Happy New Year!

Twenty ten! Yep, it's gonna be a good year I can feel it in my bones. I am so energized and ready to hit the workshop, but the end of year chaos left my workshop and office in disarray. So it's organizing and cleaning this weekend, only then can I begin creating my spring soap line. And I'm very excited to get started, but the dirty work first.

Just because I can't get out to the workshop doesn't mean that I've been idle! No sir. For the past week, I have been brainstorming every free moment I get, consulting old notes and jotting things down. I think I have a good workable list of possible new soaps ready to be tested.

Right now, I'm looking at six new soaps; 2 old favorites and 4 brand new blends. I'm leaning pretty heavy toward citrus this year...I'm bringing back an old favorite (I just got too many pleading requests to ignore it any longer), 'Ginger Lime'. No fancy name here, just good fresh ginger and snappy lime. It's a pretty soap too, half green, half peach color. All natural colorants, of course. It costs me a bit more to make, but I feel it's worth bringing back into my regular line.

Also, another soap returning is 'Lemon Bouquet': lavender and lemongrass. Sweet and fresh smelling in a mosaic of colors. No reason it dropped off my radar, except that it's a bit more labor intensive. That was probably it. I happen to love this particular blend, but my hand aches for days after I make it. Why? Because of all the hand cut pieces of colored soap (see photo). I have to chop up LOADS of it. It's worth it though, it's a lovely soap.

Now you'll have to wait for the other four. I have to keep some suspense going here! Plus these last four are truly brand new blends. Somewhere between paper and creation, some things might need to be tweeked before final release. I am a perfectionist and I have to hit a blend exactly how I "visualized" it, or it won't make the cut to final production.

Another change I'm planning is to up the amount of shea butter I include in my soap. I love shea butter...unrefined, raw, fragrant and good for you shea butter. I think we can all benefit from just a tad more shea in soap, so I'll hang the extra expense and go for it. After all, I use this soap too and want only to use the best.

What changes will you be making this month?