10th ave. soapworks

So what are the odds that two girls from the same high school church youth group would grow up and each start a business selling soap? Well, that's what happened to me and my friend Vanessa. I moved to the other side of the midwest after graduation and we lost contact for several years during those dark solitary days before Facebook. She was off and running with her soap venture when we met up years later and I was between my first soap business experience and my current 10th Ave. Soap business. Fast forward a decade and here I am. Still. I never thought I would be making soap for so long. My little business has evolved and changed over time, as it should. But I'm still here on 10th Ave. churning soap out and making the long-suffering UPS man lug 50# blocks of fat and bulky boxes of lye to my front door regularly. Vanessa contacted me last year and told me that she was thinking of hanging up her goggles and rubber gloves. However, she had a few fantastic products that her c...

Here is a post for all of you who have asked me for a recipe to make your own laundry "detergent."  There are many versions of this recipe, but this is the one I use. Keep in mind that this homemade soap is different from commercial detergents, which contain optical brighteners to make clothes appear whiter and brighter as well as surfactants that provides lots of bubbles and suds.  On the other hand, this is soap, pure and simple, and doesn't contain any scents, colors or common skin irritants.  For me, the choice for homemade is a no-brainer.    The three ingredients: washing soda (not baking soda), borax, and a bar of laundry soap . I grate 1/2 the bar of soap with a cheese grater.  Some people use a food processor, but either way, it doesn't take long. Pour one quart of water into a pot and add the soap shavings.  Heat the water and stir until the soap dissolves. Add 1/2 c. of borax and 1/2...

I received a challenge from a customer this summer.  She asked if I could try making a grapefruit soap scented with essential oil.  I've used it in the past and the scent utterly vanished after a month or so. I did some research and asked other soapers for advice and this is what I came up with for my second attempt. 1) Clays and/or cornstarch in the soap will help the scent to "stick." 2) A touch of other essential oils, like benzoin, litsea cubeba (may chang), and patchouli may also up the "stick" factor. I'm not quite certain about the actual definition of "sticking"--does that mean the scent remains the same strength as when added, or to a lesser degree?  I would be happy with even a faint grapefruit-y smell.  As suggested, I mixed the essential oil with the clay and cornstarch before adding it to the soap mixture.  I didn't discount the goat milk at all because I was afraid a lot of the liquid might be a...

I knew that finishing Amy Warden's soap challenge this time of year would be difficult, but I didn't realize that the pace of my life would speed up to the point of it being impossible.  But it has, although I will be finishing the challenge soaps on my own time. I've noticed that in the middle of all the glitter and faux funneling the soap itself often gets lost somewhere.  Every time I get into a foo-foo soap phase I end up balancing myself by swinging to the other side of the pendulum with simple, naturally colored soaps.  And then I wonder why in the world I ever bought that jar of glitter in the first place.... I had some oils measured and ready to be soaped about a week ago but I just couldn't decide what to make since I'm caught up on my staple soaps.  As I write, I'm pretty sure that I overlooked something, but I'll pretend for now....   I saw a mention of banana soap on Facebook (thanks Amy!) and that was just the inspi...

Well, I'm ahead of the game this week.  My soap challenge soap is made, cut, and looking good!  Pictures to come on Saturday. Anyway, I made this particular batch with yogurt.  If you like the qualities that yogurt gives to soap, you soapmakers can add a bit of wow to your next batch by making your very own yogurt.  (I'm all about the DIY projects!) It is Super Easy, too!  For years I've used my $1 garage sale yogurt maker but it breathed its last a couple of months ago.  (It had lived a good long life....I saw the same yogurt maker on an episode of the Bob Newhart Show , so that puts it at about 40 years old in people years--I don't know the equivalent in electric kitchen gizmo years....)  OK, no more relying on a gadget, I had to learn how to do it myself.  Have you ever searched "making homemade yogurt" on the internet?  There are 2,260,000 results on Google and I would reckon that every one is different.  So that means that ...

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...

I pulled out one of my favorite Christmas traditions a week or so ago, so now whenever I get the chance, I've begun working my way through a 60-episode collection of Christmas old-time radio episodes. I guess that I'm old enough to I forget most of the plots between Christmases, and the ones I do remember I still enjoy. I've been reminded of something that I noticed for the first time last year--the American culture of the 1940s regarding gift-giving. In numerous episodes, people are shopping for Christmas gifts, but the things that they are buying for each other surprise me. Not specific to one show, but throughout a variety of programs, the adults are buying gifts for each other like neckties, handkerchiefs, pens, and even cigarettes. The presents are more like little remembrances--thoughts--than gifts. (There are even commercials recommending soap as a gift, with which I heartily concur, but not the Lux and Ivory varieties that they promote....) Yes, some of these shows ...