River County Soapworks produces high quality soap and toiletries that are both pleasing to the senses and terrific for your skin. I invite you to try our products.
I’ve been dragging my feet regarding making our Oatmeal, Milk and Honey handmade soap in one of the large 35lb block molds since I knew that the honey and heavy cream I add to this particular soap is a bit touchy and heats things up quite a bit. In the 12lb slab mold it has a large surface area and the heat these additives generate have been manageable. The big block mold though, is a whole new ball game and I knew it was going to get hot, but didn’t know how hot and had no clue how much insulation I would need if any. It would not be fun to lose 35lbs of handmade soap, especially, one as popular as this one is for both a retail and wholesale soap so I’ve been dancing around working up the nerve to just jump in. So yesterday I poured the soap and just put the lid on at an angle with the ends open thinking this would be enough to let the heat escape and didn’t insulate. Left the shop and took a break for some coffee. What I should have done was hang around and watch because when I came back the soap was in full hot gel and heaved up against the lid! This in a matter of about 15 minutes. No kidding! I went to remove the lid but the soap was stuck to it so I had to scrape it off and pat it back into the mold. The next thing I did was grab a fan to blow air over the mold to slow things down a bit to avoid the volcano I knew was getting ready to happen. Anyhow, I am pleased to say I still ended up with good handmade soap bars with some creative trimming. Well now I know how this particular soap behaves in this mold so I won’t use the lid at all and will be hovering over it watching and ready to put the fan on it.
I have wanted to make a Dead Sea Mud soap for quite some time and finally got around to it. This is a fabulous handmade soap which incorporates the mineral rich black mud of the Dead Sea. It is gentle enough to use on a daily basis as a facial soap but I wouldn’t limit it there. Our Dead Sea Mud soap makes a fantastic handmade soap for the body too. What makes Dead Sea Mud so special in handmade soap bars? Well the rich mineral mud from the Dead Sea actually deep cleanses the skin while gently removing impurities and reducing pore size. The fine mud particles have a gentle exfoliating effect while helping to remove dead skin cells leaving your skin with a smooth and refined finish. Your skin will feel soft and not tight. While designing this particular bar of handmade soap, I decided to swirl it with Australian Black Clay which is high in iron and oxygen and very nourishing to the skin. I also think it adds a lovely touch to the soap. It’s scented with a essential oil blend of Litsea Cubea, Lavender, Tea Tree, Lavender, Patchouli and Clove which is just perfect for this soap. I can’t say enough good things about this soap. Can you tell that I’m pleased as punch with how it turned out? I think it is going to be a fantastic handmade soap for both our retail and our wholesale soap clients too!
I don’t know why but I’ve been intimidated with the thought of making a larger bath of handmade soap. Say 35lbs or so at a time. I know. It’s not rocket science but it’s taken me a couple of years to get around to doing it. I make a lot of soap at a time but use several of my 12lb slab molds lined up and then roll like on an assembly line. Get the molds ready, make a batch, pour and go back and do it all over again. The rush in wholesale soap orders this fall pushed me over the edge and I purchased a large silicone soap mold to test the process out. Could have used just wood and lined it and yes, it would have been cheaper but I am spoiled and will only use silicone soap molds now. So after looking at this beautiful new big batch handmade soap mold for a few weeks, I finally got the nerve up to venture into the shop and make a batch. Borrowed the big guy’s electric power drill and hooked up the squirrel cage mixer to it. I had saved a large 55 pound bucket which had held shea butter to to mix the oils and lye solution so I was good to go. For the first batch, I decided to make my Lemongrass soap since this recipe moves at a reasonable pace and would be easy to work with.
Here are the buckets of melted oil and lye water solution waiting to be combined.
Part of the prep was getting the poppy seeds and mineral pigment used for color mixed and ready.
Here is the drill with squirrel cage attachment waiting to go into action. Felt like I kid when I used this to mix the soap up. Something new and it was really easy and fun! Don’t know why I was so intimidated.
And…here we go, the soap solution has emulsified, I’ve added the color, poppy seeds and essential oils and the soap is almost ready to pour into the mold. I was having so much fun using the mixer that the soap almost went into a heavy trace which is not what I like. Caught things just in time.
Finally, the soap is ready to pour into the mold. Really, it didn’t take long. Maybe 10 minutes from start to finish.
And…the finished soap logs ready to be cut into handmade soap bars! The sweet part… I get eight soap logs out of this one mold which is soaptacular! We will definitely be making a mother mold and pouring our own silicone liners. I’m sold!
Been thinking a lot about this next year and what changes and new products I need to focus on. My primary focus of this business is offering handmade soap but I also like to round this out with other natural bath and body care products that customers ask me specifically for. Feedback is very important and I do listen. It may take a bit but I store all the bits and pieces of information that I receive from my wonderful customers in the back of my mind until I’m ready to draw on it. So..with that said, I want to add several goat milk soaps to the goat milk product line. All based upon natural fragrances. Got two specifically in mind that I tested last season. A mojito blend using a killer key lime essential oil and a complex citrus scent using a blend of lemongrass, litsea cubea, key lime, folded orange and a touch of bay and patchouli. I’m also really partial to spearmint and patchouli. Simple but delicious! Two spa type handmade soaps will debut in the Spring. A dead sea mud and massage soap with tapioca pearls. I think these will do well for our wholesale soap customers. I’m finally moving closer too to adding liquid soap to the product line. The soap formula is done. What’s been holding me back are the labels. I had the disk sent here with the graphic art work but it cracked and is not useable so I have to order another disk. Bummer! It’s been a bit of a headache but it will get done! I’ve also decided to bring back the massage oil I used to make due to the many requests I’ve had. The plan is for a muscle/pain blend, a sleep blend and another that is fragrance free. And..if I can at all make it happen, I’d really like a goat milk and shea butter body cream to pair with the lotion. Whew! I’ll be busy.
Well…it’s quickly becoming apparent that pricing is climbing quickly on a certain essential oil I use a lot of in making handmade soap. All forms of Lavender oil is taking a huge hit. I am starting to get concerned. We are not talking little price increases but huge jumps and quick ones at that. I think Lavender is the most asked for fragrance when customers buy handmade soap directly and also when we wholesale soap. Big sigh…from what I can find out this is the third year for bad Lavender production and so we could see high prices for the next year or so. Not good at all. I’d really hate to have to use a Lavender fragrance oil until pricing comes back down but may have to if things get too much out of hand. We will see! Not only Lavender but Patchouli and Coconut Oil are also climbing again. Oh fun!
The past couple of week ends I’ve had the new handmade soap displays set up at the outdoor market I attend most weekends. This market is the Portland Saturday Market which is gigantic and keeps me pretty busy. I get to meet and talk with retail customers but also potential wholesale soap customers too. Handmade soap is very, very heavy and so it was really important to try to come up with a display system that would allow me to fill it in the shop and just set up at the market. Reduction of tubs of inventory was the main motivator in order to save my back every week end. Every outdoor market, fair or special event that I’ve attended to market my handmade soap company at has always had 10 x 10 booth spaces. Trying to condense things into a 8 x 8 space is no easy task. We are almost there but not quite. I love how the handmade soap bars are displayed in their new do but the booth is still too stark. We will need to jazz things up a bit. How? Well…now, guess I’m going to have to figure that out.
One of the fun things about being a handmade soap company is blending essential oils together to use in handmade soap. Sometimes you hit on what you think will be a great blend out of the bottle so to speak but once it hits the soap pot it quickly morphs into something that grows out of a swamp. No kidding! On the other hand, you can mix up a blend and it doesn’t strike your fancy out of the bottle but is just beautiful in handmade soap. Today I poured a test blend of what I think I’ll call Summer Solstice. I know, I should have made this soap a few months ago, but hey, better late than never. It is a essential oil blend of Lavender, Litsea Cubea or May Chang and Patchouli. Nothing fancy but I am pretty confident that these handmade soap bars once cut will smell awesome! Here it is just poured in the slab. If this soap goes over like I think it will at the Portland Saturday Market then I’ll add it to the website and as a wholesale soap selection. That’s the best part of doing markets, I can see how a new handmade soap is received before making the decision to add it to the line. Nothing like doing a little market research!
We are in the process of designing portable new handmade soap displays which should make my life a bit easier when doing shows and markets. I am getting very excited. I can see potential for wholesale soap displays in these too. This is a prototype that was put together this past weekend. The finished displays will each hold five different types of handmade soap bars with 15 of each fragrance. I will be able to load the display in the shop and set it up fully loaded at the event I’m at. This will save SO much time! The finished product will be made of birch and black walnut. It’s going to be great! Thanks to my wonderful husband who is always thinking of ways to streamline my workflow.
Well…yesterday, I opened up my laptop and could not get the darned thing to start up properly. Nothing, nada, zip! As I’m sitting there with the laptop on my lap trying to get the screen to come on, I’m thinking of about all the essential oil recipes for my handmade soaps, documents for my wholesale soap accounts, photos for the website, saponification tables for my workshop and just about all the pertinent information I need to function while making handmade soap! While this is all rapidly going through my mind, I remember the slip drives I purchased to back up all my information but those were still sitting on my desk. By now, I’m starting to sweat with anxiety! Yes, dripping! I get dressed and take a drive down to the computer shop I use to fix all my screw ups. I walk in and the nice young man asks me what the problem is. I proceed to tell him in a panic that the laptop won’t start up and I need it because I’ve got a lot of important information on it regarding my handmade soap company!!! He opens it, presses the start button and voila, the laptop miraculously turns on. I’m standing there dumbfounded. Apparently, the dork that I am did not press the start button hard enough. So today, I am backing up all my files and vowing to do this on a weekly basis. Yes I am!
It’s my belief that packaging and presentation is almost as important as the quality of the handmade soap being offered to our wholesale soap customers. That’s why I went to the expense of having custom made soap boxes made to fit our handmade soap bars. Not only do these boxes allow our wholesale soap orders to arrive in pristine condition at the retailers place of business but also prevents damage by all the handling the handmade soaps receive prior to purchase by individual customers. The soaps display neatly on the shelf and the boxes protect the handmade soap bars from from all the handling that they receive. No more dinged up and too loose cigar bands!
