Sunday, September 15, 2013

Pumpkin Maple Soap

Well, fall came in with a bang today. As in, loud thunderclaps, bright flashes of lightening, gloomy skies and pouring rain. It reminded me that I really need to learn how to use the light box that I bought last year and never got around to using.

In between downpours, when the sun peeked out, I managed to snap some shots of this pumpkin soap I made. Pumpkin soap is one of my fall/winter favorites to make, I love using pumpkin and heavy (whipping) cream in my soaps. I am picky about my pumpkin fragrances though, I tend to like ones that are more pumpkin than spice. This one I used is a new pumpkin fragrance for me and it’s not too heavy on the spice at all and actually has a maple note to it, which I really like. The maple was unexpected, and next time I will try adding some maple syrup to the soap to carry through with the pumpkin maple theme:






PS - do any of you know of any good tutorials for learning how to use a light box? The one I have is a ‘studio-in-a-box photo tent’, and I really need to learn how to use it before the shorter, gloomy days set in! Or, I would love any any gloomy/dark day photo tips you could offer!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great week! 
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40 comments:

  1. It looks luscious! My Maple syrup soap fried and the scent faded. LOL. Maybe next year. Try Greenpix blog for lighting tips. He has a great post on lighting, another on white balance.

    http://gpix.wordpress.com/category/lighting/

    I use a light tent in the winter (rainy summers, too!) and the Alzo lights he recommends. I got mine on Amazon. Good luck :)

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    1. Wow, what a great blog...lots of practical photography tips - thanks so much for sharing that! Your blog pictures are wonderful too, I can see that you have mastered the lightbox! I'll have to check out the Alzo lights, I bet it makes a huge difference to have the correct type of lights.

      I have to admit, my recent honey soap fried also so I'm a little hesitant to add any additional sugars to my soaps at the moment - fried soap is not a pretty sight...lol!

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  2. I can almost smell the pumpkin and maple! And looking at those soaps makes crave for some pie or cake :) Do you think that the fragrance will make the soaps darker?
    I have not tried pumpkin in my soap. Found a can of Libby´s pumpkin puree, but it was so expensive that I can buy 5 whole pumpkins for the same price.

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    1. Oh, that's expensive pumpkin for sure :( I suppose you could cook it down yourself, but it's a lot of work! The prices on our canned pumpkin really goes up and down here too, so I have to be careful when I buy it!

      Yes, the fragranced portion of the soap will turn darker...I wish it stayed this pumpkin color though!

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  3. Your soap sounds so good! I bet it smells heavenly! I really like the way you compose your photos. They look like something from a food magazine. :-)

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    1. Thanks so much Silvia, that's a real compliment! =)

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  4. I like the textured tops and marbled look inside the soap. I only wish I could smell it!
    I used to edit my pictures with PicMonkey,but it has very limited free fatures,so I gave it up. Now,I use iPiccy,it gives you all features that picMonkey does,but for free! You can adjust light/darkness, as so many other things very easily! Hope you will like it!

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    1. You are a superstar! PicMonkey just hasn't been the same experience for me since we lost so many of the free features. I checked out iPiccy, and I LOVE it! I would even go out on a limb and say I think I like it better than PicMonkey, just from what I've seen so far. Thanks so much for sharing Maja!

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  5. Your soap looks good enough to eat! I have a hard time finding a pumpkin I like, but even if heavy on the spice and light on the pumpkin no one ever complains about a pumpkin soap. :)

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    1. I have to agree Stacie...I love all pumpkin soap; fragranced or unfragranced, spicy, warm or buttery...I love them all! :D

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  6. looks so creamy! I love the smell of fresh pumpkin..wish there was a fragrance for that. The Pumpkin Maple sounds so good!

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    1. I'm sure there is one out there...we just have to find it!

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  7. Did you guys get hit hard with the storm? We only got a smattering of it until much later at night. BTW I love your background of leaves, it's beautiful and so fall-like.

    You have teenagers at home, how do you keep them from eating all your soaping ingredients? ;) Love the colours, so caramelly (is that a word?) and warm looking. I can almost smell the soap and it's making me want pumpkin pie.

    I agree with SoapJam, is that your daytime job? Arranging food for food magazine photo shoots? ;> I've found a lot of helpful hints on Pinterest, not that I've put any of them to practice yet. ;)

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    1. Yeah, the storm came out of nowhere..it was nasty! I'm glad the worst of it missed you guys.

      I WISH my daytime job was food styling! My job is soooo the opposite of creative...lol! Pinterest is a great place to find photography tips too, I should make a conscious effort to follow more of those boards.

      For the record, I have found bite marks in my cupcake soaps before, but no one will fess up!

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    2. You certainly make up for your day job's lack of interesting with your soap and cake making though. That's hilarious! See you do way too good of a job with your soaps; it must be your kids in their half asleep teenage mode eating anything in sight. ;)

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    3. Don't get me wrong - I loooove my day job, but there is just no room to be creative! ;) And teenagers DO eat a lot, don't they? What the heck is up with that?! lol

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  8. That is a beautiful soap! I'm surprised you don't find fork prong marks all over it.

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  9. As all your soaps this one also looks so creamy and mild! I can not share any tip with you regarding lighting box since I do not use it. I ussually take a pictures early in the morning on my terace. But since winter season is coming I would also like to learn how to take good photos in my room :)

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    1. Thanks Gordana! Hopefully we'll find some good tricks to make it through the winter...if I find any, I will share them here!

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  10. Beautiful pumpkin soap, Cee! The pumpkin and heavy cream will make it extra luxurious. Pumpkin and maple sound awesome together. I like sweeter pumpkin scents, too. My nose has trouble picking up spicy scents sometimes. I remember one year I had a Pumpkin Spice FO that everyone said was really strong, but I couldn't smell it at all. Now I use a Sweet Pumpkin FO. I wish I had some advice about light boxes, but I haven't used one myself. Your photos still turned out lovely despite the dark and gloomy weather!

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    1. Hi Jenny, the Sweet Pumpkin FO sounds like one I would really like. Had you tried Pumpkin Lager too? I've heard good things about it as well.

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  11. Beautiful soap Cee....sounds very yummy!! I have a light box but it is such a pain to put up and take down. I just tweek my photos in Photo Shop.

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    1. It really is a pain to set them up and take them down. Perhaps I could find a dedicated space to leave it set up for the winter, it would definitely be much easier! I haven't played around too much with Photo Shop, but perhaps I should give it another try, thanks!

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  12. Love the new look of your blog, Christine, so autumn!
    And your soap looks delicious, very creamy! I don't know why but I can't think yet of autumn soaps, even if it's been raining for several days...
    Hmm, your question is kind of difficult for me! I was thinking of following photo course or at least of reading more about how to take nice photos especially now, when we have so little sunshine. In the meantime, I will read what the others have to say about it :)

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    1. Thanks so much Nat! A photo course would definitely be worthwhile too!

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  13. Well, those look fantastic. I love the last photo of them lined up all crisp and fancy in paper.

    I haven't tried a pumpkin scent yet but I think maybe it would pair well with beer - what do you think? Like a dark ale or something sweet and dark. Would make the soap naturally tinted towards a creamy dark caramel color, too...

    Now you got my brain all working....

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    1. You're definitely on to something Lindsey! Brambleberry actually has a fragrance called Pumpkin Lager...I haven't tried it, but I've heard great things about it! Pumpkin and ale would be a wonderful combo, and think about all that creaminess from the natural sugars...yum!

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  14. Looks like a lovely autumn soap! How very Canadian of you Cee with the maple scent ;)

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  15. Love the soaps Cee!. I bet it smells amazing. I love pumpkin soaps, too bad I am the only one around here that enjoys them. I still have some left from last year :)

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    1. Thanks Roxana...it's surprising the pumpkin soap isn't more popular :(

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  16. They are lovely....What a coincidence :) I made pumpkin soap last 2 weeks as well.

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    1. Thank you Angel! It definitely seems to be the time of year to pull out the pumpkin recipes ;)

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  17. What a wonderful pumpkin soap! Also, I really like a colour of it! )

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