A Soap A Day Project: Day 20 and 21

I have been making so much CP soap lately and I am really liking these soap cupcakes from the leftovers. I am not wasting any soap! I am struggling with a few designs on the more labor intensive glycerin soaps that I have been doing, but these have been a fun change up! I have skipped some days and am ashamed of it. At least I can honestly say I wasn't being lazy, just busy!

Day 20:

 I have been working my butt off on the new soap bar packaging and am almost done with the 15 artwork changes that I have to get off to the printer! I have gone through many revisions and plan to show you guys so you can get an idea of the process I go through when I design!

 Day 21:

Some soaps I have put on hold and will add back in later and I am adding some new ones too! Also, I am bringing back the tea tree facial soap! It was always a favorite but I was disappointed with my presentation of the soap and scraped it on that alone. Boo on me!

A Soap A Day Project: Day 13

I like working with all clear soap and brightly colored embeds! Gotta LOVE clear M&P!

Ok, I have officially lost track - I have random bars of soap laying around that I have to take pictures of! Not that it is that hard - the pics are all pretty standard! This is the soap I made for Wednesday so I guess I am only a day behind.

This soap really made me mad! I had thin little delicate strips of soap cut and I could not for the life of me get them to stay upright in the mold so they all fell over! My big clumsy fingers got in the way, I tried tweezers but my hands weren't steady enough. It could be that it was about 2 hours past my bedtime once I was finished with this. Also, once I poured the clear soap all the embeds moved out of place. You probably can't really tell but there should have been thinner stripes and more of them, very carefully placed in straight rows. I am going to try this one again for sure!

So I am a day behind and I find myself working on things for too long, in order to get a result that may not be better. This is a pattern! I spent a really long time researching new packaging yesterday rather than filling my last order for the week so now I am going to have to work for part of tomorrow. I don't NEED to redo my packaging but I NEED to make soap for my customers! I was just more interested in the packaging at the time! Silly me! FOCUS FOCUS!

A Soap A Day Project: Day 7

I am doubling up on soap posts today since the light went down yesterday and I couldn't get my pictures taken! I do all of my photos in natural light so if I don't do it early the light gets lost! This is a visual representation of the all day headache I had yesterday. :) WARNING: Don't stare too long! I definitely got out of my comfort zone with the bright neon colors but I like it!

 I love how the backing pink color creates a neon glow in the white soap dish!

NOTE: I am traveling until Monday but hope to still do my Soap A Day but I may have to post all of them when I get back. I will try and post quick pictures from my phone on my Facebook page!

A Soap A Day Project: Day 6

Monday was more inspiration from home decor!

A Soap A Day Project: Day 3

Loving the neon green with the dark peach color combo!

I tried a new technique with this one and it isn't what I visualized in my head but that is ok! I am not sure what I was thinking with the strips in the background. Sometimes I just don't know when to stop and have to learn to let things be! The technique I used on the first two would have been better so I will switch back to that and keep this in the back of my mind for when it is needed.

This just reminds me that I have to focus on what I am good at! I strayed last night and tried making some bath bombs and I was having a hard time with the press I was using. (The recipe was fabulous though!) Mind you, I am going to get it right eventually and add them to my line eventually but I can keep the project close and bring it out when I get a marketing strategy in full swing! I have a little adventure to find some local retailers I am embarking on tomorrow and I will tell you all about it!

Do any of you have a technique for approaching Local Retailers that you would like to share?

In the mean time I am trying to do one thing a day to promote my business and am trying to get better at my customer service! Those of you who get an email back a week or two later know what I am talking about!

A side note - there is a reason I have suddenly started stressing about my business but I will tell that story later. :)

So far these posts have gotten a great response! I hope to keep em' coming!

Natural Selections

I have been brewing up essential oils combos like crazy for the past few weeks! I was inspired by a lecture I saw at the HSMG Conference by Robert Tisserand, an expert in aromatherapy, and got to work revisiting my essential oil books and formulating up a storm! My goal is to expand my all natural line of soaps to give customers additional all natural options while still striving for a unique look! Soaps made with essential oils hit your body differently than soaps made with fragrance oils. They have the power to soothe, relax, calm, get you energized, - the benefits are physiological and psychological! Now, I am not dogging fragrance oils. Sometimes I want to wake up to the smell of fresh baked blueberry muffins or strawberry cheesecake, or a soap that smells like a far off place from my childhood that a particular fragrance oils has perfectly captured. Everything has a place. Right now I am mesmerized by essential oils and I hope you enjoy what I have come up with! FYI - I am showing some love to the gentlemen with a new beer soap with orange and spices that the ladies will love too,  and a woodsy spruce combo with a touch of citrus! The beer soap is made and pictured below and the Spruce is in production next week as soon as my larger sizes of the oils arrive!

I hope you enjoy the pics and welcome any suggestions you might have for future all natural soaps!

Natural collection from front to back: Lavender Lime Italian Soda, French Lavender, Lemongrass, Rosemary Mint, Bath Tub Brew

Castile soaps made with 100% olive oil, essential oils, botanicals and clay. I sell these as facial soaps but they are lovely for the whole body! from front to back: Unscented Castile, Tea Tree, Lemon Geranium

New Lavender Lime Italian Soda available at the end of June:

New Bath Tub Brew available at the end of June, made with organic fair trade red palm oil, Stone IPA, and a warm spicy blend of essential oils - ok, it smells like a pumpkin pie!

The newly redesigned Rosemary Mint!

Two new English Apothecary™ scents

Sage & Chamomile

 Gently scented with green notes of sage and herby floral chamomile with cedar and smoke.

Narcissus

 a powdery delicate floral reminiscent of daffodil

find them in my Etsy Shop

Enjoy! :)

the Pink and Green Sale

In Honor of over 200 fans on the Naiad Soap Arts Facebook Fan Page, and my favorite color combo, I am having a sale!

For the PINK and GREEN sale - anything in my Etsy shop that is either PINK or GREEN or BOTH with be marked 20% off starting April 1st through April 5th! For Instance:

Happy Shopping!

naiad.etsy.com

French Macarons First attempt!

You have all seen them - those delightful pastel confections in gorgeous colors and flavors that intrigue and tempt, and are notoriously know for being difficult to make! Did I mention they are my favorite cookie? (thank you Debbie at Soapylove) Well, I had to try making them of course! It all started when I got my daily email from Rare Bird Finds featuring "I (heart) Macarons" by Hisako Ogita. I immediately followed the link and bought the book! It is filled with beautiful pictures and easy to follow photographed instructions making the whole endeavor seem possible, so this weekend I dove in!

I pondered over the myriad color/flavor combos and came up with a simple Pistachio macaron with a Framboise buttercreme filling! All of the ingredients were easily found at Trader Joes and luckily I have a scale since I measured the ingredients by weight to be precise!

Readying the ingredients was a snap - but them came the "Macronnage", the step where perfectly stiff egg whites are mixed with the dry ingredients: Ground almonds and powdered sugar (and ground pistachios in this case). This is the make or break step, mix too much or too little and the tops of the macarons could be cracked, they could lack feet (the little ridge at the bottom which it MUST have to be classified a macaron) or could have a dull appearance instead of a shiny hard shell.  The instructions said to do 15 strokes with a rubber spatula to mix the batter to the right consistency - I did exactly 15 strokes and the batter looked perfect.

When I piped the batter however it looked thin whereas in the pictures from the book the batter looked stiffer - perfectly round dots with a little height and dome to the top. I thought I was finished but I moved forward! They dryed for 45 minutes and then I popped them in the oven. The directions said a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. I did this and the first baking sheet was overbaked (but with feet to my delight!). The second baking sheet I dropped the heat to 300 and baked for 7 minutes and they were underbaked. The third sheet was the charm at 300 degrees for 10 minutes with a rotation half way through baking! The hardest part was getting them off of the parchment paper so next time I will use silicone baking mats for sure!

 

Notes for next time:

1) the directions did not say this but while doign research I found that you should use dried egg whites, that is you separate the whites and let them sit out for 24-72 hours to reduce the moisture while still maintaining the protein bonds. I cheated and microwaved then for 15 seconds. Next time I will do it the right way and hopefully the batter will be a bit more stiff. (wish the book would have mentioned that)

2) use silicone baking mats.