Soapmaking Design Results

Cutting a new batch of soap is always a thrill. Will it look good? Or will it even look at all how I envisioned it would look? But cutting into the batches that we made in my recent Advanced Design class was extra exciting because I knew that there were several other soapmakers that were just as invested in the outcome as I was. And (yeah!) I'm really pleased with them. They are all different but so interesting in their own way. I could never pick a favorite. (A good sign, I think.) If you missed my last post, you can read about the class here, but now let's look at the results!


A layered bar with a wavy top

Some bars from a funnel swirl batch

"In-the-pot" swirl

Embedded soap shapes add real interest

Can you pick a favorite? Feeling inspired? Which of these would YOU like to make (or buy)?

Moving Blog to New Address

Attention readers (and especially followers): I will be moving my blog to a new address starting now. I will continue to double-post for a while (hopefully, I won't regret that) but for now head over to my new blog site and sign up for email delivery or RSS feed so that you don't miss any posts.

This is a bit of a nuisance for you all, I know, and I considered it for a long time. But once I got familiar with Wordpress I couldn't resist. I hope you will feel the same way.

So head on over and leave me a comment, good or bad. I can take it.

Teaching Advanced Techniques in Soap Design

Yesterday was a full day of soapmaking and teaching and teaching soapmaking. It was the first time that I taught my brand-new class "Advanced Cold Process Soap Design with Loaf Molds" at The Nova Studio. (With a title that long, no wonder we needed 5 hours of class time!) I showed a great group of students lots of techniques and ideas for jazzing up their soap with some color and design. And we even made four batches of soap in that one class -- a personal record for me!

It was a great group of students, some coming from as far away as Truckee and Arcadia!

Some of the sample bars that I brought to explain different techniques.

Coloring some soap with ultramarine blue.

Alana, the TA for this class, was indispensible.

I put the students to work, making shapes to be embedded in a new batch of soap.

I had a great time, and I think that the students did, too. Tomorrow I'll cut the soap into bars and get ready to send every student a bar from each batch.

I'll be teaching this class again soon, so check with The Nova Studio now if you'd like to join me next time!

And many thanks to Rick (one of the students) for all the great pictures.