How to Cut A Cube of French Soap

We carry French Soaps which are hand milled and crafted in Marseilles, France. The beauty of the soap is it's completely natural, olive oil based and beautiful to look at, never mind how incredible they smell! Well, the other beauty part of it is, from one 300 gram cube, you can get multiple pieces/slices from one cube and here is a step-by-step method of doing so!

You will need:

 A kitchen towel, a large kitchen knife and of course your cube of soap!

Start by turning on the hot water on your faucet and let it warm up. Giving the water a chance to warm up, set yourself up with soap and towel next to your sink or closest cutting surface. Place the cube on the towel and begin by running the knife under the hot water to warm up the blade. As seen below.

***Keep the hot water running. You will need to keep warming the blade for each slice you make!

Run the blade under the hot water a few times and then begin to cut your soap. This helps you to get a smooth, clean slice as well as help you cut the cube more easily as it so dense.

***Remember, you are working with a large blade and hot one for that matter, so always hold and operate any cutting utensil carefully!

Holding the blade firmly by the handle, place your opposite hand securely on the top of the blade to safely apply pressure to slice the cube. Thank you to my Mom for being the hand model!

Continue to cut and you will end up with clean, smooth slices! The best way to do this is to re-heat the blade each time you wish to slice the cube. The heat produces a smooth, clean slice/cut and each time it is re-introduced to the heat of the hot water, it will absorb more heat and hold it to produce a clean cut each time.

I've found, that depending on how thin or thick you'd like the slices to be, you can get anywhere from three to four slices cutting the cube as I have above. However, I'm cutting this cube to be samples in my shoppe, so I will continue to cut them until they are smaller cubes.

As you can see, I was able to get four full slices of soaps from this cube. If you notice the slice that cracked, that is a perfect example of what would happen should you use a cool blade to cut the cube. I had to keep breaking to take a pic, so the blade would cool and when the blade is cool, you get that kind of slice. 

As I am using this cube to samples in the shoppe, I continued to cut them to the appropriate size that I needed. Which you can also do for easier use or to better share them in your home!

Now that you're all done, you're ready to enjoy! Place them in a cute dish, as I have and spread them throughout your home. Also, you can always wrap up the extra slices in a little wax paper and place them in a ziplock bag to save for future use and have them ready to go. 

I hope this helps and if you have any questions, as always feel free to contact me!

I hope you enjoy your French Soaps and thanks for visiting!

Holiday Decor

Happy Holidays! I figured with my first post it should be geared toward the season and holiday. I had such a wonderful time making these pieces and taking on the biggest challenge of the year: The Holiday Window!

I needed a change from the window last year and it is always a challenge. It's always important, as anyone who is in retail or owns their own shoppe knows, you always need a fresh window. So, I decided on a wintry, vintage theme. I loaded up the wreath with vintage music sheets and silk florals, reeds, etc.

I've had this vintage sleigh for so many years and it has been in many a window and display! At one time it was red and gold and we just painted it out and touched it up and stamped gold stars all over it. Last year, I filled to the brim with presents and a lit tree and this year, it took on the wintry theme as I planned to use throughout the shoppe displays. I was so pleased with the outcome and I'm sorry to say, the picture doesn't really capture it's full impact. It's just a silver and gold glow fest when you see it in person.

Last year, I had created this majestic arrangement. it's taller than me. I didn't start out with a plan for something so grand. I really wanted a twist on the usual holiday decor that you mostly see throughout the season. It has a very modern feel, but at the same time is slightly traditional with subtle items I chose to add. In the end, it made my large window display and again, it just glows when the light hits it. It has that "morning frost" glow to it.

Under the large, decorated wreaths, I lined the base of the window with apothecary jars. Each was filled with snow, glitter and items that were used in each wreath. I have three large wreaths made and each is different from the other. I also included decorated presents to fill space and finish it off. As the wreaths are the focal of each window, I didn't wish to pull attention away. So, I went for subtle, but noticeable. 

Christmas just isn't Christmas without The Nutcracker. Ever since I can remember, there were Nutcrackers in our house for the whole holiday season and it was on a constant loop in my house when I was a kid. So, I felt it only right to make my own sugar plum fairy. I constructed her out of wrapping paper, tulle, sparkly reeds, floral pieces and varying sizes of mirrored gems that I glued on to her going up her gown and over her shoulder and continuing down her back. When the light hits her she sparkles and shines just as I would imagine a fairy would. Also, we were honored to find out that our fairy made the holiday cover of a local magazine!