New Soaperstar Store is opening Tomorrow!!!

Well, it's be a long road but I'm so happy to announce that the Soaperstar online store will be opening officially tomorrow, Sunday 1 November!!!

I'm so excited and so nervous and I'm SO hoping that everyone likes it! It's very much a fledgling business at the moment and I know I have work to do to build up stock - so much time seems to have gone into building the actual site up til now.  Added to that, we've had family visitors over for the last two weeks almost and so my time has been very tight in getting this all up and running so bear with me if the store seems somewhat sparse at the moment. 

I have to admit I'm really nervous about it all - I'm just hoping that everyone likes what I've put up and that it all goes really smoothly.  I'm sure I'll get into my groove very soon with it though!!! And I am so missing soapmaking at the moment that I just need that "soapy me" time to create ... such a brilliant stress reliever!

So, please feel free to come and join me at the Soaperstar Online Store from tomorrow, Sunday 1 November!!!!

New Soap Queen video

Yet another great Soap Queen video - concentrating on using rubber stamps in creating your designs... I love Anne-Marie's videos, such a great resouce!


Soap Queen TV: Holiday Stamp Soap from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

More soaps!!!

Well my lovely Coffee Culture©soap (as mentioned in the post below) wasn't a happy bunny and decided to reject it's lovely creamy top! But, no matter, because glycerine soap allows you to re-do but, of course, I had to redesign as well.  So here is my new Coffee Culture (Mark II!) which I acutally love even more!!

I really adore the colour bands in this soap - the dark is made with lots of wonderful natural mica (a natural mineral that glistens - your own eyeshadow will be predominantly made with it).  I actually love this soap even more than the original one! However, not sure I could reproduce this look again... but I can try!!!

I also made a lovely Christmas themed soap this weekend, this is Christmas Glistens©... it has a very festive combination of sweet fruits, wine and spices and just smells so much like Christmas to me.  I choose to make it with very festive colours of red and gold too... I've also added Golden Jojoba Oil (keeping with the gold theme!) and my usual skin softening additive.  This soap was made primarily for a soap swop (or swoap) that is currently taking place on a forum I visit - I sent off my packages on Monday and I'm hoping that everyone receives them in the next few days.  The point of the swop is to have people test your products and give a full and frank review - they can say whatever they want about it! I'm rather anxious but only because I really hope they love them.  I'll post a picture here but hoping they don't see it before the packages arrive!!

Two more new Soaperstar Soaps

Hi all... well my new stainless steel cutter arrived from the US! Yay! With two new blades, a smooth one for clean cuts and a crinkle blade which creates a lovely wave on the surface of the soap.  These were made about 10 days ago and have been sitting in their cosy little homes waiting for the cutter to arrive.  Hubby and I decided to cut them tonight and take pics using the new photobox he made me. 

This is called Coffee Culture© and its a combination of clear glycerine and goatsmilk soap, with added cocoa butter and an additional skin moisturising agent... it's fragrance is a sweet coffee, vanilla and roasted hazelnuts, good enough to wake you up in the morning. 

The next one is called Orange Blush©, it's fragranced with bergamot and orange blossom with delicate cottony florals with a base of precious powdery musks, a really beautiful scent.  It also has added apricot kernel oil to make a very luxurious soap.  It's very suitable for both men and women.  This soap also has added mica which gives it a lovely glisten too. 

Hope you enjoy both of these new soaps - our website, http://www.soaperstar.com/, will be open very shortly - keep an eye out for updates!!!

© Soaperstar, October 2009

The making of a new Website

I have spent the whole day working on my new website .. I have never done anything like it before and decided to go for one of those "off the shelf" types that you can than customise yourself.  I wanted to be able to make something that I can manage and control myself and not just hand it over to someone else who does everything and then hands it back - I'd never learn a thing that way! So I decided to jump in with both feet and do it myself... so far it's been good fun and I even worked out how to make my own banner.  Ok, you might be saying that everyone in the world and their cat might know how to do that already but I didn't so I'm chuffed with myself!

To be honest, I never knew there was so much work in setting up a site - and it's not so much the visuals but coming up with the actual content.  I know what I want to say and what my mission is but putting it into words is a whole other ballgame.  So I'm putting it all down in plain English right now and will go back and re-read and re-edit until it says what I want it to say.  Thankfully, my products really lend themselves to some great visuals so I can count on that .. just needs to words to back it all up. 

I worked all day on it and decided to stop around 6.00 pm - I realised then that I hadn't taken a break at all, for most of the day.  Honestly, you'd think soaping was a nice easy little hobby wouldn't you?! No matter though, I'm really enjoying it and finding I really like the graphic side of things - something I didn't know about myself at all. 

I'm hoping to be open for 1 November if I can make it and will be blogging about my adventures to get to that point.. and after no doubt! Keep an eye out for our new website!!!

Gingerbread Men - New Soap Queen Video

Soap Queen TV: Gingerbread Soap Project from Soap Queen on Vimeo.


Oh I'm loving this new Soap Queen video - the cutest little Gingerbread Men soaps ever! Thanks Anne-Marie, for yet another great video. 

Sorry no posts - been a busy bee!

Hi everyone!! I have to say sorry for not posting here lately .. I've been so busy in work at the moment that it seems to have taken over my head!! I have been busy soaping but no pictures for you (booo... hisss!!!) because I've had some major issues with my lovely cutter.  That is to say, the cutter guide itself is fine but my blade decided to go complete wonky!! It started to bend and warp, giving me the oddest shaped soap bars! I can tell you that I was NOT a happy bunny at all.  I will admit that I cried over them.  I spend so much time designing and creating my soaps and I adore every single one of them that it upsets me if something goes wrong with them. So, when I've spent a lot of time and energy designing, creating and making soaps that I want you all to love as much as I do, you can see why I'd cry tears when, at the very last stage, it all goes mad!

So, I decided, instead of crying my eyes out like a big girl's blouse (I heard you saying it, don't deny it LOL), to fix the problem.  So I've ordered a new stainless steel cutter box with two stainless steel cutting blades - one straight smooth cutter, and one crinkle cutter.  I decided to go with a company that sells equipment specifically made for the soaper - both professional and home crafter.  I dealt with the lovely Brandy at http://www.soapequipment.com/ and just received an email to say that my equipment is on the way.  So now my two new lovely soaps which are cosy in their soapy mould homes are waiting for their new cutters to arrive.  I am dying to open them up but I don't want more tears and tantrums (I didn't mention the tantrum you say? .. ooops must have forgotten that!) so I decided they can wait.  Dying to show you the pics and dying to get my equipment - so, as soon as it arrives, believe me that I'll be posting you pictures... I'm having withdrawal symptoms!!!

Sorry to have been so tardy in posting pics but photos of nice soaps are much nicer than wonky bars!!