Too Much Opportunity; Is it Possible?
Many of our readers sell their soap, bath and body and candle creations. Quite a few of those who don’t are thinking about doing so, while some are former sellers.
Looking back in time, it seems as if selling used to be easier “back in the day” than it is now. A merchant either set up shop in a building, which was often part of the family’s home or he sold via catalogs. Nowadays, we not only have those options, but we also have websites and all sorts of social media. We have the opportunity to put our product out there for a greater number of potential customers to see and see them more often. We develop websites, get Facebook fan pages, get Twitter accounts and join selling sites such as Etsy and Artfire. Each of these choices hold the possibility of providing the seller a cash stream.
This must be a great thing, right? Is it really easier than the old days? Certainly, we see advantages to all this exposure, not the least of which is cost. We can post pictures and information on Facebook all day long without its costing a cent. We can put links to our Facebook comments or add new ones on Twitter for the same low price. Etsy and Artfire, etc., cost money to use, but this cost is much more reasonable than renting a storefront, so their popularity has boomed. Even a website is possible on the cheap if we have the skill or are willing to learn how to make one.
So, what’s the possible downside of all the options we have? Perhaps it’s that we have too many. With all of our choices, we can become bogged down. The time spent researching our options, preparing websites, pages, maintaining them and so on, eats up much of our days, and sellers are in danger of spreading themselves too thin.
I don’t have any glib answers to the modern day dilemma of too much opportunity, but I do have some common sense advice. Nothing has or ever will replace goal setting and planning. Know your mark and aim for it daily, reviewing as often as necessary. Do the necessary research for new opportunities, objectively deciding whether or not they will help you meet your goals or not. If not, keep walking.
How do you keep your head out of the mire and on track? Give us your best advice.
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne for the Saponifier Magazine
Are you a Producer or a Processor?
Our personalities vary greatly from one of us to the other, and they extend themselves to our soap, body products and candles. Even so, it seems to me that we are one of two types: Producers or Processors.
Producers get their enjoyment out of producing their product. They do not feel the need to try each ingredient under the sun, nor every product that can be made. They find a formula and stick with it. If it’s good, it’s good enough. Their satisfaction comes in getting that large order out the door, and they don’t mind doing it over and over again.
Processors, on the other hand, get their joy and satisfaction from the R&D (research and development) part of the experience. They are constantly tweaking formulas and trying new things. If they hear about a new product, they want to try it, and only money and lack of space keep them from buying everything they see. They live for the experience of creating.
It’s not hard to see then, what challenges face each type of artisan. The Producer finds it easier to narrow down products and scents to a manageable number and disciplines herself to stick with the plan. The daily production tasks are an agreeable challenge that she takes great joy in. Nevertheless, the Producer may rush into manufacturing a product without thoroughly testing how it performs or knowing whether it is a product her customers will prefer.
Conversely, the Processor may take a long time to get a product to market or standardizing his formula, but once he does, it will be a fantastic, well thought-out product. The Processor is also likely to find time constraints a challenge, and he may get bored of producing the same products over and over until the entire business becomes more of a grind and less of a joy.
Does this mean that one or the other is not suited for business? Not at all. Where this insight helps us is in learning to cope with our shortcomings and in capitalizing on our strengths.
If you are a Producer, realize that you will get things done, but may need to force yourself to curb your enthusiasm to finish and sit down and analyze your formulas, encourage your own creativity and make a plan to test out products.
If you are a Processor, be sure to plan your schedule and business goals with checkpoints so that you don’t get lost in your work. Give yourself some leeway for creating something different so that you don’t become bored. Even varying your production schedule may help keep you satisfied.
If you get help, choose someone who has skills and a temperament contrary to yours. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it will keep you on your toes. How much help you need depends upon each person and the situation; however, being honest with yourself about our needs will lead to greater success and satisfaction.
Can you identify yourself in these descriptions? How do you cope and use your personality to best advantage?
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne for the Saponifier
Soap: Something to Brag About
Hand sanitizer, soap, anti-bacterial cleanser, which one cleans best? Do you ever feel that your soap might be a little too easy on germs or do potential customers go elsewhere because you don’t offer a soap with an anti-bacterial?
Good news! In a recent study sponsored by ABC news, all of the above products were tested as to efficacy, and regular soap ranked right up there with hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial soap. In fact, soap ranked better than alcohol-based sanitizer. Furthermore, since the FDA has come out advising consumers not to use anti-bacterial soap because it assists in creating microbes that are increasingly immune to agents used to kill them, soapmakers truly have a product to gloat about. Now we have evidence.
Notice, however, that soap does not kill microbes, but rinses them off the skin and down the drain. The cleansing action of soap is sufficient cleansing. Please do not claim that your soap kills germs! This classes your product as a drug and is therefore subject to the FDA’s drug regulations. Other countries have regulations in place governing their products, as well.
To see the whole story, follow this link: http://news.yahoo.com/video/abc-hand-sanitizers-soaps-put-080000846.html
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne for the Saponifier
Soaps with Swirls, Twirls and Whirls
Have you seen the beautiful cold processed soaps that soapers are creating?
In various places on the internet, you’ll see beautiful multi-color swirls, swirl designs with their own names, peaked tops, cupcake soaps, and soaps that look like cake–and that’s just the beginning, swirls, twirls and whirls abound. I am impressed daily by what my fellow soapmakers are capable of, most of them better than what I am able to do. I feel that I make a good quality soap, but not one as gorgeous and imaginative as what I see from some of my colleagues. It’s truly enjoyable to gaze in wonder and delight at their creations.
It makes me wonder, however, is a plain jane bar of soap acceptable anymore? Will a bar of one color, no swirls, no peaks and no design be received with as much joy as the bar that bowls you over with its intricacy? Might the soaper who makes that plain bar be seen as a lesser soapmaker than her fancier counterpart? I wonder if the bar has been raised or is in the process thereof (yes, pun intended) to require a soap not only to be well made, but gorgeous, too.
So far, the soapmakers I’ve seen have been very supportive of each other’s work and it makes me pleased to be in the company of such individuals. I have seen men and women who cheer each other on and who freely pass along hints and favorite suppliers. I hope that continues and that it is widespread, not just where I hang out. I do wonder, however, where soapmaking is taking us as an industry and whether this will separate the novice from the professional and whether the customer will eventually demand artistic soap.
What is your opinion on the matter? What do you make?
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne
Soap, a Vital Player in Human History
I frequently visit a living museum near me, as I am a history enthusiast.
You know, one of those museums where buildings from the region are brought in and set up like a village–homes, businesses, and whatever else a village needs is what I’m referring to. I like many aspects of the museum, including speaking with the interpreters who add great insight into life in the past century and even earlier.
On one such visit, I was able to talk soap with one of the interpreters, who shed light on life on the American frontier in the late 1700′s and early 1800′s. Trees were bigger and denser than I can even imagine and had to be cleared before a home could be begun because there was no room to build, otherwise. Therefore, wood was in great supply. Not only was it plentiful, but pioneers had to find uses for all the wood they cut to clear enough land for a home and barn, plus room for animals. Making lye with ashes was just one of the uses for that wood. The docent explained that a family would get a pig in the spring and let it mature for butchering in the fall. Pioneers subsequently used every bit of the pig, and much of the fat was used to make soap that the family would use until the next butchering.
Are you envisioning white, hard bars of soap? If so, your picture is incorrect. The resulting soap was more of a semi-solid consistency that was kept in a dish hanging by the door so that the family could wash their hands upon entering the cabin. My assumption then was that the soap was not only used for bathing and hand washing, but also for household cleaning, but it was explained to me that they didn’t bother with using soap; indeed, they were more likely to use a weak lye solution for general cleaning of the floors, hearth, and other such areas. Of course! These practical women were not concerned with the beauty of their soap or the lovely skin feel. No, they just needed to get their hands clean and keep their homes as clean as possible, and they used the easiest, most expedient method.
I left, impressed and amazed at the fortitude of our forefathers and mothers who underwent such hardships to settle the new land. Even their soap making is impressive. I am also awed by the long history of soap and how it has played a vital part in cultures for thousands of years, and now, we soapmakers are carrying on in the craft and carrying it forward.
Yes, soap has evolved and advanced, and most of us are happy that we make soap now, with our access to supplies and information that allows us to create gentle, yet beautiful soap nearly every batch; but, there is something satisfying to feel a part of history, as well.
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne
Vanilla, the Problem Child of the Soap World
I’ve made a couple of soaps for the summer season. One is a creamsicle scent and the other smells like cotton candy. Yum! They almost smell good enough to eat, and if it weren’t for the fact that vanilla discolors, they would be lovely. When I first made them, the colors were just what I’d hoped for–the creamsicle was a soft orange and the cotton candy, a bright pink. I don’t suppose I have to tell you what they look like now, do I? Yes, the Dreaded Vanilla Brown, scourge of soapmakers everywhere.
I’m sure that many of you can empathize with my situation and that you have your own “brown” stories to tell.
This is crazy. We’re landing a rover on Mars, but we can’t have a vanilla scent that doesn’t discolor at all? Is that really so hard? Apparently, it is.
It’s true that some clever soapers have found ways around that discoloring, whether it be whipped soap or adding scent to only a portion of the batch so that just part of it turns brown. Half brown, they feel, can certainly be more appealing than all brown!
Other wise soapers have learned to embrace the brown and are satisfied with it. The “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” theory is at play here. It’s certainly better than stressing over an inevitable result.
What about you? Do you care if vanilla fragrance turns brown in soap? Have you found ways to deal with it? Perhaps you have ideas to share. We’re all ears!
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne for the Saponifier
Handcrafted Soap: All Shapes and Sizes
Although we most commonly picture bar soap as a rectangle, we know that isn’t always true. Besides being comfortable to grip, rectangular bars are common because they are also easy to make. Fill the loaf mold and slice the soaps when they’re ready. Stand them on their sides to cure and everybody’s happy. Right? Of course not; because despite the practicality of the rectangular bar, soapmakers aren’t limited to that and so they can and often do, make other shapes. And even the rectangular bars vary in their dimensions, with soapers making a wide variety of heights, widths and depth of soap.
Consider round bars. they are often used for shaving soaps since they can be dropped into a coffee mug. A small minority of soapers prefer the round bars or just make them for certain soaps just for something different.
Oval bars are well-liked because they too, fit in the hand well, but are less common because finding or fashioning a mold is a challenge. Also, soapers are limited in the creative designs afforded them with loaf or slab molds.
We occasionally see square bars and it’s a bit surprising that we don’t see them more often often, since a mold for square soap would be as easy to make as one for rectangles. This is true with either a loaf or a slab mold, which makes me wonder why this is the case. Perhaps the soap is more awkward to use or it’s difficult to make the correct weight bar without making it too thick.
Finally, we have the soaps that are made in decorative molds. Some soapers have difficulty getting their hard traced soap into such a mold without air pockets. Others have a hard time getting the soap out. When it works, however, it yields beautiful, decorative soaps that friends and customers love.
With such a plethora of choices, it’s no wonder that soapmakers differ in their preferences.
What is your preference, and why?
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne
Saponifier
Suited Up and Suitable for Soaping (and Candlemaking)
How do you dress to make soap or candles? Are you covered head to toe in protective gear or are you be found in a t-shirt, shorts, and bare feet?
If it’s the former, you’ll want to read on to feel good about yourself or to make sure you’re doing things the right way. If the latter, well, consider this a lecture.
Making soap and candles comes with inherent dangers, mainly pertaining to heat and caustic substances. We’ve all heard stories about people being burned by lye, caustic soap getting in the eye, burns from a forgotten pan of wax. To be sure, things happen. Soap gets spilled on the floor, unnoticed. A pot volcanoes, sending soap lava out of the pot and all over the surface it’s sitting on. The candle wax heated up faster than you thought it would and flames appear. A properly suited up person is in a better position to react quickly and safely than one who isn’t.
If it seems like overkill, think about it as if you were an employee of a company or that one of your loved ones was. What if that company allowed its workers to be barefoot, making soap? What if your child or other loved one were put to work in that environment without access to safety gear? I can predict that you would rightfully expect that both you and your loved ones would be properly protected, so offer the same to yourself.
Chandlers, think you’re off the hook? Not so fast!. Hot wax is dangerous and cannot be removed easily, so as with soapmaking, shoes and socks and a heavy apron are essential equipment for protecting from splashes. Long sleeves and eyewear are also important.
Even in creating bath and body products, certainly safety rules must be obeyed. The first one that comes to mind is a mask to filter out particulates from powders such as cornstarch and powdered herbs. The second is to protect the skin from scent by wearing gloves.
Finally, wearing a respirator mask when working with scent, whether fragrance oils or essential oils, is just plain smart. We often worry about scent in regards to our customers, but tend to forget that we are exposed to much stronger scents, more frequently and for longer time periods than the average user and thus, are more likely to develop problems with scent than the general public.
My advice: get yourself suited up so you can safely pursue your craft!
Until next time,
May your days be filled with bubbles & wax.
Beth Byrne
Meh or Yeah?
As I was showering the other day, I noted how quickly my husband and I go through soap. It’s a good thing I make it!
You see, hubby likes that soap-to-body experience– no wash cloths or soap savers for him. I’ve tried to convince him to use them, but to no avail. He also tends to judge a soap by its lathering capability, the more lather, the better. You can quite imagine how low he would rate castile soap. Moreover, he isn’t particular about scent, as a general rule. If it’s in the shower, he’ll use it. He also likes larger bars than I do, and prefers rectangles.
I confess that I like lather, too, but I also like soap savers, cloths, and other cleansing and holding devices. Additionally, one of my criterion in soaping is to make a hard soap, except for facial use. Not that I don’t engineer it to be moisturizing, but if my batch wasn’t hard, then I would consider a batch to improve upon. I do enjoy a wide variety of scents, whether essential oils or fragrance oils and yet, I am much more discriminating when it comes to scent than hubby is. I like different shapes in soap as long as they fit in my hand, as well.
Of course, as a soapmaker, I am more attuned to colors and patterns in soap than most of the general public is, and admire those so skilled as to create them. That same consideration ranks at the bottom of my husband’s checklist.
Thinking about our marked preferences caused me to wonder, what makes soap perfect in your book? Do you insist on hard bars? Do you search for the most conditioning oils and make them a large percentage of your soap? Perhaps scent is your biggest concern or you prefer only essential oils or only fragrance oils. Is a particular shape or size your favorite? Does it have to be artistic or do you prefer Plain Jane? Are soap savers and so on, a godsend or a hindrance?
Tell us about your perfect bar. What changes ”meh” into ”yeah” for you?
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
Beth Byrne
Are You a Mad Scientist or Tried and True?
Oil. I never thought in my life that I would care so much about oil. Animal or vegetable, organic or refined, it captures my interest. And for what reason? Making soap, of course! Now, I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur of oils and enjoy using many of them and experimenting with them in soap and other products. Do you?
Oil choices and percentages play a major part in making good soap and a soapmaker who wants to be knowledgeable simply cannot remain ignorant of each oil they use and its properties. Certainly, it’s possible to make soap out of 100% coconut oil or 100% olive oil, and it is common. In fact, some of the world’s most famous soaps are 100% olive oil. Yet, to my way of thinking, a truly wonderful bar comes from a mix of oils, each with properties that contribute to a bar that is moisturizing, cleans well without stripping the skin, lathers up well, and is hard enough to last in the tub or shower.
How do we find out which oils do what for soap? Research and experimentation is the answer. Begin with an established formula and tweak the oils until you reach what for you, is the perfect soap. It’s part of the process for becoming a confident soapmaker. Hint: recipes that you run across calling for a can of this and a cup of that are best ignored. Can sizes may change over time, so if it doesn’t state what that can size is by weight, move on. Cup and other types of non-weighed measurements are also potential problems. Why? Because even cup measurements from cup to cup can vary, so a cup of shortening might not weigh eight ounces, and lye calculations are based on the weight of each oil. You could potentially end up with either a very soft batch or a lye-heavy one. Soap isn’t as forgiving as cooking and the ingredients were meant to be weighed out.
But what about you? Perhaps you have a formula that you have used for years and you’re very happy with it, so you see no need to waste time or money on changing it. You admit that you know just so much about each oil that goes into your soap, but you do know how to produce a consistent product from batch to batch.
Where product production is concerned, I understand the need for a consistent formula, but couldn’t exist without my r&d (research and development) time, but that may not be true for all.
Weigh in (no pun intended). Are you an experimenter (mad scientist) type or a tried-and-true soap/bath and body maker?
Until next time, may your days be filled with bubbles and wax.
