Spring has Sprung!

Hi there!  I know it's been a while and I promise I didn't just up and vanish.  We have been busy here at GLC not only with business to do's but with the daily tasks that starting a homestead bring.  It's Spring so we have been working hard to get the garden tilled and the veggies planted, we are working on the workshop remodel (more info coming soon), and planning the chicken coop build!  Busy...Busy...Busy.
But we did get into the kitchen and make some new Spring Soaps and Candles!
But today we are going to talk photography...

For anyone trying to sell they're wares; photography is one of the most important things in your small business arsenal.  In this day of Internet shopping, Instagram, Facebook, and twitter...a good photograph can speak a thousand words...or followers.  And we love followers!

I have this beautiful wood platform that my handy father built for me to initially serve as a soap display.  It didn't work on the table as a display so I re-purposed it into a photography prop.  It took good pictures with the natural wood look, but I wondered if I could make it even better.

I took some ebony stain and applied it with a rag and immediately wiped it right off so the light wood grain would show through.



A simple project that took me literally five minuets to complete gave me a total transformation on my prop.  Now both the light and the dark colored soap stand out with this new background, and it's much more dramatic.
 The dark wood stands out and looks incredibly rustic.  I LOVE how this project turned out and can't wait to take more pictures on it.

I also played with using some botanicals as props to add interest and depth.  I don't usually add extras to my product photography.  I tend to be a minimalist..and frankly a little plain.  I have totally been missing out!  This soap was created to be a little plain, but by using botanicals I can add some interest and portray that this soap smells like Rosemary.  Bonus that it adds that rustic look to my photography that I LOVE.  I will definitely be experimenting with more props in my photography.

Now I am cheap (I'm sorry frugal), so I won't be heading out tomorrow to the local craft store to buy a bunch of props for upcoming photo sessions.  I will wait and see what I can pick from my garden.  I think the mint would be pretty fresh, and of course I have lots of dried botanicals I use every day for soapmaking.  I will keep my eye out for shells or pretty rocks at the beach, and look for stuff the next time I go junkin.

Do you use props in your product photography?
I'm sure I will find lots of Photography Inspiration on Pinterest!
Happy Soaping!





Stay tuned for more....I can't wait to show you all the workshop we have been working so hard on!  It's been a wildly fun re-purposed ride!  That's right...most of the workshop is being remodeled with re-purposed materials! I was going to wait until it was finished to do a series of blog posts...but I may give you all a sneaky peak!!!

New Year....New Ideas!!!!!

We have been working hard in the Soapy Lab the past few weeks to get all of our soap restocked from our busy Holiday Season.

As we restock bestsellers like; Mountain Man, Stormy Ocean Seas, Sparkling Sea Glass, and Lavender Goat's Milk. We also have some big ideas for a few new fragrances and styles to work on.

We played with some wonderful new RUBY RED Glitter (a freebie from one of our suppliers).  We used a basic white soap with a simple cocoa line (chalk line) for the design with a beautifully bright Gardenia fragrance.


We ordered in 12 new Soap and Bath & Body fragrances to play with this year.  Some of my favorites right out of the bottle are:

• Oatmeal Milk & Honey:  I have been meaning to order this one for ages....now I wish I hadn't waited so long.  It's absolutely incredible.
• Bamboo & Lotus:  This one will replace our cucumber & aloe.  It's fresh and clean; with just a hint of brightness that makes it oh so good.
• Cashmere & Silk:  This fragrance is a bit tricky to explain; it's soft, sensual, with just a touch of musk. 
• DeLish: I am in LOVE with this fragrance.  I am not going to give it away...but I promise it will be worth the wait!

We also have some new colorants to play with as well as a few new design techniques we would like to try this year.  I am dying to try a peacock swirl, but that one will have to wait until I can get my new mold that I want.  (an 18 bar flat mold with dividers).  For now I do have a few ideas up my sleeve for my standard loaf mods.

More Stripes are in our plans this year as well as playing more with squirt bottles, spoon swirls, and cocoa powder chalk lines.  I would also love to try out a Mica Glycerin swirl this year as well.

We also have a few other new things we can't wait to play with.  We will be experimenting with liquid and cream soaps as well as bringing our newly updated lotion back as well as a few Facial items we can't wait to share with you.

And that is just the beginning...we have many wonderful new Candle Fragrances that are currently in testing as well as a brand new Line of candles coming this year!

If you would like to keep in touch with us...you can also follow us on Facebook

Photography + Handmade Soap = Eye Candy!

If you have been following along then you know that I love making soap....and I also LOVE taking pictures.  

Another thing you may not know is my go-to soap making supplier is Bramble Berry.  There are many things I love about Bramble Berry, but the top two would have to be their Customer Service...and the fact that they two are right here in Washington.  Just a hop, skip, and a jump North of me about a hour and a half.  Sadly it has been ages since I've been up to Bellingham...but am thinking a road trip is in order sometime soon!

The Soap Queen (Anne-Marie) has been my soapy Idol for many years, and I have always looked to her blog for advice and inspiration.  You can find her blog Here.  

A few weeks ago we were honored to be chosen for Bramble Berry's Facebook Photo of the week contest.  I could hardly believe it when we found out...I screamed..my husband came running and asked what the big fuss was all about.

After showing him the blog post (which you can find here)  

he joined me in a happy dance...and said "Isn't that the Soap Queen lady that you admire so much"  Um YES!!

Needless to say we were extremely honored to be chosen for the Facebook Photo of the week from Bramble Berry, and would like to say a big gigantic THANK YOU  to everyone over there.  

  There is just something beautiful about soap....(that statement may just be true for us soap-aholics)

Fall is in the Air

The leaves are starting to change, and the air is growing crisp.  Hurray! Fall is finally here in the PNW.  Fall is my favorite season and to kick it off right I have 3 New candle fragrances joining my ever growing list of Fall Candle Fragrances.

Cranberry Apple Marmalade:  A festive blend of apples, oranges, spiced cranberries, cinnamon, clove and warm vanilla.

Apple Harvest:  A true, ripe apple fragrance combined with bright fruit notes and just a touch of spice.

Amish Harvest: This fragrance screams fall.  A exquisite blend of spices with just a touch of dried fruit notes.

We have been working on lots of other fun things for this years Holiday season. 

From beeswax candles to brainstorming some bath and body gift basket ideas!

Here are a few of our NEW items.

We have also been working on these adorable little travel sized tins.  These are perfect for small rooms and traveling. 

Just in time for your Harvest table: our brand new Hand-Rolled 100 % Beeswax candles.  Great for adding that special touch to your Harvest table or as the perfect hostess gift for your next holiday party.

Votives and Tealights now available in ready to give elegant Eco-chic gift boxes wrapped with a simple black raffia bow.  Votives are packaged in a pack of 4, and tealights are packaged in a dozen.

We have two amazing new soaps for fall:  Cranberry Citrus and Apple Jack

And as you can see our Pumpkin Spice Puree Garden fresh soap has darkened up perfectly now that it has cured!

We have lots of other wonderful stuff up our sleeve including a couple of craft projects and two up-cycle projects that we want to work on in the next couple of weeks. 

Back to Soap - the latest re-batch

I am getting back into the soapy kitchen this week.  Last week I played with re-batching some CP soap that wasn't so good.  Re-batching (also called Hand Milling) is a great way to use soap that either didn't turn out, or has lost it's fragrance. 

It's a great way to re-use something that would otherwise be a toss out. 

I had a few batches of CP soap that lost it's fragrance and needed a pick me up.

I love floral fragrances in soap, but floral can be tough in CP soap.  It tends to accelerate trace or separate completely for me.  I decided to use up some shreds I had from a previous batch that were uncolored...perfect for a purple lilac soap!

Step One:

Shred Shred Shred.  Grab a hand shredder (or a salad shooter if you want to save your wrists/elbows), a bowl, and your soap and shred.  I always do my shredding while catching up on my favorite shows! 

Step two:

The cook.  I cook my re-batch in my small crock pot I purchased specifically for this reason.  You can also use a double boiler, or even boil it in a bag.  I prefer the crock pot because I can do other things while it cooks, and it doesn't have to be watched quite as much.  So into the crock pot it goes on the lowest setting with the additives you choose to add.  This recipe is:

1/4c distilled water-I used 1/4c because this is an old batch of soap and was pretty dry.

You could also add a little bit of extra oils if you would like at this stage.  I did not in this recipe.

Step three:

Prepare your color and mold.  I am making a lilac soap so I dispersed Ultramarine Violet in about 1 tbsp of glycerin and let it sit and dissolve.  I love using liquid glycerin to disperse my Iron Oxides and Ultramarines because it tends to dissolve much better and there are not as many clumps.  You can always disperse the colorant in oil if that is what you choose.  In this case the original recipe had Olive, Coconut, Palm, Castor, Shea Butter, and Avocado so I would probably pick Avocado for dispersing.  You also want to prepare the mold you will be using.  I lined my small 1.5 lb log mold with freezer paper, this is going to be a small batch.

Step Four:

The waiting game.  Check your pot every so often and give it a stir so the soap on the bottom doesn't burn.  If it looks like it needs more water you can add a bit as needed; just remember the more extra water you add the more time will be needed for it to evaporate out later.  Check your color, see how pretty the purple looks. 

Step Five:

Adding color/fragrance.  Once your soap is fully cooked and looks like mashed potato goop, it's ready to add your color and fragrance.  Add your color first and stir well to incorporate, you may want to cook it for just a bit longer to fully incorporate your color.  Once color is fully incorporated you can add your fragrance. I used .5oz of fragrance to my 22oz soap.

Step Six:

Spoon into your prepared mold.  I used a log mold, which makes it fairly easy to spoon into.  I use what I call a spoon and slam method.  Spoon a little into your mold and then slam it onto your counter to get rid of the air pockets.  Repeat often to get your soap nice and air pocket free.  Once all of your soap is in the mold set it aside to cool. 

Step Seven:

Unwrap and cut!

The best part is seeing what your creation became.  Once your soap is cooled and hardened you can un-mold and cut it into bars.  I cut mine on all sides so that it would be nice rectangles with crisp edges, but if you would like to leave it more rustic you can cut it just into slices like you would normally cut a loaf of soap.

This small batch yielded 6 bars of hand-milled soap.  The fragrance is a nice strong lilac and smells beautiful. 

Making your own re-batch soap is super easy and super fun! You can use any soap to make re-batch, although I highly recommend a natural soap vs a commercial bar of soap.  You can get already shredded re-batch base at www.brambleberry.com which saves time not having to shred it yourself and provides endless possibilities! 

Our Bare Naked Natural soap would be perfect for this project because it is fragrance free, however I'm a big fan of recycling so use what you have laying around and see what happens!

Remember: if you have multiple colors in your soap shreds it's going to end up varying shades of brown or gray.

Good luck and Happy Soaping!

Soapy Goodness

The latest for your soapy pleasure is the NEW Enchanted soap!

Created with love with nourishing Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, Castor oil, and Mango Seed Butter.  Blended to perfection and topped with cocoa powder and turbinado sugar.

The bottom purple layer is colored with a mix of Burgundy Oxide and Ultramarine Blue Pigments and the middle is colored with a mix of Chromium Green Oxide and Yellow Oxide.  Each layer is seperated with a rich Cocoa Powder line.  Cocoa Powder is a natural Antioxidant and of course a pleasure for your senses.

The Fragrance is an Enchanting fragrance with top notes of ripe forest berries and sof sensual musk, middle notes of sweet mimosa flowers and apricots, and bottom notes of oak, juniper and musk.

It is truly ENCHANTED

Enchanted will be available for purchase in 5 weeks. 

For more information about our soapy story go to http://www.greenladycreations.com/

Prepping for our first Three Day Event!

We have been busy busy prepping for our very first 3-day festival.  This will be our very first 3 day long show and I am anxiously looking forward to this fun filled weekend.  I have daycare taken care of for my little ones (between my hubby, my brother-in-law, and my friend I think we have it covered) and I have even recruited a helper for Sat/Sun (thanks Sis).

We are working every day to stock up on our candles/melts, since we have all of our soap done.  I even have a few new things that I am excited to unveil at this show.  My hubby bought me a small presto pot and made it into a wax melter for faster production...I am in love with it.  Last night it cut my production time down by 2 whole hours!  Next time I am getting a bigger one!

So for the next couple of weeks I may be a bit quiet over here in my little corner of the blog sphere, I apologize in advance. 

Would you like some pretty pictures to hold you over?

Well I'm going to give you some anyway...because you know I love to look at pretty pictures!

My three favorite fragrances for this summer.  NEW Tuscan Melon & Apricot

Jamaica Me Crazy

and

Mango Papaya

You can't go wrong with any of these sweet summer treats for your senses! We also have another new sweet fragrance coming soon....

Not a fan of sweet...how about our Gardenia fragrance...it's a beautiful floral, or our Sea Mist...a great combination of floral and ocean. 

Shhhhh...don't tell anyone...but here is a sneak peak of my NEW Enchanted Collection candles

Look for them soon at our shows and online! They are almost finished.

We got a few new display baskets for our tables.  They are super cute and a great find at the used store for a dollar each!



Our new packaging for our Bath Salts was a huge hit at it's first show. 

The Detox soap turned out Beautiful! This one wont be ready until mid June.  It's so pretty even though it's plain.

Well so long for now. As always have a fantastic day!

Tons of SOAPY fun!

We have been a bit SOAPY over here at the GLC Studio!

In preparation for our summer shows we've been soaping up a storm! Since we make our CP soap the old fashioned way it takes 5 weeks for our soap to cure before it's ready for sale, this means that we have to be fortune tellers sometimes and try to get a fix on what we have planned for our summer shows.  I have made 16 batches of soap these past few weeks....that's over 135 bars of soap sitting on our curing rack! It feels good to have accomplished a goal!

So here's a sneak peak just for you!



Blackberry Sage

No name for this one yet, but I loved doing it! This one is a Faux Funnel pour.  It's scented in a fruity concoction of my own creation:  take a little bit of pineapple and coconut, add some ginger, and finish it off with a bright lime chaser!

Pomegranate; bright and fruity! I'm hoping this one doesn't discolor, the fragrance did state it had a bit of vanilla it in.  I guess we shall see!

Simple.elegant.soap:  Green Clover & Aloe. 

This one is a bit more perfume than I thought it would be, hoping it will calm down just a little bit.

And what is soon becoming a favorite of mine...and especially my husband.  This one is a custom blended Ocean type fragrance.  It's very clean and brisk.

Sometimes it works...and sometimes it doesn't

Ever have one of those batches that looks great sketched out on paper, and beautiful in your minds eye?  You've made a plan, sketched it out, readied your ingredients, have the perfect fragrance picked out..essentially everything is ready.  And then you make it, it's all going great, your fragrance behaves beautifully, you can see your idea coming to life, and when your done you look up and say "this is going to be awesome"...and right there...you've jinxed yourself. 

because the next day you unmold to find this horrid looking block of soap that just doesn't look good to you.  The colors are off, the fragrance turned into something that doesn't match the color scheme, or the entire project just didn't work.

Yep I've had a few of those...and just last week I had THREE in a row....thank you to those mischievous little soap pixies.

Wanna See...

I'll start at the beginning....It was a beautiful day...just kidding!

I got this amazing fragrance from one of my favorite Candle Fragrance suppliers called Pineapple Coconut.  It was so yummy OOB that I fell in love, it reminded me of the shampoo that really good salons use when you go get your hair cut, absolute heaven.

I tried originally to put it in a candle, but it has to much coconut in it and ended up smelling like toasted coconut/pineapple skewers...yuck. So in to the Soap fragrance bin it went (I love it when they are body safe too). 

My first plan with Pineapple coconut was to accent the pineapple with yellow and green colors.  I was thinking a yellow base with green top and make it spiky, or add soap curls for added pizazz. 

Wrong..bad...horrible idea...the curls looked terrible so I cut them off thinking that would help..nope wrong..still horrid. (well at least to me)

Once I cut the curls off I tried to bevel the edges and get it looking better.  By the time all was said and done they were not near the right size or weight that my soap should be.  Into my find something to do with these bin they go. 

 Then a few nights later I came up with a great idea.  So I shredded 2-3 bars of the above soap's yellow part only.  I thought how cool would it be to use the soap shreds in the bottom, with white on top.  Brilliant, I know I've seen it done before somewhere (sorry can't find where & I forgot to pin it) So There I went planning another experiment.  I had it all sketched out and ready to go. After pouring I had the hardest time waiting to un-mold..I was dying to see if it worked.

It did not...the layers did not stick together and some of the bottom portion fell off.  Maybe not enough alcohol spritz in between layers, or too much of the shreds? I don't know. 

]\

I was determined to at least try to save this batch the best I could.  I cut of the bottom portion, and just cut the bars much thicker than my standard bar so they at least where the correct weight.  It's going to be a bit of extra work making a soap wrap that is the right size just for these bars...but it was worth it to save this otherwise beautiful batch!

  

I do plan on trying one more batch of this fragrance.  I know I am a sucker for punishment.  However this time I will go basic, no fancy footwork or experiments just a nice plain, but elegant batch.  My goal this time is to try and get it whiter and more whipped texture on the top...and of course some glitter.  I am really loving this new glitter I got from Bramble Berry I am quickly becoming addicted, because, well every girl likes a little sparkle every now and then!

Thanks for taking the time to read this unusually large blog post, sorry it was so long.  I hope that if you were not inspired, you at least learned from my mistake, and if anyone has done the soap shreds with desired results; my hats of to you!



It's been a bit quiet over here...

I have been quiet lately, and I am very sorry!

Not a whole lot going on over here..I did get all of my spring soap finished and all of my new spring candle fragrances tested and ready for production.  I thought I would share with you the new spring soaps and bath & body stuff, as well as a few other things I'm working on.

New Spring Soaps



White Ginger





this is what it looks like from the side..pretty huh!





Energy



I love the white ginger and energy they are both so refreshing, and perfect for spring.  The White ginger ended up just how I wanted it (which as we know does not always happen).  The energy was supposed to be a swirl, but somehow I did not pour it early enough and it was too thick for a good swirl, it still turned out nice though.






Sweet Pea

 

Sea Glass

 

The Sea Glass is so pretty, the colors ended up very beachy, which was exactly what I wanted.  This fragrance moved fast so it's not really a swirl or a spoon pour, more of a mash up of both.  I started with spooning it in and had to move quick so swirled it also.  I think it turned out great.



 

White Lily & Amber

The white lily did not turn out as expected at all.  The fragrance on this one heated up like no other and did not hold up very well in CP.  It's still very nice and you can smell it, but not as strong as I wanted it to be.  I added a lot of Titanium Dioxide as it was supposed to be bright white with a pink top.  This fragrance dc to a light tan.  I love working with curls, and my customers love them.  The Spunky Violet is no exception! It's a beautiful fragrance and the soap turned out great!  The soap has three color layers: purple, green, and white.  I am happy with the way this one turned out!

 I like the plumeria too, it's always a good selling fragrance.  It morphed a little in my soap vs my candles, but is still a nice fragrance overall.

These are my new lil' freshies..."Fragrant little fresheners for just about anywhere" aren't they super cute?  So far they are doing great at shows, everybody loves them.  I am working this week on getting more fragrances into the fresheners, and am hoping to eventually have every one of my candle fragrances available in a freshie.  They come packaged in a recyclable plastic ziplock bag to keep them fresh.  I use them in my car, and in my closets...I love them!

We are also working on Fragrant body oil.  It will come in one ounce glass bottles for now.  I am working on some fragrance blends as well as some essential oil blend.  These are not stocked yet..I am working on it though!  My other project this week is Fragrant Body and Room sprays, I don't have a pic yet, but they are my project for this week as well as stocking all the spring candles. 

So there is what I have been working on.  I have a lot on the calender this week including stocking up on all of the Spring Candle Fragrances..I'll post a list of the new scents next blog post!  I am also working on a new candle collection inspired by my love of magic and enchantment! Next week it's on to some more soap projects as well as working on votive candles to add to our collection!

I hope you are all keeping busy also...I for one can not wait for the spring shows to begin! 

Have a great day!