A beautiful inspirational workshop

I found this beautiful inspirational workshop on flickr. I could not find the soap brand but her screen name is ellenapril if you want to check her other pics out.
I would really like to upgrade my soap lab to this...it's nice and cozy, very well organized and set up into different stages...which is required by law in CR.
I need to convince the hubby to take this on along with building our house...which FYI is on week 4 of 18 :-):-):-)

Does your workshop inspire you to be the best?

xoxo
Irene

Nomada fair

After a long pause...I'm trying to get back on the horse...the blogging horse that is. Today I have for you guys a nice pic of my table at what I hope will be a permanent fair, every Saturday and Sunday.
I'm a little scared as the venue seems a little dead, but the project includes a space where I could give lessons during the week. Today was the first day so anything can happen!
I feel like I should be doing more but I don't know where to start...It's a little overhwelming to say the least.
Enough whining and more action...take risks is this year's motto...so of we go!
xoxo
Irene

Eucalyptus Mint Goat's Milk Soap

Here's what I've been working on this week... It's a beautiful mix of eucalyptus and mint EOs, layered green and white with a failed attempt at white texturing on the top which I hid underneath calendula petals. In the end it turned out beautiful and no one will ever know the hardships of trying to do a textured top on this soap!

Since it's made with goat's milk instead of water, I tried to prevent gelling by froze it for one day, then putting it on the fridge for another day to "defrost" and now it's been sitting on my worktable for about two days and is still too soft to cut. I'll wait two more days to see what happens. For once I'm glad the temp outside has dropped a bit, that way I don't have to worry about the soap suddenly deciding to gel :)

It smells just absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to try it!

On another note, it seems I can request a review of my case in the local government's office, that way I might get approved to have the shop where I live. I really don't want to have to rent!!

Wish me luck!

xoxo
Irene

Squirt Bottle Technique - How To Video

And it's here! The video I promised you guys. It shows how I did used squirt/ketchup bottles to simulate the spooning technique.



Enjoy!!

Irene

Sneak peak!

Wow! It's been a long while since I wrote anything! Sorry about that! Between being on business trips, vacations, planning for the new house and a terrible soaper's block it's been difficult just getting up in the mornings. But I'm back! (hopefully) and with new ideas and full of energy. I want to get this party started :)

I have a sneak peek for you guys today. Have you ever had a fragrance that you just love but it doesn't seem to sell that well? I've come to the theory that it all depends on the color, I had one that just would not sell, change the color and it flew off the shelves. So I have this other one which I just haven't gotten to yet, until today. So to break my soaper's block I used a new technique (new to me at least) and revamped the fragrance....so here's a riddle...what is a lovely fresh men's fragrance that smells like the color seafoam green should smell like, is named after a "green country" and a fabric? Green Irish Tweed!!! I just LOOOVE that fragrance but it just doesn't click with the multiple colors/techniques I've used. So today I gave it a really strong ultramarine blue and neon green coloring using the sauce bottle technique. I made the bottom 2/3 white, and the top third I alternated squirting soap from the bottles. I hope it turns out really nice! I've been meaning to try Kafé's spoon technique but just don't have the patience for it, I think the bottle technique will give me a similar look without driving me completely nuts!

I've just finished the log, so I'll be cutting tomorrow afternoon and hopefully will have a really nice video of the whole thing by Friday - crossing my fingers that life won't get in the way :)

I leave you with a pic of how it looks so far...

xoxo
Irene