View pictures of my winter soap collection for 2022/2023 below. Now on to a spring collection maybe I will start with a cherry blossom soap! Stayed tuned! Soaps are sold on Etsy and at individual markets throughout the year.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DMandSoap
…..with COVID still hanging around and the flu is back with a bang but we are talking about soap here.
During COVID I took a hiatus and now I am back full swing with new soap formulas and designs. Also, a lot of experimenting with new items and novelty soaps. New toy this year is a light box in hopes of boosting my mediocre photo skills. Trying to get excited about selling my soap (not nearly as fun as creating soap). I have an Etsy shop which I am trying to boost up until I get the hang of selling on this site. I have signed up for three markets/festivals already which two more than I have done in the past! Here is a look at some of my new products:
This is the best method so far but this is in my shower. The wire rack lets out all the water and the soaps dry out between each use! You may ask why I have so many soaps in my shower! I test each soap that I make and sell. I test each one when it is first ready and they I try them again after several months to a year to see how they have changed. For the most part most soaps get better with age but I did have one that changed to a color that didn’t look good so – no go – not for sale! The soap dishes made from wood are pretty wonderful also you just have to have a wide enough soap dish to hold the base.
This year I decided to enter a soap challenge. I am a newbie in this arena but what a great way to learn new techniques and learn from some of the best in the business! The challenge that I am entering this month is the Salt Crystal Challenge.
Using the a 9 bar Birchwood mold (I wish I used this mold more, I had a hard time releasing them from the dividers) I made this cold process soap with Olive, Coconut, and Rice Bran Oils, with Shea Butter and Tamanu Oil. Using some micas I colored the pink Himalayan salt (the colors of the West Virginia Mountaineers). I added a blend of essential oil and fragrance oil called Headache that smells wonderful. I placed the colored salt in various spots in the mold, blended the soap to a medium trace and pour over the salt. I put the soap in the oven to warm and waited (it was so hard to wait) 48 hours to unmold. I was quite happy with the results. I added some cracks and painted them with mica mixed with alcohol. Time to fill out the entry form and take pictures (I could use some skills in this area).
Below are some (although there are so many) pretty great resources:
#soapchallengeclub
#madmicas
#brambleberry
#crafterschoicefragrances
#nurturesoap
You can check out my soaps on Etsy: etsy.com/shop/DMandSoap
Let’s try to concentrate on the “happy” for 2021. It has already been a trying year and we are only one week in. DMand Soap is adding a new product this year. I have been trying out different sugar scrub recipes and I finally found one that I would like to incorporate into my line of products. This sugar scrub is wonderfully exfoliating and the avocado oil leaves your hands feeling very soft. This batch is made with a lovely fragrance oil called Tranquil and it smells so gooooood!
Instagram @dmandsoap
Coming to my Esty Shop soon: etsy.com/shop/DMandSoap
This is my first “Collection” in my soaping journey. The soaps pictured below are in my Fall Collection. Finally made another Lemon Poppy Seed Soap which would be great for exfoliating and cleaning your hands after prepping your garden for fall . The Lemon Poppy Seed Soap is all natural, vegan-friendly, and palm free. The second soap in the collection smells like apples, a perfect fall smell! Tried to mimic different names of apples with colors using pinks, reds, and greens. Of course we have a “Happy Halloween” soap made with Activated Charcoal, Shea Butter, and Kaolin Clay. What a treat. We are starting to make gift sets for the holidays. We made a matching Shave and a Haircut Bath Truffle to go with our Shave and a Haircut soap. The smell of these two items is said to be masculine but to me the scent has a “clean” smell and would be amicable to all. These Bath Truffles are made with nice oils to moisturize your skin but be careful they will leave your bathtub slippery. My favorite soap of this collection is Campfire! I love a good campfire, firepit, and my fireplace at home. I tried to make this colorful to look like dancing flames. Campfire was made with a new technique that I used for the first time and couldn’t be happier with these results. Campfire is vegan friendly made with two types of butters. I am thinking about adding one more soap, maybe apple pie….we will see what happens. Christmas soaps coming soon. Campfire, Happy Halloween, and Bath Truffles are available now on Etsy – etsy.com/shop/dmandsoap. The others will be available soon.
Happy Fall,
DM
Today I was making a couple of hand washing videos for my Etsy site (Etsy.com/shop/dmandsoap) and thought I would share one here. Hope everyone is using really great soap with every 20 second hand wash! There has been a lot of interest in my Cotton Candy soap over on Etsy so I used a bar here to demonstrate the soap. It is so creamy and I love the bubbles. I try to make sure that most of my soaps have a great lather. Now that I think of it, next time I will used my shower sponge to demonstrate. You get a really thick lather with the shower sponge (what do you call those round netty things that hang in your shower). Hope everyone is practicing social distancing. It’s seems a pretty simple thing to do for now in order help get us past COVID-19 until our numbers go down. Thankfully many younger people can get over the symptoms without dire circumstances but that is not the case for everyone. Stay safe!
I have to say that I love the way this soap turned out. This was a tough soap to work with and I thought all was lost. I tried a new swirl, six colors, and a new fragrance (perhaps not the best combo first time around). Each color reacted differently (from no acceleration to a slight acceleration, and a full out acceleration) when the fragrance oil was added which has never happened to me before. Soaping always has surprises that end up amazing you – look at that swirl! I couldn’t be happier. This soap will be ready for purchase in June 2020! Stay safe and wash your hands often.
to participate in markets this year to sell my soaps, they are canceled! I applied to markets starting in April (my first one in 2020 would have been tomorrow) and throughout the summer. I never thought I would sell my soap online but here I am now selling soap on Etsy. We will see how it goes. One thing I have to do is work on my presentation, lighting, and soap descriptions. During this PHE (public health emergency) I hope everyone stays safe, practices social distancing, and stays home as much as possible. Don’t forget to wash your hands with soap!
This is from the CDC. Go here for more information: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/prevention.html
DMand Soap