I’m thrilled to finally reveal that my soap company is merging with The Nova Studio and becoming one big, beautiful, bath-and-body business!

The Nova Studio LLC is the brainchild of Lori Nova Endres. She opened The Nova Studio ten years ago as a place for people to learn how to make their own soap and body products. I’ve been teaching there for four of those years, meeting and showing students from all over the world how to make beautiful handmade soap.

I was thrilled when Lori asked me to join her and Cassie, the studio manager, in this new venture. Now we are all three partners, and so excited about the new things that are coming! Just for starters, we’ll be expanding the classes that are offered, and adding a line of luxury handmade soap to The Nova Studio. And soon I’ll be heading up a new pilot program where students will have the opportunity to become involved in the production of handmade products at the studio.

Don’t worry: you can still find your favorite Sirona Springs soaps right where they’ve always been. But now they will be just one part of the great things that we have in the works at The Nova Studio LLC!

Read more about The Nova Studio and the new partners at The Nova Studio Blog. I’ll also be blogging over there more often, so you should consider subscribing to it while you’re there!

Oakmoss, for example, not only smells mysterious (all warm and sultry and woodsy), it also acts like it.

Behold Oakmoss right after cutting into bars. Reminds me a little of pound cake. (With green icing?)

The edges are brown because this fragrance discolors the soap. But only as it ages and reacts with the air. So when it’s freshly cut, only the outsides are brown.

But this is what those bars look like now that they have cured.

I love that warm, brown color. And though it may look manly, this scent is always a favorite with the ladies. (Take note, gentlemen!)

Also just in: Tonic. No mystery here. Tonic is fresh and crisp and green and right there in the shower with you just pushing you to have your best day ever! (Your boss might appreciate that, too.) Both available right now at Sirona Springs online.

…Deep breath…ok…

So between now and then, I’ll be practicing my demonstration of how to make these

Those are soap cupcakes. Don’t they look so real? It’s amazing how soap can pipe just like frosting.

So to get ready (and ease my nerves a bit) I’ll probably do a little mock practicing to get the timing of the demo right. Then I’ll practice with my family as the “audience”. (That’s what family is for, right? So what if they have no interest in learning how to make soap cupcakes? Do they really think that I enjoy folding laundry?)

Heck, I’ll probably end up blowing up a balloon, drawing a face on it and practicing in front of that!

…Deep breath…

Maybe a real cupcake would calm my nerves? Hmm…

The plan was to have three different colors: two shades of pink and a leaf green. (Are you getting a sense of what this one will smell like? Hm?)

I used a tube mold to get round soap bars, instead of my usual rectangles. I’m really liking the way that round bars feel in my hands. And I poured the soap so that I got alternating layers of color. Concentric circles of color.

Meet “Pear & Lily”: a little floral but not overwhelming, a little fruity but not sweet. Soft. Warm. Spring.

These are on the curing rack now and will be ready to use in about 5 weeks. Unlike Spring, which is right around the corner. (Yay!)

No, not that kind of Boot Camp. There are no push-ups or sweating. But we do cram a lot of training into 2 days!

Day 1 is my day and all about design in cold process soap. Swirling, layering, embedding and coloring. We touch on a lot of topics. And I demonstrate some of them by making 4 different batches of soap.

These were some of the bars from the lastest class…

The many shades of green, brown and red were completely unintentional. I guess I was feeling “earthy”.

See lots more of these soaps on Flickr.

Day 2 has Jen Grimes and David Critchfield teaching how to make soap by the Hot Process and the “Big Batch” way. (Make 100 bars at a time?! Now that’s efficient!)

All together, it’s everything you need to know to make a whole bunch of beautiful soap!

If you’re ready to take the Boot Camp challenge, you can sign up here!

One group of women living in a government-owned tent camp recently received some help from some American soapmakers. Marla Bosworth of Back Porch Soap Company and Amanda Griffin of Lovin Soap traveled to Haiti earlier this month to help these women start their own soap business. They call their project “Beauty in Haiti”, and they hope to help these women achieve their dreams.

On this first trip, Marla and Amanda demonstrated how to make the soap, and helped them source ingredients locally. You can read more about the trip and watch some spirited videos at Amanda’s Lovin Soap blog. They will return later in the year to teach the women more and help them firm up the list of suppliers.

Marla and Amanda are volunteering countless hours and covering all the expenses themselves right now. You can help defray some of the costs of this project by donating to “Beauty in Haiti” at their Indiegogo page. Every donation helps and is appreciated!

(I am not personally involved in “Beauty in Haiti”. I just think it’s a great project, and I’ve donated to the cause. I hope you’ll consider it and spread the word!)

And one of the simplest things you can do to stay flu-free is wash your hands. Really.

That one simple thing can help. But do it often. And do it right.

According to the CDC, you should

• Wet your hands with clean running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.
• Rub your hands together to make a lather and scrub them well; be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
• Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
• Rinse your hands well under running water.
• Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry

Stay healthy!

Using natural ingredients to color cold process soap can be so rewarding. But it can also be a gamble. In the world of cold process soap, what you see is not always what you get. Soap ingredients are often exposed to very high pH levels and temperatures that can ruin the beautiful color of a juice or plant leaf. It can be a disappointing experience, costing not only money but also precious time. That was my experience, anyways.

When I wanted to color my cold process soap naturally, I went looking for information about natural colorants. But I found that I just couldn’t find the answers to all my questions. Or I found answers that contradicted each other. Or that were so vague that they didn’t really help. I decided I had to find out the answers for myself!

Don’t waste time and supplies hoping for a good outcome. I’ve done the testing for you!

To get the answers, I decided to systematically test ingredients that included leaves, roots, spices, petals, and clays. I tested them in soap that went through a gel phase, and soap that didn’t. I tested them when added at trace, in the lye, and as an infusion. I tested each ingredient in all the different ways that soapmakers make cold process soap.

Now all my results are presented in my new eBook, “Coloring Soap Naturally”!

This 51-page PDF digital book includes:

• Results of the 34 different natural ingredients that were tested

• Full-color photographs of all the results

• How the colorant looks when added at trace, in the lye and as an oil infusion

• The difference in color between each soap when it went through a gel phase and when it didn’t

• Clear descriptions of all the procedures used to do the testing (so you can do it, too!)

• List of suppliers of all the ingredients used

You can have bright, beautiful soap colored naturally!

“Coloring Soap Naturally” can show you how.

After purchasing this PDF-format digital book, you will receive an email right away with a link that lets you download the book directly to your computer. Because there’s no time to waste when there’s beautiful soap to be made!

Click here to go to my webstore where you can get more info, read the FAQs, and download “Coloring Soap Naturally” now!

So when Amy of Great Cakes Soapworks set down the gauntlet, I pounced on the opportunity.

Amy recently blogged about her experiences mixing cold process (CP) soap and “melt and pour” (MP) soap. That’s the kind of soap that you just melt in the microwave, add scent and color and pour into a mold. It’s super easy, fun and perfect for beginners and even little kids!

Soapmakers don’t usually mix the two media together, however, until recently. And why not? It’s fun to mix things around (literally!).

As far as design goes, I was inspired a long time ago by these two soaps and decided to try something like this mixing CP and MP soap.

pasito a pasito

Savons et Fantaisies

I started with a log mold and set up a dam along the diagonal. I wanted to have two layers of color, but different amounts of each.

Then I poured the yellow and green soap on either side of the dam. Once the soap had set up a bit, I pushed plastic drinking straws into the soap and left the whole thing until the next day.

Once the soap was firm, I pulled out the drinking straws. (A set of pliers was very helpful here.) Most of the soap came out with the straw. Just what I wanted: a thin channel for my MP soap. If some of the soap got left behind, I just gently pushed the straw back into the channel, and it would “grab” the soap. I pulled out slowly and was able to get the channel clear, all the way to the bottom of the mold.

Next I melted separately yellow- and green-colored MP soap, and poured it into the channels.

Once that had cooled, I was able to cut into bars, much like Savons et Fantaisies did for her soaps.

I really like the different texture and properties of the MP soap! It can look like jewels.

Especially when light shines through it.

Thanks for the kick in the pants, Amy!