Saponification - Blog 2

Avon Guest Speakers
The additives (coloring and scent) we used in our soap product were supplied by the company Avon. Last class, we had guest speakers from Avon come in to tell us about their experience working there. They even brought in products that they helped create! The combination of this project along with the guest speakers were very interesting because they showed me how much thought is put into products we use everyday.

Mini Photo Studio and Sheallard Fusion

Presentation Day 
Today was the final day in class of the soap project. We started by removing the molds of our soaps. The soap bars had over a week to set, so by that point, they should have been neutralized. but just to be safe, we wore safety gloves anyways. It was difficult to take the molds off, especially because some walls were too thick. This caused some of our product to break off. We used the extra pieces as the samples for testing. When we tested the pH level of our soap, the paper came out a medium green color, meaning it was not too acidic.  After that, we took pictures of our soap bars using the Mini Photo Studio  I made for last year's Maker Faire. (I knew it would come in handy!)


Overall, presentations were very successful. Our peers conducted general and sensory evaluations on our product. We also had guests come in to evaluate our product and display, and it was fun to present what we had worked so hard on! As seen in one of the pictures, our soap was also displayed in the Mini Photo Studio, and it attracted much attention. The soaps were displayed alongside decorated packaging boxes my partner Isabella made.

Overall Reflection
What was your favorite aspect of the project? 

Sheallard by Orange final product

 My favorite part of the project was the marketing portion. I am a very visual person; I love designing things and creating the best way to make it apPEEL (haha get it?) to whoever sees it. This is part of the reason why I created the Mini Photo Studio! The commercial for this project was very fun to make, and I loved presenting our completed products to our peers and guests. Click here to see the full advertisement! If I had time, I would have made a poster in addition the the commercial!

What would you differently if you got another redesign?  
I would have created the soap mold differently. The final designs in the soap came out decently; however, it took a lot of effort and strain to do so. We broke some pieces of our product off in the the process, and if we were to do the project again, we would try to avoid the trouble. Likely part of the reason why it was so difficult to remove the molds was beca
use the walls and bases were too thick. Another likely reason could be a flaw in the actual formula of the product that may have caused it to stick stubbornly to the molds. In that case, we would need to do more research on the formula.

Group photo (Left to right: George G., Isabel D., Katheryn W.)