Gittin' Down With The Swirl!

Funneling, funneling through the town, soapy bells are ring-ing…LMAO!

Okay, here are the next new batches I’ve made: Verbena of My Existence and Melting Pot, but for you plain folk: Lemon Verbena and Sandalwood and Musk.

When I make soap, there’s always a story to be told. It’s never a matter of choosing scents solely based on the description of the supplier. I must inhale and FEEL something. I don’t just make soap to sell soap. Okay, in part, but I make soap mainly because it’s cathartic and the scent I’ve chosen has or has had some type of impact on my life. So let’s get started:

Verbena Of My Existence:

I love all things lemon. Lemonheads, lemonade, lemon squares, lemon cake (my grandmother’s specialty), Mike’s Hard Lemonade… but this lemon is special. It’s so sophisticated and feminine and…soft for lack of a better description. I first became enamored of this scent when I visited a L’Occitane shop many moons ago. It blew me away. It smelled like paradise and transported me to some upscale resort on a private oasis.

Melting Pot:

This soap got its name because it’s scented with a modge podge of international flavors. Soft, powdery Indian musk, alluring African Sandalwood, and cedarwood. Swirled like Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key of Life, this soap is how I envision a world with no prejudices, no wars, no political strife…One can only hope…

I utilized the funneling technique to achieve the design these soaps. I discovered an easy peasy technique from The Soap Queen’s blog. You take an old plastic container (I used a margarine tub) and poke a hole through bottom.  The key is you have to have a container that’s wide enough to rest on the walls of your soap mold or it’s basically fruitless. You could have someone hold the funnel for you while you pour or try the chopstick method where you criss-cross them then tape them down and let your funnel rest in the middle. You could also do the faux funnel pour. Been there. Done that. Don’t work for me… You also need to have a very thin trace in order to achieve this swirl. Really you only need to emulsify your oils to the point where everything is mixed. By the time you pour your last or next to the last bit, your soap batter is beginning to thicken if it hasn’t already. Ask me how I know these things…

So this concludes batches 4 and 5. Next up…Black Coffee.

 

The Remixes!

I think that little pity post I gave myself the other day has sparked a fire in my arse! Over the MLK weekend, I cranked out 7, count em, 7 batches of  CPOP soap! Three were re-makes and four are new additions. First, I'll just post pics of the re-makes, then I'll break the new ones down into their own posts (I need something to talk about...ha ha...)

The Original

 

The Remix

First up is Sh*tfaced. I didn't change the design much. I like that this soap looks a little disheveled because it is called sh*tfaced after all, and I have yet to meet anyone who didn't look disheveled after getting, well, sh*tfaced. The only I changes I made was for the "rocks", I chopped up some ugly black raspberry vanilla soap, so they have a slightly berry sweet aroma on top, and the bars are noticeably bigger than past versions. I really need to invest in a real soap cutter-the ones where you can slice a log in one swoop so they'll all be uniform and even.

The Original

The Remix

 Next, there's Yuzu Crazy. After four years of making soap, I'm still crazy about cranberry yuzu. It's not too sweet with just a hint of tart. I swear I don't smell any cranberry, but that's what they tell me is in there...The only real changes I made was cutting them with a smooth blade and making the colors a little bit brighter.

The Original

The Remix

And lastly, a new fan favorite: Go The F*ck To Sleep. I can't keep this one in stock. I wonder why? Hmmmm...Anyway, I've decided to now make these in these cute, little cubes that I cannot get enough of! I'll be converting more of my soaps to these cubes. One there so stinkin' cute. Two, there's no cutting involved (BONUS). And tres, they weigh a ton by soap standards. These come in at 5+ oz! And, I am embracing the soda ash (that white, pasty residue that forms on the tops and sometimes sides of soap...) It gives the soap character. Okay, I'm lying. I don't have the time or energy to fight it anymore....


That's it for now. Next up, getting down with the swirl.....!!

Happy New Year....Late

Happy 2012! I have been intentionally M-I-A as of late. I've been at a crossroads friends. I'm at the point in this venture where I'm like "Why am I doing this? Am I really happy?" And the answer is not really. I try not to get too personal on this blog because I want to keep it all about the soap, but I can't keep it all about the soap if I don't explain why there's no soap...


I am currently taking this wonderful webinar called How To Run Your Own Successful Bath and Body Business, and although I've been selling online for almost 4 years, I don't feel successful. One thing this course has been teaching me is I've been doing it all wrong-for 4 years! With that being said, I've got to take a (giant) step back and re-assess things. It's been a grueling 2 weeks, and I'm glad I'm doing this now while it's still early. So, with that being said, I'm focusing on the "business" side of things-getting my house in order, trying to determine if I want to go in a different direction.That includes paring down my product line and weeding out the junk all the while still cranking out some soap. I can't stop making soap. It's semi-crackish heehee...

So I leave you with a shot of the latest batch of my infamous Shitfaced. It's scented in Southern Comforts and yeah, it really smells like Southern Comforts, but it leaves a sweet little "after-taste" on your skin. The "rocks" are actually scented in Black Raspberry & Vanilla. It balances out the main scent nicely.