Friday July 18th 6:00pm(ish) After stopping in Salt Lake city and flying over the Cascades for the very first time, nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of the landscape I was about to see flying into Seattle Washington. Totally overwhelmed by the beauty of the evening sun illuminating a red painted sky behind four incredibly beautiful and majestic volcanic mountains visible out of my tiny airplane window, I call Anne-Marie of Bramble Berry to let her know my connecting flight to Bellingham was running a half hour late or so. Not a problem she had already pre-paid for a lovely hotel room and cab to accommodate me for the night and let me know she and Debbie of Soapylove would pick me up in the morning to take me directly from my hotel to Otion. The entire weekend I did not want for anything; I was treated like soap royalty from the first minute to the last.
Fast forward to Saturday morning around 8am. as I'm crossing the street to return my hotel keys to the counter a car door opens and a lovely blond with an infectious smile says "Paula?" It's Anne-Marie and Debbie!!! Instantly I felt a warm welcome and knew I was among friends. Debbie was all twisted around in her seat to chat and Anne-Marie was making reassuring eye contact in the rear view mirror as she drove us to get these gigantic protein shakes to fuel the crew for that morning's class.
My first impressions: OMG Debbie is adorable inside and out and Anne-Marie beams and radiates light not-unlike Rene Zellwegger - just adorable both of them!
As we are driving we are all talking in wonderment about the students who were coming to learn with/from us. I can hardly express what an honor it was to not only be asked to teach at this Intensive weekend but to realize people were coming from all over to share in this experience. Here I am doing what I love, in the company of masters of their craft and soap addicts just like myself to commune for one tiny weekend -- a mere blip in geologic time -- I am overwhelmed.
I am so grateful to my hosts and particularly to the students who put their time, funds and faith into Anne-Marie and the instructor's hands to deliver a weekend rich in technique and inspiration. I can only hope it was as fruitful a weekend for the students as it was for me. Dare I say it was as rich, moving and inspirational for me as my very first TOOL concert or any evening spent exploring with Wittgenstein.
The two day session opened at Otion (a division of Bramble Berry) with Anne-Marie setting a casual and interactive tone as she delivered a novice-friendly yet highly informative introduction to Melt & Pour Soaping. I was particularly interested in her eye opening discussion of colorants & micas (bleeding and non-bleeding). One of the nuggets of gold was learning that my all time favorite non-bleeding, lip and eye safe micas "Merlot Mica" (available at Bramble Berry) is coated in red/iron oxide. I had no idea. It's such a classic shade of wine with a moderate shimmer, a genuine must-have for anyone creating lip products.
Next on the docket was yours truly jumping right in to the tips and techniques for creating depth and realism in a soapy reproduction of one of nature's finest works of art, the Bivalvia Carditidae Seashell:
 |
Student Bivalves from Intensive '08! |
Step by step, layer by layer every member of the class created their own beautiful yet totally unique work of art. The layering process for this soap is so messy I'm sure none of the students at the outset ever imagined their finished soaps would be so breathtaking - yet they ALL were.
Anne-Marie and crew had set the stage perfectly for a totally hands-on, guided yet interactive art class. People felt free to talk with their neighbors, assist each other, ask questions, make mistakes and repair them (or accept "mistakes" as acts of nature). All this progressed, despite my incessant yapping about layering techniques and the importance of letting your layers absorb light for dazzlingly rich, warm & life-like results.
As the bivalves became stable enough to set aside we began right in on the Crescent Moon soaps. For as detailed as this soap may look, with the right tools it's ridiculously easy. Which really makes the class fun to teach.
 |
Student Moons from Intensive '08! |
The insanely tiny detail of this mold, the tiny stars and cloud cover (optional) is achieved with a special scraping tool I discovered by accident years ago. These soaps are students FIRST attempts at this method. Amazing eh? And now they have a better idea of their options for clouds cover if they wish to play more with that look. Outstanding results that simply would not be possible without this tool -- which is also carried in a very economical Mini Tool Kit designed specifically for Bramble Berry by PJ Soaps.
It was a bit warm and humid so I suggested we not unmold our beauties until the next day's classes. So while the moons set up enough to move we all took a long leisurely lunch. There was plenty of time to wander the neighborhood shops and local farmer's market, where I had the questionable judgment to buy and eat nearly a pound of sugar snap peas. Hey, you can't eat just one eh? Man they were so good and fresh but didn't do muh tummy any favors. ;p
After lunch Jill Heuser of Northwest Scents gave a hugely informative talk about the need for using preservatives in hand lotions. She discussed a number of existing preservatives in use and told us why she preferred on over another and why. Then the whole class (including me) made some! Soapylove was kind enough to ask me to be a partner with her in this process. I thought I might just watch and learn that way, but noooooooo Debbie had me walking around and STIRRING and all that junk. hehe (I was so ready to sit back and be happy to watch after teaching my classes).
Well I'm glad Soapylove asked me to join her. I had never made a hand lotion before. It was really cool and not difficult at all, unless you factor in trying to get you bowl of hand lotion into the itsy bitsy mouth of a 4 oz lotion bottle! I made such a mess I could hardly stop laughing. I thought I had this BRILLIANT idea of using a plastic bag as a cake decorating piping tool. Sounds good right -- not so fast -- everything has to be sterile and the only unused baggies around were gusseted in the corners (so there's no real tip to cut). Never being discouraged by anything, I say "we can do this!" and do an instant problem solving analysis. So we fill the baggies and I still try cutting a tiny slit into the near corner of the bag...long story short if your slit is too small it will rip and become too big, if the slit is too big for the stiffness of your lotion.
|
Instructor's Lotion from Intensive '08! |
Okay okay that's me trying to stuff that junk into the bottle. hehehe It was such a funny sight students were coming by to see the huge mess the "instructors" were making. hehehe
Next on the docket, was the soaping world's genuine Renaissance woman, Alicia Grosso, with a discussion of the psychology of marketing our products a methodical way to evaluate if you're on track with your business goals. Then she went on to a discussion of various oil/water emulsifiers and had us making 2 different kinds of lotion, but by this time I had sat through the "new ways of looking at and therefore seeing" your product that I decided to watch and learn this segment as it involved standing up again. You see, part of what I left out of the introduction was how it took 15 hours to get from St. Paul to Bellingham carrying bags through 3 different airports that weighed about half my own body weight. Dear Erik, the manager of Otion walked over to my droopy eyes and asked if I'd like to maybe lay down before going to Anne-Marie's for Dinner. For a moment I thought "am I in love, or am I just insanely grateful for the offer? -- nah, too young for me, it must be appreciation."
Day One of classes comes to an end.
After Erik took me to Anne-Marie's condo where she put me up for the weekend I took a totally awesome shower and laid on the bed in muh jammies until I heard the buzzer. Anne-Marie, Debbie and Alicia had come to pick me up and bring me to Anne-Marie's cabin on a lake. But before I describe to you how beautiful this cabin is I have to mention that Anne-Marie's hubby had just finished totally gutting and rebuilding the condo all down to the plumbing and lighting. Now I just happen to be a HUGE fan of the Dutch Masters and much of that passion for me has to do with how lighting adds so much to the communication of emotion. Well let me just say that if I were called upon to prepare a condo for some modern day Rembrandt I'd pick the same light fixtures, furniture, wood cabinets (and their lighting). It was just SO beautiful. Off to the cabin we went. The scenery looking out the living room window (the lawn reaching down to the shores of a lake at the bottom of a mountain) was so beautiful I couldn't begin to tell you what the cabin itself looked like. ;p
Intermission: I took a couple days off writing my review, but as I sit waiting for a layer of soap to cover my latest Don Quixote Batch while listening to "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd I can't help but feel totally high on the love for what I do. I had a great weekend, took Saturday off and watched Boondock Saints with a bunch of Strongmen friends and their partners. My love for the artistry of that film grows every time I see it. Then yesterday I was non-stop productive in the making of soaps to fill specific orders (my favorite way to make soaps). So here I sit, high on music and soap, with some old black & white film in the background and it strikes me as the perfect time to do a little more writing on the Soap Intensive weekend...
Saturday Evening after the first class a few of the instructors & family congregated at Anne-Marie's cabin to relax and refuel before heading off to bed. This is where I first saw Debbie's adorable little ones and got to snuggle her baby for hours on end! I am normally much happier in the company of children and animals than I am with an all adult group. I met Debbie's husband also, loved them both. Once the baby was finally ripped from my arms (hehehe) I had my first real chance to meet and chat (in depth) with Alicia WOW, I just don't know where to start except to say I instantly recognized how we both seemed to be speaking the same "language." Though I have just dabbled in the arts, sciences, music, psychology, anthropology etc., here before me was a near master of all, a genuine Renaissance woman. Alicia and I must have talked for 3 hours straight, one subject merging so naturally into the next and yet willingly pulled along by a common undertow.
I'm normally a very private person and not one to share vulnerabilities with strangers, yet thanks to Alicia's experience in this area I felt comfortably uncomfortable in opening up a bit with her. As a result, the hours shot by as we spoke about soap, teaching, music, psychology, philosophy of language/mind and so on. It's 11:30 PM and time to go to bed to be ready for another early morning wake up call. I look forward to spending time with again Alicia on any bases be it work or play.
Day Two of Bramble Berry's Soap Intensive Alicia Grosso opens the day with a Cold Process Soaping 101, which I could kick myself in the head for missing! Anne-Marie had called me before class at maybe 7:30 AM to let me know when she was picking me up, at which point I just wanted to cry and nearly did (hehe) I was SOOOOOOOOO comfortable and still so tired I just wanted another hour or two of sleep. She totally understood and offered to pick me up at the first break -- have I mentioned before how I was treated like soap royalty from the first minute to the last? Thank you Anne-Marie and gang!
After picking me up at the condo and taking me to Otion, it was time for Alicia's Advanced CP Soaping class with some theory and warnings about what can make what go wrong. It was kinda funny, for as hard as she tried to ruin a few batches of soap, things were just working out - that is until she totally cemented a stick blender in a bowl trying to get her soap to seize up; and really, even that time it was the very effect we were trying to witness.
Lunch break and then it's party time with Debbie of SoapyLove and making Silhouette Embed soaps and (my personal favorite) ALIEN soaps!!!
|
SoapyLove Teaching at Intensive '08! |
Debbie, having notified the class via email days earlier, invited students to bring a personal favorite silhouette of a child, pet, mentor etc. but was prepared with small cookie cutters which can readily be used to cut out adorable silhouettes and embed into soap. Many students brought a personal silhouette, some used cookie cutters. For those who brought silhouettes Debbie cut out thin blocks of black soap and showed the class how to transfer their pictures into personalized soap silhouettes using exacto knives!!! Step by step these blobs of black soap were transformed into works of art.
|
Finished Silhouette at Intensive '08! |
Jumping ahead to one of my all time favorite M&P design for INSANE CUTENESS -- Debbie unleashes the ALIENS!!! Bags and bags of teeny alien figures tumble out onto the table, some females with bows in their hair some chefs carrying cupcakes (and so many more). I've never seen a group of adults so excited about the chance to mess around with wee little toys.
She had us pair up and create 3 space ships and walked us through the process of strapping the aliens into the captains chair - VERY creative. I'm pretty sure you can follow along as Anne-Marie runs a review of the Intensive Weekend '08 in her Soap Queen Blog in the next few weeks.
|
Unmolding Finished Aliens at Intensive '08! |
What a super fun way to end the weekend. After Debbie's classes Anne-Marie brought out Certificates of Graduation signed by all the instructors, and a variety of the most decadent looking and tasting cupcakes ever. While the soaps from Debbie's class' set up we all sat around chatting about soap and all we'd learned (instructors too). Then I snuck downstairs at Otion to do a little shopping and found some AWSOME molds which I'll feature in the next few weeks on my "What's New?" page.
Thank you again to Anne-Marie and Bramble Berry for selecting me as one of the few soap makers in the country to represent your first annual and wildly successful Soap Intensive Weekend. Yet as honored as I was to be selected for teaching, when I walked into a room filled with students from all over the continent eager to learn and share with other soapers I realized how lucky I was to be doing what I love with others those who enjoy a similar passion.
Paula,
Owner/Artist PJ Soaps |
