March

What wonderful weather we are having, the soaps are drying beautifully and love this warm weather as much as me.  March has been full on creating, we have strawberry gateaux with strawberries inside, strawberry cheesecake (admission I forgot the strawbs inside) but it looks and smells great, black forest gateaux. I was worrying about how to do the gateaux, with the edible one you have the chocolate and cherries, so I put cherry smell into the red soap, I love the smell of the cherry blossom we have, then I grated dark chocolate and added chocolate fragrance to the other soap  poured them together over the setting white top and it has turned out brilliant.  We have white soap on the top looking like cream, with red cherries on top, the red and chocolate mingling in the middle and then white cream near bottom.  The Soapworks of America had a challenge and I have swirled soap before but never more than two or three colours, so I did four colours.  It is amazing however I am extremely critical on myself and feel that the mauve is a bit to overpowering, having said that when I made a dark mauve soap before and I thought it was horrid it ran out the door and I had to make more. If I lived in an ideal world I would spend all day making soap.  Today I made three Rose Geranium - one with flowers, one plain, and one with rose petals.

Blogs

I often read other Soap peoples blogs I find it interesting that sometimes, whilst their soaps look amazing they have problems to.  Been onto the Amercian site of Great Soapworks which was good to look at and made me think so have set my daughter and her boyfriend the challenge of making a video of how to make our bath bombs, will see what they come up with.  Just finished icing 150 ready for the next couple of shows.

 Mamouth soaping day - completed lots of soaps yesterday.  Baby soap, Lemongrass and Ginger, Patchouli and Orange, Strawberry gateaux and twelve cup cakes.  They will just be ready for Easter but also for May bank holiday when we are at the Food and South Downs Fair in West Sussex.

 All with lots of sparkle to please us girls.

Lambs

Nothing to do with soap, well they could be if they wanted to use the dog soap, would be really good for their coats.   I went  walking with the dogs and it was so lovely to see the lambs in the field running around.  The week has been busy, met a lovely lady called Claire who works for Womens Wisdom and she has put me in touch with someone who may be able to help me with my packaging and printing allowing me the much needed time to make more soap, which then brings me onto needing somewhere to move to as home is getting too small or should I say I am taking over too much.  The web page is finished all but one picture and I am wating for the sun to shine again to get that one.  I also spent Friday learning about "Google" which adds to my knowledge gained while re-vamping my web site so if I keep going I will be able to change jobs to a computer person, no never, love making the soaps to much for that.  There is a special offer on the web site, not telling you, you have to look but it is a freebie!!

Acne

I have read over the last two weeks two separate cases regarding Acne.  One person said the first thing on their mind in the morning as they awoke was how bad their skin was.  Another person it seems was taking medication which inturn caused severe depression leading to the person taking their life which is extremely sad.  I make neem soap, I made it first for my son who at fifteen was really spotty, not dreadful acne, but realy spotty teen syndrome.  I have continue to make and sell lots of this soap and I get comments back like "I did not think it was working until I ran out".  "Did not think my son was using the soap so put it away, noticed his spots were getting worse and he said it was because I had taken his soap away".  Another Lady emailed me and said that she had a problem with her hands which no Doctors prescription had solved but the neem soap did.  So if you read this and you have a problem with your skin why not give it a try, it will only cost you £3.50 and if it does not work for you then you have at least tried.
http://www.justbevangelicsoaps.co.uk/

PICTURES

It has been a busy few weeks with making more soaps, hand creams, baby bottom creams and then spending two days as a person who is not IT trained, not of that age I grew up with computers, I have re-done my web page.  I am so proud as an "oldy" (above the age of 21) to have done this, the girls then tweeked a few pieces for me, whilst one of the boyfriends laughed at the way I went about finding things on the computer, well I find them so it must be ok.  Please do look at what we have added, all made by me and no nasties in any of them.

PICTURES

 Hope you like the pictures taken with the camera bought for me for Christmas Thank you Santa.

Beer Soap, this beer has chocolate and coffee in the making of it and I have followed this through into the soap and it has a lovely mocha smell.

Cup cake soaps and squares.  The beauty of our pure Olive Oil soaps wrapped in colourful merino wool. The wool is shrunk around the soap and re-shrinks each time you use it until the soap has all gone. No more flannels, sponges etc, just beautiful coloured wool.

 Gardeners soap, with antibacterial/antifungal/antiseptic properties       from the essential oils, helping hands after gardening.

 Lavender, the calming, relaxing smell of Lavender.  Plain cream    coloured or mauve and cream colour.

 One of our best sellers, Patchouli and Orange with Tussah silk.       Tussah silk adds a beautiful silk feel to the soap.

 Citrus Burst.Full of the smells of oranges, lemons and limes,     awakening the senses in the morning, invigorating after a long day at work.

Rose Geranium, a beautiful smell, also in heart shapes. This soap is salmon pink. Deep Mauve and white Geranium and Palmarosa, the same as our peace in the garden soap made into hearts.

Hand Made Soap

It is always frustrating when you want to do something and have to wait for others.  I am updating and re-launching my web site for 2012, however I have to wait for the girls to do it for me.  The eldest usually works a 12-18hour day and totally switches off on her days off the the middle one is in the middle of a new boyfriend which is taking a lot her time and her uni course.  My brother is coming up this week so I think I will get him to fix some bits around the house for me.  I spent yesterday sorting out the soap room and re-painting it, pink for love and green for calm, I have ordered all I need for making hair shampoos and the bottles so they should be launched in March and also I have to make some more baby soap, we are calling it Bella (beautiful in Italian) soap along with bottom cream with calendula which is so good for the skin.  My youngest has just had exams and he gets so stressed his excema breaks out so I put lots of this cream with calendula on for him and it calms his skin.  So having again used him as a guinea pig I know it is safe.  Look out for the new products in March.

PICTURES

Having received a camera for Christmas as requested I have been taking lots of pictures of the soaps as they are drying.  Lavender, Geranium, Rose Geranium, Beer - beer given to me by Hammerpot Brewery, thanks guys. There is also neem with added aloe vera to calm the skin and more on the way, so watch this space.

Hand Made Soap

It was a very interesting article in the Green Parent, Melinda Coss is very well known in the soap business and it was to me a real accolade to be included alongside her.  It is very true what the article says there is no soap like homemade.  When it says homemade check how it was made, if it was made in large batches of over a 500 soaps it was mechanical the only homemade/handmade was cutting the blocks and packaging.  Interestingly while reading some articles I read that if a soap says it is a beauty bar then it is not soap but synthetic soap made for commercial re-sale.  Hand made is in my kitchen, I started by making in small molds, then onto using empty pringle tins, now I use small crates like the ones the mushrooms come in.  I used to make one batch at a time, I now make four at a time but this will only make around thirty to forty soaps and to make more I will need a lot more room.  Reading the article I knew about sodium laurly sulphate, not to be confused with the milder sodium laureth sulphate, both of which are not in my soaps.  I did not realise the other agents that went into commercial soap, no wonder so many people say to me they cannot use soap.  I always say, it is not that you cannot use soap, you cannot have on your skin what they put into the soap, pure soap has nothing more than Olive Oil, coconut oil, palm or sunflower oil added shea butter, cocoa butter and to this is added sodium hydroxide which creates the process for the oils to saponify, turning them into soap.  Other than essential oil, benzoin for holding the smell and vitamin e, nothing else is really needed.  Milling soap dries it dreadfully, making the soap take from the skin the moisture it is missing.

Articles

I have received several emails regarding the article in the The Green Parent, which I have yet to read.
  All of mine are grown up, but during their growing up I had to deal with a six week old that had a milk allergy, a two year old who developed asthma and eczema.  Two are dyslexic, one is dyspraxic and all have allergies relating to food or fragrances.  Washing powder is never ever bio, and never changed from two different ones.  Hair shampoo, soap, shower gel are all made by me and I have done for years for them.  My youngest suffers from stress eczema so all you can do is make sure any triggers are not around to make it worse.  Being a boy he is the hardest to convince about what he uses, so he has to have his favourite smell in his soap and hair shampoo then when his scalps says enough  he goes back to the good stuff.  Seventeen years ago I began training as a therapist with Reflexology, a huge thirst for knowledge and I worked out what was the problems with each child and I am pleased to say along with Homeopathy I have managed to keep them 99% off Doctors presecriptions.
I have trained with crystals and believe in working with a dowser and last year talking to the lovely person who walked my dogs for a week, I was able to give her a list of possible triggers for her eight year old, my Christmas card said "since we have avoided the foods on your list she is so much better".  Sometimes it is the most obvious that causes the problems.  Years ago I had a lady who had been everywhere, spent a lot of money trying to solve a skin problem.  She happened to come into me for Reflexology, realising that her problem was localised to intestine point on her feet I asked her what her most favourite food was and what she would never want to give up - Chocolate - a month later, no chocolate whatsover and her feet were clear of this terrible skin problem she had had for years.   Often we ignore our bodies and yet they are tell us what we need to know and skin is the greatest book.

Ecxema.

The year before last after my first Christmas of selling soaps life was very quiet, nothing really got going soap wise until about March.  Last year I was busy after Christmas and this year as I have been so busy up to Christmas I thought it would be quiet and that I could take a couple of months to catch up with the house work, one very dirty dog, and lots of mud from the rain and a back garden that has been trampled by a few chicken and a dog.  Not even at the end of the first week and the phone is ringing and emails are coming through which is fantastic but obviously I am not going to get as much done in the house as I hoped.  Am definitely going to have to look for a new home for the soaps and someone to help with them.  Am off in the next few weeks hopefully to learn more about herbs for eczema and psoriasis and use them in my new creams and some in the soaps.

2012

Definitely begining to resurface after the last four months.  I am getting bored and looking at new ideas for next year.  I am a person who needs to be challenged and the last four months did that but I was just unable to get all the products I wanted made for Christmas, namely lip balm so that will be out in the New Year. Definitely going to have to take someone on before next Christmas or else my family will kick me out.   The soaps sold well over the Christmas period and what was surpising to me and taught me a lesson was how many people bought soap for excema and other skin problems.  I was busy selling smellies and you forget how many people suffer with problems.  My background is in holistic therapies including flower essences, aromatherapy and I have used on my family and the animals homeopathy, so I am going back to my original to create a range for people with skin problems.  I will be looking at hand creams, foot creams to aid the skin and also for those of you who just love hand cream.   I enjoyed being at the Horsham market and met some lovely people so I intend to continue every other week there during the year.  I am also looking into the larger fairs this year to be able to get my soaps for problems to a wider audience. 

New Ideas

Well Christmas arrived in Horsham on Saturday.  It was a great days trading and hopefully next weekend will be.  There is only one Sat left then it is Christmas Eve.  The Christmas cookie soap, and the Chocolate orange soaps have gone down well this year, however the chocolate orange did not go last year so interesting.  There was a very nice lady behind me who had been doing felt, the second time I had seen this in a week, so something clicked in the brain and I will be doing felting soaps in the New Year, so much nicer than buying them from a well known chain and felting them.  Sorting out all of the stock and the bath bombs iced are going fast, party flip flops and the cup cake soaps so will be making these this week. Look out for us at Horsham and come and say hi.

Advent Calendar

Just been told some have 24 and some have 25 what a swizz. Glad when next week is over, going full pelt.  Seven baskets of bath bombs done anothere ten to do.  Twelve chocolate flake soaps made, fifteen shower soft soap only a few dozen flip flops for tomorrow.  Wanted to make chocolate lip balm but time is beating me.

The dogs want a walk and it is pouring with rain, so no go.  I'll try about 7pm and see.  Feel sorry for the late night shopping in the village, it has rained non stop since 2pm and does not look as if it is going to dry up, last year we were up to our knees in snow, so I suppose that is something.