Sunny

What a great day for taking pictures of things! I have been working in the salon for the past week and this is my day off so I am loving it very much! I need to take soap pictures so I am using the herb garden, which is a bit overgrown but still....
Here are Alegria and Beach Cafe bathing in the sun, my hands smell of rosemary and sage now.

Very creamy soap!

I have made this week a new soap, in a Choc Fudge Cappucino 'flavour' . I am calling it Choccacina which incidentally is a pet name I also use for my horse :) . The thing is, this soap is the most creamy, lotiony soap that I have ever made and I am really not sure why! I look at the recipe and I think "why this one"? I nearly wrote off this soap as a disaster too when I first unmoulded it I didnt really take to it. The chocolate chips seemed to look funny. Anyway I tried a small bar in the bath-just to see how bad it was, and instead it was beautiful!! I love it, and am keeping most of this batch, but will list some in my etsy shop sometime this week, together with a few more new soaps as yet untested. I will take pics of the Choccacina once the sun is up to post on this blog. It really doesn't look much though..., you have been warned! :)

'doing' a sale!

I am having a little promotion in my website this week, which is to celebrate the new soaps, and also so that I can try the code system! The discount code for 10% off is Tamworth , and this applies to any size order of any soaps on the site. I will be adding the new guest soaps and others this week too . These ones pictured are the chocolate ones which I will be re introducing over the next couple of weeks.

Violetta guest soaps

I have made these today to satisy an urge for Parma Violet that I have had for months! Its a summertime thing! I love these, though my other half took one smell and screwed his nose up. He hates it! They are very much like the smell of the sweets, but I have added a twist so that the soap fragrance is not overpoweringly sweet, but very pleasant and dreamy!! I have made the same little soaps in the Paradise Pear fragrance too seeing as I am being so self indulgent today, but they are not ready yet. I had an order for one of the Pear soaps today, and I really hope the lady likes the scent as much as I do-its fab!

Pear Soap

This is one of those soaps that I makes me wish people had 'smelly-vision' over the internet! One has to experience it to believe how realistic the pear fragrance is-not like pear-drop sweets, but more like a fresh and ripe pear, which is one of my favourite fruits. The colour is a greeny gold achieved with the use of mica, and the natural colouring of the clays and butters in the soap also shows through. Each soap is unique as they are all individually hand poured with a slight swirl. I have a box of these soaps all wrapped and packed and it is making my spare room smell amazing ;)

Photographing white soaps !

This is a constant challenge! Is it just me, or are some colours of soap more difficult to take pictures of than others? All my white ones come out funny, and they always have! I will keep trying, but am I destined to be disappointed? For instance my angel wings, and my pretty corsets in white and cream look so much better in real life than in any of my pictures. I so use the macro, and I try to use a good natural light and I am almost satisfied with most of the other pictures, its just the white ones!
I must and shall do research into this!
Here are the naughty ones in question.

Almond Coffee

When I was pouring this soap, the whole house smelt like a coffee shop. The fragrance is almond milk but I coloured the soap with coffee which means there is a goodish coffee smell about the soap. I made three colours of soap and then poured them all together to make the soap a little bit swirly. There is Rhassoul clay in there, which is one of my favourite soap ingredients, shea butter and avocado butter and a little copper mica. The finished soap reminds me of an appaloosa pony!
I am planning to make another couple of soaps next week with this plain mould, and then hopefully by the second week in June my new moulds will have arrived from America and I can get busy with those!

Some usable soaps (hopefully)

I decided to make some nice plain bars for my SoapyChica shop, since so many people tell me they could never actually wash with my soaps and I thought that was a shame! I have made soaps with the half round moulds and they make a nice large bar. I cant really use my SoapyChica stamp on them-that is the only drawback, but I love them anyway as they are so smooth . I have used shea and avocado butters and two types of clay, including my favourite Rhassoul, and some of my favourite fragrances as well so I have really enjoyed making them, and I want to make some more next week. The silly thing is I want to try one and I am too scared to use one and spoil it :)
Here is a pic of the Honey Pudding one I took today.

Little celebration cakes in boxes

These are little fancy cake with piping and tiny little roses, they smell of vanilla cream and each one comes in its own little box tied with ribbon with a matching tag. I love these, they are so cute and I am going to make them in a few different 'flavours'. I am going to do chocolate, fairy cake, vanilla, and sweet cream for starters. Still on the topic of yummy (and calorie free) cakes my sister is making delicious cake slices and cupcakes using her own original recipes and they are so nice that I will be posting pics on here as soon as I get them!

Im waiting for the postman :)

I have itchy soap making fingers this morning! I can't wait to get started, and I am waiting for some lovely supplies. Maybe tomorrow I may get started as I have a nice day off, all to myself - what bliss! I have some new soap ideas planned, as well as enhancement of some of last years favourite designs. Hopefully I will also be having my labels made at a printers this year, as label making is very unpredictable using my own printer to say the least. I am also looking forward to helping my sister with her new designs and formulations-very exciting! I will keep my dog grooming head on for the day today though as I have some really great puppies to pamper!

Two months away

I cannot believe that I have not had any soapy news for two months. Its true though, I have had to concentrate on my salon for a bit really, to get it up and running. I have to make soap now though, and am eagerly awaiting my new supplies and moulds,. I love waiting for pressies like this, its fab! Oh thats just reminded me about Fablet (must order some more of that lovely stuff too).
Well I am going to add some more soaps to my stores and I will also be helping my sister get her soapmaking off the ground too, from her little pink cottage in Suffolk(sounds ideal for soap making doesn't it)? I have been choosing my fragrances carefully this year and I am going to use the ones that family and friends, customers and of course MYSELF cannot do without! I will always play with new fragrances of course-every soapmaker knows the addiction! (I am hankering over parma violet today of all things-perhaps parma violet Fablet is still available, have to check)

If anyone has not tried Fablet then I heartily recommend its delights to all here is a link Fablet
The picture is not of Fablet, but of a soap I made that smells like dairy butter fudge, I could eat it as soon as look at it!