Saponification Sunday. Swapping of The Soap

Nothing like a good swap to get the blood circulating. I love smelling, buying, using other peoples soap, yes, even though my house is full of my own creations. Using other folks soaps is an educational experience, as well as a sensory one.

Sure, I love my own soap but it's easy to get into a rut. Same pattern, same mold, same colors, same scents so when I purchase or better yet, trade soaps with another, I get to technique snoop.

First I sniff, who doesn't ? Then I check out the label, i.e what did they put in their soaps? Then I check out the shape and size and how it's cut.  Just look at the swirl in the bar above created by Robin Blood of  Kinky Witch Soap  Doesn't it just make you swoon? Well, it did me. To the floor, I swear. She and I swapped soaps last week. THANKS ROBIN!

After all the above snooping, I will actually use the soap created by another, it but not always right away. Sometimes I just move it around the house trying to catch the best light to display it in.

Doesn't everyone do that?

Then, when the moment is right, and not before...I commence with the sudsing.. Not just  on the bod but on the hair as well. Only then can I really judge the soap. We loved the looks of Robins so much we actually took it on vacation with us to Pennsylvania this weekend. (Bet you didn't even know I was gone did you, I'll tell you all about it Tuesday.)

Robins soap was tested in 4 different states in just under 4 days. It was fabulous and silky and bubbly and so dramatic, I love dramatic. On the way home, as recent as early this am, we stopped in a shop in Waynesville, Ohio to find another soaper. This time it was Renee Selby of Miss Selby's soaps.

This lady, way too amazing. Just started soaping a couple of years ago...self taught...and she now owns her own retail store, (So very black and pink cute) A Web Store  and is opening another retail store very soon. She creates soaps, butters, bath balms and much much more. She says she had three youngsters at home who all went to college one right after the other leaving her with "lots of time and energy"

And did she ever put that energy to work! Loved her small, fit perfectly in your hand bars, each and everyone hand cut. Also went nuts over her body butter which is far better than mine, (but I've only made two batches so I deserve a wee break, no?) Renee was gracious enough to share  part of the secret of how she gets it SOOOOO fluffy but held tight to the specifics as any artist should.

She was however, very interested in my Signature Farmtastic Soap bar (made with real organic cream, eggs, honey and Red Wattle Lard) so perhaps I can trade her a bar of that for the REST of her body butter secret.

It's worth a try.