How do I do it?!

Quite a few people ask me how do I make my soaps, especially once they've seen them in real life.. So I thought I'd do a little bloggy about how I got into soap making and the soap making process!

At the moment I am too unwell to work as I have an anxiety disorder and as you may guess I do get very bored home alone all the time. One evening a few months ago I was just browsing online and typed in cupcake candles on youtube or google and a video came up of this american lady showing you how to make a cupcake soap! I was amazed.. I then ordered 1 kilo of soap and 3 fragrances and 3 colourants and couldn't wait to get started.

A few days later they arrived and I got cracking! It was all a bit trial and error at first.. I tried whipping the soap to make the "icing" for the cupcakes but it was a disaster! The soap would set too quickly and got hard and get stuck in the piper... I tried whipping it for a shorter while but then it was too running and slided off the cupcake :( Very annoying!

I then done some research online on how to make cupcake soaps and discovered an American site selling soaping materials with different moulds etc. Since then it's all gone up hill really... I took photos of what I'd made at put them on my facebook and loads of people were interested and I soon started selling them! At first I only had the odd order here and there, but now I get at least one every other day. Sometimes I'll got about 3 days with no orders, and then on the 4th day I'll get loads! I get a lot of emails from people asking for quotes on larger orders for wedding favours or whole sale, I'm kept busy replying to questions a lot!

So how do I make the soaps? I use a process called Melt and Pour - there are two soap methods, Melt and Pour or Cold Process. Cold Process is a lot more taxing and involves using chemicals and then waiting 6-8 weeks for the soap to "cure" after you've made it so it's safe to use. Well me being me and very impatient I decided to go for the melt and pour method.

I'll do a step by step guide of how I make my soaps:
1. I use an ice cream scoop to scoop out some soap base from my big tub. The Soap base is just white with no fragrances or oils added.

2.I then cut it into small pieces and put it in the microwave for 30 second bursts so I don't over heat the soap. I've done this before and it all boils up and sort of disapears - not good!

3.Once it's melted I give it a stir and add a few drops of colourant. I then use a pipette and add the fragrance. Depending on the fragrance I then add something called Vanilla Stabilizer. Any fragrance that has vanilla in eventually turns the soap brown unless the stabilizer is added. If it turns brown it doesn't effect the soap in anyway, it's still safe to use and smells yummy but doesn't look as pretty! So I add eaqual amounts of stabilizer as fragrance to the base. I give it a stir so it's all mixed in, if it's not mixed in well enough the fragrance oil seperates and floats to the top of the soap which isn't good!

4.I then add glitter if desired and pour it into a mould. Depending on the soap depends on the next steps.. If I'm making a cupcake I pour in the cherry topping first...wait for that to set, then add the icing colours, wait for that to set..then add the base. If I'm doing a layered bar or ice lolly I pour each colour alternatively and wait for each layer to set before I add the next. I've been impatient in the past and poured the second layer before the first has set and as the soap is very hot, it melts the skin of the first layer and the colours all combine and go funny! Patience is a virtue!

5.Once I've poured all the layers I put the mould in a safe place where it's not going to get knocked over and leave it to set. These can vary from 10 mins to an hour. In this time I usually wash up my jugs and spoons and write out the labels.

6. When the soaps are set I pop them out of their moulds. I love this part! No two soap are exactly the same and I love seeing the cupcakes when they're finished.

7. I then sprinkle some glitter on top if needed and place them in their bags or boxes, tie with ribbon and add the fragrance labels. If I'm sending them in the post I wrap each one in tissue paper and bubble wrap and pack them up in a box ready to go! I also add in a little thank you note and business card too. I really enjoy wrapping everything up.. I think it's nice to take the time to make things look nice and like a lovely gift. I think it's little things like that that make all the difference! I often get feedback from customers saying how nicely everything was wrapped.

So, now you know! I love making soaps, it keeps me very busy and any money I earn is a bonus! I've made quite a few friends online through selling my soaps too :)

Cupcake Gift Sets

NEW: Cupcake Gift Sets... This little beauty consists of 4 "Bakery Style Cupcakes" in a variety of colours and fragrances packaged in an adorable cupcake box. Price £12. On their own the "Bakery Style Cupcakes" are £4 each so you are saving money by buying them in this set.


I just love it so much, the box is so cool and I think this is a really fab, unique gift idea.
I'll be adding it to my folksy store shortly.

Shop Samples

I have been very busy today making orders and lots of samples for the shop Cherry Cherry which is in Norwich. It's a very cute shop which sells products made by people on Etsy and Folksy. I've been asked to pop in on Tuesday with some samples and hopefully the owner will like my soaps and agree to sell them in her shop!
I haven't taken any photos yet but the ones I've made to take in are the cookies, choc bar, flat backed cupcake, pumpkins, bakery style cupcake, rose cupcake, mini cupcakes, ice lollies, crown, skull, crayons, the bakewell type cupcake and gingerbread man.. So quite a few!! Fingers crossed things go well.

Kelsey's review video is up on youtube now so go check that out, she's very sweet and I love her descriptions of the scents! You can watch the video HERE

I've also been making a few videos for my youtube channel.. I was really shy at first and felt silly talking to the camera but I'm slowly getting more confident. Go have a look at the videos to see little old me and my soaps, it's easier to judge the sizes of them on video rather than on a photo.
Please subscribe to my channel HERE

Tomorrow I'm picking up a freezer from my boyfriend's work which I desperately need for my soap room. Before I had my own little room to make the soaps in I made them downstairs and used our freezer to speed up the setting process... So now I'm going to have one in my room is fantastic as I can make more soaps quicker!

Sarah's Video Review

Sarah messaged me today to say her first video about my soaps was up on youtube! I absolutely loved what she said about my soaps, as you can see, she really loves the smell of them! It's so funny seeing my soaps online and someone else talking about them... It's really lovely to hear such positive feedback. I may have sent her these for free but I told her to be honest with her opinions and definitely did not tell her what to say!

Check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E_Oube09gg

Also have a look at her blog, she done a written review too.. www.foundonfilm.com

Thanks Sarah!!

Halloween and Christmas time & a suprise for me!

This afternoon I was in my soap room taking some photos of my soaps when my Dad answered the door to a delivery man... I was expecting a parcel but not so soon.. I came downstairs to find a massive box from a lovely lady called Janet who has given up soap making and wanted to get rod of all her stuff... well I jumped at the chance to get hold of some more materials and we came to an arragement where I send her £20 a fortnight until I've paid the full amount of £200. Well, I've only sent her a few payments so far and I emailed her asking if it would be possible to send the colourants asap as I'm getting low on mine.. She sent me LOADS of stuff, not just the colourants! This is so nice of her and very trusting,bless her. It was like Christmas for me.. there were gorgeous handmade papers, bags, cello bags, shrink wrap, gift bags, boxes of all shapes and sizes, baskets, over 50 fragrance oils, essential oils, colourants, glitters, tissue paper... so much stuff!! You can see all the voils and pretty tissue papers on my stairs, the tubs on the floor are full of colours and fragrances and the box was full to the brim of goodies!


She said she's got two more boxes of stuff to send me too!! So exciting!


Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to Taverham Garden centre which has a massive craft shop, to look for anything that might come in handy with my soap making. We found lots of great things, he was very generous and bought me a couple of goodies too! I got a few cupcake boxes which are used in bakeries to put 4 cupcakes in.. the outside of the box has a really adorable cupcake print over.. That will be great to put the soaps in and sell at craft fairs. I also got some little trifle dishes to put a few mini soaps in with tissue paper as a set.. Some accetate boxes, some big tin buckets which I'm going to make a lovely set with using flannels and soaps in time for xmas... Oh and some really cute ribbons which were only 99p each for 4 metres!

I got some orange ribbon to use with the halloween soaps...
This lovely little set of two ghosties and pumpkin is £3. I think it's really cute.. I don't know how popular they'll be as the UK doesn't really "celebrate" halloween in the way the States do but I have had quite a lot of interest in these.

This little fella is only around 1" in size but I thought he was so cute I'd add him in with the pumpkin soaps.


Onto the Christmas soaps... I made these for the first time last night and was really pleased with how they turned out. I'm going to experiment with the snowman by adding colours to his eyes and hat etc.. I love his carrot nose!

The reindeer is so adorable too.. I'm a bit gutted his nose isn't very clear so will do a brighter red next time! Rudolf is fragranced with Brown Sugar and Fig which is a lot fresher than it sounds... And the snowman is peppermint! Priced these guys at £2.25 each... is that too cheap? I'm scared to over charge!

Here's the Christmas gang together... Gingie is £3 as he's a lot thicker than the other two. I think these will be very popular nearer xmas!

I've had 3 orders today which I will crack on with tomorrow and hopefully get sent out on Monday. I've also got those samples to make for the Cherry Cherry shop on Tuesday which I'd blummin' forgot about!

Youtube Video Review + seasonal soaps

I am so excited - today the lovely Jess sent me an email to say she'd posted her video reviewing my soaps! I watched it straight away and was so touched by her kind words about everything, it made me feel so chuffed! I showed me parents too and they thought it was great to see things I've made in someone elses hands saying how great they are! She included all the info about them being SLS free and kept saying how lovely they smelt.

You can watch the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0D0PVtTDus

Kelsey and Sarah are also going to be posting video reviews of my soaps soon - can't wait to see them!!

Today I found some pumpkin muffin moulds and thought they'd be great for soaps! I've made one so far, here's a pic
I'm making some little ghost ones for halloween too.
Also, I've got a snow man and reindeer soap setting atm..will see how they turn out tomorrow!!

Looking the part

I recently ordered some new business cards from moo.com and today they arrived! I am so pleased with them, they're great quality and I think they look really professional. 6 different pictures of my soaps are on the backs of them which is also a good way of showing off my different designs.

It was around £10 for 50 cards, so more expensive than vistaprint but the quality is better.

This week the little tins for the lip balms, here's a photo to show the sizes of the tins and the little pots.

The available flavours are strawberry, mint and chocolate. I have to say my favourite is chocolate, it smells so yummy! Prices are: Lil pot £1 Big pot £1.90

I've had lots of emails and queries this week asking for quotes on larger orders. I've got one order for 15 cookies! 1 wholesale order which was done through folksy. A lady holds craft fairs I think, or has a little shop and wanted a variety of 50 soaps - that'll keep me busy. I'm going to do gingerbread men, sheepm cupcakes and lollys I think! I also had an email on ebay from a lovely lady who runs a Girl Guides group and wanted to know how much it'd be for 100 lolly soaps. The Girl Guides are having a big party for all the groups in the country and she wanted a nice gift to go in the goodie bags! Hopefully that order will go ahead.

ALSO, a very cute shop in the city called Cherry Cherry got back to me after I'd emailed them about my soaps and wants me to go in to the shop in a few weeks with some samples! I am SO excited, it would be amazing to have my soaps on sale in a shop!!!

Lastly, I've put together a few packages for some youtubers who make videos reviewing beauty products. Hopefully they'll like my soaps and say kind things about them and that'll spread the word via the youtube community!!

That's it for now - oh no it isn't.. The Clutter City craft fair people sent me an email saying I was unsuccessful this time, but I'm not too gutted as there was very limitted availability and they're holding another one in Dec which I should hopefully get a stall for!
AND I've just been told about another xmas craft fair at the US Army Base near me called the Yuletide Bazaar which apparantly would be perfect for my soaps! I've sent an email applying for a place, fingers crossed I get accepted!

So, lots of things happening here and keeping me busy! X