Patchouli Orange Vanilla Handmade Soap

Today I made one of my favorite scents, Patchouli Orange Vanilla! If you have not tried this combo, you MUST! I swear, it is addicting!

I used beer for some of the liquid.

 For part of the soap I used organic cocoa powder for color and ground vanilla beans for exfoliation. The soap itself will not be too dark, so the cocoa powder will provide some contrast.

 I used dark Patchouli for the blend, which darkens to soap a little.

I bought some mixing bowls at the dollar store a few weeks ago. They really come in handy, although they don't handle too much weight. I like to use them to whip body butters, or for mixing scent into liquid soap. Just be sure not to fill them to the top with heavy liquids!

I added Bentonite clay to the entire batch. That is what the dark spots are....the clay sinks down to the bottom of the pot. I stick blend the oils and clay together before adding in the lye/beer mixture.

 I sprinkled ground vanilla beans on the top for contrast. In the above picture you can see the vanilla soap swirled with the patchouli/orange soap.

The little mold is for my soap nuggets. They are perfect for sample soaps and weigh approx 1.3 ounces each. I sell sets of sample soaps in my Etsy shop.


Stay tuned for the cut soap pictures!

I've been a busy bee for the past few months. I have so much to share with all of you, but I won't bombard you with too much.

New foam hand soap

This is my favorite scent....well....one of my favorite scents...there are too many that I love! Margarita Lime foam soap is the first of a series of foam soap. This soap was made by scratch, so it's filled with skin loving oils and not the nasty additives you get in store bought soap. I only bought 12 bottles to see how well they sell before I purchase a large wholesale order. I filled 3 with the Margarita Lime soap.
Brown Sugar Fig handmade soap....gosh...this is another of my favorite scents! Sweet, and sugary cold process soap. I used cocoa powder for the thin line between the layers.
My new lotion sticks are cute as a button! They are about an inch tall, so they are perfect for your pocket or purse.
What are lotion sticks? Well, I like to tell people that they are lip balms for your body! Thick and extremely moisturizing, you rub the bar on very dry skin or nails. I like to use them on my cuticles and my heels.
Right now I have Candy Cane and Eucalyptus, but I will be adding more soon.
Stay in touch.....much more coming soon!

Body Wash From Scratch!

I have 4 batches of soap under my belt! It's quite a challenge and takes a long time, but I enjoy making it! So far I have made Lavender, White Citrus, Raspberry Vanilla, and Orange Clove. If you click on the pic above, you can view how it's made. I tried posting video's here, but I can't get them to work.
There are 8 short video's, which I took with my digital camera. Maybe Santa will bring me an actual video camera this year!

I decided to go back to my old labels and my yellow and blue colors. I think it helps brand my products and are easily noticeable.

Needle Felting Soap Bars

Felting handmade soap is fun, but needle felting handmade soap is even more fun! The wool used is very soft merino wool. I like the softness of the wool, but it's difficult to work with. You have to work carefully so the wool does not bunch up and create "folds". Each soap takes about 20 min to felt just the background.

I wrapped the stem of the flower around the back of the handmade soap bar to hide some folds I had. I think they turned out well! I have a few more bars finished and now I just need to decide what design to use.
Square soap is harder to felt, due to the corners, but you just have to be extra careful to wrap the corners and wait until the sides are firm before working on the corners.
I'm looking forward to creating needle felting soap for the holidays. I know, it's too early to think about Halloween and Christmas, but it's not too early in the handmade world.

Felting Soap Class

I will be teaching a class on Felting Soap at our new shop, Fusion. I made a few soaps so I could take some pictures for our class section. Most of the partners will be teaching classes such as dying silk, wire wrapping jewelry and a beginner class for quilting.

For my class students will have a choice of soaps to felt and all the wool will be provided.
I purchased my woving wool at SmokeyMountainFibers.
Felting soap is not hard to do and once you try it, you will be able to take your skill and make your own for future gifts.

Check out our website for classes that will be offered at Fusion. My class should be listed soon.

We are located at Chesterfield Mall, second floor, right outside Sears.

Spring Forward!

I don't know if it's because of all the dreary days St. Louis has had, or because of the upcoming snow storm forecast for tomorrow, but I am itching for Spring. I worked on my Spring line today and decided to play with some soap base. This soap was made with Tulip fragrance oil, but it smells more "green" to me, so I'm going to market it as a unisex (hate this term!) scent.

I colored the bars with teal mica and used clear soap for the middle. I love the contrast with the clear soap! I named the soap Spring Forward.My lip balm inventory is very low, so today I made several batches. Cola is a new scent and it smells just like Coke! I also made Cucumber Slices, Birthday Cake, Snickerdoodle, and Dark Chocolate.

I found these mugs at a local store, and immediately thought CANDLES! I made two of each: Blue = Clean Cotton, Yellow = Lemon Poppy Seed, and Pink = Peppermint Bark
All of these will be added to our new shop at Fusion, which is located in Chesterfield Mall (second floor, next to Sears), and to my Etsy shop.

Felted soaps!

I have always wanted to try felting soap, so awhile ago I took a stab at it. The process is not hard, but takes a bit of time. The soap looks HUGE before felting!
Here is the soap after a few minutes.
I love how the colors pop! I used some hot processed soap that I shaped into an egg shape. The surface of the soaps were too rough, so I felted them. I think they turned out beautifully!

Fusion by Show Me Handmade's Opening Feb 2rd!

With less than two weeks before our soft opening, we have been busy getting Fusion by Show Me Handmade ready. After many late, late, nights, it's all coming together! Above is a picture taken late Friday night. We are filling in the colors for the leaves, which is our logo.
The same logo, although smaller, is behind the cash wrap. The cash wrap, along with most of our displays came from another shop in the mall that had closed. We "obtained" all the displays, slat walls, and anything and everything else nailed down. I love the cash wrap and especially the stainless steel top!
Here we are using an overhead projector to line up the logo over the cash wrap. In the background, you can see the slat wall progression.
Not a great picture because of all the displays pushed together, but you can see the new wall colors.
Another view of the cash wrap and the slat walls to the right.
Finished logo....almost finished...!

We are still looking for partners for Fusion by Show Me Handmade! If interested, click Fusion By SMH.

Fusion by Show Me Handmade - Opening Soon in Chesterfield Mall

Just a sneak peek into our new shop! We are opening up a shop in Chesterfield Mall, located in St. Louis, MO. We just received our keys and will be very busy painting, painting, painting!
It's a huge shop! The above picture shows one of our partners, Becky, standing by some of our displays. The space is 3700 sq feet.
Here's a picture showing what the shop looks like standing at the front door. We will be hanging wood slat walls on the walls.
Here you can see the front door. The display window is behind the red curtain.
Many changes are coming and I will update pictures of our progress.
Grand opening is Feb 13/14!