10th ave. soapworks

It's 2015 already!  And halfway through January, to boot! For me, 2014 was a blur of action--farmer's markets twice a week, an abundant garden, a few big home projects, summer work as a school aide, lots and lots of soap and even a couple of vacations wedged in among everything. It was a good year, but....not the sort that creates a sane family life. Late last summer, my husband and I discussed pulling back on some of our commitments and purposefully not signing onto everything that looks like fun.  (A significant weakness of mine.)  So, I finished my stint as manager of the Monroe's farmer's market in November and didn't fill up every weekend leading up to Christmas with craft shows. Life is much better!  Right now I'm enjoying the slower pace that comes during the winter months.  But my primary focus this January is streamlining 10th Ave. operations--making bigger batches of soap and learning to be more efficient with my time in the workroom to...

I was in no way tempted to post 40 things about me, as SoapJam  did recently. But then I realized how much I enjoyed SoapSudsations' post and the peer pressure got to me so I thought I should play fairly and join in. You already read my first 7 here , so here are the rest: 1. I have red hair and blue eyes. 2. I am quiet one-on-one, but become an extrovert in a group setting. 3. When I grow up, I want to be a host/guide on the PBS show Globetrekker. I want to do it all--stay in dodgey hostels, eat suspicious innards, and meet wonderful people. And snag local soaps. 4. I spent 6 weeks one summer living in a school bus, first on a beach in Alaska, then traveling south through Canada into the States. 5. I have worked with autistic kids for almost 13 years, as a therapist and doing respite care.  Love it! 6. I love to cook and bake, especially desserts.  That's why soaping is perfect.  There are no temptations to lick or nibble and I don't have to work ...

I started this blog on a whim in 2009.  At the time, I thought the concept of a blog was fascinating and what better subject than soap, my all-consuming hobby turned business?  Much later I  summarized my reasons for starting this little blog.  From its beginning, I knew I wouldn't be doing this forever and I've been contemplating the end for the past 9 months.  But here at the end of the year, it's become clear to me that this is the time. Am I quitting the whole soaping gig?  Not hardly.  In fact, things are getting busier for me all the time; I need to streamline, prioritize and make some decisions regarding the future.  I have taken on some responsibilities that need my attention and am considering some opportunities unrelated to my soap business. I never expected to have a blog that had a steady group of followers--it's never failed to surprise me.  I appreciate all of you and as I've looked back over the la...

I wrote part 1 of "What do you put in your soap?" last August and somehow, I didn't post part 2.  Ooopsies.  So here it is. I focused my last post on the liquids I use in my soaps, specifically goat's milk.  In this one, I thought I would share my reasons for a few of the oils I use to make my soaps.  Every soaper has his own philosophy and this post is to inform and educate my customers. My absolute favorite oil in soap is olive oil.  It's one of the most traditional and well-loved of the soaping oils because of the exquisite soap it makes.  Among the other oils I like to use are coconut, almond, castor, and avocado.  And then there are those lovely butters, like cocoa and shea, that are oh, so nice.  I could write a post on the qualities and benefits of each of these ingredients but I shall focus on one category of soaping oils today, animal fats. Most of my recent soaps contain tallow (beef fat), al...

For all you soapmakers, how do you know that people like your soaps?  I mean, they may be in awe of your soapmaking abilities and gush over your endless creativity.  They may buy soaps from you in such quantities that you wonder if they experience most of life from within the confines of a bathtub. But don't you sometimes still have lingering doubts?  Do your customers just sense your desperate need for positive reinforcement?  Do they hope that their financial support will enable you to take a vacation and get away from the lye fumes that have obviously affected you?  Or do they simply feel pity for their friend who whiles away the time combining quantities of oils and liquids with stuff that cleans out drains and thinks it's the funnest thing ever? I thought I'd offer two foolproof indicators that your customers really, truly love your soaps. 1. They use i...

In the words of the good old doctor (Seuss)--"That is not all. Oh, no. That is not all."  This, my bloggy friends, is my afternoon, ahem,"diversion" today. This picture represents the one mere 24-hour period of garden abundance that I could lug home in the bowls I took to the garden.  (I'm no dummy; I left the bushel baskets in the garage for a reason.)  This, of course, does not include the pots of tomato sauce currently on the stove.  And this, dear readers, is what happens when you look at your garden plot in the spring and say "Let's put tomatoes in this general area" as you sweep your arm in a wide circle and then after filling the "general area" you count 50 tomato plants. This is why I have no new soap pictures to share with you, although I've been madly soaping during those moments when I pretend I don't have tomatoes ripening hourly.  And this is why there are little tomato jui...

.....If I only had a sale for every time I've been asked this question! How would you respond?  Here are a few options: A)  "Love.  In every single bar."  (includes a complimentary upchuck bag) B)  Launch into a crash course in the science of soapmaking to wow/overwhelm him with my knowledge. C) Offer a personal introduction to every bar in my lineup and its unique ingredients. OK, maybe not.  When I first began selling my soaps, I floundered on this question until one customer--bless her lil ol' heart--followed the question with another.  "Do you use goat's milk?"  And that's the real question my customers had been asking. In my area, goat's milk soaps have an excellent reputation (as they should!) and it seems assumed that handmade soaps of any respectable quality should contain goat's milk.  I wonder if this is a common customer concern or just prevalent in my area?  Anyway, ...

Years ago   I tried a lemon poppyseed fragrance oil.  It was dead-on--sweet vanilla cake mixed with tart lemon.   However, I was stumped when my beautiful yellow soap with black poppyseeds went dark brown in a day or two, until I realized that, of course, it was the vanilla.  It was my first time using a fragrance that contained vanilla--I hadn't even thought to check. The color was such a turn-off I never tried it again. I've since fallen in love with a vanilla lavender fragrance that's become a longstanding favorite in my shop, never mind that it turns a deep brown.  Here are a few pictures of my last batch. It started out so creamy and the loveliest shade of ivory. The next day it was a light caramel color.  If I could just hold it at this color! And before a few days had gone by it was its usual color.  I tried to color it a deep purple once, but the result was still plain ol' brown.  It's f...

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver," reads the Proverb.  I love words that are spot-on and well-written.  On the contrary, a poorly spoken word is like the proverbial fingernail on a chalkboard or a fork scraping across a dinner plate.  If you've made soap for any period of time, you've stumbled across the term "soap porn" to describe pictures of soap.  How icky is that?  It makes me cringe every time.  To compare a beautiful, pure bar of soap to that visual filth is in the poorest taste and  just not classy , folks.... OK, now that I feel better with my little rant out there, I'll move on to last week's soap challenge .  Yes, last week's.  I was determined to get this one done, even if the next challenge assignment is already posted.  I've done gradient soaps before so I wanted a different twist to this batch.  It just so happene...

This was a writing prompt question for NaBloWriMo participants a few days ago and it got me thinking. Yes, why do I blog? It certainly is a valid question. Most people write for an audience. It's not necessarily my reason, although knowing that someone reads it occasionally is a nice feeling! Anyway, here are my three reasons for blogging... 1. I am a soaper. It allows me to keep a handy visual record of my experiments and efforts. It enables me to network with others in the soaping community, see what's new, and find sources of inspiration. I also appreciate the feedback that is given and shared to help us all excel at our craft. And, it gives me an outlet to be a smidge self-indulgent at times and say "Hey, look what I made! Can you believe it actually worked?" (And, of course, the reverse..."Help!") 2. I am a writer. Or a wannabe, at least. (Besides, I need to keep my bullet points consistent.) Since childhood I have wanted to write and publish my ow...

Well, there are the obvious reasons, of course. It's fun! Taking a combination of oils and mixing them with an eat-away-your-skin product called lye and some liquid and watching it turn into beautiful soap is an almost magical process. And, I no longer have to buy mass-produced bars of detergent that dry my skin. And then there's the creative aspect. There are thousands of scents and color combinations, not to mention techniques like swirls, layers, embeds, and all the other ways to make the next Soap Masterpiece. All these are reasons I make soap. But I've come to realize that it is just one example of a larger reason, the drive to "create" things myself. I've always had a curiosity to know how things were originally made and like trying to make them myself. Technology aside, most of the things we use every day haven't always come from a factory. Furniture, clothing, games--these all were once made by hand from start to finish. Take food, for example, lik...