Kismet ... Redesign & Bright Colours

I have a thing for bright colours.. they always make me happy and joyful and put a smile on my face.  What more could you ask for? I'm a huge fan of pink (you just have to look at my range to see that) and I ADORE the combo of hot pink and orange together... I always thought they look so great.  So, when it came to my restock marathon, I knew I just had to make a hot pink and orange soap and I knew just the soap to make.

Kismet is another redesign of a big favourite of our customers - I decided to kick it up a notch though, from last time, so, this time round, this Pure Silk soap contains our ever loving blend of Sweet Almond & Golden Olive oil along with lashings of creamy Cocoa Butter .. then we added our new Triple Milks formula which is lots of Buttermilk, Goatsmilk & Coconut Milk ... natural sources of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and a natural source of AHA's plus all those milk fats are sooooooooo good for your skin.

Then I added White Kaolin Clay to give the soap more slip and glide plus it helps remove dirt and excess oils, Colloidal Oatmeal which gives a silky feel and helps to condition and soften your skin.  It's also said to be excellent for dry, itchy, sensitive skin.  I added, of course, our pure wild tussah silk for extra luxury and silkiness.. you can't have a Pure Silk soap without actual real silk in it.

The fragrance is a stunning blend of  Patchouli, Orange, Lemongrass, Lavendin, Pine, Gardenia, Sandalwood & Musk and oh boy, does it smell SO GOOD!! It's a VERY popular fragrance for us and I suspect that this soap will be running off the shelves once cured!

The technique that I used here is one I laughingly call "The Celine Swirl"... I'm sure there's another name for it and someone else has done it before (there's very little new under the sun after all) but I don't know what it's called so I just called it The Celine Swirl.  Funny thing now is other soapers are trying it out and calling it that - hilarious!

Here is the Making Of video and it shows you just how to do The Celine Swirl (I laugh everytime I write that you know!):




Here is the Cutting video so you can see just how the swirls worked out:




And here are our still photographs, taken, as always by the incredible Titch Holland from http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch:

I really hope you like the soaps ... check out the website at http://www.iamhandmade.com if you are interested in purchasing one or seeing any of the other soaps we offer. 

Enjoy!

Cashmere Pure Silk Luxury!

Another restock, another top seller, another hanger swirl! Yep I'm really enjoying these restocks ... some soapers may find it dull to keep having to make and remake the same soaps but I am loving this.  I have to say that I'm having huge fun working with bright colours and stunning micas again, I miss those babies! And glitter, oh boy, did I miss glitter!!

Cashmere is a soap I've had in the range since the beginning, the second I smelt the fragrance I knew I had to have it and I love it as much now as I did then.  I got the idea for the colours from an image on Google images which was of a cashmere scarf and it looked so luxurious, so rich, so utterly lovely and almost decadent that I knew I had my colours decided!

The soap is one of our Pure Silk cold process soap range and is made with Sweet Almond & Olive Oils with lashings creamy Cocoa Butter.  I've also added Aloe Vera, and what I'm calling our new triple milk formula - Buttermilk, Goatsmilk & Coconut Milk along with White Kaolin Clay & Colloidal Oatmeal.

The benefits of milk for the skin has been known for centuries, they're a natural source of AHA's and protein along with natural fats that help to condition your skin to the highest degree.  Aloe Vera has also been used for centuries as a rich source of vitamins and antioxidants, amongst other things, as have clays and oatmeal.  Basically I take the best that nature provides and combine them in such a way that you have a luxurious, stunning, skin loving, beautifully perfumed piece of art that is not only a beauty to look at but a beauty to use.

Cashmere is fragranced with a blend of essences of Moroccan jasmine, lily of the valley and bergamot with warm undertones of sandalwood, amber and musk. It is one of my favourites, warm and sexy and simply divine.

So, here is the Making Of video - again, catch up with the How To of a Hanger Swirl:




And for the reveal of how the swirl worked out, check out the Cutting video:



And here are the still photos from the incredibly talented, Titch Holland whose other work you can view at http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch (check out her page):

I really hope you enjoy this videos and images - the soap will be fully cured by 22 August and should be available as a pre-order, online at http://www.iamhandmade.com, just shortly before then.  Enjoy!!!

Adam + Eve - New Design

In keeping with the restocking/redesign theme we started with Peony Sorbet, I had to do a remake of our Adam + Eve Pure Silk Soap.  This is, again, one of our top sellers because the scent is just so lovely and the black and white design is always a classic favourite.  However, there's classic and there's oh I've seen that a hundred times before and I wanted this classic to be a WOW classic, if you see what I mean.

The soap is made with Sweet Almond & Golden Olive Oils with lashings of creamy Cocoa Butter but not just that, it also has Aloe Vera, Buttermilk, Goatsmilk & Coconut Milk along with White Clay and Colloidal Oatmeal.  It's fragranced with Vanilla Anise - this fragrance is described as blending the incredible fragrance of Madagascan Orchid Vanilla with the spicy accent of anise and the warmth of vetiver, amber and clove, creates an unexpected, modern story of vanilla.  It is truly a divinely deep scent and one loved by both men and women.

I coloured the black part of the soap using Midnight Black Clay & Activated Charcoal which are both extremely good for the skin in terms of cleansing and removing excess oils.

So, challenging myself to the hanger swirl again (and a great opportunity to see it done again if you're a little nervous about trying it), I remade Adam + Eve and you can see the Making Of video here:




And you can see the reveal when we do the Cutting video here:




Here are the stills photos taken, as always, by our favourite photographer, Titch Holland from http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch (make sure to check out her page!).. hope you like them:

The soap will be fully cured by 20 August and should be on the site just shortly before then for ordering.  Hope you enjoy the photos and videos!!!

A Redesign, Remake & a Tutorial

In the midst of my exploration of our Pure Essential Soap range, I found out that stocks of some of our favourites and top choice soaps were running low, or in a lot of cases, were already run out! Eeek! Time to restock methinks.

So, you know, I can never just have a re-do, I have to have a whole redesign and, as ever with something different, I have to try something new.  Well not 100% new for me but a more in-depth exploration of a technique I'd only tried once before.

Peony Sorbet is one of our most popular soaps - it was the second highest ranking of soaps bought for Christmas this year and it's always in the top 3 of our most popular soaps so to let it run out is a crime.  It's a stunning fragrance, so close to the real scent of peonies, which, if you've never smelt up close and personal, you need to because they are just beautiful.  It's like a rose scent but not the old lady kind of powdery rose scent you can get (that I don't like myself), it's a more vibrant rose, with a definite raspberry hint to it.. it is just beautiful.  Even Titch loves it and she's not a floral girl at all.

So, as always, the ingredients of the soap come first so that you can experience the best possible skin loving experience ever... I made this with Sweet Almond & Golden Olive oils with lashings of creamy Cocoa Butter plus Aloe Vera, Goatsmilk, Coconut Milk, White Clay, Colloidal Oatmeal and Pure Wild Silk.  It is a joy to the skin!

Next, the redesign - I decided to investigate the hanger swirl more ... what is the hanger swirl I hear you say? Well, I can't explain it in words so much as show you, so here's our Making Of video:




Neat huh? I hope I showed you well enough what's involved. So, to see how it all comes out, here's our Cutting Of video:




And for more stills images, here are the photos taken for us specially by Titch Holland of http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch fame:

Peony Sorbet will be fully cured on 20 August and we are taking pre-orders now at http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_1591945-Peony-Sorbet-PreOrder-Cure-Date-20-August.html ... hope you enjoyed the soaps and I'd love to see your photos with the hanger swirl technique.

Serenity Pure Essential Soap

I fancied making something pink coloured but, again, using only natural colours and my first choice was, of course, pink clay.  Now, there does seem to be some differences in pink clays you get from different suppliers - not too sure why - but they do provide slightly different pink colours.

The concept for Serenity came from the essential oil blend that I developed comprises 5 Fold Orange, Bourbon Geranium, lemony May Chang (or Litsea as it's also called), deep dark Indonesian Patchouli and one of my utter favourite, exotic floral Ylang Ylang.  The name came from this blend and then the design for the soap came after.  Of course, the goodies in the soap came first - as they rightly should, after all, we buy soap to use on our skin, not just to sit and stare at all day! I hate when people say "it's too good to use" .. no way, all my soaps are made for your skin first, for design second! Anyway, the skin goodies include Aloe Vera, organic Green Yogurt, Goatsmilk, Coconut Milk, Sweet Almond & Golden Olive oils, tons of creamy Cocoa Butter, white, pastel pink and pale pink clay, cocoa powder and it's all topped with dried rose petals.  I have to tell you that this is going to be a stunner to use and a stunner to look at!!!

Here is the Making Of video:




And then the Cutting video:





And, finally, some still photography from Titch at http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch - she's an incredible naturally talented photographer.

I really hope you like Serenity - she is one of my favourites so far and a joy to make and to smell!! If you'd like to purchase one, check out the link at http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_2089442-Serenity-PreOrder-Cure-Date-23-July.html.

Enjoy!!

Indigo Earth Pure Essential Soap

I wanted to make a blue soap .. but a natural blue which is quite difficult.  Indigo was my first choice and I was looking for a blue jeans sort of colour but indigo tends more towards the grey side of blue.  Even still, I think it worked out to a beautiful colour, almost like a slab of marble.

Indigo Earth is made with Sweet Almond & Golden Olive Oils & lashings of creamy Cocoa Butter, it also has Aloe Vera, organic Greek Yogurt, Goatsmilk & Coconut Milk, Kaolin Clay, Colloidal Oatmeal & Pure Silk.... it is total luxury for your skin!

I fragranced it with our own blend of sherberty lemony May Chang, herbal soft & smoothing Lavender and deep & dark Indonesian Patchouli and sprinkled the tops with ground Lemon Peel & Blue Poppy Seeds ... it smells incredible!

Here is the Making Of video:




And the Cutting video:




And, finally, here are the still photos courtesy of Titch Holland from http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch.

Hope you enjoyed the videos and photos ... if you're interested in purchasing one of the Indigo Earth soaps, just check out our website at  http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_2089397-Indigo-Earth-PreOrder-Cure-Date-23-July.html

Enjoy!!!