Soap Love 2

via Etsy.com

A few months ago, I shared my first "Soap Love" post.  When I need inspiration or ideas or just want to brainstorm new scent, packaging, or whatnot ideas, I do a little internet trolling for other soapmakers - just to see what's out there and what's new and it usually jumpstarts the whole creative process for me.

Plus it's just plain fun, because obviously, I love soap.  In all it's forms. I'm constantly amazed at what other people are doing with their handmade soap.

Elsje Vermunt

Here's the latest batch of really cool soap that I just loved.



Soap sticks.  Soap in long, skinny soap stick shapes that might be good for travel?  Seems like it might be harder to use, but I like the look of it.

via Etsy.com

Doesn't everyone want to have a dish of gorgeous candy soaps in their bathrooms?

Licorice allsorts soaps

Or a bar of chocolate soap that you just want to bite into?

via Pinterest

And as always, I'm smitten with any and every variation of soap on a rope.  I don't know why.  I think they are hard to use too.  There aren't a lot of places to hang them in a shower, so they are going to always be wet and shrinking away too fast.  But they are so darn sweet. Dozens of heart-shaped soaps on strings . .

Elsje Vermunt

Slivers of soaps, like little hang tags, on rustic ropes.  So adorable.

Savons de Provence au marché de Cassis via Pinterest

These have special biodegradable packaging, with flower seeds embedded in the soap for new beginnings.

via Soapisbeautiful

Sweet little disc shaped soaps all tied up with twine.

via Linen and Lavender

I think I've literally looked at hundreds of soap pictures in the last day or two. Just because once you find a great Pinterest page, you get lost, following all the other great pages down the rabbit hole.  Fingers cramped, eyes bleary, you look up and it's hours later.  Zoinks.

So I'm percolating ideas now for Christmas sets and scents. It's already that time.  Fall is in the rearview.  It's always completely weird to be working so far out of the actual seasons.  And I know that designers and retailers and magazine publishers etc are way, way ahead of me.  But I never get used to it.  The summer sun is shining and everything is summer, summer, summer.  And I'm trying to conjure up winter snowflakes and Santa's workshop.

Soap Love

Every now and then, when I need a little creative inspiration or idea brainstorming, I spend a bit of time wandering the internet looking at soaps made by other soapmakers.  Just checking what's out there, what the latest trends are in scents, ingredients, packaging.  Keeping up with the latest.

I ran into so much beauty this past weekend, that I ended up spending way more time than I expected, and found some of the coolest stuff.  It's mind-blowing what some people come up with and are doing - all over the world too.

I'm going to post photos and links, because these are too good not to share.

From South Africa - Woolworth's Soap Shop:  soap in the most beautiful tins!

I love the simple rustic wax paper and string wrapping on these wedding soap favors by Prunella on etsy:

This woman from Russia designed long, thin soaps that look almost like book-marks with the typography embedded into the soap.  So cool!

This special promotion has a USB flash drive embedded in a clear glycerin bar.  Not sure how the flash drive doesn't get ruined in the water, but interesting idea.

Brown paper wrapped rustic bars that almost look like candies, from Padua Farms.

From Montreal, Quebec - felted soaps and shampoo bars for The Surf Lodge.  Cute little minis for a hotel.

And finally - love these super rustic versions of soap on a rope.  No links for these, I tracked them around Pinterest and tumblr, but not sure where they came from originally since there is no label.  

This was fun!  I think I might make this a semi-regular feature here and post more lovelies when I find them.  I've got a whole bunch more stuff book-marked that I can sort out and share with y'all.

Just to be clear, I'm a cold-process type only girl, so there will be no photo journals of glycerin, melt and pour, or embedded type fancies - although there are TONS of those out there.  And I'm a little split between my love for the super primitive, rustic, simple stuff and the fancier European packaged stuff - like the tins and gorgeous boxes.  Who says you can't have it all?!