Fenton Street Market - Tomorrow!

I'm very excited that tomorrow I will have my very own tent at the Fenton Street Market in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland.  For more information on this event, go HERE.

On several Saturdays this summer, I shared a both with my good friend Cathy, who sells jewelry under the names "Dorothea Designs" and "Aurenta Atomica".  It was fun, except for the rather uncooperative weather on certain days.  Here is a photo of her booth full of wonderful jewelry (with a little soap section for me).

Hi, Cathy!

This is what my soap setup looked like on a different Saturday...

Those Snow Globe Soaps were the big hit of the summer for me!

But tomorrow, I will have my own booth, and will also be selling hats and horns, just in time for Halloween.  The weather man has promised me sunshine and pleasant temperatures.  Wish me luck!

Soap Inspiration and Process Photos - The Night Circus

I'm inspired to make soap by the strangest things.  My favorite foods, a scent I happen to catch that reminds me of something from my past, and the things my geeky friends adore have all made me rush to make some soap.  This soap is no exception, as it is inspired by the online game (and book, which I ordered but have not yet read) "The Night Circus".  The story is centered around a mysterious circus, in which all of the tents, decorations and costumes are in shades of black and white, with occasional pops of red.  

Thus, I decided to make this soap in those colors.  The red parts I scented with musky rose, the black parts with amber and musk, and the white with a scent evocative of water and fresh air.  The technique for this loaf was something I picked up in the WONDERFUL glycerin soap book "Soapylove: Squeaky-Clean Projects Using Melt-and-Pour Soap" which I can't recommend enough if you are interested in melt-and-pour soap techniques.  I just added the stripey component myself.

To begin with, I made 21 bright red soap balls in a spherical ice cube tray, scented in the rose musk fragrance.  Then I started layering in my black and white soap, waiting between layers to make sure they didn't melt into each other, and placing rows of red soap balls in rows at various heights.

Off to the side, you can see the little red soap balls I made in step 1.  They remind me of clown noses!

Here is the soap, almost ready to take out of the mold.

Unmolded, and looking pretty good!

After cutting the loaf into bars, I ended up with this:

Completed soap bar.  A lot of work, but I think it was worth it!

Ta da!  A soap inspired by "The Night Circus".  I think I'm going to name it "The Dark Carnival".  :)