Another Blazing Success!

I just totally love the Downtown Art Market. Not only am I a vendor there, but I had a blast shopping at all the different stands there yesterday. I came home with 2 more plants for my back yard, a bag of sweet onions, a cantaloupe and I bought my husband an amazing gourd that had been painted to look as if a dragon is hatching from it. Where else but Lubbock can you find such great variety?

I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by an visited me at my booth this month - I hope you enjoy your soaps and lotions, and I hope to see you at the Fall Festival at Clapp Park next month, or back at the Downtown Art Market again in October. I promise to have yet more new soaps and lotions for you to try!

Almost Downtown Art Market Time Again!

I can't believe it, time sure flies when you're busy as all heck! I've been really working the past couple of weeks on getting ready for the Lubbock Downtown Art Market on August 8th. If the weather holds, I may be able to bring a few more product types from my line this month. If its hot, well.. I can't have it melting.

Having said this - I am taking orders in advance for you to pick up at the DAM on August 8th. If there are any products you'd like to have (that might melt such as my Body Buttercream or Soy Spa Candles) please let me know. You can pay in advance if you like, or at the market, and I'll have it bagged up and made ready, especially for you! This is also a great way to get your hands on one of my new gift boxes that are not even listed on the website yet (1 soap, 1 lotion, 1 super soft washcloth of your choice all contained in a beautiful display for $14 - ready for gift giving!). Just email me (bodyluxe@gmail.com) and let me know what you need. I'll make sure its there and ready for you! I will keep it in a cooler until you can come and collect it if the weather tries to bake us until we're crispy again this month.

I hope to see everyone there next weekend, and bring your friends and family, too! I hear that the farmers will be present again as well with this month's freshly harvested fruits and veggies. I can't wait!

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