Nothing to see here...

I'm sorry. It's Easter break, I'm home for 3 weeks, I have no new soap, I wrote a review before I left and then left my notebook on my desk back in London.


Apologies.


Until then, I have a new blog to neglect! It's a craft blog called Rumade. Go have a looky. That will hopefully be updated quite regularly during this break. Hooray.

My new idol: Meekyoung Shin

Those of you who bothered to read the tiny "about me" paragraph at the side of this page would have noticed that I am a ceramic design student. So, naturally, something like this is of interest to me:

Ghost series- blue (2010)

I mean, come on, they're beautiful! Those curves, that high shine finish, the flawless proportion! But what makes them more amazing is this: all of those vases are made out of SOAP.

And so was this:

Crouching Aphrodite (2002)

Meekyoung Shin is a 43 year old artist from Korea, who started sculpting in soap 15 years ago  when she came to Slade School of Fine Art in London. She creates some of her pieces by making a mould of an original ceramic piece and then casting soap, and others by carving out of large chunks of the stuff.

There is a collection of her work, labelled "Translation" currently showing at the Haunch of Venison Gallery, until the 2nd of April and admission is free, so I'll post some trip photos if I get a chance to go.

I think I may have found another face for the favourite artist wall! Credit to the Evening Standard for introducing me to her work.

Sometimes "natural" just means "nasty"

Was Christmas really almost a month ago? 2011 is nearly 1/12th of the way through. How terrifying. Anyway...


Back at Christmas time, I got a pouffle in my stocking. You know, a pouffle, a shower puff, one of those things they use in shower gel commercials that isn't a loofah or brush on a stick. The label attached to it proclaimed it was "simply natural" and made from "100% natural ramie" (just looked that up- ramie is apparently a plant in the nettle family that doesn't sting. The more you know!). Hooray, I thought, now I can make my shower time a million times more foamy and feel like I'm scrubbing my arse with a cloud!

That was not the case. The damn thing didn't foam up and instead just got wet and slimy and then clumped. I tried to wring it out and hung it up to dry, whereupon the edged darkened to a weird rusty shade that made it look like something found in an abandoned submarine.

I haven't used it again because every time I look at it I think how much mould could grow in those folds and decide to give it a miss. A good two weeks after I first used it, it still smells... iffy.

There is a reason pouffles (do you pronounce that poo-full or like soufflé?) are synthetic. If you want to lather up with something "natural", grab some cotton yarn, learn to knit and go hack out one of the millions of washcloth patterns that are on Ravelry.

In the meantime, I'm tempted to dunk this in clay, fire it in the kiln and see what results. It's got to be better than keeping this bedraggled thing in my bathroom.

Tis the season for peace, love, and suds...

December is a pretty busy month for me, even more so because I had an international visitor staying with me until the sixth, which was coincidentally the day of my pom squad's competition. Then it was my 21st birthday on the 17th (wooooo!), followed by not only the winter solstice but a lunar eclipse too, and then of course blah de blah, the birth of our saviour;  Nikolaos of Myra/Jesus.


Word seems to have gotten round the globe that I pretend to be a very serious and important soap aficionado who graces the internet with slightly unhinged prose about bubbles.

My international friend decided that 3 bars of soap was equivalent to 2 weeks lodging cost so I've got a bar each of Howling Pig's Sandalwood, Earthly Delights Black Amber & Lavender, and Mistral Pamplemousse and Cassis Rouge (that's grapefruit and red currant to those of you who can't be hypnotised by a little French on the packaging).

My brother got me a bar of Molton Brown Aloe & Karite shaving soap (not pictured). He wanted to get me their exfoliating soap, but they were out of stock and pfft WHO CARES? I OWN A BAR OF SOAP THE SAME PRICE AS A WEEKS WORTH OF GROCERIES.

My SASS Santa (yes, I have stairs in my house) got me a peppermint soap shaped like a sweet, a cupcake shaped vanilla soap, some ylang ylang and tangerine soap from Angel's Spa of Tuscany, and some frankly amazing smelling Placitas plum tree soap from the Sandia Soap Company. It's a little strong, so I think I'll have to store it away from my other soaps (on my bookshelf right now, it's doing a fine job as a room fragrancer). Thank you so much, secret Santa of West Virginia!

My mum got me a natural, unbleached body puff thing, for days when the shower's broken and I have to bucket wash, or just for when I want some more bubbles. 

And finally, the big guy himself left a box of Pears in my stocking. I think he read the line I wrote about soap, socks, and self defence, and wanted to see me try it out. Alas, there have been no Home Alone moments this winter break.

So to you, my handful of readers (who span 6 countries so far), I wish you the best in 2011; peace, love, continued access to bathing in a water-stressed world, and me shutting my mouth before I get all environmentally charged at the end of your new years greeting.

Here's to a new year, and new soap!

Well, I guess this is hello

This is a blog about soap. Bar soap. Not liquid soap, shower gel, shampoo or bath bombs.


This is not a blog about making soap. I neither make nor sell soap. 




It is simply a blog where, whenever I open a new bar of soap, I will take photos, give it a good sniff and a hard squeeze, get into the shower and invite you to experience this soap for the first time with me. The plan is to review all sorts of soaps for all kind of sources- markets, independent sellers (Etsy), supermarkets, bargain basement chemists, souvenir shops etc.


Soap, to me, is wonderful stuff. It brings people together. Soap in bar form is even better- it uses less water and packaging than liquid soap which is diluted and needs to be kept in bottles. You can take it in your hand luggage on an aeroplane, fuss free. You can pretend you're in prison by dropping it deliberately and trying to pick it up without leaving yourself open to backdoor attacks.


Perhaps this blog will help you avoid an expensive sudsy mistake. Perhaps it will find you a new soap-mate for life. Perhaps it will encourage you to go lather up a little more.


Or perhaps it's just an excuse for me to keep buying soap.