What does one do with all of ones soaping and bathworks supplies while one is constructing a workshop? Well... they are in our "spare bedroom". I lovingly call it my "disaster" room for now. Because honestly it looks like some kind of explosion took place in there! I have everything for soaps (both CP/HP and MP), lotions, lippies, shampoos, conditioners, and salves all stuck in the room. Granted it is slightly larger than the workshop, it has no storage to speak of. We have one of my workshop shelves set up in there which houses any curing soaps and a lot of random ingredients, but as you'll see I even make use of the beds!
So what does a "disaster" room look like? Lets look at it in stages shall we? I've taken 7 pictures to get in as much of the bathworks supplies as I can. The room is also currently home to my cornsnake, Buttercup, or Butters as we like to call her. Her picture is not below as she tends to scare folks away!
Picture 1: The shelf. This houses my curing soaps and a plastic bin with the cured soaps, a large portion of my ingredients are also here (or on the floor right in front of it as I run out of space), some molds and packaging supplies, the majority of my fragrances, and my MP soap supplies and base.
Picture 2: The corner between the shelf and the closet door (just moving clockwise around the room). Stuffed in this corner are my huge double boiler, some shampoo bottles, and the awesome rainbow cart with wheels that will house my enormous colourant collection, and yes, I suspect it will be completely full! Also here is my vertical wood mold from Bramble Berry, still awaiting its first use. I keep forgetting to order the 2 items I need for its special inaugural soap!
Picture 3: The mess between bed #1 and the above shelf. This is my overflow space. Against the closet is my folding table that will be an island of sorts in the workshop, on the floor is my stack of molds that refuses to stop falling over, no matter how many times I re-stack it! You can also clearly see the overflow of ingredients from the shelf on the floor directly in front of it, this is mostly surfactants for shampoos. As you can see the cat carriers are even used as a work surface! They currently house some cleaning supplies. Might as well use them for something, right?
Picture 4: This is bed #1. I use this bed and the shelf unit packed up on top of it as work surfaces and storage for my boxes. I LOVE to recycle packing materials. Those tied up shopping bags are full of packing peanuts, ready to be re-used! All of those boxes will be re-used as well, why get new ones when I have so many already? I use the surface of the packaged shelf unit as a table for beveling my soaps and applying packaging, as well as for packaging ready soaps for gifts or swaps.
Picture 5: Between the beds, my favorite area! This is where I house most of my massive collection of colourants (around 200-250 different colourants). That box is full of 2oz jars of colourants, and the little organizer on the table is for glitter and smaller sized containers of colourants. I have more to go in that box, as well as some 4oz jars, but I ran out of jars and had to order more! They should be here this week though! After I get the workshop all done I will arrange the colourants in a wall on the folding table and snap a picture for you all, so you can see my madness!
Picture 6: Bed #2. This is the catch all bed. Not everything here is workshop related. There are some pictures and other items that belong to my husband or my father in law. Most of the soaping/bathworks stuff located here is hardware. I have bowls and pots and organizers, spoons and whisks and my stick blender, there are molds, my lye container, and some ingredients too. This bed really is the heart of the "disaster"! Most of this stuff is too big for the shelves, or simply won't fit! It will be the first stuff to go to the workshop.
Picture 7: Last but not least, I give you "box land"! This is the corner opposite the shelf unit, and it is literally filled with boxes! The boxes contain pretty much everything: ingredients, molds, tools, packaging, colourants (who would have guessed that?), recipes and tutorials... I'm sure there is more there too. I'm hoping to move all of this stuff to a 6 drawer cube organizer ASAP, The boxes are just too messy and disorganized. This is the corner where things get lost!
This is what happens when you decide to construct a workshop. Disorder and chaos! I can't wait for the workshop to be completed so I can move everything in there and organize it! We purchased the first of the 3 cabinets yesterday, and will get the other 2 and the countertops when money permits. Just need that and the baseboards! Soon my dears, soon it shall be done. Then I will post pictures of it all stocked and organized!
Up next: lotion pictorial! Well, actually it will be a cream.. so a thick lotion pictorial! These creams will be my contribution to a swap hosted by the Lets Talk Soap Facebook page.
