There was a wonderful feeling of community and soaping harmony today in the back room of Besaws Restaurant in downtown Portland. Much thanks and praise goes to Kate Dixson of KatyKate products for organizing this fun outing.
The big winners of the day were:
Soapy Elephant for the most beautiful soap – her coffee soap is made with actual coffee, coffee grounds and coffee butter. I’m so lucky; she graciously let me have it to take back to Otion and showcase the soap proudly in one of our displays. She won an 18-bar Sunnybrook mold. Here she is with her winning soap, soap mold and Rebecca Harder from Sunnybrook Soap.
Rebecca and her husband Chris make the Birchwood divider molds. You can check out Michelle’s Soap Store, the Soapy Elephant here. She has some amazing bars of soap on her Etsy site.
Liz from Gassner Custom Soaps won for runner-up in the most beautiful soap. That’s her soap on the left (the moon one). Soapy Elephant’s winning Coffee Soap is up on top in the photo. Liz brought her adorable baby Aria! That’s baby Aria below, in the cutest outfit I’ve seen in a long time. I can feel my ovaries thudding their ticking time bomb beat right now, just looking at the photo.
Jenn from Redmond (PoppiesInJuly on the Soapdish forum) “won” for the Ugliest Soap but it was a tough call. There were some soaps only a mother could love on display.
It was all in good fun though. Don’t we all have soap that turned out dreadfully? Here is a close-up of her “winning” entry.
It was enlightening to listen to everyone’s take on their soap businesses. We had two full time soapers (Robin and Liz W) and many part-time crafters. Here’s a photo of part the group opening their Bramble Berry Schwag Bags with complete with Milky Way Soap Molds, 3-D Soap molds and ropes, Bramble Berry fragrances, Jojoba Beads, the new Bulk melt and pour and a soap rope.
Several soapers brought me gifts. I am thrilled with the hand knitted washcloth & soap combo from Trisha from the TeachSoap Forum, the Body Frosting Dead Sea Salt Scrub from Gassner Custom Soaps and a hand crocheted cupcake just for me! What a joyous surprise to be showered with gifts. Thank you!
This was such a fun, low-key event. Maybe next year we can do something a little more formal with speakers and demonstrations? Thank you everyone that came. It was a thrill to meet you all. I can’t wait for next year!
