Very busy lately doing one of my favorite things to do in this biz...CONCOCT! I always consider it a great privilege when boutique or shoppe owners approach me to design new & unique soap lines that are tailor-made specifically for their company! It usually starts with much information-gathering from THEM:... what do they see (their vision)?, what is their existing company profile & message?, who is their existing client base?, who do they WANT to be their existing client base? what special needs?....and nothing is more exciting to me than when you happen to be working with a company owner who shares a lot of the same passions and visions as I do myself; someone who gets EXCITED about their products! Lately I've had quite a few new clients such as this and it really is fun & energizing to work with these folks! Renews my purpose!
They usually ask me...how do you come up with soap ideas?
Most of my ideas come from talking with (not at) them about what they want, and then ultimately, I go hole-up at my art desk, which doubles as a soap design study desk, pull out any reference books I may need, and start scribbling ideas like mad!
As much as I love prettily-designed artsy soaps from an aesthetic point of view, for me, the greatest fulfillment in soapmaking is being able to incorporate as much of Earth's great bounty into soap as I can, as well as make an attractive bar of soap! It's how I started making soap.....using herbs and botanically-infused oils to remedy my own quirky skin needs! So any chance I get, I suggest clients make use of this limitless bounty in what they promote to their own clients! To go beyond just *pretty in a soap dish* to what is going to really nourish & care for skin in as natural & sustainable a way as possible from the manufacturing point of view!
To me, it's so interesting how nature seems to provide a yin for every yang.....like how jewelweed (remedy for poison ivy rash) naturally grows near poison ivy! I'm always wondering what the cure for cancer is going to end up being... that *may* be growing all around us! Anyway......I can't pass a nursery, or apothecary, or my own garden without finding new uses for plants in soap!
Today's Soap-Of-The-Day is.....
Survivor Soap
Hiking, camping, even walking on a pleasant evening can become a battlefield
if you're being attacked by kamikaze insects, including West Nile Virus-carrying
mosquitoes! Who needs it? But who needs dangerous pesticide chemicals either??!!
Our all-natural formula is made with pure essential oils and NEEM tree parts
that bugs HATE and is your best defense in winning the war! Bathe with Survivor
Soap! It includes oils such as eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint, white
thyme, lemongrass, cedar & neem oil, neem leaf, and neem bark powder!
Super-enriched with unrefined shea butter, it does not strip the skin of natural oil. As a blonde myself (mosquitoes seem to particularly LOVE blondes
and our chemistry!), I can vouch that this soap is what I use in the great
outdoors or even before evening walks, on my face & bare arms, to keep the
bugs at bay!
Ingredients used to create this soap: Palm kernel oil, coconut oil, olive
oil, distilled water, sodium hydroxide (lye), castor oil, unrefined virgin shea butter,
essential oils, neem oil, neem leaves, and neem bark powder.
Note: No sodium hydroxide (lye) remains in the finished soap product!
Note: No sodium hydroxide (lye) remains in the finished soap product!
Can be purchased here:
Enjoy your day, Folks!
Back to the workshop!
~Carol :)
