New Art!

"Sweet Autumn Rain"

Easy Does It There, Easily-Angered Customers!

CUSTOMER REMINDER: When you call our workshop toll-free (888) 575-SOAP (-7627) or San Diego local (619) 287-1394, we're usually "in-production" and unable to grab the phone the moment it rings, however we do have secure voice mail available--our "electronic secretary"! Soapmaking is a time-sensitive procedure and cannot be stopped when we're in the middle of a soap mix/pour, or the soap will harden prematurely. We do not have a full-time human phone answerer (to keep overall soap costs down for YOU!) so please leave your message and we'll return your call ASAP! You can also E-MAIL us your inquiry (simplysoap@aol.com) and it too, will be responded to ASAP!

Seems we've received some rather nasty and accusatory messages from an apparently easily-riled customer who was incensed at not receiving a human voice at the end of the phone when she called....deeming us "unprofessional". While we ALWAYS appreciate and respond to customer feedback, we also feel a need to stand up for inaccuracies. To illustrate the truth of the matter....

This seems like a good time to also mention that many soapmaking base ingredients have tripled in cost over the last year or so, along with fuel delivery surcharges, AND product liability ins., driving handmade soap costs up significantly, and some soapmakers out of business altogether! Here at Simply Soap, we're doing our best to maintain our usual pricing. NOT hiring a full-time phone answerer is one way we do that...a cost (wages + workmans comp. ins.) we would otherwise have to add into the end cost of our soap.

So.....a gentle reminder to those of you who might be inclined to get upset when you don't get a human picking up the phone...we're usually working our little soapmaking tails off when you call, but I do make a point to return calls throughout the day ASAP! Please consider, I'm working hard to keep my soap affordable, and in my book, that IS being professional.

Thanks for your consideration!
~Carol

New Faerie Art!

The smallest or greatest of us, all need encouragement now and then. Sometimes the supportive words of a friend can be the magic that gives our wings flight!

Seduced by faeries!

Today I swear I heard whispers on the wind and voices in the garden! One of those perfect spring days when you KNOW there's more in the yard than just plants! Lo and behold, I was RIGHT!.....



Back to work...... *wink* (I wonder if I could capture & train them to help me?!)

(Visit: www.miniature-gardens.com)

'Nuther quick update!

See our Wylde Faerie Soaps featured at FAE NATION!

We've added several new ideas on our Gift Ensembles page for GIFT GIVING...including we're now offering Gift Certificates that can be given online or off! Mothers Day is not far off, Folks, and it won't do to forget your Mamas! Our pages our chockfull of wonderful soap selections for even the pickiest of scent selecters!

Be sure to also check out our themed selection of Soap Stacks...or create your own! What a warm idea for those relatives back east still suffering in the throngs of lingering winter....send 'em a California Soap Stack! Or how about our Tea Soap Stack--including two new tea soaps: Black Tea Rose Soap and Chamomile Bergamot Orange Tea Soap....ooo-lala!

Back early before summer is La Playa ("The Beach")...made with our own San Diego beach sand added from our favorite beach. There's even pics posted so you can see where it came from!

More work to be done.....catch ya on the other side of the tub!

Quick Update!

We have many new things in the works and updates on the horizon...here are just a couple quickies!

Many of you have expressed wanting to find our California themed soaps all on one page. Here ya go! Simply California!

Many of you have expressed wanting to find our tea soaps all on one page. Here ya go! Simply Tea Soaps!

You begged. We heard. It's back...BEFORE summer and as a new "regular"! - La Playa ("The Beach") Enjoy!


Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Where did February go?.....

It was a veritable blurrrrrr! I can't even remember parts of it!

The month was mostly consumed with thoughts and energy devoted to my father who at age 80 (3 days past his birthday) passed away Feb. 12 after a battle with mesothelioma...asbestos-related lung cancer after a lifetime of work as a master craftsman carpenter. Dad was diagnosed in Nov. of '06 and only given a few months to live. He beat the prognosis and was doing very well (still chopping firewood, gardening, and canning his famous pepper relish) right up until this past Jan. when he began to deteriorate. The disease can vary person to person, and many linger and suffer for a long time. I guess we can consider Dad blessed that his deterioration was accelerated toward the end and he was spared a protracted and lengthy amount of discomfort. He was able to die at home. The day before he was to die, I had an instinct to get up to see him quick, and hopped a plane the next day up to the Sacramento area. I feel gifted to have trusted that instinct and spent Dad's last 10hours with him and see him off...his famous humor was intact till the end.

I then stayed with my Mom several days to help her and help arrange the Memorial Service to take place a couple weeks later. I later flew back up again for that and just returned this past weekend. It was a wonderful service and celebration of Dad's life, a rebonding with siblings, all of us coming together to help Mom out and reconnect. We all agreed that if we had to celebrate a life, we did it the best it can possibly be done and came away with many wonderful memories not only of our Dad, but of our family. I am very lucky to have the family that I do!

And now it's time to get back into the cycle of life and work. Many of the projects I was in the midst of before Feb. were put-off, but I trust you understand the priority that family is. I have several large soap orders I'm working on and of course, taxes to get prepared before April. My nose will be to the grindstone for a bit but when I come out the other side, I hope to get those new promised soap lines revealed finally and on the website, as well as some new art in the works!

Thank you to the many of you who have sent remarkably kind notes of condolence and support to my family and myself...it is greatly appreciated! I wish for you the kind of love and family strength that I feel blessed to have.

I saw new buds on many trees today, loads of blossoms on my lemon tree with busily buzzing bees, and the sun's warmth felt like a preview of Spring. New life.....feels good!

Be well...
~Carol

New ....errr...old (?) Fairy Art!

Shhh! Didja hear? There's an old fairytale rumor going around that faeries are "forever young" Pish Tosh! Daisy, Pearl and Fauna here prove otherwise! They are just "some" of the wisest of the fae realm! Who do you think teaches all the young fae their BEST magic? Just because you don't see older fae out flittin' around with the young ones....don't think they aren't having as good, or better a time, .....and playing the best of tricks!

(And yes...Old Faeries feel PERFECTLY comfortable in their old skins, bare-ass nekkid!)


Come visit us at Wild Oaks Art!
~Carol Ochs

Online Art Marketing Book

I forgot to mention in my last post, there is a new book that just came out, written by a friend of mine, Steven Marwick: Online Art Marketing....and it is chockfull of valuable and very current online marketing tips, tricks and advise.... even if you think you already know it all, your eyes will be opened to some new angles that are invaluable! It's downloadable and very easy-reading! Check it out! Online Art Marketing

Is winter finally thawing? Time for handmade spring soap!

We got warm! Perhaps that is a misnomer, but San Diego is acting like, well ....SAN DIEGO again...at least for the day! The warm sun has me all ready to pack away the fleece, drag out the tank tops, and shoosh the cold away for the season with a big seeyalaterBYE!....AND it's also got me thinking about what handmade soaps to add for Spring! If you have favorite scents you'd like to see offered, I'd love to hear about it! Shoot me an e-mail at: simplysoap@aol.com THANKS!

We're also getting a LOT of requests to offer our very popular Wylde Faerie Soaps for private labeling to retailers. A great opportunity for fellow fairy/fantasy artists to sell our faerie soaps on yoru site or at shows with YOUR art on them! I'm thinking about it, and if I get significantly more feedback on that...I may just do so. Convince me one way or the other with your opinion! simplysoap@aol.com