Tuesday, February 19, 2008

My First Book Appearance! :)


Affalog in China has created a craft book that I'm so thrilled to be a part of! It has interviews, craft projects, and creative tips from 56 crafters in countries all over the world. The photos and layout look gorgeous. For more information, photos of inside pages, and how you can order one, check out the affalog site at www.affalog.com.

Oh! It's written in some Chinese and some English, fyi!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Incredible Inedibles by Acrylicana!



Tea Party on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I love miniature food and polymer artists really know how to make it! Check out Acrylicana's amazing donut charms and her adorable backdrop. These sweets look even more enticing than the real thing, don't you think?

Check out more of her work in her flickr account or treat yourself at her Etsy shop! Many of her charms are only $6.00. Wow!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Springy Freshness and Some Helpful Hints!


Bliss Soapsicle, originally uploaded by soapylovedeb.



A while ago I made some Heavenly Soap Bars and had some extra clouds, so I finally got around to using them. These are Dreamy Soapsicles and feature one of my favorite glycerin soap qualities: clarity.

The problem with clear colors is that they bleed. But one way to get around that is to make the bleeding unnoticeable. These clouds might absorb some of the light blue color, but since they're encased in blue, you won't notice it. Also, I used so little blue color that if any bleeds into the green grass, the green will still be darker.

One other thing I had to watch out for was if my fragrance was too yellow. Many fragrance oils are yellow which can throw off colorants - especially blue. In this case I used "Milk & Honey" F.O. which is nice and clear, so no problem.

I didn't realize how much I like glitter until I started M&P soap crafting! Usually if you use glitter with opaque soap base, you cover up the sparkliness because no light can hit it. The Dreamy Soapsicles have white glittery clouds, though. In order for the clouds to sparkle, I mixed in quite a bit of opal glitter and poured the soap while it was pretty hot so all the glitter would sink to the bottom. Then, when I unmolded my white soap sheet, I used the bottom as my face which was now sparkling like crazy! (If you'd like to learn how to make your own embeds like I made these clouds, check out my Cameo Soap Tutorial in my Etsy shop).

The grass is made with clear base, pearl mica, and a touch of green oxide colorant. I unmolded the soapsicles after I created the blue part, carved out the hills with an exacto knife, put the soapsicles back in the molds, and poured the green to finish them. Being a total freak, I actually carved different shaped hills on each side so it looked more 3-D. That wasn't as effective as I hoped, but it was fun to try.

If you'd like to make my day, you can get a Dreamy Soapsicle in my Etsy Shop.

Thanks for reading my post. Have a nice President's Day!!

Friday, February 8, 2008

Soap Stories - How Pretty!



Today I checked my flickr account and was happy to see a comment someone left me on one of my pics. It was from naturalemporiodobanh o, who is an amazing soap crafter from Brazil. She has a whole set of what she calls "Soap Stories." Here's what she says about this creation:

"this project was developed by myself, I called it as " sculpture-soap", or even "soapstory". the small and fun soaps are inserted on the main bar, as well as the name of the gifted person, "CAROL" . she loved it! it is pure fun!"

Check them out here. You'll love the color and creativity each one has - not to mention the time and effort they require!

She also has an online shop, if you speak Portuguese!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Doh!

As well as being an obsessed soapcrafter, I'm also a hopeless procrastinator. One thing I'm guilt of is not wrapping my soaps immediately after they're done. Usually this is fine - I wrap them before I ship them. But today I was packing some orders and saw that my Lovebug (ladybug) Soaps all had glistening beads of glycerin condensation on them. Doh!! That totally bites. But that's what happens sometimes, especially during humid weather (we just had a very rainy day, so there you go).

This condensation is strictly cosmetic and washes off the second it hits water. So I have marked down these very labor intensive soaps to $2.50 each in my Etsy shop.

Lesson learned: take the time and wrap your glycerin soaps... or else!