Let's try this blog thing

I got into making soap last August after some hobby hopping (watercolour painting, computer building, photography, snowboarding, cake decorating)... through Soap Making School run by Rene Whitlock who has a curriculum of making cold process, hot process, and liquid soaps along with tons of other bath and body products. 

I've tried making lotions, bath bombs, and sugar scrubs, and I've got the supplies to make parafin candles and lip balms (just haven't gotten around to it) but soap is definitely my preferred medium.  

Of course my first couple of batches I jumped in too quickly and tried to make everything fancier than I knew how.  Then I slowed down after building up a collection for the Xmas giveaway season - most of which I didn't even have time to test myself.

Christmas soaps

After a couple months off (finally used the rest of the Xmas soap), I got motivated to make some more when a co-worker showed interest in buying some of my soap and inspired when I found such blogs as Shieh Design Studio and Amathia Soapworks which both have some incredible CP soap.  So after a couple hundred dollars worth of new scents and supplies I set about trying some more advanced techniques:

Haven't quiet gotten the hang of layering (Fir & Bamboo scent)

Swirling is still kind of iffy too.

I had a few "Ohhhhh yeah..." moments especially with the drop swirl technique I was trying to do.  So now I know - don't add powdered honey to soap batter; it won't melt by it self.

Wonderfully hard bar with nice fluffy lather... just ugly (black raspberry vanilla)

Then things start to come together - I get the feel for when to stop mixing with the stick blender, what the difference between "light" and "medium" trace is, what happens when you try to pour layers when the soap batter is too thin (you don't get layers).

The watermelon soap is the first one that turned out exactly as I had imagined, and the tiger stripe is a close second.

Smells like watermelon candy

Could be a better but okay for a first try (Bergomot/jasmine)

So the plan is to keep photos of soap, results of experiments, and improve my photographing skills a bit.