Lather

Making lather is one of the delights of wet shaving. There are different ways of doing it. And lots of opinions about what a decent lather is.
I'm trying bowl lathering, palm of hand and direct face lathering. Even seen an experienced wet shave barber starting lather off by using the side of a basin.
Then there's cold or warm lather. All sorts of bowls to choose from. And scuttles which enable you to make warm lather. Then you can swirl, whip, push and prod with your brush. You can make as little or as much as you like. Then you can paint or swirl while applying to your face.
Its both a craft and work of art.
I'm not going to try to explain all this here. You will find tips and videos galore on the internet.
I now have all the gear to do it any way I want. Have a look at some examples here.
As of today, I'm beginning to think that for creams you may as well pop your cream into the palm of your left hand and just work it into the tips of the brush and face lather. That way, you get the benefit of an exfoliating massage, have control over the type of lather you want and don't waste much.
But before you get to that point you need to be able to judge the best balance between the amount of cream and water that gives you the lather you want.
As for soaps, I now just load the brush and face lather.