This week was all about bright spring colors. The Neon Geometric Melt and Pour Soap features pink, yellow, green and purple angled layers. The layers are made by propping the mold at an angle and pouring the soap in. To go with the spring colors, the soap is scented with Yuzu Cybilla Fragrance Oil. The bars are a perfect addition to an Easter basket.
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Spring Inspired Bath & Beauty Projects
Today is Daylight Savings Time, and I’m excited to “spring forward.” While it means we lose an hour of sleep, the days become longer and we are that much closer to spring. I’m curious to see what my kids do with the time change; toddlers don’t really do well with time changes. Wish me luck! =) To celebrate the upcoming season, I have been crafting up a storm. Keep your eyes on the blog for new spring projects and products. Be sure to sign up for the Bramble Berry Newsletter to be the first to hear about exciting new items and exclusive tutorials. In the meantime, check out some of my favorite spring tutorials below.
The Green Meadow Melt and Pour Bars contain Grass Stain Fragrance Oil for a crisp and slightly sweet scent.
When I think of spring, flowers immediately come to mind. In the Green Meadow Melt and Pour (shown above), small soapy flowers are added to the top of each bar. It’s fragranced with Grass Stain Fragrance Oil for a fresh smell. If you’re a fan of classic floral scents, the Yellow Chamomile Cold Process Soap and the Layered Lavender Cold Process Soap feature sophisticated floral fragrances.
Left to right: Yellow Chamomile Cold Process Soap, Layered Lavender Cold Process Soap
A Look Into the Pure Soapmaking Book Writing Process
It’s still hard to believe that my new book, Pure Soapmaking, is finally here. The book has been such a labor of love for more than two years; to finally hold it in my hands is incredibly exciting. Even more exciting is seeing other soapers with the book! It’s been an affirmation (and, a relief!) to hear all the positive feedback. Thank you all so much for the support. =)
Now that the book has been out for several weeks, I have begun to reflect on the process of creating the book. If you’ve ever thought about writing a book, let me tell you…it’s a lot of work. Fun? Absolutely. It’s a fun and rewarding gift to share your passion and knowledge with others. But, creating a book requires an insane amount of time and resources. I was lucky to have access to both during the writing process. My Bramble Berry team and family helped me find time to work on the book. They also were invaluable in assisting me with recipes and other aspects of the testing process. It takes a village to create, photograph & lay-out 32, fully-tested, cold process projects!
The first step in writing this book was creating a book proposal for the publishing company, Storey Publishing. This is essentially an overview of what information the book will contain. Below, you can see a few pages of the original 2013 proposal, including the cover page and an overview of some of the chapters. After sending in the proposal to the editors, we began to work on the framework of the book and what information it should contain. A lot of the proposed topics made it into the book, while some did not. This is another reason why having input during the writing process is important. Talking about these topics and how they should be organized with soapers and non-soapers helped to lay out the book in the most cohesive way.
#PureSoapmaking Inspiration & Contest!
It has been so exciting to see my new book, Pure Soapmaking, in the hands of the soaping community. I’m blown away with the response and enthusiasm (thank you thank you thank you!). The book is already in its second printing! It’s amazing to think about how much the soaping community has grown since I started soaping over 20 years ago.
If you have received your book, there is still time to enter the #PureSoapmaking contest on Instagram and Twitter to win one of ten $25 Bramble Berry gift certificates! Simply post a selfie with the book and use the hashtag #PureSoapmaking. Contest ends Wednesday, February 15th. If you’re feeling shy, feel free to post a photo of the book in a creative way. Check out some of the adorable selfies below; even furry friends are getting in on the fun. =)
Top row: wildgardencreations, kennacote, ashley_thomas
Middle row: kritterinc, sudzylove, sweetsophiallc
Bottom row: winn_martinez, avitals_aspiaries, sevenseassoap
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (Dec. 5th ~ 11th)
This week was all about seasonal scents that can carry into the new year. The Cleansing Orange Spice Salt Scrub is scented with 10X Orange Essential Oil and Cinnamon Sticks Fragrance Oil. The traditional holiday spice notes pair well with the fresh citrus notes. To match the orange scent, the scrub has orange peel and Racing Stripe Orange Mica. It will leave your skin feeling fresh and clean.
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (Aug. 8th ~ 14th)
This week is the start of a series of tutorials inspired by the Alps and The Sound of Music. The series includes the Sparkling Snow Sugar Scrub, which is made with Foaming Bath Butter. It also has sugar to exfoliate, and Fresh Snow and Spring Meadow fragrance oil for a clean scent. Snowflake Sparkle Mica and Super Pearly White Mica are added to make the scrub look like sunshine on snow.
Pure Honey Show & Share
Bramble Berry includes a surprise free fragrance sample with every order. During the month of May, each Bramble Berry order included a sample of our new favorite fragrance oil, Pure Honey. The moment we started testing Pure Honey Fragrance Oil, we knew it was a winner! Not only does it smell warm, sweet and delicious, it also behaves well in cold process soap and does not discolor. We love the fragrance so much that it inspired an entire collection of tutorials. Click here for Pure Honey Fragrance Oil blend ideas, in addition to an eco-friendly candle tutorial.
Pure Honey Tutorials:
Honey Bee Funnel Pour Cold Process Tutorial
Monarch Butterfly Swirl Cold Process Tutorial
Monarch Butterfly Melt & Pour Tutorial
Butterfly Sparkle Surprise Bath Bomb Tutorial
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (May 30th ~ June 5th)
Exfoliants help scrub away dirt and dead skin, leaving your skin feeling fresh and smooth. Bramble Berry carries a variety of exfoliants, such as colloidal oatmeal, shredded loofah and cranberry seeds. What exfoliant you choose for your recipe depends on personal preference. Learn more about which exfoliant is right for you in the All About Exfoliants post.
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (May 23rd ~ 29th)
The spring-inspired tutorials continued this week with projects like the Butterfly Sparkle Surprise Bath Bomb. Along with fizzing in your tub, the bath bombs will release Iridescent Glitter and a butterfly eraser. They will also add a sweet smell to the tub from a mix of Crisp Apple Rose Fragrance Oil and Pure Honey Fragrance Oil. It’s a perfect project to make with kids.
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (April 4th ~ April 10th)
Using milk in cold process soap gives it a luxurious and creamy feeling. For the next couple weeks, the blog will be full of projects made with milk. Adding milk to your cold process soap is different than using distilled water. If milk gets too hot, it can scorch. That creates an unpleasant smell and can discolor your soap. To prevent milk from scorching, it helps to freeze it beforehand. Then, add the lye slowly and stir well. Learn more in the How to Add Lye to Milk for Cold Process Soap Post.
Facebook Photo of the Week (Jan. 24th ~ Jan. 30th)
While cold process recipes are an office favorite, it’s also fun to try other techniques. The clay tutorials ended this week with two easy-to-make recipes, including the Marbled Clay Hot Process Soap. The recipe uses a Crock Pot to “cook” the soap, which speeds up the saponification process. Then, the soap is swirled with dark red Brazilian clay and yellow silt clay for a marbled look. The soap is topped with calendula and scented with Fresh Mango Fragrance Oil and Kumquat Fragrance Oil and smells bright and fresh.
Flowers are a great way to add interesting detail to your soap. In the Pink Clay and Primrose Soap Hand-Milled Tutorial, rose petals add a feminine touch. The soap has a floral aroma from rose water and Ylang Ylang III essential oil, and has a soft pink color from pink Brazilian clay. It’s a perfect handmade gift for Valentine’s Day.
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Facebook Photo of the Week (Oct. 25th ~ Oct. 31st)
Happy Halloween everyone! It’s hard to believe it’s almost November already. We celebrated the last week of October with this beautiful and chilly Misty Maritime Moon Cold Process Tutorial. It uses the new negative space embed technique, which creates a totally unique look.
Misty Maritime Moon Cold Process
Trying new soap techniques keeps the craft interesting, fresh and fun! This Misty Maritime Moon soap was created for the Negative Space Embed Challenge via Great Cakes Soapworks in August. The negative space embed technique involves cutting holes into the base of soap and later filling the holes with fresh soap.
Created with a fresh combination of Pineapple Cilantro, Orange Peel Cybilla and Ocean Rain Fragrance Oils, this soap smells crisp and bright. Orange Peel is used to give both color and texture to the embeds, while titanium dioxide provides contrast. The dual blue tones are made using the Multi-Pour Sectioning Tool, but cardboard can also be used as shown in the Mantra Swirl tutorial. Thanks for all the great name suggestions for this soap via Facebook, they were so much fun to read!
This technique is so exciting because of all the possibilities of shapes you can create. You aren’t limited by the embedding molds you own. Taking a walk through the hardware store opens up all kinds of new possibilities. Having more control over the design is another benefit. Six color rainbow faux-funnel pour coming up next!
Turning Gifts into a Business
Jessica started soaping during the holidays to make Christmas gifts for family and friends. This sparked a passion and, an idea and her gifts turned into her company Bellabrice Body Care and has been creating beautiful soaps every since. You never know when a new found passion will emerge! Read on to learn more about Jessica, her business tips and what inspires her to create gorgeous soapy creations.
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