I've been pondering my next batch...
Time for a confetti batch methinks.
They’re simply breathtaking! I love the colors! Are those melt and pour embeds I think I see?
That basket looks awesome! Welcome to the forumHello everybody, this is my first post on your website. Yesterday I let my daughter put together a gift basket. It had laundry soap, shaving soap, fragrance soap, and a scrubbing soap. The scrub soap was a honey almond, the shave soap uses sandalwood EO and leather scent, the fragrance soap was called gardenia and lime, using EO and synthetic scents. It was nice to be able to make the gift basket and I mostly use the soaps for gifting.
Yes it is and congratulations!Much to report. I visited the local farmer’s market this morning. It was opening weekend and busy. I estimate about 75 vendors —about half produce and other food products on one side with the other side being dedicated to arts and crafts. The facility is operated by the MS Dept. Of Agriculture, fairly new and very well maintained. It is partially open-air with roll-down doors and A/C which is important here if you plan to have customers after 10 a.m. in the summer. Janice and I ran into over a dozen friends in the 1st hour we were there.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0dF5XW_SdstCBR354K6n6A2JQ#Jackson,_MS
The only soaps being offered were by a local honey farmer - bee’s wax with the first two ingredients listed as castor oil and shea butter — interesting formulation, but then again, I’ve never worked with bee’s wax, so who am I to criticize.
I turned in my vendor application and sample products and visited with the manager. More importantly, I met a local organic beef farmer from the neighboring rural county in which I just happen to manage the local hospital. They have just built and opened a store a 1/4 mile from my office. He offered to sell my soaps in his store on consignment!!! I’ve really been praying about whether or not this is something I am being called to do given that I have an already busy life. That, my friends, is what I call a “total God-thing” in terms of confirmation.
The basket is lovely, but I have to question the use of Sandalwood EO. The very cheapest I have seen for Australian Sandalwood is $700 per lb and East Indian Sandalwood is around 2k per lb. I am guessing you are using Fragrance or you are using Amyris which is not a Sandalwood although some refer to it as West Indian Sandalwood. Just thought I would make mention of it so you label products correctly. Even the East Indian Government, (unless it has changed), controls making Sandalwood soap and use mostly or all fragrance.Hello everybody, this is my first post on your website. Yesterday I let my daughter put together a gift basket. It had laundry soap, shaving soap, fragrance soap, and a scrubbing soap. The scrub soap was a honey almond, the shave soap uses sandalwood EO and leather scent, the fragrance soap was called gardenia and lime, using EO and synthetic scents. It was nice to be able to make the gift basket and I mostly use the soaps for gifting.
Churned out 2 batches plus a bonus:
Clearly more than you wanted to know about my day. Sorry.
- Back by popular demand - Activated Charcoal/Kaolin Clay. This time in a Taiwan style bar scented with tea tree and lavender essential oils.
- ”Milk and Honey” Goat’s Milk soap scented with lavender EO, vanilla and honey-almond FO in a drop swirl. To be honest, I don’t really care for goat’s milk. It’s fussy to work with due to the scorching/chilling/partial gel risk and whatnot. And the finished smell is a bit rich for my tastes. I can get the same rich lather results in a nice white bar using coconut milk. But, if I’m going to sell at farmer’s markets, I’m guessing a goat’s milk bar is sort of the “union card.” I used stabilizer to tame the vanilla, but I think one of the colors may have morphed a bit. (One of these days I’m going to finally give up on that CC matte purple—it’s the Charlie Brown/Lucy/Football scenario of soaping.)
- The bonus is a Dead Sea Salt Scrub. It was an experiment and my first experience with a salt scrub. I used 2 parts fine Dead Sea salt to 1 part avocado oil with a few drops of lemon and rosemary EOs. I also added Meyer lemon zest and juice from our surprise late harvest (they usually ripen during the holidays) and finely chopped/pulverized rosemary and thyme from our garden boxes. I tried it with skepticism, expecting greasy hands that I’d then need to turn around and wash, but I was absolutely amazed. I rubbed a scant 1/4 teaspoon in my hands front and back, and it just disappeared. My hands felt clean and soft and smelled great with no rinsing needed. Janice assumed I’d bought it at the farmer’s market earlier and said it looked like an oily mess. She tried it and had the same reaction as mine. If you haven’t tried it, do. I’ll be making more.
Lovely!Hello everybody, this is my first post on your website. Yesterday I let my daughter put together a gift basket. It had laundry soap, shaving soap, fragrance soap, and a scrubbing soap. The scrub soap was a honey almond, the shave soap uses sandalwood EO and leather scent, the fragrance soap was called gardenia and lime, using EO and synthetic scents. It was nice to be able to make the gift basket and I mostly use the soaps for gifting.
Enter your email address to join: