Soapmaking 101 Workshop

The first Soapmaking 101 Workshop was a huge success so I am repeating it on Saturday, February 16, 2013.  If interested, please let me know as the session is limited to 6 participants.  Contact me privately and I'll send you the flyer.

Soapmaking 101 Workshop

Everything is now ready for my first workshop and I'm really excited.  Six participants have signed up for Saturday's workshop at my home.  We'll be learning all about equipment and ingredients and much more!  We will make a batch of soap together and everyone will get to take home some bars from that batch along with their choice of my own soaps.  The workshop will run from 9 AM until 2 PM and lunch is included.  These women are all friends so I hope they will be honest in their evaluations as I prepare to take a series of soap workshops to the public.  What fun!

Where Can You Find Willow Creek Soaps?

Willow Creek Soaps (PA) is proud to work with these six distributors of my handmade soap.

Tröegs Brewery:
     DreamWeaver Soap (year-round)
     JavaHead Soap (year-round)
     Troegenator Soap (year-round)
     Perpetual IPA Soap (year-round)
     Mad Elf Soap (winter)
     Nugget Nectar Soap (spring)
     Sunshine Pils Soap (summer)
     Flying Mouflan Shaving Soap (Father's Day)
     Mad Elf Shaving Soap (Christmas)
http://www.troegs.com/

Al's of Hampden & Pizza Boy Brewing:
     Citra Soap
     Bock Soap
http://www.alsofhampden.com/

The Arts Barn:
     Animal Shapes (horses, bunnies, goats, dogs, hummingbirds, roosters)
     Beer Soap
http://theartsbarn.com/

Cassel Vineyards of Hershey:
     Concord Soap
     Niagara Soap
http://casselvineyards.com/

St. Thomas Roasters:
     Coffee Kitchen Soap
     Chai Tea Soap
     Green Tea Soap
     Mint Tea Soap
http://saintthomasroasters.keshikusa.com/

Mid-Atlantic Rabbit and Cavy Shows:
     Rabbit Shapes (various scents)
     Cavy Shapes (various scents)
http://www.marcshows.com/

Sacred Heart Christmas Bazaar, Hanover, PA

Willow Creek Soaps (PA) will again have a booth at the Sacred Heart Church Christmas Craft Show &  Bazaar in Hanover, PA.  All of my regular soap products and lotion bars will be available.  In addition, I have  88 "guest size" or "travel size" mini bars available.  These are terrific stocking stuffers.  They are only $2 and I expect them to be a popular option for shoppers at this event.  Come visit!

2012 CHRISTMAS

CRAFT SHOW & BAZAAR

Sacred Heart's Home & School Association will be hosting their annual Christmas Craft Show & Bazaar on Saturday, November 17, in the Parish Hall located at 55 Basilica Drive, Hanover, PA. 

Make plans now to attend!

Lotion Bar

A new product!  I found a great recipe for lotion bars and decided to add this new product to my line.  I now have bar soaps, shampoo bars, shaving soap, soap in loofahs, laundry soap, stain sticks, dog shampoo and lotion bars.

A lotion bar is hand lotion in a solid form.  One small bar will last as long as a bottle of liquid lotion.  The ingredients are as follows:

shea butter, beeswax, avocado oil, almond oil, vanilla fragrance

Some of these bars are traditional 2 oz. bars but I also poured 2 oz. sticks in twist-up tubes.

Testimony

My friend, Marg, sent me this email about her experience with my Nana's Stain Stick.  Looks like I will need to make more of these!

I just finished taking out the last load of wash from the dryer and everything that I used your stain stick on CAME OUT PERFECTLY!  I told you my mom used to call be "slopkessel", a German work meaning sloppy and she was right.  I hardly ever ate anything that I did drop on my clothing.  Anyway, I had the WORST stain on my tops this time.  I fried bacon and was too lazy to put on my apron and therefore my top had all kind of bacon grease splashed all over it - the STAIN STICK to the rescue!

 

I also had eaten Double Dutch Chocolate that night before going to bed and as careful as I thought I was, I dropped a big blob on my top as I missed my mouth although I still can't understand how that could happen as my mouth surely is plenty big enough. Well, anyway I did....STAIN STICK to the rescue again.  I applied this excellent new product, soon to be on the market, to all the stains and mist my tops had a stain or two.  They ALL came out.  You don't know how many stain lifters I have tried in my lifetime and this is absolutely the BEST I have ever used.

So, could you please let me know how many sticks come in a box?  Is it 12, 24 or 36?  I'm seriously thinking of purchasing a box as every time I find something that I like and that REALLY works, they seem to stop making it.  I don't want that to happen to this Stain Stick from Willow Creek.  I will be your best advertiser so if anyone is doubtful - just send them to me by phone, e-mail or letter and I will most certainly "put them straight".  So, tell your mom and Tom "This is a GOOD thing!  I LOVE it - keep 'em coming.

 

Thanks again for allowing me to test these sticks.  Ya know, I kind of even liked the soap and as you say, if it wasn't that you have to shake the life out of it - I would also buy this.  I prefer the liquid over the powder.

 

See 'ya Monday I hope.

 

I am so proud to say I know whose idea this was and who actually makes it herself!

 

Marg

 

Wine Soap

Yesterday I made a batch of white wine soap and today I made a batch of red wine soap.  I was having difficulty staying on task today and missed adding the essential oils that give it a fragrance.  So, my red wine soap is unscented.  Sigh.

Meanwhile, I opened a new bottle of Cassel's Concord Wine and used a new method for taking out the alcohol.  I've been letting the beer and wine just sit in the fridge for about 2 weeks to go "flat".  Today, I simmered the wine at 140 degrees for 45 minutes to take out the alcohol.  I'll make it into wine in the morning.  We'll see how it goes.  This time, I'll be sure to add the fragrance!

Nana's Laundry Soap and Stain Sticks

I really like the powdered laundry detergent I've made and it's now packaged and ready to go.  The 3 lb. bag will be enough for 26 regular-sized loads of laundry and I'm selling it for $4.00 per bag.  In addition, the stain stick is now in a twist-up tube and is $2.00.  I was not happy with the liquid detergent and might try one more version before I give up on that project.

Dog Bath Bar

I finally made the pet shampoo bar that I've talked about for quite a while.  I am excited about this soap.  Actually, it's a dual purpose soap for anyone who loves the outdoors but hates the bugs.  This soap would be great for folks who go camping, hiking or fishing or for working in the garden.  It's great for pets since I also added oatmeal for sensitive skin.  Neem works as a natural insect repellent and so does the essential oil combination of citronella, black pepper, lavender, and catnip.

25.6 oz. Oilve Oil
21.6 oz. Coconut Oil
18.4 oz. Palm Oil
7.2 oz. Castor Oil
7.2 oz. Neem Butter

30.4 oz. Distilled Water
11.3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

Fragrance Oils: Bug Be Gone Blend (Citronella, Black Pepper, Lavender, Catnip) with additional Citronella.
Ground Oatmeal
Vitamin E Oil

Laundry Detergent & Stain Sticks

I haven't posted anything in this blog for a long time but that certainly doesn't mean I haven't been making soap!  My laundry stain sticks are out being tested and the results are quite positive.  I've gone ahead and ordered a supply of empty twist-up tubes and my next batch will go straight into those tubes for sales.

In addition, the laundry detergent is being tested in both the powder and liquid form.  I have personally used each and am not very thrilled with the liquid.  I read about a different procedure that I'd like to try before I completely give up on this project.

The powdered laundry detergent is quite nice and we really like it.  I am ordering brown paper bags with a window in the front (like the kind with coffee beans in them) and will soon have Nana's Laundry Soap ready to go.  This will be sold by weight and costs much less than the commercial detergents on the market.  We'll see how it sells at the fall craft shows.

Laundry Stain Stick

At the recent Sweet Adeline convention, I was a vendor and received a lot of interest in my soaps .  I enjoyed chatting with people about their preferences and had two different women ask about a laundry soap or a stain stick.  I found recipes and decided to give this a try.

The recipe is an old-fashioned one using just water, lye and lard.  It's the ratios that make you know it's for laundry and not for the skin!  Most of my bath & body soaps are superfatted by 5% with my baby soap set at 8%.  This ensures that all of the lye transforms to glycerin during the saponification process.  This stain stick recipe is set at 0%.

I will be anxious to see how it really works on laundry.  It will be ready in about 3 weeks.  I'll keep you posted!

Region #19's Boutique Results

I certainly learned a lot from this event!  It was only the second time that I set up a booth for direct sales and I was quite nervous about the display and the stock I brought along.  However, Thursday night was a huge success and actually represented 50% of my sales for the whole weekend.  I am grateful for both my husband, Tom, and my mother, Midge, for their help in making this whole thing work.

Here is what was popular:

20% of sales: Tenor, Lead, Bari, and Bass soaps
10% of sales: Lavender Butter Bars
10% of sales: Lavender Loofah
10% of sales: Coffee Kitchen Soap
10% of sales: Tea Soaps (Green Tea, Chai Tea, Mint Tea combined)
8% of sales: Goat Milk Soaps (scented and unscented)
7% of sales: Castile Soap (including the baby soap.  If I had more, this might have been higher on the list)
25% of sales:  Everything else combined (Beer Soap, Wine Soap, Shampoo & Shaving Bars, Men's fragrances)

I do have a lot of the voice part soaps left over and am trying to decide what to do with them.  They will last for over a year so I guess I need to decide if I'm going to take them to FLASH or not.  Decisions.

Finally Catching Up!

Working as a team, Tom and I have 200 bars of soap made, labeled, shrink wrapped, and packaged ready for the convention.  Another 100 bars will be ready to wrap soon.  The 250 voice part soaps are also finished but are sitting out to cure and harden before we wrap them next week.  

I have my temporary license to sell in Maryland for the weekend and I've been improving the display set up with a few new purchases.  The new hang tags and stickers have arrived so I just need to make table top signage.  

It's a good thing I'm home for a few more days at the beginning of this week!  With each "batch" of soap yielding 26-30 bars each, getting to this point has been quite labor-intensive.  Yet, it's been fun exploring and being creative.  Being a vendor at the Boutique for the Sweet Adeline Convention will be my second chance as a vendor.  Lots to learn.

Milk & Honey Soap

Today I split a batch of goat milk soap so that 1/2 is just milk and honey (unscented) while the other 1/2 is my traditional honey oatmeal soap with cinnamon leaf essential oil for the fragrance.  Both were set in the mold with bubble wrap around them so that a "honeycomb" will be on the outside of the bars.

Then I made my second (final) batch of Baritone soap.  Both traced nicely and set up just right.  I love it when all goes smoothly.

Productive Weekend

I took full advantage of the weekend and time at the house to really produce a lot of soap.  Saturday I made some beer soap and another batch of Lead (floral) soap.  Sunday I made a men's soap with Leather fragrance oil, the third and final batch of Lead soap (used up all of the flowers), and then a Lavender Loofah set.  I'm running out of space for storage so i did buy another rack of drawers from Michael's.  I have soap everywhere right now.  Great fun.  The house smells wonderful!

Four More Batches of Soap Today!

Whew!  Another productive day.

1.  Bass Soap (for the Sweet Adeline convention)
2.  Trogenator Soap (to keep my inventory ready for Troegs)
3.  Epiphany Soap (Frankincense & Myrrh)
4.  Castile Soap (another batch of the Baby Soap but scented with Lavender)

In between, I baked two pans of brownies for the Red Rose Chorus' Guest Night tonight.  It's been a full day.

Awesome Day for Willow Creek Soaps

This has been a great day for soap-making!  Now that the new shrink wrap equipment has arrived, Tom made new label templates for me and he's my go-to guy for all stuff printed.  The new labels with the shrink wrap will make my soaps even better for craft fairs.  So I boxed up the many soaps that have been cut and are waiting to harden and then made four more kinds of soap.

1.  Lead Soap (I already made Baritone and Tenor for the Sweet Adeline convention)
2.  Yuengling Soap (This is for the Arts Barn)
3.  Troegs HopBack Shampoo Bars (a new product for Troegs to try)
4.  Baby Soap (Something new for my regular customers!)

The Baby Soap is 92% Olive Oil and 8% Castor Oil (for lather) and is superfatted by 8%.  I have a gentle baby fresh fragrance blend to make this Castile soap something that people are going to like!

A Great Compliment

I received an email from a guy in the Baltimore area who stumbled upon this blog but also purchased one of my soaps during a visit to the Troegs Brewery.  He noticed that I make Nugget Nectar Soap and really wanted some but didn't want to drive all the way to Hershey for it.  My friends at Troegs were very happy to ship him some even though it's not listed in their online store.  How cool is that?!

Anyway, he liked the information I've been posting about oils and what they do along with my recipes.  They aren't a secret.  If you want more information about my soaps, please ask.

For the man in your life . . .

I am having fun creating a line of limited edition soaps for men.  I purchased a sampler set of fragrance oils for men and am making small (2 pound) batches of each fragrance.

I have made the Ancient Sedona Soap last week.
Today, I made the Drakkar Soap.  Ooooh, it's nice!
I have several more to make along with some limited edition fragrances for women.

These will be at the Convention in Ocean City, too.

Lavender & Chamomile Soap

I made another batch of this popular soap today.  It includes Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, and Safflower Oil.  I also add actual lavender flower buds and chamomile flowers at the end along with a wonderful lavender essential oil.  Look for this at the Region #19 Convention!  I made 26 bars of this today.