I attended the annual Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild Conference last weekend. Even though I was there less than two days, it was full of hugs, geekin’ out on soap talk and hours of testing. Because of our recent housing challenges, I had to cut the trip early and fly home before the conference was over but I would do it again in a heartbeat. The learning sessions I attended were all top notch and the laughter in between sessions was heartfelt and supportive.
It was so fun to meet soapers from around the country!
The speaker highlights of my 36 hours in Indianpolis were Lela Barker and Kevin Dunn. Both have been leaders in the soapmaking industry from slightly different ends of the spectrum. Kevin is completely technical soapmaking and Lela is about the business angle of soap. They were great foils to one another.
Kevin is a college professor that conducts experiments on soapmaking questions every year, using his students to do much of the research. He spoke on the importance of being able to determine the purity of your lye. To do so, he demonstrated how to titrate sodium hydroxide, on stage (!), twice. He also discussed pH in cold process soap and what was possible to achieve with a traditional lye+oil recipe. He was hilarious and had the crowd laughing many times.
Lela from Lucky Break Consulting and Bella Lucce gave a killer session on branding. She is a hilarious speaker (really, her one-liners rival any stand-up comedian) and more importantly, her talk was chock full of helpful information that could be implemented right then and there. She recommended reading the book, “The Fortune Cookie Principle” several times during her talk. Curious about her talk? She has a rock-solid blog here with an entire section on branding + strategy, including a recently published piece on building a press kit.
Listening to Lela Barker talk about branding and strategy is always a treat!
I had another reason for being at the Guild show; I had applied for the Masters in CP/HP soapmaking certification two years ago … and, once you apply, you only have two years to complete your application. It was now…or never. The actual process of taking the Masters program is insane. Literally, insane. A few soapers at the conference asked why I was doing the certification. It’s a fair question. After 20+ years of making CP soap, in theory, I know what I’m doing just from the overwhelming hands-on, practical experience. But like many people, I love learning new things, challenging myself and attempting what seems impossible. And, impossible this test does at first appear! It includes:
1. A research paper – I submitted my Soap Crafting book for this portion. It fit the bill of expanding and educating the industry.
2. A topical paper – I wrote about labeling laws in the United States and how cosmetic, versus drug, versus soap labeling laws differ.
3. A 3 hour essay test – This had fun questions such as, “How is stearic acid made? What are the grades of stearic acid? How do they differ?” and other such delightful and challenging queries.
Part of the test involved making seven soap samples, one of which was cream soap. It looks delicious, doesn’t it? =)
4. Seven soap samples + accompanying paperwork – This took months and months and months to do; everything from making my own lye from scratch to mastering the art of making whipped soap, this was by far the most labor intensive part of the test.
The test involved making lye from scratch. The water reacts strongly with the wood ash.
It was a nail biter until the end but at the annual meeting for the Guild, I was awarded my certificate. It felt good to know that two years of labor and effort was for the win.
It was so fun to talk soap for days with soapers from across the country. We talked about everything from business strategy, to social media to recipe formulations. It was gratifying to have so many passionate DIY’ers in one place. My love a soap makes me a little … odd. There’s not a lot of people that want to talk about the nuances of coconut oil melt points and their respective properties in soap (My opinion? 76 and 92 act the same in soap. This is a rather controversial stance in a room full of soapmakers!)
I had a soul-filling, laughter-inducing time at the Annual Soap Guild Conference. I came away inspired and enlivened by all the people I met and hugged. It was awesome…just awesome.
That is awesome! Thank you for your post! I thought I was a little odd with my obsession of soap and learning the properties and skin benefits of different oils. Congrats on your certification!
Thank you! I’ll be going back to the Guild Conference this year. It would be great to see you there. You’ll find yourself in great soapy company. =)
Wow! Congratz on the Masters certification, that’s clearly a ton of work and a great accomplishment!
Thank you Kevin. It was a great learning lesson (or rather, series of them!) and it felt good to achieve.
It was so awesome to meet you and get my squeezes in! Congratulations, on passing your test! You are awesome, and you made your own lye!!!! =)
Hope you guys get to be in a home of your own soon!
Thank you Cyndi. It was so great to meet you to. The show was a whirlwind and it was nice to have friendly soapers to talk shop with =)
Congrats Anne-Marie! I’ve started the beginning stages of prepping for Masters Certification. After being overwhelmed for a good two full days after reading the requirements I made a game plan of what I still needed to learn/expand my knowledge on and worked out a schedule. It’s a three year plan 😉 The goal is spend this year learning thethings I still need to know more about then registering next year and then two years to complete it! Oye! I’m excited though. I love to push myself and learn so I think it’ll be a fun (if exhausting) process!
Wish I could have been there to meet you. One of these days we’ll be at the same place at the same time and I can me you. You were part of my inspiration for believing I could actually make soap and bath products full time. Thanks so much for all your work on your blog, FB, your book 🙂
Jennifer
It’s insane, isn’t it? Like crazy so much work! The essay test was way harder than I expected; like way way harder. I told my folks that I didn’t think anything would be harder than my MBA but this actually was. But like anything worth having, it actually takes work – real, consistent, sustained effort and it does feel good to have it completed (and know I won’t ever have to do it again!). =)
Good luck on yours. Let me know if you need any tips as you get into it. The cream soap took almost a year to perfect as did the lye-from-scratch soap so don’t give up if you don’t get it right the first, second or fifth time! =)
Thank you! You might hear from me in the future. I’m actually really excited to play around with the lye. I know it sound weird, but I’ve always been fascinated by it…in fact the first time I heard of soap/lye it was with this method of making it (as I was doing research about how soap was made in the 1800s!) It’ll be fun and I’m sure exhausting, but I’m excited about how it’s going to push me out of my comfort zone and make me learn new things!
Are there recipes you will be sharing? I would love to know how to make my own cream soap and foaming bath whipped soap. How exactly does one make lye? I hope it doesn’t involve crawling around in the fireplace like I imagine it might 🙂 I would love to see a tutorial on making solid deodorant stick from scratch.
Oh, it did involve crawling around a fireplace until I realized that my own at-home wood burnings were not nearly good enough for the process. I ended up going to wood fire pizza places and collecting ashes for 7 weeks to get two good batches of lye. It was pretty nuts and definitely not efficient.
The cream soapmaking was done with the booklet ‘Cream Soapmaking’ by Catherine Failor as a basic starting point. It was interesting but similar to making my own lye from scratch.
Congratulations, Anne-Marie! It was wonderful to meet you at the soap conference. You are an amazing and inspiring businesswoman and soapmaker.
By the way, my engineer-husband is astounded by the fact you made your own lye! (You now have another “fan.”)
Hope you are able to move back into your house as soon as possible.
Thank you Suzanne. I love that your husband thought it was cool that I made my own lye. My husband thought I was downright actually insane crazy when I made him light a fire in December (!!!) to start the ash-making process (see this photo from Instagram: https://instagram.com/p/hengl8A5g6/?taken-by=brambleberry). It was such an interesting process and I am so thankful for commercially produced sodium hydroxide now! =)
Wait, wait, wait…. you made your own lye? I didn’t think I could respect you any more, but that might have just pushed my admiration to new level. 🙂
Congrats on your achievements Anne Marie, and thanks for cheering me on. The kind words about my branding talk made my heart happy on a Monday morning!
Word. Totally did. And it was gnarly. Like so much work! I cannot imagine going through the process while also trying to travel across a prairie, forage for food and protect myself from wild animals and marauders. I learned so many things about fire and good things to burn and not-so-good-things (pinecones, not so good, for example). I’m glad I did it and also happy I never have to do it again =)
Congratulations Anne-Marie! You RULE!! 😉
The Conference sounds so fun. Maybe someday if it comes to the Pacific Northwest I can attend too-but for now I will live vicariously through YOU! I truly appreciate your generous spirit and have learned so much from you. I am so happy for you!!
Oh the Pacific Northwest is soooo gorgeous. All the rain makes it super lush and green (and yes, usually pretty wet). If you visit, make sure to give yourself a day to come visit us at Otion so you can smell all the fragrances =) Thank you for your support.
Does this now make you the only person to achieve the rank of Mastery? The guild doesn’t have full member listings and I’ve never seen a photo or a mention of anyone else ever earning CP Mastery.
Hi Arron,
Jackie Thompson received hers this year too so I think there are only two of us in the entire world right now. It’s nice to be in such experienced soapmaking company. Jackie is an expert in liquid soapmaking and has been a super long-term contributor to the soapmaking industry, teaching at Guild shows and she even has a book on liquid soap coming out =)
Wow, that test sounds intense! It looks like you had a lot of fun though 🙂 I hope you can get your house fixed up soon though, because trying to get everything done without a home to come back too sounds exhausting!
It was SOOOO intense. Seriously, I think it was harder than my MBA to get done (not joking). Those practical soapmaking applications were extremely difficult. The cream soap was hard to master but making your own lye and then making decent soap from it? Soooooooo hard! =) But worth it! It feels good to have attempted something and successfully finished it. But yes, exhausted. We’re still living out of the same 3 suitcases we fled that night with but our little family is made up of such little troopers. It’s teaching us all valuable lessons – especially about the value (or not) of “stuff.” =)
What an inspiration you are to all of us novice soapers! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome experience. Congratulations A-M, Sincerely, Kristie
Thanks Kristie. It was fun to connect with all those soapers and talk labeling, soap formulations and marketing for a couple days. =)