This week the blog featured several projects inspired by fruit, including the Apple and Sage Salt Scrub. It is made with the new Apple Sage Fragrance Oil, which is the perfect blend of sweet and herby notes. To exfoliate and moisturize the skin, the recipe has Epsom salt and avocado oil. Evergreen Mica and Apple Moss Green Mica complete the apple-inspired design.
Search Results for: embeds
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (April 30th ~ May 6th)
I love pink hues, floral scents and glitter, but this week the blog was all about masculine projects like the Easy Scrubby Body Wash. The recipe is made with Stephenson Suspending Body Wash. The base evenly distributes the Sierra Sky Jojoba Beads, which add color and exfoliation. The recipe is scented with Bramble Berry’s Fierce Type Fragrance Oil. It’s easy to make and perfect for Father’s Day.
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (April 23rd ~ 29th)
This week the blog featured several Mother’s Day gift ideas, including the Heavenly Lilac Bath Truffles. They come with a free printable gift label. The truffles are colored with Party Pink Mica and Lavender Mica. The Lilac Fragrance Oil and rose petals complement the soft pink hue. The recipe also has cocoa butter and shea butter to help moisturize the skin.
Chatting with Emily of Shieh Design Studio
Emily of Shieh Design Studio and Soap and Restless is well known in the soaping community for her gorgeous creations. Emily is a masterful soaper and has a keen eye for design. In fact, Emily is a designer at an architecture firm, and her skills show in every bar of soap. Emily’s product photography also sets her items apart – check out her beautiful photos to see what I mean! To learn more about Emily, including her photography tips and advice for starting a blog, in the interview below. -A.M.
Emily’s gorgeous Honey Moon Soap, watch her make it here!
How long have you been soaping for and how did you get started?
I started soaping in the summer of 2010, it would be 6 years in a few months. I don’t have a fancy story of how I started making my own soap from scratch, just simply not satisfied with the feel and scent commercial wash left on my skin. What really caught my interest in making my own soap and other bath & body products is that the OCD me loves the idea of having total control. I love how I can personalize every aspect of my bath & body products from the way it looks to the way it smells and feels.
What sort of advice would you give to those soapers just starting their businesses?
To be honest, selling bath & body products is never my main source of income, it’s more of an obsession and hobby than anything. I’m not really good at running profitable business, I’m afraid to give any business advice. However, I’ve always told myself to keep an open mind. There is so much to learn in making bath & body products, even the most experienced senior soap makers can learn a thing or 2 every so often. The science and art of making soap, or any bath & body products in the matter of fact, is endless. With an open mind, your possibility is limitless.
Left to right, clockwise: Viva la Juicy (type) Soap, Melon Mojito Soap, Opium Poppy Soap
Spring Soap Swap Unboxing Video!
For the Spring 2016 Soap Swap, I decided to be a participant. This meant ten random soapers received one of my soaps, and I received ten different bars from soapers around the country. If you’d like more information regarding the Soap Swap, check out this blog post to read the details. Want to participate in a future swap? We will be hosting another one later this year! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter; the date of the next signup will be announced about a week in advance for newsletter subscribers only.
Here are all ten soaps I received in my box, they are so beautiful!
I was blown away by all ten bars in my box! They are so unique and really show off the talent of the soapmaking community. I love how each bar is so different given that all soapmakers have access to the same set of ingredients. Granted; it’s a pretty big set of ingredients but still, it’s awesome to see what everyone does with similar ingredients. Watch the videos below to see the live unboxing of my Soap Swap package. I included both the video on UStream below. I can’t wait to use each bar. They all look and smell amazing. Thank you to everybody who participated in the swap and took so much time and effort to create beautiful bars for their fellow soapmakers. I hope everybody who participated had lots of fun. =)
Soapy Social Media Roundup
Happy weekend! I recently finished up in Nashville for the 2×4 Live Workshop. It’s always so inspiring to meet other small business owners. I’m currently writing a blog post about the experience, so be on the lookout for that tomorrow. Back at the office, we launched the new Spring Fever Fragrance Collection this week and I can’t wait to hear what you think of the four fragrances: Clover and Aloe, Blooms and Berries, Sunflower and Blueberry Jam. They all smell amazing!
If you missed the launch, you can watch the live video here. In the video I go over each fragrance and offer some product suggestions. Then, head over to my Pinterest page to find an inspirational board for each fragrance (near the bottom). Check out some of my favorite pins from the Blooms and Berries board below.
Left, clockwise:
- This Blackberry Sage Cold Process Aloe Soap by Emily of Shieh Design Studio is stunning. I love the little berry embeds on top.
- I love this idea of incorporating berries into a bouquet of flowers. The berries give such a nice color contrast.
- There are so many great design resources available to download. One of my favorite sites is Creative Market. There you can download awesome graphics, templates and more, including this gorgeous watercolor brush stroke. It would look great on a soap label!
- The deep purple colors look amazing with the light green shades in this Sweet Fig Soap by Zahida of Handmade in Florida.
Instagram:
I’m so excited that the Spring Fever Fragrance Collection is now available. The four fragrances in the collection (Blueberry Jam, Clover and Aloe, Blooms and Berries, and Sunflower) are all amazing. If you want to try them all, the collection is only available for a short time. Don’t wait! =) After the collection sells out, the fragrances will still be available individually.
The quest for new and fun fragrance oils never ends. Below is a beautiful hanger swirl soap made with a possible new fragrance oil. The colors in this bar were created with Brown Oxide Pigment, Stormy Blue Mica and Nuclear Orange Pigment.
- I love see the creative process of artists. This post by Meg Biram is full of beautiful images of her paintings and includes a giveaway!
- Sometimes, a complete life change can sound really tempting. But, what if you simply rework what you have?
- Are you among the third of Americans who don’t get enough sleep? I know that some nights I certainly am.
- Sometimes the solution to a problem brings opportunity. These college kids began a granola bar company with leftover grains used to make beer.
- I love this new book by Jan Berry of the Nerdy Farm Wife. There are so many awesome recipes, I can’t wait to try some. You can now find it at Bramble Berry.
To keep up with soapy social media throughout the week, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Katch, YouTube and Snapchat. I’m Bramble-Berry on Snapchat. Don’t forget to tag your soapy projects on Instagram with the hashtag #SoapShare and #PureSoapmaking so I can see what you’re making! =)
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (March 26th ~ April 1st)
With temperatures in the 60s this week, you can feel the seasons changing in Washington state. So, it’s the perfect time to introduce the Spring Fever Fragrance Collection. The collection includes four new fragrance oils – Sunflower, Clover and Aloe, Blooms and Berries and Blueberry Jam. Right now you can get all four in a kit for just $15.95. Click through the Introducing the New Spring Fever Fragrance Collection post for color inspiration and notes for each scent.
Spring 2016 Soap Swap Round Up
Last week, all the bars for the Cold Process Soap Swap 2016 were swapped and sent. If you participated in the swap, keep your eyes out for your box of goodies soon! If you’re unfamiliar with the swap, the basic idea is that soapers send us 10 bars of soap. Then, we swap the bars and send 10 new bars back, each made by a different person.
So many amazing soaps were sent for the swap!
If you did not get the chance to sign up for this swap, we will have another one later this year. I wish we could have swaps all the time with an unlimited amount of soapers. But, it takes a lot of time to swap 100 boxes! =) If you’d like to be among the first to sign up for the next swap, sign up for the Bramble Berry newsletter. We will give advance notice to newsletter subscribers about when the swap will take place and how to sign up. Click here to sign up for the newsletter.
Chatting with Carmen of Earths Raw Beauty
Carmen of Earths Raw Beauty has been soaping for less than a year, but you would never know it by the number of techniques she has mastered. I first stumbled on her colorful soap on the #SoapShare tag on Instagram, and was in awe of her abilities. Each soapy design showcases a different technique, whether it be her precise layers, perfect rainbow hues or skillful swirls. If there is one consistent factor in Carmen’s soap of Earths Raw Beauty, it is that each each bar is completely distinct. Read on to find out more about Carmen, including how she got started soaping and her unique method of using goat milk. -A.M.
Carmen’s beautiful Spectrum Bits Cold Process Soap, scented with bergamot and white tea.
How long have you been soaping for and how did you get started?
I’ve been soaping for 7 months now. To be more precise it’s been 7 months and 2 weeks and I’m looking forward to many, many more. Every time I get asked this question I answer “Texas did it to me!” and it’s true! I was in Texas for a week at the end of July last year and I swear, there was something in the air. I actually started off by making skin care products in March of last year. Soap was never on my mind. While in Texas, during my very first day, I found myself watching soap making videos. Don’t ask me how I started watching them because I seriously have no idea. I just remember being fascinated by the action of a stick blender going through the melted oils and lye solution. Even now I could watch someone stick blend soap for 10-15 minutes.
Most soap makers started because they wanted a natural solution, or they wanted to give homemade gifts. I started because I was fascinated by a stick blender in action. Little did I know that the stick blender was only the beginning of the magic. I spent that entire week in the hotel room reading and watching videos about soap making. I watched all the Soaping101 and Soap Queen TV videos, and I read as much as I could. Then I ordered a silicone mold and lye from Amazon because I wanted to make sure I had them in my mail box when I got home. I got home on July 31st (yes, I remember because it’s the first day I ever made soap) at 7 p.m., and as soon as I got home I made my very first batch of soap. It was all it took for me to fall in love with soap, especially after I cut the first slice. I’ve been hooked since.
What sort of advice would you give to those soapers just starting their businesses?
When it comes to business I can’t really give any advice, I have a lot to learn in that department. It’s been less than 8 months since I made my first batch, therefore I didn’t start selling until 2 months ago. For now I sell on Etsy, and of course to my friend’s friends and their friends, the word of mouth spreads really fast.
Left to right: Rainbow Cold Process Soap, Balanced Energy Natural Soap
What is your favorite type of product to make?
Now this is a very easy question. I make all kinds of skin care products: salves, butters, balms, creams, lotions, scrubs, bath bombs (my worst enemy), etc. By far, cold process soap is my favorite product to make.
Your Favorite Soaping Tips
At the beginning of the month, we had a Share Your Favorite Soaping Tip Contest. The tip could pertain to soap, bath bombs, lotions, or any other bath and beauty project. We received close to 400 comments, and I was so impressed with all the tips. I definitely learned some new tricks! If you’re looking for more informational posts, check out the Tips and Tricks category of the blog.
Many of the tips had similar themes including have fun, stay organized, safety first and don’t get discouraged. These tips made me smile, because they really identified what the DIY journey is all about. Creating should be fun! To make sure it’s fun, it’s crucial to stay safe and it also helps to be organized. Click here to read all the tips in the comment section.
Most frequent tips:
1. Have fun. Don’t forget that soapmaking should be a fun activity. If it’s stressing you out, take a deep breath and relax.
2. Stay organized. Keep your soaping area organized and thoroughly read over the instructions several times. This will help the entire process go smoothly.
3. Safety first. If you are making cold process soap, take proper lye safety precautions such as wearing goggles, long sleeves and soaping in an area with no children or pets nearby. Click here to learn more about lye safety.
4. Don’t get discouraged. We all have an occasional soaping mishap. If your batch doesn’t turn out perfectly, don’t get discouraged and quit. Your next batch will be better. =)
Soaping mishaps happen, but don’t get discouraged! Check out the Soap Behaving Badly and the Soapy Mess-Up Quick Guide to learn how to work through common problems.
There were so many great tips, it was hard to choose my favorites. Below are some of the tips that really stood out to me. Thanks to everybody who took the time to share a tip. The team and I had such a good time reading through them!
Tool Tips
“I know all of you probably have at least one of the reheatable bags that your oils come in from Brambleberry. I actually cut the top off across one of them to make it a open bag. It works perfectly for rebatching soap in and works even better for melting your waxes in. I use the double boiler method and it is an awesome way to melt things down in. So never never throw away. They are really useful for this purpose.” – Kristie
“To process images for water soluble paper so that you get the best, most vivid images into your soaps, select the image in Microsoft Word (or use any image editing program). Increase both color saturation and contrast, and then lower your brightness or exposure just a tiny bit (to counteract the increased contrast, which can wash out some of the subtleties in the image). This will ensure that the images underneath the clear layer of soap don’t look so “washed out” (so to speak).” – Vittoria
“My house is kept rather cold (thanks, hubby), which makes getting a good gel on my CP soap a challenge sometimes. My secret? A cheap pizza stone! I pop it in the oven at 170 while I make my soap, pull it a few minutes before I’m ready for it, then set my mold on the stone (usually I put a thin towel between the stone and mold), cover with a towel, and let it go. The heat is enough to encourage the gel, but it dissipates just at the right rate–not too fast, not too slow, so I get a perfect gel every time. I use a cheap, thin stone since I wouldn’t want to ruin a high end one, and the high end stones tend to hold their heat longer, which I don’t really want.” – Lindsey
“If you stamp your soaps and have a problem with get soap getting stuck in the stamp, place a sheet of plastic wrap over the soap before you stamp. The impression comes out fine and no soap gets on your stamp.” – Debbie
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
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (March 5th ~ 11th)
This week featured more wedding inspiration, including the Nail Polish Wedding Favors. Nail polish is a great option because it’s so easy to make. You can use it for wedding favors, bridesmaid gifts or even a fun activity for a bridal shower. The tutorial uses Gold Sparkle Mica and Rose Gold Mica, but you can add any color you like.
As a bonus, a variety of packaging materials are 15% off until March 18th with the code: WEDFAV. Sale items include clear soap boxes, candle tins, perfume bottles and more. Click here to see all the sale items.
St. Patrick’s Day Project Inspiration
With St. Patrick’s Day less than a month away, it’s time to break out the green colorants and get crafting. It’s also a great time to get inspired by shades of gold and rainbow color schemes. If you’re looking for a little St. Patrick’s Day inspiration, look no further. We’ve got tons of fun green tutorials and projects for all levels of crafters.
The Luck of the Irish Hot Process Soap features a beautiful ombré effect.
One of my favorite green inspired projects is the Luck of the Irish Hot Process Soap. This tutorial uses the hot process method of soaping to create four layers of green soap. Each layer gets a little lighter to create an ombré effect. A thin layer of Gold Sparkle Mica is applied between each layer of green, and is also sprinkled on top. It’s scented with Kentish Rain Fragrance Oil for a fresh and clean smell. It’s a great option if you’d like to use your soap by St. Patrick’s Day, because the hot process method speeds up cure time. Looking for more green hot process projects? You can see the process in action in the Lemongrass and Lavender Hot Process video on Soap Queen TV below.
If you don’t mind your soap not being fully cured by St. Patrick’s Day, check out the Shamrock Cold Process project. It uses the Four Leaf Clover Stamp to accent the gold and green color scheme. It’s scented with Raspberry Porter Fragrance Oil, which is a crisp and fruity take on a traditional beer scent. To cut down on cure time, you could do a water discount. Learn more about water discounting cold process soap here.
The Shamrock Cold Process Soap uses a green and gold color combo and features a clover stamp.
If you love green but don’t want your soap to scream St. Patrick’s Day, the Exfoliating Green Tea Bars are super sophisticated. They are made with green tea instead of water, and also contain green tea extract. They are scented with Green Tea Fragrance Oil. If you want to give milk soap a try, the Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Soaps uses coconut milk powder for extra moisture. Can’t get enough sparkle? The Emerald Swirl Cold Process Soap features a King’s Gold Mica painting and shimmery green embeds.
Top, clockwise: Exfoliating Green Tea Bars, Emerald Swirl Cold Process Soap, Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Soaps
If you’d like your project to be ready to use and give to friends and family on St. Patrick’s Day, melt and pour is the way to go. In the Green Meadow Melt and Pour, shavings of green melt and pour soap are embedded to give the bars a confetti look. If you prefer something more natural, the Star Anise Melt and Pour Bars use spirulina powder and green zeolite clay for a soft mint tint. The same combination of natural colorants is also used in the Minty Clay Melt and Pour Bars to create contrasting layers. In the Reimagining Honey Ale Soap, honey melt and pour base is fragranced with Honey Ale Fragrance Oil to make a beer inspired soap that’s perfect for St. Patrick’s Day.
Top left, clockwise: Green Meadow Melt and Pour, Star Anise Melt and Pour Bars, Reimagining Honey Ale Soap, Minty Clay Melt and Pour Bars
If you’re looking for an easier green project, the Anti-Pinch Nail Polish is a great way to avoid any pinchy fingers. Nail polish is super fun and easy to make; learn how in this Soap Queen TV video. The Basic Lotion Base makes it easy to create and customize your own unique lotion. In the Creamy Cucumber Lotion DIY, a small amount of Emerald LabColor and Kermit Green Mica is added to the base to give a soft green hue.
Left to right: Anti-Pinch Nail Polish, Easy Creamy Cucumber Lotion DIY
What are you making for St. Patrick’s Day? If you’ve made a green inspired project, I would love to see it. You can upload a photo on the Bramble Berry Facebook Page, tweet the image @brambleberry or post a photo on Instagram with the tag #SoapShare! Can’t wait to see them. =)
Soapy Social Media Roundup
Happy weekend everybody! The past few days have been fairly rainy and wet here in Bellingham, to nobody’s surprise. But the days are getting longer and the nights are warmer so signs of spring are popping up. Last weekend we had a few days of sun, so the family took advantage of the weather with an afternoon trip to a Bellingham beach. Below, Jamisen and Lily soak up some sun. Between Jamisen’s inquisitive pose and Lily lounging on the rocks, this photo just cracks me up. =)
Next week be on the lookout for a St. Patrick’s Day melt and pour project, along with another natural cold process soap. In the meantime, check out the soapy inspiration below from Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.
Left to right, clockwise:
- Can you believe Easter will be here in a little over a month? These DIY Marbled Indigo Eggs use a deep blue nail polish to create a beautiful marbled effect on the egg.
- Holly of Missouri River Soap created the Aloe Vera Hanger Swirl Recipe from the Pure Soapmaking Book, and it turned out wonderfully!
- I love these Cute Garden Carrot Cupcakes. Decorating strawberries as carrots is genius.
- Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks created the Annatto and Yarrow Cold Process Soap from the Pure Soapmaking Book. I love her chunky embeds.
Instagram:
This week there was a lot of green projects. Below is a melt and pour project created with a Celtic Combination mold that will be available soon. The mold includes four cavities featuring different designs. I used an injector tool to fill the details with Evergreen Mica colored soap.
Evergreen Mica also works great in cold process soap. Below is a cold process spin swirl using Evergreen Mica, Kermit Green Mica, Titanium Dioxide and Black Oxide in the 9 Bar Birchwood Mold. We are planning on making this project into a Soap Queen TV video.
- In case you missed it, there was a short update regarding FDA legislation for 2016. Read about it here, then sign up for the COHE to stay updated.
- This visualization of how Americans spend their day is amazing. Does your day fit into the trends?
- Commencement speeches often sound the same. This one is particularly inspiring because it doesn’t sugarcoat the message.
- Is this product the biggest personal care innovation of 2015?
- These “Keep Calm and Make Soap” tote bags are now available! Grab one before they are gone.
I hope you’re having an awesome weekend.To keep up with soapy social media throughout the week, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and YouTube and Snapchat. I’m Bramble-Berry on Snapchat. Don’t forget to tag your soapy projects on Instagram with the hashtag #SoapShare and #PureSoapMaking so I can see what you’re making! =)