Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Breaking News from the Bramble Berry Soap Lab

May 8, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Stevie from Bramble Berry customer service just made her first batch of cold process soap. Bells and Whistles for Stevie! She did a great job, that’s her standing next to me as I teach the swirling technique. It was a 3 in 1 type of operation: I tested a fragrance for a customer, taught Stevie how to make soap and tested our new Mini Baltic Birch Mold (the shipment should be here next week – squealing with glee)!

Here’s a sneak peak of the new mold! Isn’t it the cutest thing ever? It makes 9 bars of soap and holds a 2-3 pound recipe. One thing I found is that you really need to use a small spatula or chopstick to do swirls in this smaller size mold; the regular size spatula seemed to overwhelm the design.Join our Facebook Fan Page or follow me on Twitter to find out the minute they are on the Bramble Berry site and ready for sale! We’ll have them up and ready to go next week. Looking for the larger Baltic Birch Molds? Check them out HERE.

18 Bars of Pure Cuteness!

May 6, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Have you seen Bramble Berry’s new Baltic Birch Molds? If not, check them out HERE. I love them SO much. They are stunningly gorgeous, so versatile and selling fast (we’re seriously having trouble keeping them on the shelves). And you can use them for more than just cold process. Here’s a colorful and fun melt and pour project!

Here’s What I used

18 Bar Balic Birch Mold

Freezer Paper (and tape)

90-100 ounces of Clear Soap

(100 ounces of soap is about 6.25 pounds)

Energy Fragrance Oil

Yuzu Fragrance Oil

Grapefruit Essential Oil

Embedding Toys (optional)

Soap Scraps (optional)
Colorants

Before you start: Line your mold with freezer paper making sure that you have a flat bottom with the shiny side up. Remember that the bottom will eventually become the top of your soap. Once your mold is lined, add the side and end border pieces and put your inserts together so they’re ready to go to.

ONE: In a large microwave safe container, melt about 32 ounces of clear soap base. Once the soap is completely melted, add 1 drop of liquid blue colorant to give the soap a “clear” effect (just one drop will do the trick). Do not add any fragrance at this point.

Note: You will only need a couple of ounces for the initial pour so if you don’t have a microwave safe container that big, it’s a-okay. Just melt 1-2 ounces. To save time, I like to melt my soap in larger quantities.

TWO: Pour a thin thin layer into the mold (about 1/8″ thick) and spritz the soap with alcohol while your pouring. This will help the soap spread out into the mold.

THREE: Before the soap cools, quickly place the inserts into the mold, squeezing the ends with your fingers to hold them together. Press the inserts firmly into the soap and let cool for 15-20 minutes, until the clear layer is totally hardened and the dividers are ‘sealed’ in the soap.

FOUR: It’s time to embed your soap scraps and/or toys! This is the fun part. Just treat each section an individual soap mold. Take the time to make each one different or quickly bust out 18 of the same soap! This is the creative part and it’s totally up to you!

Embedding Tips: Spritz the first layer of clear soap with rubbing alcohol and pour another thin layer of clear soap (you might have to remelt your original clear soap). Liberally spritz the embedding object (whether it be soap scraps or toys) with rubbing alcohol and place it into the freshly poured clear soap.

FIVE: Once the embedded layer has cooled, add the final layer of soap with color* and fragrance. I used a combination of Energy Fragrance Oil, Grapefruit Essential Oil and Yuzu Fragrance Oil. I always recommend .25 -.5 ounces of fragrance per 16 ounces of soap base. When pouring your layers, remember to spritz the embedded layer before pouring your colored layer. Also make sure your colored soap is no hotter than 120 degrees; we don’t want to melt any of your other soap layers.

*My Fun Color Combinations: Bright Orange- Red Mica and Non-bleeding Red, Light Turquoise-

Opalescent Turquoise and Iridescent Glitter, Pearly Blue – Liquid Blue and Super Pearly White Mica, Lemon Lime Green- Liquid Green and Yellow Mica.

All of my soaps turned out different ranging from 3.2-5.6 ounces (using 89 ounces total) so have fun and make any size that you want!

Unmolding: Place a large cutting board over the top of your mold and gently flip the soap mold over onto a hard surface. Lift the mold off of the soap and slowly remove the freezer paper from the soap. I used the scraper tool from the Tool Kit (a non serrated knife or small spatula would work) to scrape the soap off the edges of the border pieces. Then slowly pull the sides of the mold away from the soap (Note: If you ever use this mold to make Cold Process soap, you cannot pull the sides from the soap as CP soap is softer and tends to tear). Pop out your soaps and marvel at your creativity.

If you have never made melt and pour soap before, check out some Soap Queen TV videos to get you started. I recommend the episodes on Fragrances, Colorants and Embedding. There are also some helpful blog posts on embedding here, here and here.

4 Color Swirl Price Break Down

May 4, 2010 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

How much does it cost do make 36 bars of handmade soap? Assuming that you have a 36 bar soap mold already, you can make a bar of soap with luxurious ingredients, a fabulous fragrance and eye catching color for just $1.00. Hard to believe? Check out the price break down below.

All of these prices are based off of Bramble Berry’s most popular sizes. Keep in mind that you can save even more money if you buy in larger, bulk sizes! Oh and I found the olive oil at our local restaurant supply store, Cash and Carry.

Here’s my recipe:

*This recipe used 8 ounce of fragrance oil and .5 ounces of colorant.

Price Break Down:

Pomace Olive Oil– $1.49 per lb (gallon size)

Coconut Oil– $1.85 per lb (7 lb size)

Palm Oil– $1.88 per lb (7 lb size)

Jojoba Oil– $0.68 per oz (1 lb size)

Shea Butter– $0.45 per oz (1 lb size)

Castor Oil– $0.21 per oz (1 lb size)

Lye– $0.37 per oz (2 lb size)
Fragrance Oil– $1.57 per oz (1 lb size)
Colorant – $4.00 per oz (1 oz size)

Grand Total: $36.20

Price of materials per bar: $1.00 per bar

Wild West, Mary Kay & Business Lessons

May 2, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Day Two of the Handcrafted Soapmaker’s Guild Annual Conference was packed, packed, packed with an incredible line up of speakers.

Robert Tisserand entertained and educated at the same time with a great talk about essential oils. He had us in stitches with his sense of humor. My big take away for me from his talk was that ALL essential oils should be refrigerated (so quick, go make room in your fridge!).

Kayla Fioravanti talked about Essential Wholesale’s growth from inception to where they are today. She told hilarious (honest) stories of the early years, making everyone in the group feel better about how their businesses have grown (haphazardly!). My big takeaway from her talk was that small businesses are at an ADVANTAGE compared to big businesses because we can tell stories that connect with the customer; we can share our passion; we have a face. The ‘big guys’ can’t connect with customers in the same way that we can as nimble small businesses.

Debbie May shared her journey in starting WholesaleSuppliesPlus. She focused on the things that can kill your business – lack of passion, lack of data mining, lack of profits and lack of systems. Debbie has an MBA and she wowed us all by sketching out a basic profit and loss on the fly to illustrate the difference between net profit and gross profit. My big takeaway from her talk was that ‘growth sucks cash.’ In order to fund your growth in the early years, you may have to do without a paycheck as you plow all of your earnings back into your company to fund your growth. Debbie’s business hero is Mary Kay and she highly recommends the book “Mary Kay: Timeless Principles from America’s Greatest Women Entrepreneur.”

Then it was off to the Essential Wholesale Wild West Party. For the second year in a row, they sponsored the evening’s activities – from a Wild West Improv party to a comedian to a great dessert table, open bar and full wild west buffet. The evening was full of laughter, camaraderie and yes, even a conga line.

I’ve uploaded even more photos (and even a few videos from the Wild West party) to my Flick account here or the Soap Guild Conference page is here with full photos. Tonight is the big awards night where they announce the the location of the next Conference and give us all an excuse to dress up a little.

You Are the Media! GO!

May 2, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Donna Maria from Indie Business Network just finished an incredible talk on social media and how we can best benefit from it as small businesses.

Some key take aways:

If you do not embrace technology and systemize it for your business, you will not be profitable in 2 years.

Social media is FUN stuff because you get to talk about things that you LOVE. People want to connect with people who LOVE what they do. “You’re not just selling soap. You’re selling emotional connection and memories”.

If Donna Maria could pick only two social media mediums to use, she would choose a BLOG and a NEWSLETTER. Why? Because those are the only two mediums that you OWN. You control that. You don’t have to worry that someone (Twitter, Facebook) is going to change the rules and your social media outlet will be gone.

This isn’t hard. Talk about what you know. Talk about what you love. Interview people. Show your herb garden. Talk about cooking, your family – just whatever you do, start to make a connection. The beautiful thing about having products is that you don’t even have to be on camera.

Use the tools. Get the gadgets. Let technology make this easier for you. Podcast software costs $20. You can get a Vado digital video for under $80.

Thank you Donna Maria the presentation. Now, what are YOU waiting for? Go claim your blog, start your email newsletter and start broadcasting YOUR message to the world!

He Started Selling Soap From a Van?!?

May 1, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Friday at the Soap Guild Conference kicked off with a bang. Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun gave the key note address. Her message was simple. She preached a core message of sustainability and told us that “Change starts with one, you. ” She was passionate about sustainability and absolutely a riot to listen to. Her sense of humor was incredible. I can see how she made it in government for so long – she could laugh at anything!

Then, Josh Onysko from Pangea Organics spoke to us. He started selling soap out of the back of his truck and has grown the company to be a multi-million dollar company, selling soaps, lotions and lip balms. He said that their best selling item is their lip balm. His story was incredibly unique and his passion for sustainability came through in everything he talked about. I loved two things about his story: 1. He started out of a van. Out of a VAN! 2. He loves his staff. He is such a fan of his employees that Pangea has an official organic garden to give their employees free produce 7 months out of the year.

I taught a Liquid Soap class where we actually made a batch of soap paste in class and diluted a batch of paste in class. Many soapers who attended the class came up to me afterwards telling me that they were shocked at how simple the process is. Either they had been too intimidated to try it or they had tried it a few times and it had never been successful. We made soap in 2 hours. You can do it too. I’ve got a downloadable e-book complete with photos and a tried-and-true recipe HERE. It costs as little as $.32 per 16 ounces of liquid soap to make it from scratch AND it’s easy. Try it as your next soap foray.

That’s me with David Fisher from About.com (right) and his namesake twin, David Fisher on the left (who had some helpful liquid soap tips to share with the class as well). Thanks to the helpful guild clean-up crew, clean up from the class only took an hour and boy, do I have a lot of paste to ship home!

I finished the evening with a quick chick wrap up dinner with Kayla from Essential Wholesale and Donna Maria from Indie Beauty Network. And then, it was off to a romantic anniversary dinner with my husband. He even had roses and tulips (my two favorite flowers) in the hotel room. He’s a great guy to come to a soap conference for our anniversary trip, isn’t he?

I’ll blog more later this weekend. I’ll have a round-up on Kayla’s talk on ‘Formulating your Dream Business’ and more show reporting. Until then, happy soaping!

Wall of Soap

May 1, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

My creation, originally uploaded by brambleberry22098.

Entries into the Soaper’s Showcase. It will be hard to figure out which to vote for! They’re all beautiful, amazing examples of perfect soap.

Soap Guild Conference 2010 Report

April 30, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Greetings from chilly Colorado. I am here with 302 other soapmakers from across the world to join our collective forces for community collaboration, learning, laughing and further our businesses. It is such a joy to see faces I recognize from previous gatherings and I love meeting new faces I haven’t seen in person but am dear friends with from Twitter, Facebook, Teach Soap and this blog.

Donna Maria, Me, Lela & Kayla

We got in late last night after a bit of a fiasco with Dollar Rental Cars (more on that later; I learned a lot about customer service from that one horrifically bad interaction – there are lessons to share). It was great to share a hug from everyone and start the soap party.

We continued the soap party at 6 a.m. this morning with a Fitness Walk led by Donna Maria from Indie Business Network. We are all super happy campers to be up that early to take care of our health. I was able to share my ‘Cupcake Workout strategy. It’s pretty simple – I think of workouts in terms of cupcakes. “If I work out for X, I can caloricly afford X amount of cupcake.” It’s highly motivating.

Today was incredible – the Soaper’s Showcase (above), Josh from Pangea Organics, Ambassador Carolyln Mosley Braun. I promise to update tomorrow with more – including a soap panel of my favorite cold process soaps from the Soaper’s Showcase ‘Best Of’ entries. For now, I have emails to answer, Facebook inquiries to chat about and Tweets from today to catch up on. Oh, and a 3-year-wedding anniversary to celebrate – today is our wedding anniversary and my sweet husband is here in Denver with me. What a great guy, eh?

My TwitPic Photo stream to follow photos from Soap Conference 2010 as I tweet them is here and the Soap Conference Tweet Stream from EVERYONE here that is tweeting is here.

Until tomorrow, happy soaping!

How to Make Cold Process Soap, Episode 2

April 29, 2010 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Learn what terms like DOS, Saponification, Superfat, and Trace mean in the second episode of my Cold Process Soapmaking series. In this episode, I show examples and carefully explain the mysterious world of CP soap with a live demonstration of trace and a visual explanaition of saponification and superfat. Cold Process Soap making is both a science and an art; learn about it all with my in-depth Cold Process Soapmaking Series.

How to Make Cold Process Soap: Basic Terms, Episode 2 from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

In future episodes I will explain how to use fragrances and colorants. After watching the first 4 episodes of my ‘How to Make Cold Process’ series you will be prepared to make your first successful and safe batch of soap! Can’t wait? Check out the Cold Process DVD I made here.

Headed to the Soap Guild Conference!

April 28, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I’m headed to the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild Conference tomorrow! I’m so excited to catch up with everyone, make new friends and learn from some of the best minds in the our industry. I’m teaching a 2 hour class on how to make Liquid Soap from scratch.

Here’s me hamming it up for the camera while I get into my safety gear.

Can’t make it to the Conference this year? Don’t worry you can still learn to make Liquid Soap from me. I wrote an E-book with full color photos and step-by-step instructions showing everything I’ll be demonstrating at the Soap Guild Conference this year. It’s only $7.95 and you can get it right here.

PS – I can’t wait to meet some Soap Queen readers and Bramble Berry customers so if you’re a customer, reader, friend or fan, please introduce yourself. I should be recognizable because I’ll be in the I (heart) Soap Queen schwag.

Mom’s Pretty in Pink – a Make-Up Trifecta

April 27, 2010 Filed Under: Home Crafts

Mother’s day is less than 2 weeks away. Ack! Are you ready? Here’s an easy mineral makeup gift ensemble for Mom. I created these new recipes based on my Mom’s taste. She’s a pink and plum type of gal (do you remember the pink paint posts here and here? Well, her house is pretty in pink). So, naturally, I went with a light plum eye shadow, light pink blush and glossy pink lip shine. I know she’ll love it. What Mom doesn’t adore handmade gifts on Mother’s Day?

Plumtastic Eye Shadow
(“scoop” = .15 CC mini scoops)
1 heaping scoop Sericite
1 heaping scoop Rose Pearl Mica
1 heaping scoop Red Blue Mica
1 level scoop Cappuccino Mica
1 Classy Clear Pot

Tickle Me Pink Blush
(“scoop” = .15 CC mini scoops)
1 heaping scoop Sericite
1 level Tapioca Powder
2 heaping scoops Rose Pearl Mica
3 heaping scoops Soft Beige Mica
2 heaping scoops Red Mica
1 heaping scoop Apricot Blush
1 Classy Clear Pots

Glossy Pink Lip Shine
(“scoop” = .15 CC mini scoops)
1 oz Lip Balm Base
.2 oz Castor Oil
1 ml Flavor Oil
4 heaping mini scoops Red Mica
4 Classy Clear Pots

Not sure how to mix Mineral Make Up? I have you covered! Eye Shadow mixing tutorial here, video on Eye Shadow mixing here, Foiling tutorial here, another eye shadow blending tutorial here, and lip stick tutorial here, here and here. If you want to do this yourself at home, you can! It’s easy (I swear). Buy the book here. Check out the Starter Foundation Kit here or the DIY Eye Shadow Kits here and have yourself a DIY Mineral MakeUp party.

Keep Fit Be Happy

April 26, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Keep Fit Be Happy, originally uploaded by kevindooley.

I love to work out. If you follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, you know that I generally squeeze in a workout daily. I lead an intentionally busy, very scheduled life and still take 60 to 90 minutes from my day, every day, to give myself a mental health break and keep my body and heart fit.

Why do I do I work out?

1. I am better able to deal with stress when I work out. Believe it or not, running Bramble Berry is not all puppy dogs and fun batches of soap. There can be times of intense stress. Physically moving my body and forcing myself to take a break improves my ability to handle stress.Want more information on how excercise reduces stress? There’s a comprehensive article about it here.

2. When I keep promises to myself, I am better able to keep promises to others. Each and every time I keep my promises to myself, I increase my willpower muscle. Did you know that willpower is a muscle? It strengthens and weakens with use or disuse. You can increase your self-regulatory muscle by working at it. Wouldn’t you like to be able to resist that chocolate cupcake? You can do it more easily if you’ve worked out your self-discipline muscle by working out consistently. Want more information about willpower? Here are two articles about it – one – two.

3. Exercise will help me live a longer life with better quality. A study showed that frequent exercise allowed you to live 12.7 extra healthy years of life (study here). I will be able to easy chase after grandchildren when I’m 70 if I keep up my exercise routine and God-willing, live disability free until I’m 80ish. While the idea of 80 is far off for me, I always begin everything with the end in mind (a la Covey) and my goal is to design my life *now* to live, disability-free, to 80 and beyond. More information on living to 80 and beyond and the link to exercise here.

4. Exercise increases energy. It’s a proven fact. My days and weeks are hectic feats of herculean balancing acts and frequently last 12 hours or longer for active thinking and work. If I work out daily, I am able to more easily handle the long days and knock it out of the park on shorter days. More information on exercise and how it fights fatigue here.

5. Exercise helps me fit into clothes I like. Eating a healthy diet helps with that too but on average, I can eat an extra 300 to 400 calories per day because I work out. That, my friends, is one cupcake or two glasses of wine. Or, if you’re trying to lose weight, that, my friends, is 1 pound every 10 days if you keep within your calorie guidelines.

Do you work out? Why do you work out? I’d love to hear what you do for fun workouts. I’m planning to do another blog post this week on how to stay motivated for the daily effort it takes to fit workouts in.

But, I Can’t Do That!

April 25, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Greetings happy SoapQueen team – I hope you’re having a great weekend. I know I am. It’s a rare weekend in Bellingham without a billion things scheduled. I’ve had the luxury of a great 90 minute ‘flow’ Power Vinyasa Yoga – Level II class (which was the opposite of relaxing), Farmer’s Market cupcakes (spiced apple with caramel buttercream frosting), lunch with a friend (at the incredible Old World Deli in Bellingham) and I made great progress on my book club book, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. All in all, an excellent first day in a fantastic weekend.

As I was going about my incredibly luxurious day yesterday, I kept thinking about a lesson I learned at the Jack Canfield event last month. Jack asked us to partner up and then tell our partner about all the things that we can’t seem to get done in our lives.

“I can’t find enough time to get 8 hours of sleep”

“I can’t seem to devote time for my hobbies.”

“I can’t quit speeding on the freeway.”

Each partner had a minute to describe all of their ‘can’ts’. And then Jack said, “Now, put ‘won’t’ in place of can’t and repeat all those to your partner.”

“I WON’T find enough time to get 8 hours of sleep”

“I WON’T devote time for my hobbies.”

“I WON’T quit speeding on the freeway.”

Ouch.

Just changing that simple word gave each and every person in my group a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach. Because, who controls the outcome of your situation? You do. If you’re not fully taking 100% responsibility for your situation, where you are at in life, how your life ebbs and flows around you, it’s true… you WON’T make the changes you need to. It’s not a ‘can’t’ anymore; it’s a ‘won’t.’

That lesson stuck with me. Now, every time I catch myself saying “I can’t,” I ask myself, “Is this a can’t or a won’t“. It has forced me to get more honest with myself and the areas in my life where I tend to cop out and not hold myself accountable.

Try exchanging those two words in your life; you’ll be surprised at what comes up.

Business Advice from Twitter?

April 23, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Yes, it really is possible to get great business advice … from Twitter. When I tell people that I am very active on Twitter and invest at least 30 minutes per day writing Tweets, reading Tweets and responding to other people’s Tweets, they are shocked that I would invest that much time into Twitter.

Twitter is perceived by many as just noise. I often hear “Why do I care what you ate for breakfast?” or “I don’t have anything to say“. I disagree. Everyone has something to share with the world – whether it’s your passion to your hobby to your job – you have a message. And Twitter is one way to get that out.

For example, Erin Baker tweets what she eats. (Recent Tweet: Another 6am flight today, I was prepared w/thermal of tea & had a banana & Morning Glory Breakfast Cookie. Preparation is key! YOU? GO!) Her goal is to help eradicate childhood obesity. Educating people about appropriate nutrition (by using herself as the guinea pig) helps in this cause. My passion is soap, helping small business, fun consumer products and fitness. So, if you read my Tweets, they read a bit like Business 101 + Rockin’ Cool Soap & Craft Projects + fun product finds + “I worked out today” reminders.

If you’re not following me on Twitter, you can follow me here. These are the business-related tweets I’ve sent in the last week:

10 lessons learned from starting a business in a recession (Re: being cheap – I’m ‘frugal’ even in good times!) http://ow.ly/1Amr8

3 Ways to help re-vamp your About Us page: http://ow.ly/1Amn7

How to encourage innovation – I really like the 24-hour-project day idea: http://ow.ly/1BSWV

Should you join a business group? Peer to peer networking + support = greater chance for success http://nyti.ms/cQGiuH

Communication tips from Warren Buffett: http://ow.ly/1Ama6

Before starting a new venture, consider a feasibility study:http://ow.ly/1Almn

Tips for helping to remember names: http://ow.ly/1BmJN

Yikes – commercial wire transfer fraud on the rise (and biz owners aren’t protected). A scare-your-pants-off story: http://ow.ly/1Bku8

Success is a choice – make the right ones, today (A+ observation about #5): http://ow.ly/1Bkli

“Trend is short, style is forever.” Branding & business tips from the founder of FUBU: for us, by us. http://ow.ly/1A3LA

How to use social media to enhance customer engagement (totally agree about the CEO & frequent posting opinion):http://ow.ly/1AW5m

You’ve got a great idea, you invest in it and then a huge competitor shows up with a similar one. What to do? Eek: http://ow.ly/1A3Jg

This year, the IRS has entrepreneurs in their sights this year:http://ow.ly/1AtvN

How can you create more, with less? http://ow.ly/1A3HV

It’s like Mastermind, Lite. How to start a supper club:http://ow.ly/1A3GY

Easy things you can do to help build rapport: http://ow.ly/1zKPG

Hints for doing business overseas (including: you must have someone on the ground): http://ow.ly/1ySnV

Tips to improve relationships in every area of your life (including “Fake it ’til you make it is so ’80s”): http://ow.ly/1ySWL

Thinking of buying products for your biz from China? Some thoughts: http://ow.ly/1yzUx

Why do women’s businesses make less money and/or have less assets? http://ow.ly/1yzT4

How to help avoid that ‘Ping Pong’ syndrome when you’re a business owner: http://ow.ly/1xCYJ

Spent his son’s college money starting a company … and! it pays off. Supposedly, they’re coming to #Bellingham too! http://ow.ly/1xDOT

7 steps to outperform your competitors: http://ow.ly/1xE1R

5 Keys for running productive meetings: http://ow.ly/1xDZf

How the media is using social media to enhance their stories, their ability to find ‘news’ and better interact: http://ow.ly/1xuah

IRS auditing small business more than the big ones:http://ow.ly/1xsII

Young women starting their one businesses in droves for the money but also for social entrepreneurship http://ow.ly/1xsF7