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.