My Top 5 Takeaways from the HSCG Conference
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
The Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild held their 20th annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia last week. I’ve been making soap since 2002, been a member of Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild for nearly six years, and this was my first time attending this national conference! It’s always great when you can come together with like-minded folks and talk shop. The best part was meeting online soaping friends in real life, including some of the participants from the Soap Challenge Club! Challenge Club reunion! back: Alicia Wyatt, Bonnie Howard, Sarah Janes, Claudia Carpenter, Marilyn Schendel ..read more
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Final Soap Challenge Winners Announcement!
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
It’s so hard to believe this is the final winners announcement for the Soap Challenge Club!! There have been 55 challenges since the Club started in June 2013 with 160 unique winners of $10,000 in gift certificates plus physical prizes, many of them winning multiple times! Thousands of soapmakers have joined the Club over the years to learn new techniques and push themselves to grow their skills in incredible ways. I celebrate those who didn’t give up after the first try, who offered up what they learned from their experiences, and continued to contribute over and over again not only by creati ..read more
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November’s Dirty Fluid Pour Challenge Winners
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
Hard to believe this was the next to last soap challenge! November’s technique was specifically created for the Soap Challenge Club by guest teacher Joanne Watkins of Nature’s Potion Handmade Soaps. As both a soapmaker and acrylic paint artist, Joanne found a way to safely re-create the dirty fluid pour technique for acrylic paint with soap. As you will see, there are some stunning results from this technique! The challenge was divided into a juried category, sponsored by Elements Bath & Body and a voted category, sponsored by Custom Soap Stamps. The winners of the juried category were cho ..read more
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Rainbows and Unicorns – Oh My!!
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
The Soap Challenge Club was given the task of creating a cold process soap with at least six rainbow colors and one unicorn element. Micas and glitter were the only embellishments allowed, but really what else do you need if you have plenty of sparkle? Members were super creative with their soaps! We had two categories for this challenge: experienced and newbie. Experienced was defined as having made soap for more than two years OR more than 50 batches. Anyone else was considered a newbie. The newbies were extra light this month – only six entries! Lovin Soap sponsored the newbie category with ..read more
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September Challenge Winners & My Big Announcement
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
For the month of September, guest teacher Helene Glemet of ChezHelene showed us how to create 3D Shower Jelly soaps similar to the designs of edible 3D gelatin cakes. We injected cold process soap into melt and pour jelly bases to create beautiful designs. The challenge was sponsored by Rustic Escentuals, a fabulous supplier of jelly base, as well as tons of fragrances, micas, and so much more! There were only 24 entries this month as it is a busy time of year and many were unable to participate. Instead of each member getting 3 votes, they were only given ONE. Grand prize goes to Maja Zuvela ..read more
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Intaglio Soap Challenge Winners Announcement
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
For the month of August, the Soap Challenge Club took on the Intaglio technique which was created by Clyde Yoshida of Vibrant Soap. He’s made three different types of designs with this type of carving technique and was excited to see what the Challenge Club members might be able to create. Strictly speaking, intaglio is an etching or engraving that refers to an image that is created by what is carved away. It has been used in printmaking processes. For the challenge, members were simply encouraged to etch a design in their soap that was no more than 1 cm deep. The design could be created from ..read more
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Winners Announcement for July Challenge Club
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
Our challenge for July was presented by our guest teacher, Joanne Watkins of Nature’s Potion Handmade Soaps. As an artist who is adept in acrylic paint techniques, Joanne showed us one of the fluid acrylic pour methods using a straw. The results can be quite stunning as you will see from the winning entries, but we also discovered that this technique can be a bit dangerous if precautions are not taken. Even with warnings about safety, several of our members ended up with lye burns. For this reason, I will not be offering the tutorial for sale, and hereby notify you that any attempts to re-crea ..read more
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Announcing the Winners of the Ombre Challenge
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
11M ago
For the month of June, the Soap Challenge Club worked on perfecting ombre techniques in cold process soap. Ombre is the gradual blending of one color hue to another, usually moving tints and shades from light to dark or dark to light – or even color to color. Members were given the option to choose any technique they wished to demonstrate an ombre color patter in the majority of their soap. The challenge was divided between juried and voted categories. Members who wished to learn a new technique and have some fun, and/or may be new to soapmaking were encouraged to enter the voted category. All ..read more
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My Top 5 Takeaways from the HSCG Conference
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
4y ago
The Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild held their 20th annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia last week. I’ve been making soap since 2002, been a member of Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild for nearly six years, and this was my first time attending this national conference! It’s always great when you can come together with like-minded folks and talk shop. The best part was meeting online soaping friends in real life, including some of the participants from the Soap Challenge Club! Challenge Club reunion! back: Alicia Wyatt, Bonnie Howard, Sarah Janes, Claudia Carpenter, Marilyn Schend ..read more
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Round Soap Mold Using Poly Tubing
Great Cakes Soapworks
by Amy Warden
4y ago
Here’s an efficient way to make large batches of round soaps. I posted several years ago about how I use poly tubing to create my shampoo bars. Denise Casperson in British Columbia, Canada took my idea a step further and I’m delighted that she wants to share her methods. Benefits of Denise’s set-up: 1. pour at waist level to reduce air bubbles, 2. insulated to help force gel stage, 3. soap is protected and contained in case of a poly tubing mishap – which I admit I’ve had a couple!, 4. creates a smooth top = less waste. Here’s what it looks like: Poly Tubing Set-Up by Denise CaspersonRemovabl ..read more
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