Hobby & Craft Forums

Sometimes - usually when I'm building websites - I like to Google for soaps...I put in terms like "Beautiful Soaps" or "Lovely Handmade Soaps" or "Soaps good enough to eat"....

Sometimes I get ideas or something sparks my interest but mostly I think one of two things....

The first is something along the lines of "OMG...how on earth can this person really think they are going to sell any of this"!!! - * I know but there it is!

The second is "OMG how absolutely beautiful...." - much more complementary, but also, unfortunately much more rare...

But I am astounded by the creative and brilliant soapies that are out there, slogging away making the most stunning creations....

Here's a few that caught my eye:

http://www.beautifulsoaponline.com/

http://www.platypusdreams.com.au/Cherry-Blossom-Gourmet-Designer-Soap-pr-4.html

http://www.splishsplash.com.au/soap.html

http://host.pappapak13.com/~feelings/pages/TheCupcakes.htm

- I wish I was rich - I'd definitely buy some of them

Interestingly, when we started, 3 years ago, I kept a folder with web links to soap makers that inspired me.

I looked at the other day and found that out of about 35 only 3 were remaining?

Obviously many new ones have come along, gone and come along again.

It would be interesting (nosey)to know what happened to the others?

I agree - I usually search through the image results and click on the ones that take my fancy or catch my eye - I would say that 1 out of every 4 that I click the websites are no longer available (presumably because the business has gone out of business)...I do wonder how I'm still here We must be doing something right, eh!

Do you think perhaps that some of these intricate and involved products are not truly costed?? - there were discussions on other forums about folk not adequately charging for time and the "invisible" costs.. Perhaps these folk male lovely products, but even if they sell "well" can't sustain a living from making them and so give up??

As I have said numerous times before, you two (Judi and Jane) seem to combine lovely products with enough common sense to realise that a business is not just about pretty things and that hard work is always required to make them successful.. no matter how much you seem to glide along like Swans to the rest of us!

I don't know...most of the links above are for quite large businesses...and most of those 'handcrafted' soaps are more expensive than the slices of soap you find in a lot of shops...I find that, when costing my time into the cost of the product, I can make 4 loaves in pretty much the time it would take me to make 1 or 2.....and a couple of people I know of who really do fantastic soap art charge 4 times as much as you might for a slice (made with the same amount of soap base)....but, you're right, I think when you enjoy something it's often hard to think of it as a business...that's not peculiar to soapers, I guess

Well what about these then... http://mlmsoaps.com/flowers.aspx or http://mlmsoaps.com/noveltybarsoaps.aspx (scroll down for the ducks)

Aww them duck soaps are sooo cute!! Would love to have a go at making something like that!!

I love them all, I love the curly soaps and the heart soaps, I was watching tutorials a while back for making both of those, fascinating.

The duck on water soap is so cute.

I was going to ask how the heart soaps are made in the third link which Judi posted- is this what you were watching tutorials on Karen?

Nickie wrote:I was going to ask how the heart soaps are made in the third link which Judi posted

Those are usually made from lon tubular moulds - called embed moulds - you'd make the long thin soaps first and the embed them into your loaf...then you get that heart effect when the loaf is cut...