Demos done!

We're back from the Fall Home & Garden show out at the fairgrounds. Great crowd and lots of people interested in how soap is made, standing room only! Here I am in the middle of my demo. The theme of this demo was "How to make soap with grocery store ingredients". Since the theme of the Back to Basics portion of the show was sustainable living and self sufficiency, I thought a simple soap formula was in order.

For this demo, the soap I made was vegetable shortening, olive oil and coconut oil with oatmeal and honey. I chose those oils specifically; olive oil is great for your skin, coconut I prefer to boost the lather and the vegetable shortening was chosen as a base filler, helps with the firmness of the soap. Oatmeal is soothing and honey is a humectant, so those are good choices for additives.

The only thing is, lye still needs to be mail ordered. I remember a time when it could be bought at the grocery store. It stopped being available that way a few years back, unfortunately. Anyway, the demos were fun and I love meeting everyone and answering questions. It always thrills me a bit to dispel the bad rap that real soap has gotten in the past and put to rest some untruths.

Next up is our First Annual Open House! If you live in Nevada County and wish to attend, there is a registration form available on the front page of my website. I will have my full line of soap and gift boxes for sale. And, as a special treat, I have invited a few crafting friends who do real quality work. Hope you can come!

Back 2 Basics: Soap Making Demo

Here's a chance for local folks to watch me making soap and to learn how to make it themselves! This is all part of the "Back 2 Basics" part of the Nevada County Home and Garden show. Follow this link to 'The Union' website for more information.

We will be there Saturday and Sunday, doing demos both days and also selling at our booth. New holiday soap will be available, so come by and see whats new.

More details to come!

Staying healthy...

With all the recent news about the new flu strain making it's way north, it's time be sure that we're doing all we can to keep ourselves and our families healthy.

One very simple thing to help ward of disease is to be sure that hands are washed with plain soap and water several times a day. In our house, any time we come home from shopping or playing at the park, the first order of business is to wash hands thoroughly using soap and warm water.

Some essential oils help to prevent the spread of flu type viruses. These oils can be added to a liquid natural soap or diffused in the air. We do NOT advocate using essential oils internally or applying them directly to the skin undiluted.

Tea Tree
Scientific Name: Melaleuca alternifolia
Associated Chemical Properties: Antibiotic, antiseptic, anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, anti fungal, decongestant, expectorant, immune stimulant.

Eucalyptus
Scientific Name: Lavandula latifolia
Associated Chemical Properties: Antiseptic, antimicrobial, bactericidal, decongestant.

While we don't carry a tea tree soap (yet!), we do use eucalyptus in 'Garden Mint' and 'Yuba Wild'.

Wishing you continued health!

Soap with a smile

I love making soap...it's a satisfying creative process for me. From an idea scratched out in my note book to the final product, every phase of the process is enjoyable for me.

Every now and then, I'll get a unique image that naturally appears in my soap. This time, to my amusement, I got soap that is smiling back at me! This bar of soap made it's way to one of my local wholesale accounts...I wonder who ended up with this bar and did they notice the smile? I hope it brightened someones day as it did mine when I discovered it.

Herbs as Natural Colorants, part 2

Here is the final product in our "Herbs for Natural Colorants" series. This is 'Siren' (pronounced sahy-ruhn), bergamot, ylang-ylang, and amber resin. The color is all natural, as it came from the herbal infusion of alkanet in olive oil. Pretty cool how it begins blood red and turns purple once it's in soap.

The inspiration for this soap is my love of Greek mythology. Here's the defination of a siren and a snippet of a myth:

Sirens are creatures with the head of a female and the body of a bird. They lived on an island and with the irresistible charm of their song they lured mariners to their destruction on the rocks surrounding their island.

When Odysseus' ship passed the Sirens, he had the sailors stuff their ears with wax. He had himself tied to the mast for he wanted to hear their beautiful voices. The Sirens sang when they approached, their words even more enticing than the melody. They would give knowledge to every man who came to them, they said, ripe wisdom and a quickening of the spirit. Odysseys' heart ran with longing but the ropes held him and the ship quickly sailed to safer waters.

I named this soap appropriately as it has it's own siren song, beautiful and tempting, sure to please. Rest assured, destruction will not follow those who choose to answer this siren's call.

Herbs as Natural Colorants, part 1

The picture I've posted today is of an herb that I infuse in oil to get a real nice natural color for soap. This is a shot of my herbs soaking in oil. Initially, the color of the oil becomes a dark red. But once it gets mixed in with other oils and the lye water, it turns a purple-blue color.

The herb I'm using here is alkanet root. According to folk lore, "it helps such as are bitten by venomous beasts, whether it be taken inwardly or applied to the wound" and "It helps bruises and falls, and is as gallant a remedy to drive out the smallpox and measles as any is; an ointment made of it is excellent for green wounds, pricks or thrusts."

That may well be true (or not) but today I'm using it as a natural colorant for my 'Siren' soap. Later, I'll post a picture of the final product.

Facts about soap

According to a report in the January issue of the Harvard Health Letter, regular soap and water is just as effective as hand sanitizers and antibacterial soap when used correctly and frequently [ Link to article ]

Who knew that humble soap could help prevent disease? Make it a habit to wash your hands frequently and stay healthy!