an its just the beginning of the season. Here is the rest of the fall line L-R Tobacco & Bay Leaf, Blazing Bonfire, Flannel dupe, Cranberry & Orange
 

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Today I had a farmers market and was selling some soap that won the soap challenge club last January - it was one of these four bars. The buyer bought some other soap too but liked this one because it had a “man scent.” Said nothing about the design. i dorkily blurted out “that’s an award winning soap!” His reaction: “oh.” 😂
I think it was the bar on the lower right.

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Hi Vicki. I loved the colors specially the effect of green and black. If you don't mind could you please elaborate is it french green clay you used for the green color and charcoal for the black?
 
[Aragorn voice]

There may come a day when I do my research first, THEN make soap! BUT TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY! (nor was Sunday...).

Yup, my first attempt with indigo wasn't very successful! Who would have thunk it? I mean, I did zero reading on using indigo in soap!

The good news: I got soap out of it. The bad news: it isn't blue.

Perhaps my role in the soap making community is that of bad example. "Hey kids, don't do what he does!"

I do this a lot, actually....jump in before doing specific research, especially with plant colorants, because I learn from my own experience rather than someone else's, which is 'coloured' by many biases: inexperience with plants, assumptions that plant colorants are inferior due to what they're heard & read & more. I also find that if I have already read multiple instances of 'indigo is notoriously hard to work with', that skews my own perceptions, and I have a much more difficult time trusting my own instincts. I made the mistake of looking far too much into other soapers' experiences with indigo in the beginning, rather than playing with it, getting a feel for it.

FYI there are different types of indigo, different ways indigo is processed, and there are different ways of using it, including combining it with other natural colorants to get gorgeous, intense shades in soap. Honestly, it's not that difficult, although it may seem very difficult for soap makers who are used to using primarily micas. Depends a lot on perception & programming. I have 2 different types which have been processed in different ways & they give me very different results. Both can be used in various ways, and even together, using combined methods of colouring soap.

If you want to do research before further playing with it, I'd suggest looking into how people who use plant-based fabric dyes use it, how it's used medicinally, and more. It will give you a better feel for the plant, and perhaps what it's capable of. And like I always say....play play PLAY :)

It's a beautiful colorant to become familiar with ❤️
 
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