Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Soapylove Graduate Opens Shop!

Last December, I taught 2 classes at The Nova Studio. One was Bubbly Holidays and the other was Sweet Treats. Hilary Goldman was a student in Sweet Treats and apparently glycerin soap crafting really clicked for her!

Since taking that class, Hilary has gone full steam ahead. She has sold her soaps at craft fairs and even opened a shop on Etsy called A Slice of Delight. In her profile, she says:
Welcome to A Slice of Delight where I design and hand craft melt and pour glycerin soap. I strive to create soaps with engaging colors and scents(fragrance and essential oils) that generate an upbeat, happy, cheery and (oh yeah) delightful feeling.

You can tell by her adorable packaging and heartfelt product descriptions that she is putting a lot of love into her designs, and they look great! Make sure to check out her shop, which is full of her beautiful work.

If you'd like to try your hand at glycerin soap crafting or would like to add a few techniques to your repetoire, please join us next weekend at The Nova Studio for Artistic Melt and Pour Techniques on August 8. It's a 6 hour class full of hands on projects! I hope to see you there!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Coming Along! Glowing Rockets!

The Fall issue of Let's Get Soapy will be all about color - but not just any colors. Neon colors, glitter, and glow in the dark colors! There will be no subtlety allowed! :)

For those who haven't checked out my glycerin soap crafting eZine yet, each issue has several tutorials plus articles on everything from trends to packaging to product reviews. For fall, I have an article comparing two brands of glow in the dark powder. The above photos show how the sample soaps look in daylight, then in the dark immedately after sun exposure, and then one minute later. It's really amazing how different they behaved!

To learn which powders I used and get a great tutorial featuring this fun stuff, make sure to sign up for the Soapyclub (see sign up box on left hand side of blog page) and I'll let you know as soon as the eZine is ready.

To see what current issues are available click here. There are lots of great tutorials and articles waiting for you to check out right now! :)

Friday, July 24, 2009

Stop the Presses!

Hello loyal Soapylove readers and fans of Let's Get Soapy! I just wanted to let you know that due to some major events, some of which are...
  • selling our condo
  • finding and moving into new rental house
  • travelling to Bellingham and Point Richmond to teach
  • mega-list of additional side projects

...that Let's Get Soapy will not be ready on Monday as hoped. I will let you know as soon as it is, but didn't want to keep anyone wondering!

Thanks for understanding and don't worry - it's going to be awesome, just as soon as I can do it! :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Pictures from Bellingham!

This year I was lucky enough to be invited to teach again at SWI - Otion and Bramble Berry's Soapmaking Weekend Intensive. It took place this past weekend and I have pictures to show you!

First, on Friday, I went to the Bramble Berry offices to prep "step-outs" (every step of a project made in advance) so Anne-Marie and I could film our first ever Soap Queen TV episodes together. I was really nervous once filming began but Anne-Marie made me feel much better and we had an awesome time. So awesome that I'm really afraid of what the out-takes are going to look like! Stay tuned to the Soap Queen blog for details about our videos. We made Plaid Soaps and Soap Tarts!

On Saturday I got to hang around town with my family. Bellingham is so beautiful that it was easy to have a great time. One of my favorite moments was getting soft ice cream from an old English double decker bus that has been retrofitted into a fish-n-chips and ice cream stand. Love that!



On Saturday night, everyone came to Anne-Marie and her husband's lake house (on Lake Samish) for a little campfire. We had hot dogs and s'mores, and many many pebbles were thrown into the water. Here is Chris (Anne-Marie's hubby) hanging out with my daughter. Lori Nova and my son really hit it off, too, and roasted marshmallows together. The kids certainly had no shortage of loving grown-ups to play with!

On Sunday, it was my turn to teach. Anne-Marie did a great intro to M&P, and then we made Soap Tarts and Plaid Soaps. Even though there were only 4 out of 11 students who had melt and pour experience, everyone made gorgeous soaps! I was very impressed by how meticulous they were when it came time to plan their plaid design and again later when they cut their pan of soap into bars.

Once we were done, Lori Nova took the stage to do her fabulous Coloring Soap with Confidence presentation - undoubtedly the most thoroughly researched and informative class on CP soap colorants! She made 77 soap samples at The Nova Studio to test every major category of colorants, with photos and supply sources, too! Lori has just made her Power Point and handouts into an eBook that you can buy here. It is a very valuable investment! (Sorry for my lack of photos. I took some but there was a bright window behind Lori and my pictures are really bad!)

On Monday my family headed back to San Diego after a sweet send off by Anne-Marie. I had a great time! Definitely check out Otion's soap classes which they have regularly, and I'll let you know if/when I'm back there as well!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Heading Out for SWI!

Today I'm flying with my family up to Bellingham, Washington, to teach at Otion's Soapmaking Weekend Intensive. It's an awesome weekend full of classes including business, lotion making, CP soap making, and MP making (guess which class I'm teaching? LOL!). Last year was a blast and I know this year will be, too!
I don't own a laptop, so I'll be out of the loop until next week. I'll miss you all! Have a great weekend and I'll post again when I get back.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Are You a Maniac? Come Join Us!

Chances are excellent that you make melt and pour soap. Or maybe you own a shop and sell them there, or maybe you just love soap crafting of all persuasions! Well then you qualify as an M&P Maniac!

I have a group on the Indie Beauty Network called M&P Mania and I would love to have you join. We have lots of discussion topics there and all of them revolve around M&P - whether it's about colorants, soap trends, artistic uses for glycerin soap, class announcements, or whatever else!

If you're not an Indie Beauty Network member, that's no problem. You don't have to be to join my group. While you're there check out lots of great community discussions on the Indie Beauty site and meet other indies like you, too. I guarantee that you'll learn something new!

See you there!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Check Out My New Book!!

On Saturday I received a wonderful surprise on my doorstep - 2 copies of the new Soapylove book! It's the first time I've seen it done and I'm really excited!! Here are some sneak peeks.

First, this is the chapter intro page for Unusual Tools and Materials, where I show how to use things from other crafts to create truly unique soaps. The projects you see are Waffle Hearts, Candy Soaps, Wood Grain Soaps, and Crop Circles Soaps. There are more projects that aren't pictured here, too.


Next is a picture from the "Cutwork" chapter. Here are the Star Bars and the Candy Bars. I just LOVE how clear and bright all of the step by step photos are. Every tutorial has lots of photos and tons of extra pointers.

Finally, here is the "glam shot" for the Neapolitan Soapsicle tutorial. It's in the "Using Molds Creatively" chapter. I've never taught this style before, so you won't want to miss it! Isn't that display idea cute? The designers at North Light Press did an amazing job!!

There are so many other pages and chapters I would love to show you, but you'll have to see for yourself. The book is being printed and is available for prebuy (at a killer price) on Amazon right now. Once I get some copies I'll have some available here on my blog, too.

If you are a shop owner and would like to carry my book, please call F+W Publications at (800) 289-0963 for sale information.

Thanks so much everyone for your enthusiasm - I have really needed it over the last 2 years while this book was in the making! I hope you like the results!! :)

Friday, July 10, 2009

The Things That Glycerin Soap Can Do - Amazing!

As I browsed the world wide web today I found some of the most awesome glycerin soaps! Check out these great soapy creations from Dirty Ass Soaps, where their "claim to fame is taking what would be a boring bar of soap and turning it into a frickin' masterpiece." I love that attitude - and they're not joking. Check them out for yourself!

They are really taking soap to a whole new level. I hate to sound cliche, but can you argue the amazing creativity? Love it! Go to their shop and get some masterpieces for yourself. Now! :)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Soapylove Sample Boxes - SOLD


Thank you to those that snapped up the sample boxes! Please come back and comment when you get your boxes to let me know how you like them! :)

As many of you know, I have a book coming out this fall. For the photo shoots I created lots and lots of soaps. Now the book is done (probably being printed now) and I got all of those soaps back. There are way too many for me to use!

So we have put together 3 flat rate boxes of random assortments. Each box weighs at least 7 pounds! Now, they are not perfect specimens. They've been handled for photos and not wrapped well, but they're still really neat and very usable. My husband packed the boxes so I have no idea what styles are in each box. You get what you get. But...

Each box, which weighs at least 7 lbs is only $10 plus shipping ($10 in the US, $25 Canada, $40 international). I have 3 of them, so email me if you would like one!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Making of a Checkered Soapsicle

Today in the Teach Soap Forum, mattielou sent me an email asking how I made the Checkered Soapsicles she saw in my Flickr account. In case you're curious, here's what I told her:

Hi Lynne-
Regarding the checkered soapsicles, I didn't put that project in my book because it's pretty hard. But if you want to give it a shot, here's what you do:

Make a batch of white soap and black soap. Make the black soap really dark because if it's not dark enough it looks grey instead.

Now measure carefully 2 tablespoons of white soap and pour it into a mold, being super careful that none of it touches the sides of the mold. Let it set, then alternate stripes of black and white. Measuring accurately is critical!

Here's the thing: you're going to make 2 molds that start with white, and 2 molds that start with black. Hopefully you've made soapsicles before so you know how to insert the stick and unmold them.

Once they're unmolded, you have to do some soap magic. Cut each soapsicle lengthwise into thirds. Now take 2 sections that are the opposite pattern of 1 center section. Melt some clear soap base. Spray each cut end with alcohol, paint on some clear soap, and glue on the side sections.

Voila! Checkered soapsicles!

The things that are really tough about these are:
1) not getting any drips on the sides of your mold
2) making sure every layer is the exact same thickness or else your checkers won't match up
3) making sure you cut each soapsicle at the exact same place or else they won't look right when they're glued together

Plus they're really just decorative. So I'm not sure if you want to go through all of the hard work, but in case you do, that's how it's done!

Have fun, and let me know if you decide to make them! (I'm sure other color combos would be awesome and not as obvious if there were drips, such as white and pink or white and lime green. Just make sure all dyes are non-bleeding!)

Phew!
Have a great day,
Debbie

For lots of fun Soapylove tutorials (with pictures!), check out the Let's Get Soapy eZine, or reserve a copy of Soapylove on Amazon now!