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Friday, May 02, 2008

etsy friday

My favorite etsy soapmaker was on maternity leave when I ran out of soap (gasp!) so naturally I sucked it up and went on an etsy search for "cold process soap"... instead, I found art.

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Cold process soap art by AlkaliSoaps.etsy.com

For reals, it's soap. And not that I don't think glycerin melt and pour soaps are great, but I prefer cold process and this IS, even though it looks so awesome. One glance over Alkali Soaps' etsy profile and I was sold.

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Mitsumata (my favorite scent) and Jabberwocky

They all smell great... but Mitsumata's my favorite as far as the nose goes. The way they look though, my favorite is the one that drew me into shopping AlkaliSoaps' store in the first place--

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Espionage (x2) and Jazz Cat

You can see they are layered where the designs are worked on top, but its all very solid and has cured for several weeks being cold process. I snuck a peek at the designs in progress on their soap blog-- so cool seeing the soap in "log" form and then cut into different looking designs once it has been cured. They're very heavy and dense as well, a good value for the weight, notwithstanding how good they look.

My pics aren't as bright as they should be because Alkali Soaps shrink wraps each bar in heavy duty plastic and includes a card inside with the fragrance name... I was struck how perfect they were for gift giving, or something awesome for the guest bathroom. Mine are going in the shower though ;)

So are these...

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Handmade liquid body wash soaps, custom colors and scents by Halflyng.etsy.com

My kid, once in the bocha, can stay there forever. Good for clean boys, not so good for bars of soap that melt down to nothing in standing/splashing water. His grandma heard me complaining and bought him some crayola scribblers-- tiny 1/2 oz containers shaped like "crayons" full of brightly colored soap. Awesome, except they're *too* cool... kiddo can empty these like crazy. Clean, but no soap left after bathtime.

I turned to Halflyng for some liquid soaps I could refill the containers with... I wanted bright colors that would stand out against skin (blue, pink, green and orange), and Halflyng sent me a HUGE list of fragrances to choose from for each. Since I can refill them, I can fill each little "crayon" with only a bit of soap, and they last much longer than before. I also like Halflyng's scents (the crayolas had none)... who wouldn't want their kid smelling like a cinnamon bun? :)

Halflyng's having a pre-maternity leave sale in her shop-- I think it includes custom orders so check out her sold items for inspiration.

Til then!

4 comments:

Judy said...

Just a nit-picky little niggle, but hot process soaps are not the same as heat-and-pour soaps. Hot process soaps just speed the saponification (fat + lye turning into soap) process by using heat in the process. So please don't discount all hot process soaps--some are quite lovely!

lexa said...

Those body washes are nice and bright! And those soaps... beautiful!

Have a great weekend. :)

Halflyng said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Halflyng said...

Thank you so much for blogging about my soaps ;) I had a couple customers come over to my store because of it :) I appreciate it a ton!

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