Monday, April 14, 2008

Yes, I know it's been forever and a day since I updated.

I'd be telling part of the truth if I blamed it on my camera being out of commission. I can't find the cable for the charger so I don't have any new pictures. The ones I get from my camera phone are pitiful.

April's Art Walk was fantastic! We had a great crowd, new artists, and (as usual) the folks Cafe 331 went above and beyond. Each month gets better and better and I'm really looking forward to May's show on the 7th.

Playing with new packaging ideas. I'm dropping the boxes and moving to shrink-wrap so I can display the full bar and still have them protected. Ingredient list and contact info can fit on a business card which will be under the wrap, and I'm planning new labels. (Which will be done, again, after I hunt down Tim regarding logo designs! But once that's done, I'll be getting fancy, pre-printed ones I think.)

A while back I had a batch of English Rose scented soap come out not quite right. The scent and the soap itself meets my usual high standards... but the color was a bit off. That gave me the excuse to play with felting soap, which I've been wanting to try for a while. I got some gorgeous wool rovings have started wrapping the bars with various colors. Felt the wool wrapped around the soap and, voila! Built in washcloth. Even better: built in artsy, exfoliating washcloth that is kinder to skin than the usual nylon scrubby. (Hubby was pouting because he has to avoid the test bar due to wool allergies...otherwise, I think he'd be asking me to felt "his" batch of fir needle soap.) I might have to do some "ugly" batches just as an excuse to do more. :-)

Also, last week I worked out a shampoo bar recipe using beer and adding powdered yucca root and powdered comfrey leaf. While I try to wait a minimum of 2 weeks before testing a new batch (and don't sell or give out anything until it's cured for the full 4 weeks), I couldn't resist. I broke one of my partial bars in half and carried it into the shower with me last night. Even at only a week of curing; I got lovely, mild, creamy lather. It was very soft (due to lack of curing time) but that will fix itself over the next few weeks. Since soap gets better with age, I'm really looking forward to trying it after the full curing time.

Pictures will be up as soon as I can find that blasted cable...

2 comments:

Anne-Marie said...

It’s awesome to hear that you’ve been felting soaps. Sounds like they’re turning out great too! Can’t wait to see some pictures of your success! Once your camera is back in action, of course.

DJ said...

So glad that the art walk is working out for you. Keep up the good work.
Happy soaping, DJ in SW MI