YAY!!! My New Mold Arrived

So I finally, and I do mean finally got my very first wooden log mold to work with. Yes, it shames me to say that I had been working with cheap plastic molds not even meant for soap making this whole time. Every site I went to always the molds cost too much for me. They were always like $50 and up and I couldn't afford that. So I was using anything I could find that would hold a hot batch of soap. Eventually the last plastic mold I had warped on me, and I had been having to cut the sides of my soap just to make them presentable. Needless to say I was losing product like that. The more warped it was the more I had to cut off. So I got fed up with it when I found myself with an extra bit of money in my pocket. I found a site that had wooden molds on the cheap and they arrived today. I got one for me and one for my sister Kamali. So now we both have a reputable mold that should last us quite some time.

Oatmeal Milk and Honey facial soap...!!

I think it's very pretty and is only one of many soaps specifically for the face that I will introduce. At first I said that I would get rid of the clay facials altogether, but now I'm rethinking that. Perhaps with the addition of a variety of essential oils, I can add these to the clays to make them more diverse. The clays can only be used once a week at most, so the soaps are a good idea for everyday clean. However, I don't know if it can really be a full time replacement. I mean, they work differently. The clays are meant to stay on your face for a while and the soap is a wash off product. Maybe I will keep both side by side to see which ones sell better. If the clays take a big hit, I will remove them. If sales go back up for clays because of the variety I plan to introduce, then obviously I will keep them. I'm really excited about what I'm gonna offer. There are many customers who would prefer either unscented or items scented with essential oils only, and I have been unintentionally depriving myself of that market of people.

Well, here are some pictures of the Oatmeal Milk and Honey soap with kaolin, bentonite, and fuller's earth clays. There are no fragrances in this soap at all, not even essential oils. It smells a little like honey and oats. In fact the little things on the top are partially crushed oats, just for effect.

Vending Functions are......Interesting

Well I am at a bazaar with my sister and BIL. My sister and I both have bath and body products that we sell. Which isn't a big deal for us. The setup of our table (we share one for now) has always been a work in progress. I've always tried to find the best way to present my products. I wish I had a picture journal of the evolution of my table setups but I don't. Here are a few shots though. I have changed it even since these pics.






I had a soap challenge set up that many people ignored. I don't know if you can see it, but I have a Dove box sitting there to compare ingredients. I don't think people care or like it that I did that. I think it made some people uncomfortable since many use that brand and think it's good soap.

The top photo looks a tad junkie, but I stupidly took the pic at the end of the day when we were about to pack things up. Funny how a whole bunch of people wanna look at your stuff when you're packing it or unpacking it and it's all over the place. Like when it's in order they pay no attention, but as soon as you start unpacking it or something and your whole table is a mess before you finish, they're all over it.

The school where I am is interesting though. It's better than last year. I got no sales last year in almost a month of being there. This time I'm getting sales daily which is a big step up. My packaging, arrangement, and overall look is a lot better than it was just last year. Hopefully I will continue to improve and also have more product to offer.

Speaking of more product, I missed my shipment of essential oils today. I was too mad about that because I stepped out for a split second across the hall to my sisters house, and he came just that quick. Or so the paper says. I don't know how I missed the FedEx guy in a span of a few minutes but whatever. These are the oils I'm gonna dedicate to the facial soaps.

I made a facial soap just last night too without the essential oils. I made an Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey soap with Kaolin and Fuller's Earth clays. No fragrance, just the actual oats, coconut milk powder, and honey and the clays too. It's very very dark brown soap. It smells slightly of honey and it looks unique and kinda cute. When I take pics I'll post those too.

From Clay Masks to Facial Soap Bars

So, as of late I haven't been all the impressed with my own clay facials. I have stalled on making them, and really they need essential oils to bring the most benefit. Well, the one facial soap that I make is a good seller for me. So I decided why not go with that. Using a soap is faster and a lot less messy. It's also a lot less work to do to get the same effect. I also would feel more comfortable putting essential oils in a soap rather then mixing them straight into my clay masks. So what I wanted to do starting in February, was make the facials I have into soaps instead. They would be more costly than my normal soaps because of the price of essential oils, the clays I would mix in, and all those things are more expensive. It also would serve to streamline my offering of products. I want to really limit what I have to soaps and maybe one or two other things, so that I can keep up.

I always spread myself too thin thinking that I should add this and that, and all of it costs money I don't have and that my business is not paying for yet. So if I can simply offer what I'm best at making anyways, that would be much better for me and ultimately my customers. I would be able to update faster and generally keep my shop from stalling like it does now. If I had any customers that wanted to keep tabs on what I was making, I've surely bored them to death by not having anything new and exciting to add every few weeks or so.

New: Black Tea and Lavender Soap for Men!!

Here's my new soap Black Tea and Lavender. It's really a very strong manly scent even with the lavender and I'm very pleased how it turned out. I added the lavender to round out the very strong smell of the Black Tea, with something that could take the edge off without making it sweet or taking away from where I was trying to go with this soap. I couldn't be happier with the results.

It isn't ready to be listed yet as it is still a little soft, but it should be ready Sunday as well as the Sandalwood I made. I'll probably end up retaking these pics a little better than I did for the blog. I have finally went ahead and got a shrink bag to package my soaps in, so hopefully that's the last change my packaging goes through. I really like the way it looks, so when I get a chance, I'll post some pics of that.

YAY!!!!

I just got my first online repeat customer. It's so cool to me. Just wanted to write that out. I have always measured a business' success by how many repeat customers they get. If people like you then you're doing something right. Well, I guess I'm finally doing something right. Let's hope this continues.

Getting Going

I made some sandalwood soap yesterday. It turned out pretty good with the exception that the scent isn't as strong as I'd like. That's probably a good thing though since it's supposed to be a men's fragrance and I know a lot of guys that don't like really strong scents in soap and stuff. So I'll be a busy bee making soap daily until I run out of scents to make. Really gotta get crackin' on this stuff because I'm so far behind schedule :(.

I haven't decided what scent to make next, but it really doesn't matter since they'll all get made eventually. Until next time *waves*.