Rainbow Soap and Samples

I made rainbow soap yesterday - a double batch!  Which for me, because I make very small batches, means 16 - 5 ounce bars.  

Rainbow soap looks easy, but it's not.  I am always racing the soap!  First, trying to get it to a thick enough trace that I can pour it (gently! very gently!) and the layers won't swirl together.  BUT I don't want it too thick or the layers will separate and there will be air pockets - not attractive.  

So first waiting for the batter to thicken up and then racing, racing fast! to get the layers poured and leveled.  I bang the molds on the floor after pouring each layer - to get the air bubbles out.  

Now double everything by 2, because I was making 2 batches at the same time.  

I think it turned out pretty :)

And was worth the effort!

I love my herb and clay colored soaps, but rainbow soap makes me happy!  I smile every time I look at it.

This is 2 batches - 16, 5 ounce bars.

Then I cut each bar into 1/3.  Why?  Because I am participating in the October Tantalizing Sampler.  So if you want to try one of these beautiful rainbow soaps scented with Lemon Honey (secret blend of essential oils developed by me!) sign up for the October Tantalizing Sampler! :)  Or you can get a full sized bar in my Etsy shop Kiyi-Kiyi.  There is a limited supply :)

Rainbow soap = HAPPY!!!

Farmer's Market - First Week

Last Saturday was my first time at the local farmer's market.  I had a lot of fun and learned a ton.  It was also exhausting! 

 I had three days off from work right before the market, so I worked on making up a lot of products to take to the market.  Things like lotions, scrubs, bath whip and bath melts.  I wasted a TON of time making solid bubble bath bars - it was/is a giant failure.  I will get the recipe right eventually though!  It made great bubble bath - just a little lacking in the 'solid' part!

I should have spent more time making lotion.  I ended up only taking hazelnut coffee creme and sold out very quickly.  

It was interesting to see what people bought.  The things that I think are amazing - didn't sell!  LOL!  Like this rainbow soap.  It's so pretty!  I didn't sell a single bar.  However, oatmeal, milk and honey?  It doesn't look like much, but everyone wanted a bar.  

Other things:  Very important to have a "sniffy" bar out for people to handle and....sniff!  I was sure people would love these Gardener's soap.  But I didn't have a bare bar out for people to handle and I sold - zero of the gardener's soap.  Coffee soap, however?  Sold out!  I have to make some more now.

My signage needs work.  99% of the people didn't see my sign, even when they were standing right in front of it.  They would still ask - how much are these?

People will pay $20 for 5 bars of soap - after they think about it for a while.

They will grab 4 oz of lotion for $10 with out pausing.  

'Doh bring business cards!  One of those things I ran out of time to do.  I really needed business cards.  This next week I plan on putting my business cards with a small soap sample.

People like to get a little something when they 'check out'.  I had white paper bags that I put purchases into and I would tuck a soap saver in with their soap.  People really liked that!   I also put a copy of a brochure from the handmade soap guild, but I only had 10 copies and I ran out pretty fast.  Next time more copies!

Never sit down.  I stood the entire 5 hours and greeted people with a friendly word, smile (I smiled SO much) and say something about your product like, "These handmade soaps make great gifts!"  

This next Saturday will be my last week at the market, so I hope it goes well!  

Even with all the mistakes I made: I sold a lot and I was VERY happy with the amount that I made.  If I had sold any more I wouldn't have enough for this next week!  

Fairs and Lotions!

Lake Superior Ice - Tingle Mint

I have been very busy with Kiyi Kiyi things!  Here are a few of my newest creations.

I will be selling  displaying (Hopefully selling, but let's not get cocky LOL!) at the Farmer's Market for the first time this next Saturday.  I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts about how I designed my booth with vintage/up cycled items, so look for those posts in the next few days.

I'm getting a real professional web site made - yay!  So excited about that :)  I'll post a link when it's up and running.

Kiyi Kiyi soaps will be for sale at The Indiana Blueberry Festival - here.  What?!  Indiana?!  Yeah!  I'm participating in a fun Soaps Across America group.  So if you want to see Kiyi Kiyi soaps live and in person (and you live in Indiana!) go check out the Blueberry Festival the last week-end in August. 

Acai and Mangosteen

Herbal Essential - smells EXACTLY like herbal essences shampoo

  

Lotion!  

Yes it's finally here!  I will stop hording it all and finally put some up for sale.  Hopefully some will make it onto the Etsy site - if my local people don't buy it all!  I love making lotion, I LOVE using my lotion, but I HATE making labels for everything.  I'm a perfectionist freak and label making drives me crazy, because I can't control everything!  I should go sniff some soap and calm down!  :)  LOL!

Gifts For Dad

 

 I'm having a lot of fun making soap for my Dad!  I gave him a bar of the Pine Tar soap and he loves it!  I love it too!  I have a piece by my sink and it's the first one I reach for -  and I have a lot of soap by my sink!  This pine tar soap really calms down itchy skin.  I also had some cuts and a burn on my hand, after I started using the pine tar soap the cuts and burn healed up SO FAST!  I was really impressed.  It's also a very nicely moisturizing bar.  Your skin feels soft, but not greasy.  It's a really great bar and I think I will be making more of it!

My newest creation is the steel grey bar scented with Axe dark temptations.  This is a really nice, simple bar.  Perfect for men - smells wonderful.  It has nice clean lines and, according to my unofficial survey, that is important to guys.  They might think something like this Alice bar looks neat, but what they want is an unfussy bar that gets them clean.

The Steel Grey bar is made with goats milk and it has an amazing amount of fluffy moisturizing lather.  I really love the recipes I have developed - nice hard bars that last and last, but tons of moisturizing bubbles and lather in the bath.

Looking for a gift for Dad?

Check out the Pine Tar Soap here - 

PineTarSoapKiyiKiyi

And the Steel Grey bar here - KiyiKiyiSteelGrey

Rainbow Soap!

My newest soap creation!  I'm really happy with how it turned out!  I used almost every single color that I have :)

This is packed with skin loving oils and butters - shea, cocoa, coconut and lots of olive oil.  It has tons of lather too and it hasn't even cured for a week yet.

It's scented with Berries and Twigs.

This will be up for sale in my Etsy shop in a few weeks.

Decorating With Vintage

I find a lot of really great vintage items for my Etsy shop, but some times it can be difficult to look at a piece and realize its potential!

Here is an example of a great piece that does double duty. 1) It looks great and adds a pop of color.  2) It hides all those pesky cords that seem to multiple every day!

This is a vintage candy tin.  It holds a whole collection of cords out of sight, but within easy reach.

This candy tin is for sale in my shop here - Roses Tin

The chunky candle holders are also for sale - Wooden Candle Holders

Unscented Goat's Milk Soap

This is such a beautiful soap!  I had so much fun making it :)  

It has a really creamy, luscious lather.  And it is really, really moisturizing!  I had my hands all suds up for that photo at the top - yup that's my hands! - and my skin was so soft and felt great after the photo shoot.  And they were covered in suds for a long time.....it took a surprising amount of photos to get one that wasn't blurry!

Before cutting.

Video of the whole process!

Cut bars.

This soap is unscented and uncolored, but it has a sweet toasted almondy scent just from the yummy goat's milk and the heirloom honey I added.  I think I get to call it heirloom honey, because it's honey from my Grandpa who was a beekeeper.

I did get some partial gel even keeping it in the fridge for over 24 hours.  I think it looks beautiful!

For sale in my Etsy shop KiyiKiyi 

Fair Ivy Finalist!

Wow!  I'm still in shock!

My soap was selected as a finalist by the Soap Queen team for the Fair Ivy Contest.  Check it out here: Soap Queen 

As they say in show business, I'm just honored to be mentioned.... among such an amazing group of crafters.    Wow!

So surprised and happy!

I entered, because I like contests.  I'm a terrible procrastinator, but if I have a very firm goal in mind I will work obsessively until I think it's perfect :P   Contests are a good push for me to try new things and be creative.  I didn't think I would be a finalist!  

I almost missed the deadline for submissions, because I couldn't get my label template to cooperate.  In the end I just used an address stamper to add my name and address to the back of the label, because I couldn't re print the labels again at the last minute (my Dad prints my labels on his fancy (expensive) printer and I trade him labels for soap LOL!) and having name/address on your label was one of the requirements for entry.  It was right down to the wire and I paid extra at the post office just to make sure it would be delivered on time.

Now I wish I had taken a picture of my submission before I sent it off!  

I designed and sewed little clutch type bags that folded like an envelope to hold the soap.  They had ribbons sewn in to tie them closed.  I thought they were really cute :)

I even made my own pattern  - although it isn't that complicated a pattern LOL!  Just the shape of an envelope.  

I don't think that I will win the final contest - there are a lot of REALLY gorgeous entries and mine looks kind of plain by comparison, but there is always next time!  And it was an honor just to know someone liked my soap and my sewing :) 

Goat's Milk and Honey Soap Tutorial With A Mica Swirl

I am participating in the Great Cakes Soap Challenge for the first time - even though it is week 3 of the challenge :P

I decided to make a goat's milk and honey soap with an oatmeal, honey and milk fragrance.  And I made a video tutorial!  Don't laugh too hard LOL!  I was nervous!

The challenge part was the mica swirl and we could do whatever we wanted inside the soap.  I love this goat's milk soap!  It turned out really nice and creamy!  I included some honey in this recipe.  The honey was from my Grandpa, who was a bee keeper, so it's a very special soap :)

Keep going to see pictures of the cut soap....

Ta da!  I thought it was great!

I used coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil and castor oil.  It should have great fluffy lather and be very moisturizing.  I can't wait to try a bar!  I plan on making another one tomorrow, but it will be unscented.   

They have some honey comb texture and swirly mica tops AND then I added a bee hive stamp with more mica on the front of each soap.  

So creamy.....

Yum!  The scent is amazing!  Sweet and a little bit almondy.  I can't stop sniffing it LOL!

These bars will be for sale in my Etsy shop in a few weeks :)  

Kiyi Kiyi Etsy Shop

Having Fun and Keeping Busy

I am having so much fun with my Etsy shop!  I have had such great customers!

Today I sent off these vintage clogs to their new home in CA.  I think they will like California :)  It's a lot warmer there!

I will have to take a picture some time of my wrapped up packages.  I like to make them look cute, so when they (customer) opens the package it's like getting a gift!  It's fun :)

Earlier in the week I sent this cute little poodle book off to it's new home.  It was such an adorable book!  I really enjoyed sewing it.  I hope they liked it!

I sewed these cute little rattles this week.  Stuffed toys are one of my favorite things to make - even though they are kind of tricky sometimes.  These rattles are still waiting to find their perfect home!

I finally finished this party crown.  I have been working on it for months, but I couldn't decide on how I wanted to finish it.  When I finally made up my mind it turned out perfectly!  It's SO pretty!  I think it looks even better in person - I had it on display in my work room while I was waiting to photograph it and everyone that saw it thought it was gorgeous.  

I finished this book a couple weeks ago.  This is the only copy of this book that I will ever sew!  OMG!  It was so hard.  So many little pieces and the pattern was very complicated.  I've made a lot of soft books - this one took soft books to another level.  Who knew you could make a baby book complicated LOL!!

The Rest Of The Baby Shower Gifts

I forgot to post the rest of the gifts I made for my baby shower gift!

I made her a Hello Kitty pacifier clip.

She really wanted shirts that said big brother and little sister.  So I made some!

They are appliques.  It was a perfect chance to perfect my technique cutting fabric with my Cricut.

The cotton fabric was much easier to work with,  The pink felt was hard to cut and it was fizzy, so it basically ruined my sticky Cricut sheet.

But I now know how to cut fabric with a Cricut!  Basically the secret is to go very slowly and cut twice.

Finally the quilt that I made!  I was very impressed with myself LOL!!

Not bad for someone that didn't know how to sew on a button 2 months ago!

It was big and heavy.  And fuzzy and soft and I liked it.  I have another one that I'm working on, but I think I need a quilt break for a while.  Then I might feel like I can do it again.

At the party!  I didn't get a picture of my cute package.  I put everything into a wooden basket with a pink bunny fabric liner.  It was so cute!