Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
I chatter on in this blog as if everyone knows and loves soap already. Just in case you’re not up on melt and pour soap, here’s a link for a basic primer on melt and pour soap. It’s incredibly easy to do, takes just about 30 minutes and is totally kid safe and family approved.
PBS is doing a small business channel show that is available to everyone to watch regarding starting and running a small business. And as a bonus, they interviewed the gal (Donna Baase pictured above) from Cowgirl Enterpriseswho really is quite impressive. Her passion for small, handcrafted goods is evident in her segment. I especially love her unique and innovative names for her staff members.
For bright, fun, whimsical and very trendy papers for wrapping your soap and making your labels, check out Love, Elsie. She has some wonderful heavy-weight pop-out, 3-D paper that would make for good sign backing or label frames. She’s got a great blog that shows all her goodies as well.
One of my favorite and longest-time customers is Scott Blackson from The Soap Fairy. He’s been a customer for going on seven or eight years! First of all, I love his name. But it’s not just a whimsical name that sets him apart. He follows it up with a comprehensive line of soaps and toiletries and an amazing attitude to boot. The guy is just a ball of fire, doing more than seems possible in any one day. We actually publish one of his books through our small press (Red Wheelbarrow Press) on how to market to consumers if you’re just a wee, start up business. It’s called “Marketing Your Handmade Crafts” and it’s a down to earth, easy read that will be sure to give you some great ideas and food for thought. When you go to his web site, notice that he has a newsletter ‘zine to keep his customers informed about his goings-on and product information. Connecting with your customers is always a good idea.
My great friend Jody, over at Verite Coffee just made the most amazing, decadent chocolate cupcake suitable for two! For an ultra amazing Valentine’s Day, never-to-forget, pop on down to one of her three shop locations (Ballard, Madrona and West Seattle) and grab a treat for you and your honey.
I love what Jody has done with cupcakes – she’s elevated them to a fine art, something to be savored and treasured and something that you pay a premium for. I think this is a good lesson for all business people, especially soapmakers. What can you to elevate your craft so that it stands out and is worth $10 per bar of soap?
Maya Road has the cutest, most adorable ribbons (love the Journey East with the matching stamps) and chipboard cut out tags for a very classy looking soap package. Think about what you need to do to command $7/bar. Packaging is an important component of getting that higher end soap market.
April Lee has done a really nice job of using low temperature cold process to create a creamy texture for her swirled Cucumber Melon soap.
I also like the great shot of a full collapsible soap mold. They are very nice to use once you get the joints completely airtight.
That’s me, on the left, along with the super cool chicks from Treasury of Memories in Bellingham at the Martha Stewart Keynote address at the CHA Show 2007.
And onto one of the higher points in my short business life: Martha Stewart likes our name. That’s right, she actually said, in front of 3000 witnesses that she likes our name. I personally am rather fond of the name “Bramble Berry” and it was a delight to hear her say she liked it as well.
The divine Ms. Martha was talking at the CHA show and gave the keynote address on her new foray into the scrapbooking industry. She shared some funny stories (like about the time she stayed up all night, making amazing cards only to have the recipients not realize they were handmade because they were too perfect). She showed amazing photographs from her magazine. She also answered three pre-arranged questions from the audience.
Thus, her commenting on our name. I submitted a question beforehand asking Martha who her mentors were. When the moderator read our question, Martha commented on how much she liked our name.
For the record, she said that her parents were both teachers so she looks for teachers in everyone around her.
I was hoping for an actual author or business leader’s name so I could devour everything they had ever written and hopefully get just a wee bit of Martha infused into me!
Seriously now, aren’t these little Amphibian & Reptile molds the absolute cutest things you’ve ever seen? I can see an entire children’s line using White Melt & Pour soap, Labcolors (especially the Emerald) and fun kid fragrances like Pearberry and Grapefruit.
I *love* the handcrafted aspect of the soap packaging here. It’s an very inspiring story with a very nice web presence and branding. They’ve even been on t.v. Here’s the clip.
Just saw this fun little video on what happens when you put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave. If anyone’s a chemistry buff out there and can tell me why that reaction happened, I would be very interested!
There is also a more grainy, slightly more irritating version of this video that actually shows the consistency of the exploded-microwave-soap. It turns out that exploded Ivory soap is somewhat hard and flaky. Who knew?
And, the Europeans are microwaving their soap. Their soap microwaves differently than Ivory but still poofs up very impressively.
Dove also acts differently than Ivory when microwaved.
Did you hear that washing hands with plain soap and water is as effective as using the expanding range of sanitizers or antibacterial soaps if done correctly and often? This is great news for handcrafted soapmakers! The study was conducted by the Harvard Health Letter and found that just washing with soap and water for 15 seconds removed 90% of bacteria. They cautioned, however, that many people do not wash their hands often enough or dry them thoroughly. Wikipedia also supports the notion that there is no evidence stating that antibacterial soap is better for cleaning your hands or body.
I am so excited about our new Limited Edition fragrance Sugared Walnut. It should be here any day now! It smells delicious. I don’t think the name “Sugared Walnut” does it quite justice because it has an amazing blend of Blood Orange, Asian Mandarin, Brown Sugar, Roasted Walnut, Hazelnut Coffee, Black Anise Seed, Earthy Patchouli, Madagascar Vanilla, and a Full Musk dry down Doesn’t that sound incredible? In our multiple cold process soap tests, the fragrance did not discolor too dark either so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will stay a nice tan nutty brown for our soapers.