The Soap Conference Part Deux

I feel pretty lucky to have been at the conference this year.  I met some wonderful people and left with lifetime friends and family, if you can even believe it.  Well I have decided to be part of the staff next year at the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild's conference in Tucson, Arizona.  I encourage you all to save up now and sign up for the conference.  It's not only a great learning experience, but a chance in a lifetime to meet people you may really connect with.  For now or for life.  It was an experience to say the least.  

Here are some photos that I cherish:

Tricia Samundsen and Me - last day of conference

Amanda Griffin, Charlene Simon and Me - Party Night

Charlene Simon and Tanya Rasley - Winning Duo

Soap Conference '13 - HSCG- Part 1

I attended the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild's (HSCG) soap conference a couple of weeks ago and I am still feeling the love from the whole experience.  I am utterly shocked, dazed and content by my experience.  Many months ago, Leigh O'Donnell of HSCG, asked if I'd be interested in speaking at the 2013 conference.  ME?!?  I was scared, excited and honored all at the same time.  I've been wanting to go to their soap conferences for many years, but could not attend for different reasons.  Well, this time, I wasn't going to miss it!

So....she asked me what I like to make and I told her "Milk Soaps. I make it differently than how I was taught."  So I told her about my technique and she said it was perfect.  I said,"it's just an easy way to do it.  Like a cheat."  And she shuts me right up and says, "That is innovative!  Not cheating!!  If you teach someone how to do something an easier way, they will want to know it!" 

oh, ok.....So months went by...weeks...days.... until I finally packed up and got on the plane.

I arrived at the hotel, checked-in and found my room.  Ahhh, it was perfect, I fell onto the bed, stretched out and closed my eyes.  Finally.  I head downstairs and who do I find but the lovely Tricia Samundsen!  Then one by one, I meet the crew, coordinators, board members....A ton of people.  Instantly I felt at home.  This was where I belonged when I wasn't with my family.  I felt in in my bones.

Raleigh was my slice of heaven for the weekend.  All mine.  Bwua ha ha!

Dinners, drinks, seminars, breakfast meet-ups, parties and lots of laughs. Just a little background on me, if you don't already know, I am pretty much a homebody and don't go out that much, mostly because of the lack of people that reside here in South Florida, but I've never been a particularly social being.  The conference weekend yanked me out of my shell.  I met some sweet, loving, and interesting people all in one place.  I made friends so quickly.  A treat to say the least.

I spoke at the conference...two seminars in one day, each for about an hour and there were approximately 100 people in each seminar.  Honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it, but the guest speaker was Ann Evanston, who gave a beautiful and inspiring motivational speech the morning of my seminars, that it completely took me to a different notch and I felt okay being ME in front of a crowd.  I channeled the authentic self that I am and relaxed enough to just be and share what I do instead of worrying so much about what others thought of me.  Big step for me, folks, big step.  

 

***

I know that many of you wanted to find out the method I spoke about, (which really isn't anything new) and I have just been too busy to post it.  Here is the basic jist of it.  Please do not make this unless you have a number of successful cold process batches under your belt.  And know that I can't be held responsible for what YOU make...this is just an explanation of how I  do it.  :)

Overview: We all know that soap is created by combining oils with lye.  But when you add milk to your soap, you’re also adding sugars and proteins to the equation and thus creating a new chemical composition: Milk Soap.  Although that can sound daunting, there is no reason to be nervous about trying milk soap for the first time, or taking another shot at it if you’ve sworn it off because of past disasters.  I’ve devised a way to make milk soaps that come out the same way every time.  For me.

Background: Because milks contain sugar, they will heat up your soap batter and can speed up trace which can leave little time to incorporate the ingredients and finish your soap.  The traditional way to prevent this from happening is to freeze your milk ahead of time and then add lye to the milk cubes very slowly while mixing into a slushy solution.  Many people successfully make milk soaps this way, but it has some issues for me and I hate issues.  My technique alleviates the following problems while producing a few bonus benefits.

Problems with the traditional way:

 “When I add the lye to the milk, it makes a horrible ammonia stench!”   

“My lye solution turned orange-y brown”.

 “Freezing milk requires hours of additional planning and wrecks my work schedule.  It also clutters up my freezer.”

 “I don’t like adding milks during the most caustic stage of saponification.” 

- - --  -Some people feel this can damage milks and degrade their benefits.

My solution resolves all of those problems.  You’ll avoid nasty smells and color changes, free up your schedule, and protect delicate ingredients.  All you need to do now is pick the milk for the soap you’ll be making.   

Milk Properties

For the conference's demonstration, I used two milks separately in two different batches:

Buttermilk   It is often used in making baby soap because of its gentle properties and is great for sensitive skin.  It contains alpha-hydroxy acid, which is used in facial preparations.  It isn’t clear if those acids survive saponification (but my technique should up the odds), but buttermilk creates a wonderful smoothness.

Coconut milk is preferred by vegans, and is technically plant milk.  Coconut milk’s main fatty acid, lauric acid, is known for its great skin nourishing benefits and to have both anti-carcinogenic and anti-viral properties.  It adds moisturizing and gentle cleansing qualities in addition to the fluffy lather it brings to your soap.  

SCENT CHANGES:          Milks impart little to no scent in your final soap.   

COLOR CHANGES:          Buttermilk creates a beige soap and coconut milk creates an off-white soap.

Simple Milk Soap Recipe

This is a basic cold process soap recipe which I prepared to demonstrate my technique of making milk soap without the hassle of frozen milk cubes, horrific ammonia stink and discolored lye mixture. 

Concentrated Lye Solution - Caution!  This amount of water is half the liquid typically used with this amount of lye.

-----

Lye Solution

Distilled Water                    210 grams

Lye                                      184 grams

*

Oils

Olive                                    516 grams

Palm Oil                               388 grams

Coconut Oil 76 °                  388 grams

*

Milk - liquid form, room temp.

Coconut / Buttermilk           210 grams

Directions:

• Combine lye and distilled water, mix until incorporated.  Let cool to just above room temperature.
• Melt and combine all oils.  Let cool to just above room temperature.
• With your stick blender immersed into the oils and burped, slowly introduce your concentrated lye solution.  Continuously stir; blend in short bursts.  Because the lye solution is concentrated, the soap batter may not thicken consistently.  Don’t worry!  That’s normal.  Just keep stirring with occasional bursts of power until smoothly blended and you reach a light trace.
• Pour your room temperature (not frozen) milk in at a slow, steady speed while, continuing to stir and apply short bursts of power from your blender until fully incorporated.  Pour into your mold.   You’re done! 

Some other milks you can use (*indicates vegan milks):

Goat

Sheep

Cow (buttermilk, cream, half-n-half, sour cream, yogurt…etc)

Donkey

Yak

Camel

Human

Almond*

Coconut*

Soy*

Rice*                                                                    (*indicates vegan milks)

I think the seminars were fun and I was blessed with the most fabulous assistant, Tricia Samundsen (my Vanna White).  I received a lot of positive feedback from a bunch of attendees.  I hope I helped some people.  So here is to Leigh O'Donnell and innovation!

***

At the moment our company, Absolute Soap, isn't carrying straight milk soaps, but we have our Unscented Alabaster Handmade Soap (sea salt soap) that people love.  We are also a vegan soap company and will only be making coconut milk soaps in the future.  Later until Part 2!

Part 2: coming soon.....

Buzzed

I'm all buzzed up with excitement.  I am going to the Handcrafted Soap ans Cosmetic Guild's Conference and I am beyond excited.  Not only am I crazy nervous, but totally excited about speaking at the conference.  I am SO looking to fly on a jet plane out of my "real life" for a few days and talk soap and have fun with some wonderful people that I have become friends with on Facebook.

I am really not a social creature by nature.  I have been going through, I guess, something of a growth spurt (or...uh..upheaval) in myself.  Taking notes, reflecting, growing through life's memories and traumas and placing my inner self under a microscope for inspection.

Whatever mess has been occupying my brain for the last couple of weeks has taken up a lot of space.  The opportunity to connect with people is refreshing, because I don't mingle much.  I get out, I meet up with friends and family, but mostly, I'm a homebody.

I decided to share some photos of mine as I am in a reflection period....

 

  

 

Soap With Shoes?!

We are having a blast over at Soaper's Retreat (facebook group) and the challenges keep on coming.  This week, I decided to do something a little different, ya'know....to get people out of their comfort zone, to think outside the box.  That's always what I loved about certain teachers at Antioch (where I went to college).  I was constantly challenged to view from different perspectives, to analyze and feel things from a different view, whether it was art, music, education or philosophy.  I quite like the challenge of thinking outside the box and approaching things in new perspectives.


This week:  Shoe Photo Challenge

My pic was this one with my favorite pair of shoes....my old, worn Uggs.

Here are some of my favorite photographs from all of the entries:

Julie Weghorn

I adore this shot!

Michelle Rhoades

This girl nailed it!

Jennifer Farmer

Only entry with the shoe ON....well done Jennifer!

Rosie Carbajal

Excellent framing!  Reminds me of the vintage Vogue photos.

I want to thank everyone who participates in these challenges, to all of the members in the Soaper's Retreat Group and for every single one of you who read my blog.  Your love for soap and your support and encouragement of me and this blog make me feel pretty special.  Thank you.

Favorite Soap Top Photo Challenge on Facebook

One of the reasons I set up these photo challenges, is because I think we can all work on our photography skills.  Even ugly soap can be made beautiful with the right angle, light and focus.  I encourage all of you to step outside your comfort zone and really play, flounder, hone in and improve your own setting-the-stage for your soaps. 

There were some amazing soaps submitted this week.  I am truly floored by some of the talent out there and are inspired by the images... the soap itself.  Again, this wasn't about the most beautiful tops (which there were dozens of amazing ones!), this was about photographing your favorite tops. 

Many of you have created a mood so deep, that it has successfully taken me to another place outside of my room.  As if I experience a few seconds on another plane, in a different time and space and if I were connected to a breathing machine or heart rate monitor, I'm guessing the images actually had a physical impact as well.  Not just creative thought.

Imagine for a moment: an image that you've seen that transformed your mood or gave you relief even for a moment.  Then get behind your camera and move around your subject until you FEEL something and click.  Then stay behind the lens and do it again.  And again.  I took a photography class in college and I was taught to examine images that gave me an emotion or took me to the past or rekindled a memory I had forgotten.  That is special when you can examine, then reexamine why it moved you.  Was it the light, the blurred background, the colors, expressions on faces, the unknown....what wasn't said?  All this works to tell a story.

Soap may not tell a story to most, but to us it has a history within ourselves.  Our hard work, our love for science or art, our sweat and tears and sometimes our feelings of worth.  These are our creations and because they are special, we need to deliver all of that information, emotion and love, outside of ourselves and into our image for others to view and experience.

These two are mine, though not thought provoking necessarily, but the first one has a sense of playfulness.

 Joanna Schmidt

SoapTops

Joanna Schmidt

Detox

So, without further ado, here are the photographs that moved me.  Not just beautiful soap, but a mood that captured my attention and took me from my own reality for a few seconds.

Clara Lindberg 

Creamy mohair and goat's milk soap with cinnamon & neroli.

 Kate Boisoneau

Poppet: smoky sweet caramelized sugar, roasted almond, rich cocoa, and airy, creamy marshmallow

 Hajni Kele

Witches Brew

Just because most of these are close-ups, doesn't mean those are the ones that are moving to me.  Lighting and focus have an impact as well.  The one interesting thing about macro shots:  it brings attention to details that are normally overlooked.  Many times it shows the care and beauty that isn't normally seen upfront.  It lures the viewer in and captivates them.

What are your thoughts?  Please share in the comments below...

xoxo Joanna

Madame-Von-Diarrhea-of-the-Mouth

It has been way too long since I posted here.  I've been so so busy getting my business reconfigured with the new website, new all natural soaps and new name: Absolute Soap!  The new website took 6 weeks to create.  My husband, and business partner, did it all.  He took a basic template and tweaked it until it was all to his liking, and the results show.  I took all the photographs of the soaps and scrubs and I'm happy with them, too.  I love photography, so it made my job easy because I love doing it.

Making business goals and achieving them isn't easy and I, for one, have a hard time focusing.  I'm like Doug in the movie UP.  "...Squirrel!"  And I'm outta there.  I have amazing focus, actually, but as soon as I think of or see something that needs to be addressed, I switch my energies to the new thing (which always is important, too).  Imagine me in a room.  I am working on one end of the room and turn to get something.  I spot something else that needs to be put away or filed, and so I put down task A and quickly attend to task B, which would normally be fine, but when I return to the room, I forget what I was doing or see something else that needs work, or remember something needs to be researched or achieved, and I go off to deal with task C.  You see, I am a hard worker and work long hours, but sometimes I feel like I don't get things done.  Some may say that I have attention deficit disorder (ADD), not the hyperactivity part, because if you knew me, you'd laugh if someone told me I had me attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because you know I am pretty low key, kind of mellow and love to sleep.  I'm patient, understanding and most of all genuine, but sometimes I must look like I lost chicken with its head cut off.  But not in the running around kind of way.

Make sense?

It's important to look at our own shortcomings, so we can improve, or at least understand them.  Mine is attention.  So get this.  My doctor says to me, "well, it sounds like you have ADD.  Let's try Adderall."  Did nothing.  N-o-t-h-i-n-g.  Honestly, I don't even get why kids these days use these pills for speed ?!?!?  Guess what?  I took a three hour nap.  Speed, please.

Back to soap.  I love to soap and I love this community.  LOVE YOU GUYS.  I am so excited for the  Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild conference in Raleigh, North Carolina this May.  If you don't already know, I am doing a demo on hassle-free milk soapmaking, which is crazy.  Who am I to have been asked to be a "speaker" at this well known and highly esteemed conference?  Totally blown away and so honored.  Thank goodness for Leigh, the director, who convinced me that people would be interested in it, because I was all...like... ummm, I think people know this technique and it's no new thing.... and she tells me that people like to see easier ways of doing things with shortcuts.  So I was picked.  :D  Could I argue?  Not really.  I have never been to the conferences and I've always wanted to go.  But, I am in shock how quickly the last four months sped by and now it is right around the corner.  Soooo... yeah. I feel self conscious at a large table of people let alone being in front of 100 or more people, but I will figure it out and know that I have people out there who are supportive and I will be imagining all of you in there naked, so watch out.

Part of the reason I felt the need to share my attention problem is that I don't write these posts and then edit them.  I am sort of a Madame-Von-Diarrhea-of-the-Mouth kind of writer, and it shows. I am not deluded by thinking I am some writer, because I have never claimed to be.  My husband is a writer!  I make grammatical errors all the time, my thought process is kind of all over the place, and I often just linger and never return to the original thought, like right now.... but that's the way I like to write because if I try to make it perfectly written or grammatically correct, my thoughts come out guarded and that's not who I am or what I think you all want from me.  I imagine that you want my guts, my thoughts and my honesty.  Most of you probably don't mind my run-on sentences and flighty conversation.

OR... I could be totally wrong and I annoy the crap out of you.  Either way, I am who I am and I thank all of you for being here with me as I grow over the last 6 years!

Sorry I have been MIA...

xoxo
Jo

Me and Stuff

My journey in the soap world has been a wild roller coaster, to say the least.  As some of you know, I started this blog as a way to give soap makers of handmade soap exposure to the world.  I started reviews and it just took off.  At the time, there were no soap blogs doing this that I could find.  A whole world of soap opened up to me and shortly after I began, other soap blogs popped up and handcrafted soap seemed to be everywhere.  I am so happy I tapped into that world, because I soon became part of it. 

My readers...YOU.... encouraged me to try my hand at soaping and when I finally pulled the trigger, the addiction began for me.  I loved it!  Now my business is almost all soap and I'm so happy with the direction my company is taking.  I work tirelessly at making my soaps better, my designs unique and using some of the best ingredients to the table.  It took years before I could say I am truly proud of my final product.  In the beginning, I made good soap, but the years of trial and error and endless researching, I can say I have a solid bar that I am pleased with.

I guess I knew it would take years of learning, doing, failing, loving....

I have let my blog writing fall to the wayside for a while now and I apologize to you all.  I have been focusing my energies elsewhere and I am sorry I have let you down. I want to bring you soap porn, reviews, tutorials, new ideas and business musings.  I'm not sure if my experiences will help anyone else, but perhaps I just need to share them and let you all take what you need and fly with it. 

Please leave comments on this post about what you want to get out of this blog and I will try to address them.  I can not promise I will post all the time, but I can try to be much better about it.  I do need your help.  If you are interested in sharing something here that you think others may be interested in, please email me and let me know you'd be interested in guest blogging.  I am open to any ideas.  This blog gets about 10,000 unique visitors a month, and my guess is that a big percent of those visitors are soap makers looking for inspiration, learning tools and a feeling a sense of community.

I am looking forward to being a part of The Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild annual conference this May in Raleigh, North Carolina.  I will get to meet a bunch of you.  Please seek me out and come introduce yourself.  I will be doing a demo on soap making with milks and I am nervous as heck.  I do not consider myself a public speaker and I loathe being the center of attention, but I want to do this and I know I will grow as a person having done it. 

Thank you for continuing to be a part of this blog, the active group on facebook, and general supporter of my vision.  Thank you.  Let's continue to grow together.  Here...hold my hand.

hugs, jo

Close-Up Challenge at Soaper's Retreat

This week, we had a challenge for the group members of Soaper's Retreat and it was all about getting close-up to the soap... the most recent soap made.  Of course, it was fantastic!  I am in love with close-up photography because instead of seeing the entire subject, we get a detailed and personal look at it.  I posted two of my own soaps as examples....

 DEJA VU by me!

RED HOUSE by me!

Here are some of my faves from the submissions:

ANIMAL INSTINCT by Renne Lillie 

BLOODY MARY  by Danielle Martin

 RAINBOW SHERBERT by Nat Kinlay

LAVENDER & LIME by Hajni Kele

I LOVE YOU by Lina Vilniskyte

MARDI GRAS SOAP by Robin Blood

Thank you to everyone for participating!  Let's keep pushing the envelope and thinking outside of the box for our images.  You all make such amazing soaps!

*

Surprise Oops Challenge

As soap makers, we've all had at least one batch of soap that came out completely different from what we intended, but were pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  So this week's challenge on Soaper's Retreat (SR) was to post pictures of surprise soap.

Summer Rains, a member of SR, is responsible for this challenge idea.  "Fun!", I thought.  Thank you, Summer, for the suggestion!  

Here are a few that caught my eye:

Joy Barnes, "The Blob - Planned orange with a black swirl. I added all of the EO to the orange and by the time i got through my 2nd layer the orange had formed a large thick blob, with the black still very runny, so I grabbed my spatula and started slicing through the orange to break it up a little, to let some black run in...was sure it would be a horrible grey mess"  Looks like hot lava.  I think it came out great!

 

Nat Kinlay: "I made this one the other day. Its Rose Jelly. I rarely get air bubbles. Not sure why this one is positively filled with them but there's so many it kinda looked like it was meant to be. Perhaps I should call it Rose Jelly Soda Pop."  Looks like a fun cocktail! :)

Barbara Potter: 'I used nettle-infused oil in one part and charcoal in another for an in the pot swirl. I got a partial gel that created a very eery soap! Surprise!"  A Halloween full moon with branches.  That's what that reminds me of.

Marianne Rice: "...it was my most troublesome batch to date. Yuzu & Coconut . . . not sure if it was the coconut milk or the yuzu fragrance, but it seized up on me, I had to push the soap into the molds with a spatula, and bang it on the floor until I thought I would break my molds (also waking up the kids:), it had a few air bubbles, but all in all, the marbled look (caused because I didn't have the usual fluid movement of the batter) and tops turned out great! It was a total relief to see how it turned out . . . the downside, it was one of my favorites soaps and I'll never be able to recreate it!"  Absolutely love it!

 

I also want to thank everyone for being a part of the Soaper's Retreat on Facebook.  We opened the group 8 months ago and we just hit 1,000 members!  Woah!  Let us remember to always put ourselves in other people's shoes so that we can act respectfully to each other.  The group is meant to be a place for us to come for support and guidance.  Treat each other the way we want to be treated.

Much love,

Joanna