Search Results for: www.brambleberry.com

Smooth as a Baby’s … Tooling

August 20, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thank you everyone that responded on the tooling die marks post issue. We tried everything you suggested: heat, chemical etching, coating, buffing, sandblastic and plastic overlays. In the end, a combination of resetting our CNC machining tool paths, finer grit sandpaper and a mechanical buffing machine did the trick. Since it was a combination of answers, I’ve sent out some people care packages for their help and definitely owe Diane some goodies for her contributions as well.

Thank you everyone for your kindness. We couldn’t have solved this without you. Expect to see some exciting new mold designs in the next month …

Accountability Matters

August 19, 2009 Filed Under: Business Musings

My Mastermind Group has mini accountability groups within it (not sure what a Mastermind Group is? Article on that is here. Or curious about what an Accountability Group does? Article is here.). My goals are always pretty simple – flossing, working out, yoga, meditations daily – simple, clear and achievable. They’re always good goals to have and actions that I might not undertake if I didn’t have a weekly check in with people I like, respect and admire.

I’ve been researching the training program for running a marathon (no, I’m not ready to commit. I’m just looking) and one of the keys that keeps coming up in the training is that consistency is everything; the little daily tasks matter.

Jack Canfield says the first step towards keeping your accountabilities to others is to always, unfailingly, keep your commitments that you’ve made to yourself. If you’re one of those people that consistently breaks promises, arrives late to everything, always has an excuse about why you missed a deadline or disappointed someone, this advice is key. You have to start somewhere and keeping your promises that you’ve made to yourself is the first place to start.

If you’re in business for yourself, accountability starts with you. You can’t look at your employees and expect them to magically say “This is my fault and I will fix it” or “I said that I would do it and my word is my bond” if you’re not delivering on these principles yourself. Everything in an organization is top down. So, if you’re not conscientious with your words and actions, the team around you won’t be either.

In order to grow yourself personally and your company professional, it is imperative that you identify and get rid of lack of accountability within yourself and your corporation.

You do this with a simple 1, 2 plan.

1. Make and set goals yourself.

2. Keep them no matter what.

It is that simple. If you can’t keep your promises to yourself, how do you expect to keep them for your friends and family?

For more on improving personal accountability, the epitome on accountability is the QBQ! book by John Miller. Or consider starting your own Accountability Group for whatever goals you’d like to make. Start small, keep your commitments to yourself and start down the one path achieving astonishing results in business and at home.

New Micas at Bramble Berry

August 19, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We’ve added a whopping six new micas for your soaping pleasure. The colors are sooooo glorious. And, they’re ‘Surplus’ items (great deals, limited quantities) so get ’em while they’re here:

Matte Yellow (lip & eye shadow safe)

Super Green (eye shadow safe)

Emerald (eye shadow safe)

Super Blue (eye shadow safe)

Deep Blue (eye shadow safe)

Copper Penny (lip & eye shadow safe)

Lavender (lip & eye shadow safe)

Not pictured: Chocolate Shimmer (lip & eye shadow safe)

And I Like my Cognitive Function

August 19, 2009 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

A study published in June in the journal Neurology found that older people who exercise at least once a week are 30% more likely to maintain cognitive function than those who exercise less.

Time Magazine, August 9 issue

Soap for Video Game Enthusiasts

August 18, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

These entertaining Pac-Man soaps were made by Bramble Berry employee and packer extraordinaire, Zach!

Here’s what Zach used:
White Melt and Pour
Clear Melt and Pour
Liquid Yellow Colorant
Liquid Black Colorant
Basic Round Mold
Kumquat Fragrance Oil
Droppers

Let’s make Pac-Man come to life*…

Step 1: Melt about 1 ounce of clear melt and pour soap. Add 1 drop of liquid black colorant. Then use a dropper to drop a dime size of black soap into each cavity of the mold (this will be Pac-Man’s eye). Let soap cool.

Step 2: Melt about 14 ounces of white melt and pour soap, add your liquid yellow colorant and your kumquat fragrance oil. Mix well. Spritz the black layer of soap in your mold with rubbing alcohol and pour your yellow layer. Spritz with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any air bubbles.

Tip: Make sure your yellow soap is no hotter than 120 degrees when you pour (any hotter will melt the black layer soap).

Fragrance Tip: We recommend 1/4-1/2 ounce of fragrance oil per pound of melt and pour soap base.

Step 3: Once the soap has cooled completely, pop the soap out of the mold. Then cut out Pac-Man’s triangle mouth using a knife or soap cutter.

Game Over

* or as lifelike as you can make a bar of soap that’s designed to be used up completely

Miscellaneous Monday

August 17, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

It’s past 6:00 p.m. and I’m completely confused as to where the entire day went. I swear, it feels like I’ve maybe been at work for an hour (tops). In between emails, essential oil sourcing, fall season planning and an impressive deluge of emails, some things that struck my fancy today are:

* Artwork made from obsolete technology here

* Article on working well with developers (this applies to all developers from graphic design to website development) here

* New Bramble Berry fragrance – Lavender & Herb – is up for sale here It would be lovely with the fabulous Lavender Mold here* Interview with graphic designer & illustrator Blanca Gomez here* DieLine blog always is a hit of packaging inspiration here* Funfetti Cupcake recipe at CakeSpy here for mid-afternoon sugar high

* This home filing system here is awfully cute but what I actually purchased was a DIY File Memo kit here

* A really interesting post on the Teach Soap Forum about using stearic acid in CP soap here* A blog post on black walls in bedrooms (probably not for me but still interesting) here* Tutorial on how to print your own fabric (I’m in love with this idea for packaging) here

* Photos with tiny felt sculptures. Engaging. Cute. Time-consuming. Here.

And now, I’m going to go home and do something mundane like clean the house because I’m hosting Book Club tomorrow. Until tomorrow (or until later tonight if you follow my tweets), happy soaping!

Butternut Squash Turnovers – Recipe

August 16, 2009 Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine

I am so lucky to have an amazing family – my brother Erik manages Bramble Berry’s retail store, my Dad was my first mentor for Bramble Berry and my Mom was my first salesperson. This weekend, Dad and Mom came up to visit and make good on a Father’s Day gift that we promised: a 6 course meal!

After starting our day with an awesome boot camp fitness class, my sister in law (Cheriss) and I cooked all day on Saturday. We made many yummy dishes and documented much of the day in photos. I am excited to share all the recipes with you over the next few months, starting with the undisputed favorite of the evening: Butternut Squash Turnovers.

I got this recipe from ‘Food & Wine‘ magazine and followed it exactly the way the instructions suggested, with mouth-watering results.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 large leeks, white parts only

1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoons thyme leaves

salt & pepper

2 pounds butternut squash

14 ounces all butter puff pastry

3/4 pound goat cheese

1 large egg, beaten

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375. On the stovetop, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Dice the leaks into 1 inch cubes and add to olive oil. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened (around five minutes). Add shiitake and cook, stirring often, until liquid has evaporated (about another five minutes). Stir in chopped garlic and thyme and cook for an additional two minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl.

Step 2:Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the parchment. Peel the squash (we cut the squash into manageable pieces and cut the skin off. Using a vegetable peeler didn’t even make a dent). Toss the squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Spread the squash on the baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes until the squash softens and begins to brown. Add this browned squash to the leeks and mushrooms and toss.

Step 3: Roll out pastry puff flat (we bought ours in sheets so got to skip this step). Cut the pastry into 4″ squares. Spoon as much of the mixture as you can safely fit into the pastry squares, leaving room for a generous dollop of goat cheese. The recipe suggested 2 tablespoons of vegetables and 2 tablespoons of goat cheese but there’s no way we could have fit that much into the little pastry puffs. Lightly brush the edge of the squares with beaten egg (the egg acts like a glue). Fold the squares over to form triangles and crimp the edges with a fork for a snazzy finished look.

Step 4: Put turnovers on a baking sheet (mine stuck so make sure yours is non stick or generously oiled). Brush the top of the turnovers with the remaining beaten egg. Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Serve warm and wait for the accolades to roll in.The entire recipe took about 90 minutes to prep, stuff and cook and was well worth it. The turnovers were delicious!

Bonus Tip on Lip Balm Clean Up

August 14, 2009 Filed Under: Lip Products

Thank you Body Language Soaps for sharing this awesome tip about keeping your lip balm and lipstick areas clean.

“I eliminated clean up all together with making lip balms. I have a pint sized canning jar designated for every flavor. I melt what I need, add flavor oil, and pour!!! When I’m done, I simply put the lid back on the jar. No mess, no clean up, I LOVE IT!”

Be sure to check out her blog – she recently did a great pictorial explanation about how she makes her Cold Process soap. Or get your own Pomegranate Lip Tint from Body Language Soaps here.

After Lip Balm Clean Up…

August 14, 2009 Filed Under: Lip Products

Isn’t it a pain to clean the waxy mess after making lip balm?
Here’s the secret to cleaning those oily, waxy, messy containers.Gather up some of your old melt and poursoap scraps and melt them in the same container that contains your lip balm residue. Once it’s melted, swirl the hot soap around in the waxy container (try and touch all of the waxy spots). Why you ask? The soap absorbs the oils in the lip balm just like you had added them to your soap base. Once it’s all mixed together you can *dump out the soap and wash the container in HOT water.

*No, I don’t literally mean throw the soap away. You should know me a little better than that by now. I’m not one to waste soap (ever). Pour the soap in a mold and let it cool. It’s perfectly fine to use. It might not be the prettiest soap you’ve ever made but it’s still consumable. And all the extra oils will make the soap super luscious to use while inhibiting lather.

Gradated Layers on Soap Queen TV

August 13, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

This is the last video in our Melt & Pour series on Soap Queen TV. We’re going to take a little break before we come back with our next series in the Fall. What do you want to learn about? I know I’ve said this before but just to remind you – we really want to hear your suggestions!

In this episode I use the layering technique from Episode 12 and the embedding technique demonstrated in Episode 4 to create some adorable soaps. I also show you 2 new techniques for getting perfectly even layers and gradating soap colors to go from dark to light. I hope this episode inspires you to mix and match some of the techniques we’ve covered in the last 15 episodes of Soap Queen TV.

Episode 15: Gradated Color Layers from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Ingredients:

Clear melt & pour soap
White melt & pour soap
Liquid orange color
Kumquat fragrance
Flexible brownie pan
Scale

For Embedding variation:
Clear soap
Basic shapes soap mold
Super pearly white mica

Re-Vote for the Saponifier Survey

August 13, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

The Saponifier Survey was reset to 0 late Tuesday afternoon because of ‘leading questions’ in the original survey.

The Saponifier, an industry magazine, does its ‘Best Of’ survey yearly and gets feedback from soapers everywhere on who their favorite online vendor is in a variety of categories: fragrance oils, herbs, molds, packaging and many more.

If you took the survey on Monday or Tuesday, go and revote here to make sure your vote gets counted. If you haven’t voted yet, now is the perfect time to take 5 minutes and let your enthusiasm for your favorite supplier out.

Layers, Hamsters & Soap

August 12, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I love this Hamster Soap!

Materials
Liquid blue
Non-Bleeding Red
2 lbs White Melt & Pour Base
1 lb Clear Melt & Pour Base
1.5 oz Love Spell Fragrance Oil
Loaf Mold
8 Hamster Eraser Toys
Soap Cutter
Microwave safe bowl
Spoon

Tips for layers and embedding:

Use the same brand of soap base for each layer. Different brand of soap base have different cooling temperatures (this will help the layers adhere).
Spritz each layer with rubbing alcohol before pouring.
Liberally spritz the items/toys you’re embedding (this will help with the air bubbles).
Pour your layers in a timely fashion (don’t wait until the next day to pour your second layer).
Make sure your layers are no hotter than 120 degrees when you pour (any hotter will melt the soap).

If you haven’t reviewed Soap Queen TV Episode 4 on embedding toys in soap, you can watch it here. The Soap Queen TV Episode 12 on making layered soap is here. Both episodes would help with this project if you are unfamiliar with either concept.

Let’s Get Started…

Layer 1: Melt 1 lb of white soap base and add .5 oz of fragrance oil. Mix in a couple drops of Non-Bleeding Red colorant (you should have a nice pink color). Pour the entire pound of melted soap base into your loaf mold and spritz with rubbing alcohol to eliminate any bubbles. Let cool completely (roughly 30-40 minutes).

Layer 2: Melt 1 lb of clear soap base and add .5 oz of fragrance oil. This is going to be the clear layer that showcases the little hamsters

Once the pink layer has cooled, spritz the soap with rubbing alcohol to make sure the layers will adhere. Then, liberally spritz the hamsters with rubbing alcohol and align them on top of the soap like little soldiers. I sat them down on their little bums, but you can arrange them however you want.

Once the clear soap has cooled to 120 degrees, pour your second layer gently over the hamsters. I did have one “floater” but easily pressed it back down into the soap. Let this layer cool completely (roughly 30-40 minutes).

Layer 3: Melt 1 lb of white soap base and add .5 oz of fragrance oil. Then mix in a couple drops of Liquid Blue Colorant. Liberally spritz the clear layer with rubbing alcohol and pour your last layer (remember to cool your soap to 120 degrees before pouring).

Optional: To get a textured top layer, stir the blue layer of soap until it cools.

Finishing Touches: Wait at least 8-12 hours before releasing soap from the mold. I know it will be hard to wait that long to free your little hamsters but trust me; you will have cuter soap in the long run! I cut my soap by hand with a soap cutter. You could also use a soap cutter like THIS for a little more accuracy. GOOD LUCK! No matter how even your cut is, no one will notice since the cutness factor of the hamsters is off the charts.

5 Quickfire Questions

August 11, 2009 Filed Under: Business Musings

Melissa Hutcheson is the owner and and founder of the Joy of Soap out of Hayward, California. They take pride in making their bath products from organic, natural and sustainably grown ingredients. The fabulous Melissa was kind enough to send us two bars of her handmade creations; Rosy Cheeks Rosemary and Ginger Snap! They are both quality bars of soap with lovely lathers.

Alright, gang, hold on to your seats! It’s time for 5 quickfire questions for Melissa. Here we go…

Anne-Marie: How did you get started making soap?

Melissa: I have always enjoyed arts and crafts and making things. I also used to travel quite a bit for work and realized that bath products in the hotels were not so nice for my skin. Once I started researching ingredients and their impact on skin and complexion I understood that I needed to make some changes. I found a great business nearby, The Nova Studio, where I could take a class on how to make soap. Lori Nova, the founder and owner of The Nova Studio is a great teacher and I admire the way she has developed her own niche and business to help others learn new skills. From there I started making soaps from scratch in my kitchen, storing them in the garage and packing them in the dining room. Several months later we built a website and sales started coming in slowly and have been growing steadily over the past year.

Anne-Marie: What’s your favorite part about what you do?

Melissa: The creativity involved. The opportunity to dream big, and to learn (by doing) how to turn the dream into a viable business. There is so much to learn, and so many people out there who want to help small businesses succeed if you just ask for guidance.

Anne-Marie:What’s your favorite Bramble Berry product?

Melissa: The Synergy Blend Essential Oils. These are great essential oil blends that take the guess work out of discovering the right blend of oils. I also like the website layout. It is easy to navigate and provides clear details on all products – thank you!

Anne-Marie: What inspires your recipes?

Melissa: I am inspired by images and scenery; images in nature and in publications. I can easily spend hours exploring gardens, and when I travel I try to visit gardens to learn more about a region’s flora and how they are used in making local beauty products. Ideas come to me when researching ingredients, and from friends, family and people I interact with in all types of settings. Our Shaving Soap was inspired by my acupuncturist based on her knowledge of herbs and personal experience, and my husband inspired our Manly Man Soap which is now our most popular bar.

Anne-Marie: What’s the best advice you can give someone wanting to start their own business?

Melissa: Be patient. Be clear on your goals and set a realistic time line for achieving both small and big goals based on your time and financial resources. You may need to change course along the way in order to achieve a goal, and you may also discover a different focus as well. This is OK, and will ultimately produce a more successful business. Be open to asking and receiving help; it is OK to delegate tasks to people who have experience in areas where you do not. You will save so much energy and worry less if you realize that you do not have to do everything yourself. If you are not having fun anymore it’s time evaluate why and what you need to adjust, change, stop doing, delegate, etc. Stay inspired.

Anne-Marie: Thank you so much, Melissa, for the inspiration and advice. We can’t wait to see what’s next for the Joy of Soap!

Learn more about the Joy of Soap here:

Joy of Soap is Practicing Green
Joy of Soap Blog
Wholesale Information
Follow Melissa on Twitter

Amazing Soap using Melt & Pour Tool Kit

August 10, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Krazy K on the Teach Soap forum posted some of her amazing soap art and I just had to share to inspire you too. She says that she made these using the Melt and Pour Tool kit and that the soaps didn’t take too long with the kit. The soaps turned out quite stunning.

On the Teach Soap Forum, Krazy K (user id: eelyak) is very helpful, sharing her tips and techniques on getting a true black, finding cool and innovative molds and showing her finished soaps to inspire others.