I had the great privilege of attending the PNW Soap Gathering. Held in Lakewood, Washington at a private home (thanks, Jenny!), soapers from all over Washington State arrived in great spirits, laden with food and soap. 
And really, what better type of soap to arrive with than cupcake soap? I snagged one of them right away.
Can you believe the soap on the right was an entry into the Ugliest Soap Contest? It didn’t even make an Honorable Mention in the Ugliest Soap Contest. It was far too cute. The actual winner is the soap at the top of this post. The brown soap clinched the win by being both unfortunate in looks but also spongy soft after 6 months of cure time. In a laugh worthy twist, the Runner-Up Worst Soap was also made by the Worst Soap Winner. It was a dubious prize to win Ugliest Soap and Runner Up Ugliest Soap but we’ve all been there so it was all in good fun.
We were so lucky to have a sharing group of soapers. The demonstration were varied and interesting. Chris S. did a wonderful Double Boiler Hot Process Soap demonstration. Many of the cold-process only soapers were amazed at the no-cure-time reality of Hot Process soap. Chris made some converts with her demonstration.
Shelley from Nahia Creations did the Body Bronzing Lotion recipe from Teach Soap. It was a crowd pleaser with everyone taking home generous samples. Thanks Shelley!
Jacquelyn did an amazing demonstration on how to make Lavender wands. All I wanted to do was sniff these fresh lavender bud hem with fresh wands. She made them with fresh lavender that she interwove with beautiful ribbon. The various varieties of lavender she wove smelled dramatically different but all were luscious with a full bodied, calming scent.
The entire group loved SoapyLove’s Sillouette Soap technique. There wasn’t a bad looking soap in the bunch and that was even with some brand new melt and pour newbies.
The biggesst “Ooohs” and “Ahhhs” came from Jeanine’s demonstration of making soap gems. Like most melt and pour techniques, it was surprising simple once the “secret” was shared. Even with its deceptively complicated looks, this project can be done by the newest of newbies.
Finally, we ended the day with door prizes and goody bags. Big thank you to Diana from Southern Garden Scents for her generous door prize of fragrance oils and Jen from Lotioncrafter who sent a gift certificate. In a surprise finish, Jenny our gracious hostess won the Grand Grand Prize – a Bramble Berry 10 pound log mold (with collapsible doors) and a Beginning Cold Process Soapmaking DVD.
The gathering had lots of laughter, sharing and fun. Thank You Pacific Northwest Soapers!
I’m with Heavenly Scent – what is the “secret” to making the soap gems? Also, please consider conducting a “tele class” for all of us East coast peeps who can’t make it out to the West coast!!
It was SO much fun to meet with everyone and just talk soap for hours on end. I felt really lucky to be invited and included.
It was a wonderful time! A-M was so generous and it was a lot of fun to learn to make silhouette soap along with the other demos!
Count me in as another person who thought the ugly soap was a cookie…LOL!
I just love reading about these fun soaping workshops. It’d be, of course, even more fun had I been there. 😉
Sounds like a good time was had by all. A tutorial on those soap gems would be awesome.
Any plans to share the secret to making those beautiful soap gems??
; – )
Erin
I’d like to win stuff from Brambleberry. any new give-aways, Anne-Marie??
That is so funny… I rushed right over to comment on how that first soap looked like a cookie and here 2 people beat me to it. I didn’t think that the second soap was all that ugly. Sounds like it was loads of fun !
That must have been so much fun. And what a prize!
Last week I was picking up oils from my supplier and another local soaper came in. When my friend introduced us the other woman barely gave me a nod and went about her business. This wasn’t my first bad experience. There are a lot of nice soaping communities out there, but not everywhere =(
I’m with Beth. I thought the first pic was of some fabulous cookie you were going to rave about!!!
It sounds like you all had so much fun together!
Oh and by the way….
Before I started reading I thought the “ugliest soap” was a cookie, lol.
This sounds like a fantastic experience. I wish I could have been there too! Lucky, lucky people! Thanks for the great post!
I wish I could have been there. Sounds like SO MUCH FUN! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
I didn’t know that soap could be such an experience… makes me want to add it to my experience site.
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