Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Otion Afternoon

February 7, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I’ve had a wonderful day thus far. I read a partial chapter in the book “Influence.” I worked out. I ate a healthy lunch. I planned my trip to a soap conference in June. I researched a retail sales management group. And, I did a bunch of other miscellaneous things in between, like pay bills, review credit cards and meet with Amber to go over new product plans. But, by far my favorite thing about today was my visit to Otion.

As we work out the logistics for a second store, with rent being at a premium in Seattle, Erik (store manager) is culling the line of products we can carry in the Seattle store. This is a precaution. Our Bellingham location is big, with over 1000 square feet of retail space and a classroom and testing lab upstairs. That might be hard to find in Seattle for the rent we can pay. So Erik is working through the entire product list and designating products as A, B or C Tier based on the last four years of sales data.

While I was at Otion, one of my favorite customers stopped by (Kim from Aromatica Tea & Soaps, up in Chilliwack, BC). We caught up and lamented the rising cost of Palm Oil and scratched our heads about a suitable replacement for it. We didn’t come up with anything.

By far the most delightful thing about the Otion store visit was the displays! They have a “Relax” themed display with bath fizzies, salts and scrubs to encourage bath time and romance for the upcoming Day of Love. Certainly, giving a foot scrub to a certain someone in your life would be romantic and kind, wouldn’t it?

Erik designed a nautical themed display around the Milky Way Sailboat mold. He used a dropper to drop in the color on these ships. It’s very good detail work that just requires patience and a little bit of time.

Sarah at Otion decided that the Skull Mold would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. I was skeptical but with Fuscia Labcolor in Clear Soap and White Soap, plus a little glitter, this traditionally ghoulish soap does look positively radiant for the season.

Great job Otionites. The creativity is and attention to detail is awesome.

Soap Toppings Tutorial

February 7, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Check out this helpful soap tutorial (in two languages no less) on how to make thick, lumpy soap look like you meant to make it that way!

Besides color, texture is another medium that can be used to make your soap stand out on the shelf and provoke and immediate, “Wow! Cool! I gotta look at that unique soap!” reaction in shoppers.

Cutest Cupcake Soap

February 6, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

It seems a week cannot go by without a cupcake or cupcake related product catching my eye. When you see the detail work on the soap cupcakes below, you’ll understand why these caught my attention.

Heather from Twin Birch Bath and Body created these amazing cupcakes.

When I make them, I use your cold process m&p base (which we all know I am in love with!). I pour the base and let it set up until it’s fairly solid on its top. (about 5-6 minutes) then I whip the “frosting”. It’s your base, whipped with a hand mixer until it just this side of stiff. It sets up quite a bit in the pastry bag, so I try to start a little loose. I give the base “cake” a big spritz of alcohol, then I just release my inner pastry chef and pipe it on.

I use the huge pastry tips so that the soap is easier to pipe. The decorations are actual cake sprinkles.

I’m playing with a Mimosa Soapcake featuring your Champagne FO (which I love!) and your Orange Peel FO. I’ll ship one out when they are done!

Head over to her Etsy shop to buy a pack of 3 for $18 or just a single (but, it’ll be lonely!). It’s not too late to be thinking of fun Valentine’s presents.

Heather, I can hardly wait to see one of these pieces of art in person. Thank you for sharing your technique with the Soap Queen Community.

Quilling By All Things Jenuine

February 6, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

PS – Quilling done by All Things Jenuine. Buy her art here.

Amber’s Chocolate Annivesary

February 6, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thank you Amber for being at Bramble Berry for two years. Amber does the Bramble Berry newsletters, the beautiful photos on the web site and sorts the info (at) brambleberry (dot) com email inbox. She’s a busy gal!

To celebrate her anniversary, I made chocolate from scratch last night.

Here is a huge chunk of cocoa butter, waiting to be melted. As you can see from its sad appearance, it needs some serious tempering.

Adding the powdered sugar was like adding flour to melted butter. It had a very similar consistency.

Cocoa Powder (and Vanilla Flavoring, double strength from Penzys) was integral to achieving the perfect taste.

After tempering for 15 minutes, I poured the entire yummy mixture into cups filled with either marshmallows or peanut butter cups.

The staff at Bramble Berry give this project a big Thumbs Up. There are barely any chocolates left!

Jelly Roll Love

February 5, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Congrats to Gassner Custom Soaps for clearly getting the gist of the Jelly Roll Tutorial down! Doesn’t the soap look great?

Learn how to make your own Jelly Roll Soap here. While you’re learning to that, I’m making chocolate … from scratch! It’s Amber’s 2 year anniversary with Bramble Berry and she loves chocolate. So, I’m making chocolate and, if all goes well, the outcome will produce Peanut Butter Cups, Marshmallow Cups and maybe toss in a few candied spicy dried fruit chocolate just for fun. The chocolate is tempering right now. Here’s to hoping it all turns out … or else Amber will be stuck with a store bought cake tomorrow! Then again, given the um, newness of this chocolate making venture, perhaps she would prefer the store bought product.

My Etsy Splurge & We Love Our Commenters!

February 5, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I am so excited! I just purchased a massive splurge on Etsy – a $14 bar of soap from Swisher Hill Soap Works.

Read this amazing description:

Just look at this beauty! She’s rich, beautiful, and decadent but she’s also wonderful for you. Nourish your skin and your senses with this blend of Carrot Seed Oil, Rose Absolute, and Yogurt. The scent is an earthy carrot seed background with a rosy sweetness. This is probably my very favorite soap that I make. It started out as a luxury for myself but is just too good to keep a secret.

With Rose Absolute going for $184 for 10 ml and Carrot Seed Oil as precious as ever, this is definitely one luxury that I will savor every moment of. Kudos to Swisher Hill for elevating a commodity (soap) to a luxury item, selling for the going rate of Truffle Oil!

In other news, thank you to everyone that participated in our Soap Queen community last week. We appreciate your feedback and questions. Randomly drawing a number to win handmade bath goodies and Organic Fusion essential oils, Adrienne in Customer Service chose comment #21. That is Becky (Becky from SoapNuts?). E-Mail me at info (at) brambleberry (dot) com with your address and I’ll get your box of goodies out to you, including this fabulous bath fizzy. Weighing at least 12 ounces, it looks just like a mini wedding cake. Isn’t it clever?

Bragging on the BB Staff

February 5, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Created by Johanna in Customer Service (yes, the same knitting Johanna from this post), these adorably detailed soaps are made even more precious by the hand drawn labels.

Isn’t she talented? Johanna just started soaping which makes these first few soapy projects of her all the more amazing. It goes to prove that you don’t need an amazing logo or professional labels to make a great impression (though, if you don’t want carpal tunnel syndrome, computer printed labels are helpful!)

Newbie’s First Soap

February 5, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you Janie Berg in New Jersey for emailing us a photo of her first melt and pour soap! I think she did a great job.

Frozen Eagle Trip Photos

February 4, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Our eagle trip up (down?) the Skagit River was a trip for the memory books. My Mom, an avid (slightly obsessive?) bird watcher is turning 60 tomorrow!

To celebrate Mom’s special day, we spent the weekend celebrating with things she likes – Kransakege from Larsen’s Bakery in Ballard, Peanut Butter Pie made just for her at Du Jour Bistro and this frozen, pseudo Arctic trip to find the great Bald Eagle.

As you can see from the photos, we found Bald Eagles (and lots of them!).

There were three boats in our little floatilla, with all of the participants outfitted in their coldest weather wear. It was so cold on the river that our boat actually had to plow through ice at times.

Here is our happy boat crew – my sister-in-law Cheriss, my dad, me, my Mom, Husband and dear brother Erik. The river boat captain is the one in the back with the waterproof rain slicker (smart guy).

It was such a fun trip. Thank you Mom for having a birthday so we could celebrate and have a wonderful experience together as a family.

Off Center Wick

February 4, 2008 Filed Under: Home Crafts

Thank you to Joyce in Connecticut for sending this helpful wick placement tip for The Soap Queen readers:

A suggestion for wicks. I have used cotter pins that are around 4 inches long to hold wicks in the center while candles are hardening/setting up. I have also used the long bobby pins. I put candle wick pinched in either of these and then I put some masking tape on the both ends and to the glass containers to hold in place. This leaves enough room on either side of the candle to pour in your wax and you can adjust the wick easily if it shifts when you pour the wax in.

The photo on the right is of a candle with a poorly placed wick. The wick was about 20% off center. Because of the centering issue as well as a too-small wick choice, there was a lot of extra wax left after a full burn. As a consumer who spent over $11 for this candle, I was a little bummed about the extra hours of wax left sitting in the candle.

Random Monday Musings

February 4, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you Donna Maria from Indie Beauty Network for a nice write up this weekend. And, Joanna from Product Body also gave a shout-out. Thanks ladies. You both make me blush.

Today is a busy Monday. Finally, we almost have a full staff at Bramble Berry after having a case of the Sickies run rampant through our team. We’re only short 1.5 people so meeting our 24 hour turnaround goal will be a breeze.

Despite being such a busy day, I am determined to fit in a work out, somehow! Get yourself inspired about physical activity with this article from the Times on daily exercise. Despite my Nike running tracker being somewhat dormant, I’ve still been working out almost daily with yoga, weights but not much running. The snow and ice around my house make running outside a bit daunting.

As DailyGood pointed out this weekend, “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. — Jim Rohn”

Things in the blog-o-sphere that I’m liking today:

Seth Godin’s post on Free
Design Sponge’s artist highlight on Mia Pearlman’s papercut sculptures (photo on left)
BeautyBrain’s wrap up about Aloe Vera Gel’s healing properties Best quote from article: “don’t buy products that use reconstituted powdered aloe vera because it doesn’t contain the same 0.5% of goodies that make the aloe work.” You want Aloe Vera Water (Gel) like is sold here.

Finally, I came across this video on Friday night and just cracked up laughing. Given that laughing has so many health benefits, I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Soap on a Rope – a second way to try it

February 3, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

We’ve covered Soap on a Rope extensively already (here, here and here). Nicole in Customer Service wasn’t satisfied with how soapy her ropes ended up getting when the soap was poured around the ropes. This is the alternate project she came up with to solve the Soapy Soap Rope Conundrum.
Supplies Needed
Opaque Melt and Pour soap base
3-D Soap Mold
Microwave safe container
Saran Wrap
Spritzer bottle filled w/ rubbing alcohol
Colorant (we like Labcolors for opaque soap)
Fragrance oil
Soap Rope

Cut melt and pour soap into 1” cubes and put into microwave safe container (about 5oz should be enough for one bar). Cover with saran wrap and microwave for 30 second intervals until soap is melted.
Stir in the fragrance oil and colorant.
Take apart your 3-D mold so that the two sides are flat on your work space.
Pour a small amount of the soap base into each side of the mold and spray with alcohol.
Wait a few minutes until the soap has set up a bit and is stiff to the touch.
Spray your soap rope with alcohol and place your soap rope where you want it to be in the mold (centered).
Snap the mold shut, put on the rubber bands.
Get the rest of your soap base (will probably need another trip to the microwave).
Spray a few times with your alcohol into the hole on top of the mold.
Pour your melted soap base into the mold until full.
Slighty tip the mold from side to side and tap on your counter to get any possible trapped air bubbles to float to the top.
Spray once more with alcohol to pop any air bubbles that have risen.
Let mold sit for a few hours before unmolding (the longer you wait the easier this will be).
Trim the edges of the soap.
Look! No extra soap on the rope!

NetDisaster & Rafting in January

February 3, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you to Good Experience for tipping me off to this fun little havoc wrecker. You can go to netdisaster.com and do fun things, like flood your favorite (or least favorite?) web site, throw tomatoes at it or have Mars attack the site.

Look at the Soap Queen disaster I did with attacking UFOs here.

Click here to experience it for yourself.

While you’re doing that, I’ll be river rafting in the snow and rain with my family. We’re headed down a large river in a small rubber raft in search of eagles. The fact that it’s winter does not deter my Norwegian Mother, who seems to be delighted that we’ll need to wear full skiing regalia to keep our bodies above hypothermia.

Assuming we get back safely, I’ll post an easy soapmaking project using 3-D Molds and soap ropes later tonight.