Hi everyone! It’s been several months since my last blog, and I’ve been pretty quiet lately, so let me catch you up on what I’ve been working on during the slow season in the soap-making world! I have so many new and exciting things to share!
After the busy Fall and Holiday season, I’ll admit that I was a little burned out and needed to take a break after New Year’s. I did some replenishing of popular products, but I wasn’t making stuff every day like I was in the Fall.
But in the last few weeks I’ve gotten motivated and ready to get back at it because event season is right around the corner. I have some really fun new products and want to give you a sneak peak on what to expect this year!
I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with natural colors and fragrances, and also some different soaping processes. I’m learning about water discounting (using higher lye ratios) which actually reduces the amount of time soap takes to cure! And I’m playing with different additives to my soaps to expand my options based on customer requests from last year. I’m also going to be offering foaming hand soap, which is actually already available on the website. I will probably be rotating fragrances based on the season, so there should always be something new!
Have you seen my Bas Relief soaps yet? They are stunning, and a bit time-consuming to make, but I love them. These are made with a bas relief mat, which you fill with the white soap batter, and then place in another mold and fill with the colored soap. You get this beautiful raised bas relief on the face of the soap. I have molds for all seasons! These are perfect for gifts!
And let’s talk about my new Pure and Simple collection, which is what I am the most excited to be able to offer!
I had several requests last year for products without fragrance oil or mica. I know there is a demand for simpler, more natural products, and I wanted to be able to fill that demand. So this spring I’ve been experimenting with soaps that are naturally colored and fragranced with essential oils instead of fragrance oils. I even have some uncolored and unfragranced soap (in addition to my Oatmeal, Milk and Honey soap, which was already all natural with no added colors or fragrances). These products are part of the “Pure and Simple” collection, and will be differentiated by the label so it will be easy to differentiate from my original product line.
I’ve been experimenting with different colored clays and using herbal infusions to color the oils. Annatto seed makes a vibrant orange-yellow color and I used it in my Orange Patchouli soap.
Alkanet root infused in oil makes a deep red oil, but when saponified, turns gray, blue or purple. I was hoping for more purple than gray, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out in my Lavender Lemongrass soap. I was able to achieve a swirl using French green clay for half of the soap batter and the alkanet root oil in the other half.
I really love the subtle soft green that I get by using French green clay in my Rosemary & Mint soap.
I am also making a completely fragrance-free and color-free soap for those who are looking for an old fashioned or traditional lye soap.
Two other new soaps in this collection are my Mechanic’s Soap and Gardener’s Soap. They are very similar in composition, but are very different in appearance. My Mechanic’s Soap is made with activated charcoal, so it has that rich black color. Inside the soap are exfoliating additives such as pumice, ground walnut shells and orange peel. The soap is fragranced with grease-cutting Orange and Scotch Pine essential oils, which have amazing cleaning properties. I’ve had amazing feedback from my testers on this soap, with one reviewer even saying it was the best pumice soap he’s ever used!
Gardener’s Soap is colored with French green clay, and has pumice and ground walnut shells as well. It is fragranced with herbal essential oils, like Lavender, Lemongrass, Rosemary and Peppermint. The fragrance is calming, uplifting, and so herbaceous. It’s the perfect thing to clean dirty hands after digging in the dirt!
I have also added a facial cleanser to my inventory, based on customer requests for a face soap. This cleanser is like nothing you’ve ever used before. It is oil based, and doesn’t actually have any soap in it. Did you know that oil has been used as a face cleanser for thousands of years? It seems counterintuitive, I know. But “like attracts like,” and the oil actually attracts dirt and oil on your face. There are emulsifiers in the cleanser that then attract the water molecules and allow the dirt and oil to be washed away. I also added that amazing French green clay to the cleanser, so you can leave it on your skin for a few extra minutes to create a clay mask experience to draw out extra impurities from your skin. I’m in love with this cleanser, and I have had such amazing feedback from my testers. This cleanser is so amazing because it cleans your face without stripping its natural oils. You will feel clean without that tight dryness that you get with harsher cleansers. And as an added bonus, it works great as a makeup remover too!
I’m playing with a tallow balm, which I absolutely love on my face as a moisturizer after I wash it, but due to its low melting point, I won’t be able to sell it in the warm months. Have you jumped on the tallow band wagon yet? I see tallow all over social media and if there is enough interest, I may consider making an emulsified version of the balm to be more heat stable. Let me know in the comments!
And finally, I invested in some new equipment a few weeks ago, and I now have a lotion filling machine. This thing is great because I can finally offer the little squeeze tubes of lotion that people have been asking for. So in the next couple of weeks you will see two sizes offered for lotions. The little squeeze tubes are great portable options when you don’t want to bring a pump bottle.
I’m excited to share these new products with you and am looking forward to your feedback! Don’t be shy in reaching out if you have comments or questions. My calendar for the summer and fall is slowly filling up, so look at my Upcoming Events page to see where I will be. I am looking forward to a great 2024 and hopefully will see you soon! Let me know below which products you are most excited about and if you have any recommendations for things you’d like to see!