Your creative process

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CrisMaz

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I've been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because during my "brain downtime" I very often picture soap/soap designs I would love to try.
For me, my inspiration always comes as a visual idea first. Like, for example, I saw the prettiest mangoes at the store the other day so I was trying to figure out how I could make a mango colored CP soap. Or, I thought about a mosaic type soap with embeds of several different colors layered rainbow style with white base soap all around them. I almost never think about a scent and build my idea from there. I always picture what I would like the soap to look like and then put a fragrance to the idea.
Sometimes it's actually kind of hard to do that because I can't figure out what this or that soap "should" smell like lol

What is your creative process like? Looks first, then scent? The other way around? Both?

Also, still on the topic of inspiration, those of you who sell, do you ever stop yourself from looking at Etsy or the photo gallery here? I don't sell, but I always think if I did I'd be afraid I'd be getting inspiration from other sellers and end up making soap that's way too similar for comfort, even if not on purpose!
 
I get excited thinking about combinations of oils and butters and different liquids. The luxury of bathing with mango seed butter or avocado oil or oils infused with flower petals really appeals to me. I personally go for unscented most of the time and have never swirled or made designs. I have three soaps planned with colors, scents and swirls, so it's a work in progress!

I think it's neat that soaping allows for so many unique approaches.

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I make jewelry as well as bath and body products, but it seems the process is the same for both. There are a couple of things that can happen. 1) I see something I like, and I start with the intention to more or less exactly copy it. But I can't leave well enough alone, and make changes or improvements to the item as I'm making it. Typically (but granted,not every time), the finished product is significantly different from the original- sometimes so much so that you can't even tell that the original inspired my version! Then there's scenario 2) I find a jewelry finding or ingredient that I fall in love with and I create something around that component. Or 3) Form follows function- I know what I want the end product to 'do' or visually 'say' and I create something to fulfill that function.
 
I am new to all this but here is my process. I think I start with fragrance and build from there. I am thinking about the soap I am going to make tonight. I wanted to use the fragrance Cotton Candy. At first I thought I wanted to do a funnel pour round soap. Then it overtook me. I want a log swirl with big fluffy top. I got more pink clay, titanium dioxide and gold colored colorant. I am going to have the base mostly pink with swirls of what I hope is white or creamy and small amounts of gold. I want a thick trace for the top which I want to be the whitish color with gold sprinkled on top. I want to use a spoon and make fluffy top (I hope). I can picture it. I also think my granddaughters would love this! Also I got 1 oz of a masculine scent. I am going to do it in the round mold. I was thinking about taking my shavings off my double butter recipe and put some in my soap batter so it will have a darker brown color and then the pale scraped soap for interest. Now will they look like what I envisioned? Probably not LOL. But I love the surprises I get as a newbie!!
:grin:
 
Your question makes me realize how scattered I am. Sometimes I start with a basic design concept in mind (e.g., a spoon swirl or pencil line). Other times, I start with a color or fragrance. I have even started with a real object (e.g., an elephant, lion or caribou antlers) and tried to figure out how to stylize it in soap. Perhaps this lack of consistency is what fuels my struggle with a having a clear vision of what my soap should be. It seems I often can't decide exactly what I want, so I either don't make anything or I change my mind in the middle of the batch! I had attributed it to having too many choices, but maybe I just need a more structured approach.

Hey, thanks for the insight!
 
I think I have been mostly a fragrance driven designer, or ingredient driven, but I don't typically do intricate designs/colors as I was still figuring out which recipes I liked best first. Sometimes a fragrance/recipe inspires an asthetic design but I am a pretty simple soaper - hence my soap stamp says simple soaps. Recently I have played with more colors and additives but mostly I want a really great feeling soap that smells good.
 
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