Autumn

Well here we are again, the end of a miserable summer with just a few hot days, the nights are distinctly cold as the cats have told me and the thought that the kids go back to school next week is just depressing.  I always think that we could do with a thanks giving like the Americans and have a long weeked for October 31st as it is such a long time to Christmas, then two weeks off in the cold.  I do look forward to it, snuggled up for two weeks not having to rush out and about.  Had a busy fair yesterday which was good and maybe now the summer is coming to an end people will find extra money to buy things again.  I talking to a gentleman who could not understand why my soaps are not all over the place and I was explaining that not bieng a marketing and PR person I don't make the time to go out there and sell.  I love to make and create, I don't enjoy trying to convince people why they should buy my soaps, but I should because they are so good and they lather, a question often asked and they contain no nasties at all.  Even the preservative is vitamin e.

Chicks

The chicks are growing fast, nearly a week old and they have doubled in size.  They were all black with a faint yellow, now they have these lovely fat yellow bottoms. 

Peace

Yesterday I had the day off, rare for me because working from home I tend to end up working with the soaps one way or another.  I went with my middle daughter to West Wittering beach.  I was shocked to pay £7.50 for the car park, however she was learning to surf there so we had no choice.  I left her and walk along the sand from West Wittering towards Itchenor, having never done this before.  All I can say is that it was beautiful.  The wind was slightly cold, but walking warmed me, but the peace I found walking along that sand.  I loved watching the sea roll over the sand and it got me to thinking about trying to make a soap that represented the sea.  That sea was not bright blue mediterranean, but deeper green grey, which mostly our sea is, the waves broke with small amounts of white foam, but there was no smell.  Maybe I could not smell it, but when I walk on Shoreham beach you can smell the salt in the air but not there.  It maybe that there were too many boats with diesel engines, but I could not smell them. I watched a huge container ship go down Southampton water and out and I could see the Isle of Wight which was very majestic looking against the sky line.  It was wonderful walking down there for nearly two hours, even thought the car park was expensive, justified by the very clean facilities,  I will certainly do it again. 

Autumn

If one needed inspiration or a reminder that Autumn is around the corner you just have to go for a walk in the woods. Today there were pieces of acorns on the floor, busy squirrels, lots of hawthorn berries and also dog rose hips.  The tree at the bottom of my drive has already had red and orange leaves and they have blown off, so it is lurking there, once the winds changes to the North we will all know.  Have today made my snowball soap and lots more hearts to warm us through the winter. 

Christmas soap

Have bought a fragrance that smells just like Christmas, apples and spicy and cinnamon, really gets your memories going of Christmas.  Just made lots of hearts and wondered what to do with left over soap so have made it into Christmas puds, they look good, on the rack to dry.  I have bought quite a few this year to try, snow does not smell anything but a nice gentle perfume to me.  Fig and brown sugar I love, it has that warm cinnamon smell that you get when you bake, then deck the halls, no cannot get to grips with that one and a couple of others that I feel are just lacking something so may well try adding to see what comes up.  Made intensity soap yesterday, firstly for my son off to Uni in a month and for the men.  Have made it in blue which has gone purple but looks good and also bath bombs to match to make the sets for men for Christmas.  So the house is full of Christmas today.   Mumma hen doing well and four out of six hatched, went to check on them and one was sitting in the middle of her bowl of food so she could not get any, they will learn.

Soaping

Years ago I trained in crystal healing and having taken up my dowser it has been spot on just lately,  so decided to give it a go with the soaps, so this am made the men's soap with intensity frargrance, if no one else likes it I know Gareth does, so will be sending it with him to Uni.  Also need to make up hair shampoo for him and shower gel ready to go.  In the soap I used my blue, but it goes a green colour so added blue powder, which has a red intensity, so it turned a real purple not mauve but purple colour, so hopefully having whitened the other with titanium dioxide the white and purple will look together.

Soap bags

Had been thinking about the fact that the soaps don't have anything with them, so today been making soap bags, pretty coloured fabric with water proof lining to keep the soaps in.  Tomorrow need to get making soaps and stop procrastinating especially when I realise I have a few busy weekends in October.

Snowballs

The tester soap with snow balls came out well, although I am wondering if the smell is too subtle for Christmas.  It smells like a fresh outdoor smell but slightly sweet and I am wonder if it needs something more like pine added to it, will have to go back to the drawing board on that one.  The soaps I made last week are drying well, however again the colour has faded more and more as they dry.  I read somewhere that the liquid colour did not hold so well in cold press and I am finding that, will have to go back to the drawing board.  However it is interesting that Mother Nature can do it, Turmeric definitely holds the yellow to light brown, cocoa powder does and so does Paprika, but man can't???

Christmas soaps

Off on the trials for Christmas, made one yesterday smells really nice, needs a bit more pine, but looks good so will be making more.  Need to make my Christmas cake soap next.  Have lots of small petit soaps to "ice soap" the tops tomorrow.  Am going to make fizzy bars in the muffin cases, then they won't fall to pieces.  Iced around 60 bath bombs yesterday in Lavender blue, which has actually come out more turquoise and look really great.  Just got to package them now.  Had a huge wake up call from upstairs, I got sent through the post samples of bottles, been thinking about hair/body shampoo, I think someone is telling me something.

Tuesdays

I am missing the structure of having to get up and go and sell the soaps.  Yesterday I went through my stock room and cleared it up which is a good thing.  I am a bit lost at the mo as my cup cakes seem to loose their smell,  except the fragrance, then on making other essential oil soaps I realise they too are loosing their smell which makes me think that it is not the soap or me but the essential oils.  As the essential oils have quadrupled in the last year I bought them from the cheapest I could find, not good, so now I am going back to a supplier who supplied really good quality oils so that the soaps do not loose their smell.  They just smell soapy.  It is interesting listening to people, one gentleman last week said his skin was so dry he could not use any soaps - so what do you use to wash?  He applied cream from the Dr., his skin was so thin that the slighest nick and he bled like mad, that happened a family member and it turned out the steroids in the creams had made their skin thin.  So a good soap such as handmade with essential oils is far better.  It has all the moisturising properties left in it, they have not been milled out to be able to stand on a shop shelf for years.  Nettles are full of vitamins etc., and the properties are in the soap as the nettles are so fresh when they go into the soap.  Then neem, an amazing tree from India, I now give out info on it as so few people know about it, that is so good for so many things as proved by the amount of Teens soap I sell for spots and poor skin.

Sheep Dogs

Have spent three days at the English National Sheepdog Trials, anyone who thinks one needs to get a life, as a radio presenter on Magic said, needs to just have a go and asking a dog to go across a very large field to the other side, collect six sheep and bring them down the hill in a straight line.  The dogs and handlers were amazing, sometimes we could not even hear the whistles but the dogs did.  The sheep were up for an argument on the Thursday but behaved the rest of the week.  It was great to see so many people supporting them.  I met lots of lovely people and kids and look forward to seeing them again at another event.  I now have to catch up making.  Made lots of love me love my bath heart bath bombs today and tomorrow need to get making Teens soap, which I am also going to make as neem soap as Neem is so amazing with all kinds of skin problems, fleas and ticks on the dogs and lice on the kids.  An amazing medicine package from one little tree.  Also need to catch up on Lavender and the Christmas soaps.

Fairs

Met a lovely couple at the Sheep Trials selling soaps like me, however it pointed out that I am not good at shouting loud at people to get them to come and buy.  I try to engage with people and talk to them and enjoy talking, however I am not good and never have been good and nicking other peoples customers/

Allergies

I had an email last night from a lady who has an 8 year old who is allergic to most things and like any 8 year old she desperately wants to be like her friends.  She wants bath bombs.  Most bath bombs are made from fragrances which are created in a lab from a base of chemicals.  I can see when I make them the difference, yesterday I had a new smell, smells great, however when making the bath bomb the immediate reaction with the ingredients told me that this was very much one that would cause irritation to any one with a slightly sensitive skin.  18 hours after making them I can still smell it on my hands.  Kids love bath bombs they are great fun so I always say to people let me make them.  If your child cannot tolerate anything, citiric acid softens the water, and bicarbonate of soda has all sorts of healing properties, to this I only add witch hazel so this in a tiny flower bath bomb in a tub of water should not harm.  I use edible powder food colour and very little to which we can make them semll nice with essential oils.  My personal dislike is bubblegum, my kids love the smell and I am so fed up of making it because it sells, but it is so artificial, every time I warm the soap the smell wafts and I can smell that sweet sickly smell that hooks most of the kids.  Rose geranium smells sweet, then there is lemongrass, sweet orange and other essential oils.

Are we all expecting too much

Are we all expecting too much.  I had an email back from the organiser of Sat event  and it was interesting.  I think organisers of events have had it quite good, they have put up notices etc and made money from the stall holders, I did one three years ago and I know I made quite a bit of money even though I did a lot of notices and drove around for miles putting them up.  However now I think people will have to go an extra two miles when organising events and other than schools who have a ready made market other organisers will have to be in a place where there is good foot fall.  I did one earlier this year and they made a real effort, whilst there the lady went on live radio, they walked the town giving out notices, it still did not make a lot of difference, so what is the answer.  I think that people will only buy what they want/need and if it is different and not in every shop.  I think the days of buying because you liked something has gone.

Fairs and markets

Attended a fair yesterday, it was well off the beaten track in an absolutely idllyic setting, however that means there is not passing trade and people have to make the effort to get there and find the place.  Today had an email roundrobin from the organiser actually having a go at the stall holders saying that they had not put it on enough of their facebook/other places and that each one of them should have brought five people along and then there would have been plenty of visitors.  Whilst I live ten miles south of the venue most of my friends actually live half an hours drive away.  Today we have to take into account petrol costs and would you drive thirty minutes to see a friend at her stall when you could buy a)off her web page or b) when you next have coffe with her?  I think that because of the state of our current financial situation everyone is counting every penny and does it pay to go there or here, do I really want to buy that or not, so consequently customers are really questioning do they want this or that and therefore when they do attend a fair they are cautious about what they spend.  I was actually opposite a very aggressive sales lady who actually hijacked two of my customers whilst they were talking to me and basically forced them to buy her goods then had the audacity to turn around to me and say that I had taken twice what she had taken.  I hate it when people get to aggressive, there is room for everyone and other people choose to sell items that a)have been around for years and b) are made by other people it is their choice just the same as it is my choice to tell people and to be proud of the fact that I buy nothing in except the bases and make everything myself I feel that I am a true crafts person and actually just because I sell more I should not have to put up with people who are aggressive at selling and aggressive to the othere sellers in their room.

Events

Well we can blame what we like but I think there are an awful lot of trades people who are getting fed up with people asking ridiculours sums of money for tables and the foot fall being poor.  Went to one today, fortunately it was 10% of sale, firstly it was in the middle of nowhere so no passing customers and the amount of customers that came through the door was very very poor.  I think we are getting to a time when more and more traders are going to refuse to pay large sums out for tables, at the end of the day we are there to earn money, the customers are extremely picky and not easy to please and the organisers are going to find themselves struggling to get people to take tables.  If you read this and wonder, it is not unusual for even a school to ask £40-£50 for just three or four hours, the larger events can ask anyting from £80 to £250 or more for one day as they feel there is such a potential of customers through the door, the trouble is the markets have completely changed and people are not spending, and do not have the disposable income they had some five years ago.