savoy052

Yesterday we did the initial clean out of the studio with some helpful friends. We had to throw out a lot...   but there are things we can recycle as well. Corks – maybe a handmade cork board? Wooden squares – framed blackboards? I can see staining them and then painting the inside section with blackboard paint. Baskets… bowls…   My first Essential Oil burner blend to cleanse previous smells and renew the atmosphere – Sweet Orange, Bergamot, Spearmint & Lavender… First coffee there, paid for by the Euros we found when cleaning up… Now just waiting on renovation quotes… front sign quotes… my husband and I are at odds about the sign.   I think it should be handmade – maybe in wood, maybe in metal relief, maybe in ceramic tile – hand painted. I don’t want neon and plastic. He thinks the most important think is visibility, class and lighting, so that it will catch people’s eye and bring them in…. hmmm. We will see! Currently there are 4 different floors! ...

Julia from Soap Artists http://soapartists.blogspot.com/2012/02/intercambio-internacional-international.html  is organizing an international soap swap!! Spanish soapers will be swapping with other soapers from around the world!!  All you have to do is: 1) Go on over to the Soap Artists blog and sign up with a comment... 2) Wait until March 3rd when the swap list will be published and you will know who you will be swapping with... 3) Blog about the soap you receive or send photos some other way? So, maybe we will see you on the list? Happy Soaping!! xoxo Jen

Here is the final part of my friendship soap video series.... Stamping!  Happy soaping!! xo Jen

Here I am cutting the soap! Hope you enjoy it! xoxo Jen

My list of firsts for the day: - First time I have posted twice in the same day! (Couldn't wait to post the video now that I have finally got Youtube worked out!) - First time I have posted a video - First time I have made a soapmaking video - First time I have worked with my new Serif Video software (MoviePlus X5) And there are so many more firsts going on in my life these days with setting up the soap studio...  I have been so excited about everything that I can't seem to sleep much past 6am... Let me know how you enjoy the video! Happy Soaping Everyone!!!! xoxo Jen

Look! I wrote 2 books!!   My daughter got me a Blog2Print print out of the first year of my blog for Christmas.   I felt so proud when I saw it! The only thing I would have done differently is include the comments from people it it… So I just got the second year print out, including comments, and I love it!!   Xoxox Jen

  I have been working toward this moment for quite a while and it has finally arrived.   This is going to be the Naturalmente Mediterráneo soap studio! Spanish Health and Safety has very specific requirements for producing soap and natural skin care products and one of those is that a dedicated space is needed, which cannot be your own kitchen.   The space needs to be divided in several areas including work space, packaging space and several different storerooms. (My husband, removing the For Rent sign) Next steps include, getting the inside renovations done and a nice artisan sign up front. Tomorrow I am getting the electricity and water connected and organizing insurance.   There will be a small space at the front for sales as well, but I am not expecting a lot of walk-ins (yet!) as we are located in a little Spanish fishing village.   I will open to the public possibly 2 mornings and 1 afternoon a week.   Also if people call ahead for a visit, I will...

Remember this crumbling rock hard goat milk soap? Well, it has turned into a fabulous bar!!   The creamiest milk soap I ever made. Wonderful, rich, bubbly suds. The scent has stayed really well.   It is also ROCK hard. So, my questions to you are: Do you discount the liquid & why?   Or why not? What differences have you found in the finished soap when discounting? Maybe just maybe, I have found that the suds are slightly more difficult to wash off?   But there may be other factors involved so I am interested in others' experiences with water/liquid quantity differences in soaps. The soap was made with 100% goat milk and the water discount was 36%. I wish the photo were better... but can you see how milky the bar is? Eager for your comments! xo Jen

I have been invited to participate in an international Friendship soap swap!   There are 9 participants each one of us has to make a soap for someone and someone else makes a soap for us! I got to make soap for Amy from Great Cakes Soapworks!!   I actually videoed the whole process from making, to cutting and stamping… but I can’t seem to be able to upload it to YouTube!!   When I get that figured out, I will post… All Amy requested was something natural from my area and she likes citrusy scents… So…… I decided to make her a salt soap, try to colour it orange (as you can see, it turned out a muddy yellow…) and use bits of soap from my prickly pear soap, my pomegranate soap, my lavender soap and my rose hip soap. I liked the result, except next time I would try another colour (as natural colours are such a mystery, the annatto worked differently in a salt soap!!), trace it thicker so the salt wouldn’t sink to the bottom so much and make a little more quantity so ...

(Rhassoul Shampoo with Essential Oils of Bay Laurel, Lavender, Ylang Ylang & Rosemary. The scent is a DUD but I love the Shampoo Bar!!! New formula - with borax.) I used to make a beer shampoo bar that I really liked for my hair, and somehow lost it.   Maybe my hair changed, maybe the water changed, maybe I copied something down wrong on the recipe, maybe I just became addicted to more suds in a shampoo bar ever since I exchanged shampoo bars with some fellow soapers last year.   In any case, I have been experimenting with shampoo bars for a couple of years now…   and experimenting extra hard since August last year.    (Goat Milk Shampoo with Rosemary Cedarwood and Thyme Essential Oils – This one was a DUD!) Nothing seemed to work!   My hair seemed to get “the greasies” from any shampoo bar I tried!   It wasn’t the superfat, as I experimented from anywhere between 1% and 5% for my shampoo bars.   Could it be too much Coconut oil that...

I recently received this beautiful package from Alexandra at http://sapundecasa.wordpress.com/ .    We have been exchanging emails ever since she won the guessing game on my mysterious natural soap colour – Pomegranate Juice! The thing that struck me most at first from the wonderful selection of soaps that Alexandra sent me was the difference between all of her products.   Each one has so many different ingredients!   The aromas come from Essential Oil blends and they are faint but lovely blends. The first soap that I am using of hers, as I was most intrigued by it, is her soap with Pomegranate Juice and Hibiscus tea, and I am amazed at its smoothness and the way it leaves my skin feel – one of the nicest soaps I have ever tried. I used to think that a good soap needed to have abundant, big bubbly lather, but that seems sort of superficial to me these days…. The real thing I look for in a bar of soap is how it leaves my skin feel.   Although I still love...