It All Started With That First Hit.....

"They're gonna say what they're gonna say, you're gonna say what you're gonna say, and then we're done..."   - Jeff Van Vonderen.  Intervention.

 

I think I have a burgeoning, borderline problem.  I've been doing a lot of reading and learning about wax products.  Mostly, because I've been contemplating adding a regular element of it to my product line if I can find a free second to add it in there somewhere.  In doing so, I've made a bunch of pretty lacklaster tarts (or melts - I'm not arguing about it) that look pretty cute but didn't really have the fry-your-nosehairs-out throw I'm looking for.  Waxes make all the difference, and there are only about 45,988,575,566,354,85,7450,000 differen't ones to buy, and 655,373,645,5474,784,800,000 combinations and tweaks to work out.  Paraffin....soy....vybar....no vybar....old formulas....new formulas.  Geez louise.

 

So, in my thirst to work it all out, I've starting getting some tarts from a few of the more popular vendors and watching review videos obsessively.  I get on my treadmill in the morning - coffee cup full of high octane in the cupholder, and scroll through YouTube addict uploads on my phone plugged into my treadmill speakers. Totally weird right? 

 

That's not even the weird part. 

 

 Being a soapmaker and vendor, I have lots of  awesome customers who have "collections" of soap.  I'm talking thousands of dollars worth.  They send me photos of the piles of them they've accumulated.  Closets crammed full, shelves overflowing, and some even keep inventory on spreadsheets so they can keep track of what they have, and need to repurchase....hahaha.  I love them so much and they are so good to me.  :)  Before now, I never really understood the point of stockpiling so much.  I mean, how freaking dirty can you be?! 

 

May I present to you, Exhibit A:

 

It's totally not normal.

 

I've swapped soap for a lot of it because in addition to being psychotic, I am also a cheapass when it comes to spending lots of money on things like this.  I watch some of these videos and I just think "Do you people not have BILLS?!".  The people that collect makeup stuff are especially mind boggling to me.  A MAC mascara is like $2500 on sale, and chicks have ROOMS full of high end makeup.  The kids must be eating cat food.  Jus' saying.  Sorry about that tuition thing, Billy...

 

Anyway - to make myself feel less in need of Lithium, I'm calling this "research".  I know now what a "good" tart is and have all kinds of good ideas about formulations, and presentations, and am currently testing new waxes...........again.  As it turns out, I love them!  Each morning, I throw some in all of my warmers and it completely lifts my mood out of the winter blues funk.  There's totally something to this aromatherapy stuff.  When I get something new, I grab hubby's hand, lead him to the drawer, and make him sniff things like a crazy person and he's like "Yeah....that's....really....nice... *side eye*".   

 

Pssh. He has no vision.

 

Until my next post!

Waxing Poetic

Candlemaking can sometimes be the natural progression of a soapmaker.  After a while, the big challenges of B&B are mostly behind us, and I feel pretty confident that I have a decent grasp on what I do now.  So...instead of basking in my lower stress levels and riding the wave of ease - it only makes sense that I would start the madness all over again begin a fun new adventure.

Uh...right? 

I'll begin by telling all of you that are thinking the same thing, that it's not as easy as it looks.  Melt some wax, slap a wick in there.....how hard could it be?!   Yeah, not so much.  There are as many variables in candlemaking as there are in soapmaking.  Don't even get me started on wicks.

However, with most new bank drainers obsessions of mine, I find myself working and working at it to the point of lunacy, 'til I figure it out.  The time I spend behind an apron in my kitchen/laboratory is disturbing.  But hey...it keeps me off the pole ya know?!  :p

So...after months and months of testing and retesting.....learning and reading, ad nauseum, I think I've finally become pretty comfortable with the knowledge I've gathered along the way.  Like soapmaking, it never ends, but you reach a place where you feel good about it.  I totally stopped burning down houses now and the vet says the cat's fur and left whiskers will grow back soon. 

Here are some of my latest creations:

They're fun, but sure take a long time.  I have all sorts of ideas about other "flavors" to make too.  See?  The gears never stop grinding....

Until next time....

Murphy's Law...

Packaging design may be the single most annoying factor in running your own goods based business.  It's tedious and deceivingly difficult.  Just when you think you have it all worked out, a monkey wrench comes flying in out of nowhere....usually after you've spent money on labels, boxes, tags, bells and whistles - rendering your business bank account smoking, with no progress or final end result.  Inevitably, something doesn't work out.  The labels are too big, the boxes are too small, it's not cost effective...on and on.  It's really enough to drive me to alcoholism.  MINIMUM, a righteous bender.

I've had the same packaging for years.  I didn't even like it to begin with, but went with it because it did what it needed to do at the time, and I just got lazy and simultaneously too busy to deal with it.  I'm not a Kraft/country aesthetic kinda person, yet that's what I had going on. Makes perfect sense. 

This past week I have suspended making product and focused my energy on creating a sleeker, more upscale look to my product line.  How freaking hard can that be?  I'm computer savvy.  I can work a label program decently, most times.  I designed a new logo & new labels with a new black and silver color scheme.  Not just for my soap, but all my B&B goods and even tucked away ideas for a future candle line, as well.  That means ordering new labels.  Many shapes and sizes. Many made of differen't material depending on application.  I ordered new boxes.  I figured out it was just as effective to order business cards online as it was for me to burn through ink to print them myself, so I bought those too.  Of course, new labels created more issues.  Now I needed to change containers on a couple of things too, in keeping with my new look.  There's another whole new ball of wax....
Then there's embellishments.  Ribbons, baubles, assorted accessorizing ideas...all of which end up scaled back because my soap would need to be sold for about $45 a bar to offset the cost.   *creativity squelched*.

Now the boxes don't work.  They look good and all, but are just large enough to make what I can fit in a flat rate envelope, far less than what my customers are used to getting for that price.  CURSES!  Also Microsoft Word is for chumps.  I hate that program.  Ever try to center an image in a template?  Maddening.  Screw you, Bill Gates.

You smell what I'm cookin' now, don'tcha?  *sigh*  It all seemed so simple in my head.

At any rate, I have moved on to Plan J now, purchased even more stuff to rework things, and still have no end product.  Nor have I made anything new for the actual shop, while fielding countless emails and Facebook posts about where the hell their favorite soap is. 

This time would have been much more well spent swirling a paper umbrella in a fruity chick drink in the tropical sun somewhere. 

 

Look for new packaging.....in the 2067 line!

It's The Hap Happiest Time Of The Year....

I am a terrible blogger.  The worst.  For someone who loves to write, I find myself neglecting this blog more often than visiting it these days.  Like all soapmakers, I am ass-deep in the holiday season production right now.  As bananas as it always is, I am enjoying cranking out all the scents we look forward to all year.  All the piney, sugar plummy, cranberry laden fare we'll all be sick to death of by the end of october. :p  My kitchen has seen more glitter lately than Adam Lambert's Mac pallet in Ru Paul's Interior Illusions Lounge.

Shante, you stay.

 

So, what have I made so far?....

 

 

I think that about covers it, to date.  I wish I were as organized and efficient as many others are, and concocting a scheduled release, but I'll just keep cranking them out til mid-december, willy-nilly.  The creative juices tend to dilute in too much pre-planning, for me.

 

So anyway...if nothing else, it's a welcome distraction from the political hellscape that is permeating all of America right now.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes this year!

 

Until my next post... Feliz Navidad.

 

 

 

 

Give it away, Give it away, give it away now....

 

I've had some thoughtful discussion with friends today about a trend in the soaping community, and it sparked an interest in the thoughts of other shop owners, or hobbyists who do what we love to do.

I'm a little disenchanted with You Tube, lately. I remember when I first started this soap adventure, and the only information you could find online was some bullshit 25/25/25 recipe of olive, coconut and palm and maybe one (with all due respect) crusty video from Nancy Today.  (Love ya, Nance.)  Now everybody and their flippin' mother is making videos and giving away all the techniques and information and I feel like the market is getting so saturated with it. Half of the craft was in the process....the journey.  Every day, more and more shops are lining the pages of Etsy, Artfire and BuyMyCrap.Com and it begs the question sometimes: Why are people working so hard on their product, and then going on YouTube and giving it all away to every shmoe with a spatula?  Now, there are those that guard every tiny shred of knowledge like they have the keys to unlocking cancer hidden in their tub of cocoa butter.  I'm not talking about THOSE clowns.  We all know them.  I will freely help newbies out with hints and techniques, I'll tell soaper friends how I do certain things without giving it a second thought, and they will for me, as well.  I can sit here and think of several nuggets of discovery though, that took insane amounts of time and work (did I mention work?) to arrive at, and now you can, through the magic of the internet, go online to a soaper's channel, and within one video, or a light sifting through their comments section, gather someone else's hard work and dedication, and put your product up for sale in a fraction of the time it took it's messenger.  So what do I care?  It's capitalism!  It's opportunism!  "Too bad you didn't have these resources, Lori, but we do, so suck up your sour grapes and step off my good fortune", ya old bat". 

Hmm. 

I discussed this with a few friends of mine, insanely talented soapmakers and artists in their own right.  One says, it's a pointless tail chase.  Another opinion is that You Tube is about the community and not sales and secrecy.  Admirable, and I do see the validity of the point, but I'm not doing this for my health, either. I assume most people that count their small businesses as income can agree.  The reality is that if you can get your exact Triple Swirl Sooper Dooper Double Butter Yak Milk soap in ten other shops this week, you've sorta leveled your own playing field.

Look, I love sharing videos as much as the next slob, and I count myself among the fortunate that have learned loads from the experience of others. Little hints, generalized technique are all invaluable to our community. What I'm puzzled about, at times, is watching someone I know work their butt off developing a product, some cool technique or some special "niche" they've created for themselves, and then slap it on You Tube complete with step-by-step instructions, FO blends and/or ingredient lists.   A week from now, your blood, sweat and tears will be a fish in a sea of blinding sameness, and I wonder if enough value is being placed on your work and artisanship.  Or worse, are we doing a disservice and dilution to the art itself?

Discuss.

GIVEAWAY ON MY FB PAGE TODAY!!

http://www.facebook.com/ALifeDeliberateSoap

Every Dog Has His Day....

Even at 17, I knew what kind of father you would be someday. Somewhere in the murk of all of my flaws, I have always had great instincts. After 28 years of sharing this journey together, I have more admiration and love for you than I ever have. In your eyes and arms is the beautiful dichotomy of kindness and strength, where I have learned safety, trust, and what it means to be in the trenches with someone for better or worse. Yours, are the only eyes, who have seen me for all I am and love me, without question, in spite of it. I am prettier... taller... smarter... and more worthy than I have ever allowed myself to believe.

These days, when you reach for my hand, I can feel our hard-earned, and sometimes difficult history between us, and I feel comfort, and triumph and such gratitude that we are fighters...and believers. We make a great team. Raising kids is not for the weak. When life brought us a challenge, and I was afraid, I always knew I could climb onto your back and you'd carry me through it. When you were unsure, I would just grab your hand, take the lead, and let your feet follow the tracks I made ahead of you, until we reached the answers.

Sometimes, when I stop to think of the probability that someday, the world will know a You Without Me or a Me Without You - I crumble under the weight of that cosmic reality. There is nobody in the world I would have entrusted my children with, but you. You are every bit the father I knew you'd be.

 Happy Father's Day.