HANDMADE SOAP

WHIMSICAL TREATS

The Feature today is this lovely series -

Natural line now ready

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I am pretty excited.  My signature line is really coming together. 

I have decided that in order to organise my products more efficiently, I have to group them according to themes.  You have already had a preview of the ELEMENTS series about 2 posts ago. This has worked out fabulously – and makes it easier for everyone to find exactly what they are looking for.   

The featured soaps in this post form part of the NATURALS series. They all share a common theme of something “natural” - either botanicals,  milks, teas, honey, extracts or butters.  I usually have  a little story behind each soap that I design, these ones however are created purely for the luxury of it.  I personally love the various kinds for their nourishing, moisturising or healing properties as well as their visual and scent appeal.  The inclusion of the actual plant material makes them great for gentle exfoliation as well. 

To date the soap in this series have been the most popular sellers and I am stoked that they finally belong to their own category.  Click on the Handcrafted Designer Tab at the top of this page for particular details on each variety.

SOAP IS ART

Soap for me is art.  It is a creative process that begins with an inspiration - something that catches my eye or a scent impression that lingers pleasantly in my senses for longer than my direct interaction with it.    From there on, I slowly begin to see the soap-piece in my mind’s eye.  It usually starts to take form physically by way of a sketch, the sketch is then translated into its representation in soap. 

When I discovered soap-crafting , I finally found the artistic medium I had always desired, it allowed me to present my experience of things in the world that I loved in a way that simultaneously stimulated the visual, olfactory and tactile senses.  I love being able to combine colour, scent, textures and working out how to make it all come together into a functional item.

 
I am absolutely in love with a creation I call – Moonlit Dream.  This particular piece was inspired by a recent awesome experience witnessed from my back-porch, of a haloed crescent-moon flanked by two radiant stars, in a clear night sky.  I sat hypnotised for a full hour or so, basking in its ethereal glow.  I was moved by the brilliance of it, awed by the fact that something so natural, so normal, so quotidian could be serendipitously splendiferous over and over again.

I was not content to let the empyreal impression fade into the oblivion, I wanted to recreate the profound wonder  it stirred in me, I wanted more than just a photograph. And so the idea for the soap-piece “Moonlit Dream” was born.  It became an obsession to recreate the surrealism I experienced. 

I played around with a bunch of different designs until I finally settled on this one.  I love the fact that the pearl moon sort of almost pops out of a golden halo in a glittering sky.  I think it smells heavenly too, distinctly floral but with a musky base note.  I love this soap-piece so much that I literally had to put it out of sight, because every time I looked at it or got a whiff of it – I have been struck with an almost insatiable desire to consume it – all of it, the whole supply of it. 

This piece currently forms part of a collection or series called:  WHIMSICAL.   It is a glycerine based soap.  Glycerine is a well loved humectant (draws moisture from the surrounding atmosphere) and keeps your skin all nicely quenched.  Glycerine soaps are great especially during winter months to help fight against dry winter skin.

It is perfect for a little luxurious goody bag for a special lady, it has a distinctly feminine fragrance, without being overpoweringly floral or sweet. 

It is exactly what you would expect a moonlit dream to smell like.

I have been neglecting this blog

I have been thinking about formalising, streamlining and reorganising my soap “business”.  Up until now, soaping has really just been a fun hobby and every now and again I would take my experiments to a local flea market.  What I realised was that there is a decent enough market for it.  However I cant afford to spend my weekends hauling all my stuff to surrounding flea markets. So I am in the process of creating an “online shop” that will be linked eventually to this blog.  Finding the right platform though is a daunting task.   

I also realised that I have to start developing particular ranges and stocking supplies in bulk for those particular ranges.  Up until now I have been experimenting with all kinds of fragrances, designs, techniques and the like.  But anyway to catch you up on what I have been developing recently – this is the first in a range that I plan to sell as part of my signature range.  I am calling this series ELEMENTS – you will see why below:
    

And there we have it – the elements!