Introducing the Kitchen Citrus Scrubby Soap & Complimentary Lotion

I have been waiting on this soap for a month now and wowza, I totally love it! This is my first ever "soap in the round." That's right, its round! This beautiful gem has been created to sit beside your kitchen sink, ready to scrub the goo off of your hands. Made with lime and sweet orange oils, as well as cornmeal as a natural scrubby agent, my Kitchen Citrus Scrubby Soap leaves behind a light, fresh scent.

What better way to help ease those dishpan hands than to follow up your scrubbin' with a little dash of my sunny Kitchen Citrus Moistureluxe Lotion. Its the same great Moistureluxe Lotion you've come to enjoy - with Goat's Milk & Shea Butter, just like always! This time I've scented it up with the same blend of juicy lime and sweet orange oils that are in the Kitchen Citrus Scrubby Soap.

Get your matched set of Kitchen Citrus Scrubby Soap and Moistureluxe Lotion today!

Discontinued Items - Deeply Discounted Prices!

I've decided to keep my business rolling in the more natural and completely homemade direction, so I've discounted all remaining shower gels, bubble baths and body sprays that I have in stock. I'm proud to say that all of my current recipes are my own, and of my own research, and that's the reasoning behind leaving the shower gel and bubble baths. I want to be in control of the ingredients that go into them, and I just don't feel that these are what I want to be selling. Keep in mind though, they're still great products, just not the products I want to be spending my time on.

I will soon be learning how to make liquid soap, so this will be a great shower gel and hand soap - and it will be as great as my Old Fashioned Bar Soaps, as soon as I've mastered the technique. I've been doing research on the liquid soaps for a while now. In the meantime, hit up the Clearance Sale on the website - the remaining shower gels and bubble baths are only $3 each and I have a feeling they won't be around for long!

What exactly is soap?

So what is soap? Is it the stuff in a bottle that says "Antibacterial" on it? Is it that pressed funky shaped bar from the grocery store that comes in box, 8 to a package? How about that clear bar of stuff in fruity flavors that's supposed to be good for my face? Or better yet, its that stuff we put into laundry to get our clothes clean, right? There is a lot of confusion today about what soap really is.

Its time to do a little myth busting here. The true definition of a soap is that it is a mixture of an acid (fats and oils) that react with a base (sodium or potassium hydroxide) to form soap and glycerin. GASP! You mean you're rubbing fat all over your skin? Well, no. Once the mixture has gone through the soap making chemical reaction, known as saponification, it is no longer just fats and lye.. its a great bar of handmade soap that your skin is going to love. A truly accomplished soapmaker knows how do the research to take a blend of oils to get their best skin attributing properties and turn them into a bubbly bar of soap full of lather. Finding a good blend of oils is both an art as well as a science, honestly.

So is that stuff at the grocery store really soap? Well, look at the label. The FDA says that only real soap made by the above process can be labelled as such. The others on the shelf are synthetic detergents. Detergents are made from chemicals and things that are hard to pronounce. They can be very drying and irritating to the skin, and leave a sticky film around the tub. Soap by its very nature is antibacterial as well - but that's a science lesson for another day.

Happy Birthday, Texas Soapmaker's Association!

I apologize for the lapse in blog posts lately, I have found myself fortunate enough to be in attendance at the 10th Annual Texas Soapmaker's Association convention. It was such an unbelievable experience, and I'm truly impressed at the caliber of soapmakers we are lucky enough to have here in Texas.

It was great to hear the guest speakers speak, the expertise they have shared will last a lifetime. I only wish that they could each have had some extra time, because I know I could have learned even more. The guest speakers were some of the top people in our industry - Marie Gale (I bought her FDA Labelling book too and had her sign it!), Tammy Doering, Alecia Marie Fruin, Debbie Matteucci, and our very own Sarah Bogle, Rachel Lane and Susan Svec. To me, all these people are like celebrities. The soaping demos from Lisa Chouinard and Joy Douglas (Feel better soon, Robert!) were also nice to watch. I enjoyed seeing someone else do what I've done, to see if they have a better technique I can learn from.

I have nothing but great things to say about the entire experience. I came home with a great door prize (Thanks Jann from Texas Container & Supply) and took advantage of the vendors being set up there as well. I bought some GM powder from Star Moore (Supplies by Star) and Susan Miller Cavitch's book from SoapEquipment.

I made some new friends too, and had some fun times just sitting around listening to stories and hearing of other people's experiences.

Thank you all very much for all of the hard work that went into the convention. I really, personally appreciate it, and I hope to be able to attend the next conference in 2010!

Swirlapalooza!

Its been a varitable swirlapalooza in my soap factory (aka: my kitchen) this week. I've been trying to make sure I have a great selection of wonderful handmade soaps ready for your lathering pleasure.

I've done waves, swirls, swishies, and just about everything in between, with even more to come. Look for these at the August Downtown Art Market on August 8th!

Left: Clean Rain, Center: Celtic Waters, Right: Oakmoss Sandalwood

July's Downtown Art Market

The Downtown Art Market was a huge success. There were a bunch of vendors there and they had some amazing things! I personally came home with a new little car and some plants for my yard.

Thank you to everyone who came out to see me, it was great to meet so many new people and share my love of soaping with Lubbock. I'll see you again in August, same time, same place!

In the meantime, feel free to throw me an email if you need any other products. :)

A Yum! of double proportions

Its been a creative month or two for me - I've been experimenting more with butters and here's a divine concoction I've come up with. I call it Body Buttercream and it is so luscious. Body Buttercream is a combination of Avocado, Mango and Shea butters as well as a few skin loving oils and a totally drool-worthy fragrance. I specifically did NOT want a body butter that was extra greasy. With the heat around here I don't need to slide off of my chair, LOL. Having said that though, I've found that a little of this stuff sure goes a long way and its done very well in softening my skin after swimming for several days in a row. You know how drying chlorine can be in 100 degree heat.

The Body Buttercream is sold by weight - a hefty 5 oz of buttercream, in an adorable 3 inch diameter flat jar. I can do any of my fragrances in the buttercream, the Black Raspberry & Vanilla just happens to be the one I chose for sampling. Let me know what you need!

Also, I now have Black Raspberry & Vanilla fragrance - just like that major body product chain store. Its wonderful! Now if I can keep it around long enough to make much with it, seems my teenage daughters love it too.

Scent: To Go

I've discovered something new that I have totally fallen in love with. Solid parfume balm - its an easy way to get a quick fix of fragrance on your pulse points without having to tote around a whole bottle that may break or leak. It doesn't leave a wet spot where it was sprayed, either. So far I've created these fab little fragrance sticks in Heavenessence (Angel by Thierry Mugler) and Love Always (Endless Love by Victoria's Secret). I'm still debating on which others to add to the line as well, so if you have any suggestions just let me know. Pick yours up today for only $3.00 at my web store, or come get them in person at the Downtown Art Market on Saturday!

Sometimes soap imitates art

Its true - soaping is a great way to let the artist inside of me get out a little at a time. Its a great challenge to see something in my head and then try to get it out of the mold in the same way that I pictured it.

While this isnt exactly how I'd imagined it, its very close. The peach should have been purple. It figures I can't create peach or orange when I try, but only when I don't. Ha! But anyway, this soap is Moonlight Walk - a fragrance I'd had trouble soaping 7 months ago. This time however, its gorgeous and smells fab.

Look for it at the August Downtown Art Market!