Summer Release 2013

Hi!

I am pretty much all set to go for our release on Sunday.
We have some new scents this year and a whopping 14 different soap varieties (some test batches in that number) on offer.
There are 7 main scents, which include the following:

Black Sands - The purest, darkest Black Patchouli oil. An essence to completely wash away all negativity & stress, leaving you feeling refreshed and renewed.

Cold Pillow - A cold pillow filled with Cotswold Lavender buds,  Geranium leaves & Indian Vetiver grass roots sits on top of a feather bed, ready for you to rest your weary head.
NB: The name Cold Pillow came from my nephew, Ethan, who as a small child always carried a cold pillow with him for comfort.

Rolling Hills - A patchwork of rolling hills, little copses and secret hideaways. The scent of dark green Juniper bushes, Cedar & Pine trees, Lavender rows and hints of plump, green Limes.

St. Ives Bay - Softly lapping waves of azure blue, A warm, salty sea breeze, Mineral-rich seaweed and a hint of Mediterranean Orange Zest.

Urban Jungle - The old favourite is back again.  We have been producing this soap for about the past 3 years.  A fresh, aquatic blend of wet jungle notes. Freshly cut Bamboo canes, Indonesian Patchouli, Frankincense resin & plump Lemons ripe for the picking.

The Warrior - A salty, briny, wooden war ship misted with sea spray.  The scent of tarred rigging ropes, crates of Israeli figs, citrus fruits & rich, luscious spices warmed by the sun and finally the rarest and most pure Frankincense & Amber resins wrapped in sail cloth.

Here's a few pics from the shelves...

Packaged soaps

 St. Ives Bay waiting to be packaged....

 Black Sands Product shot 

(taken outside on a rainy day)

  I find that sunlight can cast too many shadows on pictures so I always choose a dull, cloudy day to take mine as I feel I can capture the colours and contrasts much better this way.

 Jars of Sugar Buff

 Urban Jungle soap waiting to be packaged....

This afternoon (Friday) I have a new batch of Black Honey soap to cut up, and the above soaps to package.

My back has been very painful this week, and to top that off I came down with a really horrid head cold again...seems I just keep getting ill whenever I stop production after working on release soaps.
I guess when I get time to chill, this is what happens.  My old boss from the nursery, Bob Brown used to say the same thing. You go hell for leather with work, and when you come to stop and get a bit of rest illness kicks in! So odd, and so annoying and maybe a reminder to ones self to take more breathers during production. Gah!

Anyway, I'm all good today and looking forward to the weekend.  I gotta rest up as next week will more than likely be a bit mad.

Thanks for reading 

xx

Hues of Blues

Above - from the left 'Inches Lane, St. Ives Bay, Ethereal Seas

I've been playing with colour and am on a new journey to explore once again the beauty of natural colourants.  First up are the blues.  I just acquired a small jar of the real deal - Lapis Lazuli (pron: Lap-iss-Laz-zew-ly/lee) powder.  I have been a user of Ultramarine blue for a number of years and have always been impressed with the results, but not with the sulphur aroma, which wafts out of newly un-moulded soap.

Kudos goes first and foremost to Heidi from Bodygoodies, an incredible soaper and soaping friend and somebody who inspires me to always do better and to make better and to strive to only ever offer my customers the absolute best.  She is the only other soaper I have seen use it successfully.  Many others claim to be using it but from what I've read, they are 

mis-guided in their knowledge of what Ultramarine 

blue actually is.

Off the top of my head (and after just reading about it once more to refresh the old brain), synthetic Ultramarine blue is not made from Lapis.  It is made out of a combination of several different ingredients (kaolin/china clay, coal or wood, charcoal, soda ash, silica & sulphur), which are then fired in a kiln until red hot (literally glowing red), the resultant mix is then washed to remove any sodium sulfate and is then ground to the fine powder that soapers know and love.

Lapis on the other hand is made by mixing the ground stone with wax and a diluted lye solution.  If memory serves, this makes a kind of paste/dough, which is kneaded in water until the resultant blue crystals are washed out and collected ready to be ground up again into a fine powder, which tends to be used more by artists than soapers.

Whilst both practices for obtaining these powders are a tad confusing, I am intrigued by the science of it all and will continue on with my research on this subject.

I believe that no one is better than the other in terms of results in soap.  I basically like both.  In terms of which one is better and safer for skin, then Lapis wins hands down.  For a brief example, Lapis used to be used as eyeshadow, whereas Ultramarine blue is certainly not safe for eye or lip use.  The amount used in soap, however is so minimal that chances of ever having a soap made with it upset the skin is very, very slim, hence why it is deemed safe by the powers that be. On the other hand, if you were to snort the stuff, I think you may experience a few health problems! In a wash-off product we basically have no need for alarm here but it is good to address the issue no?
The process to make the powder I have in my hands is a long, tedious one, which in turn makes for an ingredient with a rather large price tag, especially when compared to the price of synthetic Ultramarine.
The main goal in my soap making is to create a safe, natural product with no nastiness.
Natural of course doesn't always mean safe as we know so research, research, research....

Below are some pictures of 3 soaps.  I will explain what I have used in each under each pic.

This is Ethereal Seas soap.  Picture taken outside in the shade to show the colour correctly.

The base of the soap is coloured with the Lapis, the drizzles are coloured with Kaolin clay.

Same as above.

This is Inches Lane soap.  Coloured with Ultramarine blue and Charcoal to give a darker, more navy blue like colour.

Same as above.

This is St.Ives Bay soap.  Coloured with Ultramarine blue and Titanium Dioxide.

As you can see, the blue here is vibrant and more deep than any of the others.

In this batch I use a few grams of Ultra blue to give that seaside blue colour.

St.Ives Bay again.

As I say, I do like all of the colours but am more drawn (at the moment) to the Lapis Lazuli colour.  Probably down to the fact that summer has just arrived here in the UK and I have longed for long, hot days for many months since we just came through one of the coldest winters in history.  

In summer, my mind is drawn to soothing, soft hues and pastels.  As we venture into late summer and autumn I tend to go for more powerful colours that pack a punch.  Weird.

So, as I experiment more I will post my findings and conclusions.

Next up I will be working (a little more with the lapis!) with greens and my first one will be ground parsley leaf, which I'm informed goes a very nice colour in CP soap.  We shall see.

Exciting huh?

Going Cruelty Free....

Hi all!

I've been toying with the idea for quite some time but just needed the time to sit down and sort it out.
So...about three weeks ago I finally got around to contacting a lovely lady at GoCrueltyfree.org and asked about becoming a member.
I got an answer pretty much straight away and was sent all the necessary information and forms to fill in, which I did without delay.
I sent back my declaration forms and set about contacting every single supplier of mine to ask for their Cruelty Free declaration along with proof of the statements they made.
In order to become Cruelty Free registered and to carry the 'leaping bunny' on your packaging you have to go through rigorous tests in order to proove yourself and your company's ethics.
You have to have a cut off date - in my case there was no cut of date because I have never had little bunnies lined up on my work surface ready for soap to be dropped into their eyes if you get what I mean, so I was able to put the date as the day I applied.  This means that going forward you must not ever use any ingredient, which is known to be tested on animals.
The toughest part is making a list of all the suppliers you use and which raw ingredients you buy in from them. Now I dunno about you, but I use a hell of a lot of different suppliers for my ingredients...upwards of about 20 different companies. Let's say this process has helped me to de-clutter my suppliers list somewhat!

I made a conscious note that if I didn't get any kind of reply from any one supplier within 7 working days that I would try again and if, after a further 3 working days I didn't get a response they were struck off the suppliers list and I would never use them again.
So far I have one such supplier....and I will state that after having read a statement they have on the FRONT PAGE of their website I've been a little wary of them anyway. Not anything to do with cruelty but to do with their professionalism.  No names mentioned for legal reasons. Besides what I do buy from them is readily available from other more reliable and friendlier sources.

So far I can confirm that the companies who I buy my base oils from, my essential oils, my fragrance oils, my butters, my surfactants and salts have all come back to me with great positivity and a willingness to help. I am very pleased with these suppliers and have great faith in them to help me follow this pursuit.
All that's left now is for me to receive all of the filled in papers from each supplier then I can send them off to GoCrueltyFree, have them look over everything with a fine-toothed comb, and eventually I will gain my leaping bunny logo as well as recognition on their website and promo materials.
It does come at a cost but not as much as you might think.
If you are a bath and body company reading this post I urge you to do the same or at least to start asking questions about the ingredients you are using and where they are coming from and at what cost to the animal kingdom!
I cannot tell you the relief I feel being safe in the knowledge that I will one day know exactly where my ingredients are sourced and that no animal has suffered unnecessarily.

I have one supplier who buys from other suppliers who are finding it incredibly difficult to get anybody to sign papers declaring that they are completely cruelty free. This leads me to believe that some such larger suppliers have absolutely no idea where some of their ingredients come from nor do they know about the manufacturing process and testing process of those ingredients, and if they do they are reluctant to disclose the information.
I would very much like to be able to trace every single ingredient back to source, but as you can imagine, it is no mean feat.
I will no longer be using this company either.

I think that by the end of this process I will have narrowed down my suppliers to about 10 different companies, which in turn helps me to simplify the ordering process when buying in my supplies not to mention my PIF's. (product information files).

As soon as I know anymore I will update you on this process.
Thanks for reading.
x

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

Yes, yes you should smell like dirt right?!
Gah, I cannot wait until I can smell the soil in my garden again.
Spring is my favourite time of year...well, apart from summer & autumn.
I love the anticipation of seeing my bulbs flowering and planning the garden for the coming season. However, this year we plan to completely cover the garden with a new natural stone patio.  I do plan to have some huge pots full of bamboo and several other companion plants though, I couldn't handle a plant-less garden!
I'm plants crazy, but have found that in our tiny little garden we can only handle a few large specimens, which is a real shame as the big monster plants are my favourites. Our garden has lacked charm over the past few years, mostly due to Matt and I being too busy to deal with it all...even with it being small it's still a bind to keep on top of it.  I do hope that changes this year.
I feel like we need some order out there rather than the higgeldy piggeldy garden we've been used to for a while, so I would love a nice natural (but rusty/black) coloured stone with lots of stuff around to catch the eye.

Here'a a little pic of our garden taken around 2007.
Ya see how new it all looks? It was! But it very quickly became a tangled mess and most plants had to come out. The only thing I can see in this picture that we still have is the palm to the left, which is now approaching 8ft tall!
So, I plan to take out the gravel path, which only leads to the shed and replace all of it with a nice Italian stone, a nice table to sit at, some big floor cushions to sit on and lots of little things to tinker with.
If I manage to pull it off I will post pics of course.


So...back to soap.

  Our Spring release went live on Thursday, which was a hoot. We did really well so a big thank you to all who ordered.  I made sure I had plenty in stock this time as all other previous releases have been sell outs, which can be a pain - not just for the customers but for me too.  Re-stocks can be a bind when you have a pile of orders to send out beforehand.  As the business grows I'm starting to plan ahead just a little bit better, which helps me feel prepared for the rush.
This coming week will be an order packing frenzy, but I've gotten pretty quick at it so hopefully I can get back to playing with soap by the weekend. I have a few new techniques I'd like to try.
I tried my first oil in mica swirl last week, which I loved but was a little disappointed that the swirl I did inside hardly showed at all. Lesson learned.
Here it is, scented in a Lush dupe (American Cream) and not for sale since the dupe is a US fragrance oil, which we are not allowed to use to sell over here in the UK due to the allergen content being missing from the MSDS :-(

I used a Vintage Blue mica and then dusted over a copper mica afterwards for some contrast.
Oh, the soap formula is pretty bad on this one too since I ran out of coconut oil. I thought I'll try a palm & olive soap with a few extras, so I went with Palm (quite a bit), olive, sunflower, rice bran and a small amount of avocado oil. It's gunky, slimy, sticky and well, not very good at all but after tweeting about it being the worst soap I ever made I was tweeted back by Hayley of Paintbox Soapworks who mentioned using Palm Kernel oil next time if I wanted to try a coconut oil free soap in the future. I just may one day.
I think it came out pretty good, but nowhere near as beautiful as the creations made by Emily.
If anybody can pull this technique off to it's full out extent, it's her. What an incredible talent.
I plan on doing some gradient soaps and a few others I have up my sleeve shortly (once the coconut oil arrives!), so will be sure to share once I've had a play.
To finish, here's a pic of our new labelling on a jar of Ethereal Seas Body Whip 
(my fave from the current line up).
Have a happy Sunday x

From Yule, through Imbolc to Ostara

Hi all,

Long time no see or hear from.
It's cold, damn cold.
Over the past few months we've experienced cold weather every single day and my body is suffering for it.
Aching ankles, knees, hips. Gah! I've taken up swimming again to try to keep supple and it seems to be working to a point so I plan to keep it up.
A little boiler trouble at home had us without heating or hot water for about 10 days in minus 9 centigrade freezing cold conditions (so not fun). I remember actually breaking down into tears on day 8. Wuss.  We got our boiler replaced and luckily a very good friend of ours had sourced us a nice combi boiler for free (must return some kind of favor shortly) and another good friend installed it, so we were quids in to a point! This Friday our chimney will be swept for the first time in...oooh, about 30 years!
We will be able to have our first open fire in our little house on Friday night. So exciting!
I wanted to at least have one fire before the spring arrives to warm up the walls of the house.

We've had snow every year for about the past 5 years, which was unheard of until...well 5 years ago.
We went without snow in the UK for a long, long time, and were entering spring feeling a little short-changed by the winter season. Winters were just dull and hateful with wet drizzle but now we are experiencing what we used to as kids. Snows that fall and give you enough coverage for snowmen and snowboards (if you're brave enough and have enough stamina to walk back up the hill...no fancy chair lifts here!).
We're just over another little bit of snowfall and to be frank, I really hope that's the end of it.  My Allium bulbs have been up for a good few months now along with other fanciful spring bulbs.  I don't want them to get frosted anymore. I enjoy to see the snow falling and enjoy walking in it but this incessant cold can do one. It makes it difficult to create scents inspired by warmer weather.

 I'm just starting to create a blend in my mind's eye for Ostara (spring equinox) and hope to put dropper to bottle shortly to test out what I have.
After the overwhelming success of my Winter Solstice perfume oil I have become a little obsessed with perfumery.  It's an art in itself.  Blending oils for soap isn't so difficult but to create a multi-layered scent with lots of different notes and waves of emotion is a little bit more tricky. I start off with the main source of inspiration and build upon it, taking aspects of my surroundings into account every step of the way.
For spring I would like to re-create the scent of a fresh water stream with warm soil, bluebell sap and greenery and have worked this based upon one of my favourite places to walk...Spoonley Woods. A place full of mystery and intrigue where it feels like eyes are watching you all the time.  I picked bluebells in the woods there once and on my way back out to the pathway I was struck by a very hard slap on my shoulder....I kid you not!
Make of that what you will, but I assure you it happened! Frightened much?


Onto Spring then....
I've been in production mode for a good number of weeks, firstly making the soaps for the spring release.  It's an exciting time for me, I love spring, I love new days, new feelings and emotions and scents, which conjure thoughts of warmer days and nights.

I have a list of 6 different spring scents which are as follows:
Black Honey - British Hedgerow Honey, Warm spices, Dry leaves, Lemons and Mandarins.

Gossamer Ghost - Simmering Neroli oil surrounded by Grapefruit zest and Coriander seed.

Green Room - Smashed Rosemary & Spearmint leaf mingles with fresh lime juice and vintage surfboard wood (inspired by what surfers refer to as 'the green room' when surfing the barrel of a wave).

Clotted Peach Cream - Fresh peach pulp cloaked in Cornish Clotted Cream, surrounded by a scattering of winter Honeysuckle blooms.

The Shire - Orchards in blossom, Birds nesting in the Hazel thicket, Summer Barley and the barest hint of Heirloom Strawberries.

Ethereal Seas - Basil leaf, Lime zest, Ho Wood and Mandarin essential oils to mimic British Seaside Flora.

These scents will be available as Cold Process soap, my new Sugar Buff exfoliant, Body Whip, Olfactory Bathing Grains and Aromatic Oil...with maybe some bath creamers thrown in for good measure.
We have brand new labels coming too, which are being printed as I write.  Can't wait to see those.

I will be listing a few more extras, which I've been making the past couple of days and hope to release the whole shebang on 21st February.
I leave you with a picture I posted on Instagram & Facebook a few days ago of the bar of Green Room soap I've been using at home.  This year I added about 200g of Dead Sea Salt to my regular soap mix and this is what it does! It's lumpy, bumpy texture looks just like barnacles stuck on sea rocks.  So weird yet so cool. I'd never seen this before in all my soap making years (of which there are 7 I believe), which makes me realise I'm still just a pup when it comes to soap making. I have so much more to explore.
Hope everybody is well and happy. x

A Primitive Future.....and Sensory Perfection!

So....Christmas is upon us. Just a few more days to go.
I have been making soap and complimentary products for what seems like forever, but finally this week it has all come to a sudden stop.
The flu got me for one thing, so yanno, ya can't go making products for people to slather on their bodies when you're germ riddled.
I had to put a stop on production as I felt as though insanity was about to kick in with a fervant force, not to mention my dripping nose! Ugh!
Just this season alone I have made almost 200 bars of Snowdrift - that to me is a lot for one variety of soap. I'm usually cranking out around 60 soaps per variety in any one release, but this season has blown my mind.
I have my general catalogue of scents, which I try keep stocked up in higher numbers, but the beauty part of creating seasonal releases is that I get to play around a lot more and create more fanciful designs in my soap, but I never expect to have to re-stock seasonal batches of soap.
So, this leads me to thinking about how on earth I will cope in a years' time when I expect to have a few more customers.  I will have to cross that bridge as I come to it I guess but I reckon a little hired help may be in order.
If I cast one eye back over the past two months, I actually don't know how the hell I've managed to do it all. The only thing that keeps me going is my passion for creating beautiful soap and my passion to constantly learn about new ingredients I've not yet explored.
What I really want to do with this business is take a more natural approach to my line of products. I feel a real sense of respect for pure, natural, raw ingredients and I get over-excited when opening up say a bag of un-refined Shea or a bucket of raw Dead Sea Mud or a bag of that really strongly scented cocoa butter that I buy from Helen at Fresholi (the knife goes through that shizz like butter).  I cannot explain the excitement I feel when sniffing a new absolute or a resin that I may be able use in my soap or perfumery.  To smell pure Frankincense oil (for example) instead of a made up aroma-chemical version - well, there really is no comparison.  Nothing comes close to that true musky, dusty, church-like aroma.  You cannot create a synthetic version and get it nearly close. You just can't.  I've sniffed many fakes and each time I am reduced to 'Ack, NO!'

I recently used some pure, soft amber resin in my Winter Solstice Aromatic Oil and I can't even explain the sheer joy I felt inside when squishing it between my thumb and forefinger and knowing that it was going to lend itself to bring the scent to it's finale - I wanted a 'Cathedral at Christmas' note and by jove! I got it!
You try and find a synthetic amber fragrance that can do that.  Each one I've come across has a pungent, hit-the-back-of-the-throat sugary sweetness that makes me almost head for the toilet to hurl and have a talk with God!
With an all natural amber resin or oil, you get just that. You get just what you are looking for without that dragging, everlasting fragrance note that fills the air with uncertainty.
It may work for the noses of many, but it doesn't for mine.
Aaand I may add - never has one of my new fragrances sold out and had to be re-stocked so fast!

I feel more at ease when using really good natural ingredients as opposed to chemicals for cosmetic chemistry.
Sure, I have gotten to know my stuff when it comes to chemical ingredients and their capabilities and don't get me wrong some of them can work wonders in certain products, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty I get more excitable for boxes of pure unadulterated butters and fats than I do over coconut-derived, powdered sulphates. However skin-friendly they may be, they cannot and will not ever compare to an all natural bubble created by my handmade vegetable soap.

So...what this may entail is a streamlining of the products I will offer in the future.

At the moment I offer Handmade soap, Olfactory Bathing Grains, Whipped soap, Bubbling sugar scrubs, Butter scrubs, Body whips and Aromatic oils.
What I propose to do is eradicate the whipped soaps entirely along with the bubbling sugar scrubs.
Not a lot to lose really and if I look at sales figures, the soaps and body whips win hands down, and funnily enough since I started to offer the natural butter scrubs, sales of my scrubs have increased triple-fold.  No lie!
So I guess what my customers are looking for is a natural product, which works well and has a scent to die for.
This doesn't mean I will never use synthetics again but you can be sure I will be using a lot less of them.  I have to keep some synthetic fragrances in the line since some of the scents I offer, such as 'Rook & Raven' can't be duplicated with all natural ingredients. There is only one component in there, which is a synthetic but it's a damn good one!  Hmmm...now I got me thinkin'...watch this space!
I'm not on the fence when it comes to opinions about synthetic vs. natural fragrance. I know what I like and I know what I don't like.  Finding perfection in any one form is not easy.  I have strived to seek out the really good synthetic fragrances but when choosing essential oils, absolutes or resins I don't have to strive...I just have to purchase them and somehow figure out how they can work for me.
Most of the time, perfume creation is about creating a 'feeling' rather than trying to replicate an actual scent.
What I mean is, when I'm walking through a wooded copse in the Cotswolds and my nose cops the aroma of the great outdoors, the mud beneath my feet, bluebell sap or pine cones I find myself thinking of ways to capture that scent with essential oils. I don't want a simple 'pine' or 'grass' or 'earth' note.  I want to blend a series of notes together to capture the whole feeling.  Pine cones don't smell of pine, they smell musky, almost mushroom-like. Bluebell sap smells like rain-laden pavements in summer, not flowers or grass. Air smells like all manner of things and there are oils out there that can capture the very essence of air...and I'm on a mission to find them and I am extremely excited about it.
Here's an example of a scent I very much enjoyed creating....
To get the honey note in my 'Black Honey' scent I used Nutmeg.  Sure it has to be blended with other oils in order for the whole scent to smell of honey but in just a short time and me being surrounded by a host of essential oil bottles I managed to do it with Litsea, Mandarin and Ho Wood.  The ratio's of course are top secret...
The way I begin such a task is to sit on the floor with each oil in hand (and a bag of coffee beans to clear my nose) and a pad and pen.  I then take a good few minutes to sniff each oil and I write down EXACTLY what I personally think each oil smells like...then, when it comes to creating a blend, I already have a plethora of ideas from which to work.

I guess the whole point of this post was to explain where I am headed and to not cause too much disappointment for my loyal customers by my taking certain products away.
What I am doing is paving the way for something much, much better and something I feel will be gratefully received.

So, here's to you and yours.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and Happy New Year.

Autumn line up

Hi All!  The Autumn Release is now live in our Big Cartel shop. Here's a little soap porn for you along with scent descriptions. Three of the scents are from last year's line up, whilst three are brand spanking new.

My favourite? At present that would be Soul's Midnight....the soap just has a look about it that I'm totally in love with. Nice, peaceful colours and the scent is heavenly to me - a blend of Vetiver, Ylang Ylang, Patchouli, Oakmoss & Bergamot with a tiny tiny hint of watery florals. Just amazing.

Dark Carnival - Amber & Tonka Bean cloaked in Warm Honey & Vanilla-infused Caramel Sauce, finished with Walnut Chunks & fresh Coconuts from the shy.

The Dead Marshes - Dreary & wearisome pools of cold, dark, sullen water infused with dead grasses, creeping ivy, ancient bones and juniper bush berries loomed up in the hanging mists of long-forgotten summers.

Dust Witch (yes, she is back!) -  Crushed dragonsblood incense, aged Patchouli, resinous Vanilla, sweet Orange oil & Oakmoss absolute with a pungent heart of stewed Rhubarb stalk.

Shadow Show - Blackened Pomegranate juice & Plum compote spiked with Pink Pepper, Clove & Cinnamon with base notes of Frankincense, Patchouli, Amber, Moss &Caramelised sugar.

Soul's Midnight -  A heavy, looming night sky - the air tainted with the scent of acrid smoke, dead leaves swirling over the ground’s surface and Cypress trees forcefully swaying to warn you of the arrival of Dark & Cooger’s Carnival. 

Toffee Moon Face -  English Butter Toffee shards, Baked Mandarin rinds and Spiced Apple Compote topped with a caramelised sugar nest.

All products are available as: Olfactory Bathing Grains, Soap, Whipped Soap, Bubbling Sugar Scrub, Body Whip & Aromatic Oil.

You can find them all here

The day of the release we sold out of the body whips almost immediately...but I have made more and will continue to restock up until the start of October.  I guess these scents will remain available until then....and then we all know what comes afterwards....I'm not even saying it.