It would be nice just to play with soap batter all day long but at some point business stuff will catch up to you. Now that holiday craft fairs are getting into gear I have to make labels, set up booths, package and price my soaps. This is not my favorite thing to do, nor I imagine it is no soapers favorite thing but work I will!
I am also setting up my first online store; only slightly less tedious but a little more creativity involved. I am struggling finding a balance between casual sales and full blown retail. I am attempting a "sell it when you got it" mentality. Finding that balance is difficult but I am determined. Pacing yourself in the soap world can be difficult but I plan on having the creativity part be more important than the business side. That isn't to say I wouldn't like to make some money. Money is good, I like money.
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Two things that have changed my thought process; silicone molds and leftovers in the fridge.
1. silicone is amazing when it comes to modern soaping. Nothing better! The cost of silicone molds is another thing altogether. There are basically 3 categories of silicone molds: baking, chocolate making, and finally soap making. Anything that is labeled as soap making will usually cost the most. Why? beats me. I usually find the cheapest cupcake molds or discount baking sets. When making embeds I find cheap chocolate molds the least expensive. Honestly though the cutest most awesome molds are always soap molds and they will get me eventually. I am sort of ashamed to say I have a large hamper full of molds. I will be 90 years old before I make my money back from all this rubbery goodness. Well you can't put a price on happiness. Mine is about $8.00 a bar. (On a side note cheaper doesn't translate to not as good, sometimes I find cheap is even better. Cheap molds tend to be thinner and easier to release.) 2.Recycling takes on new meaning when your a soaper. No longer do soggy cucumbers and mushy fruit go into the compost pile. We have an entire shelf of baby food which wouldn't seem strange if we had a baby. Flat soda and beer never sees the sink drain and empty milk cartons bypass the recycling bin completely. My mom saves me her Pringles cans,(haloed by soap makers). Tim now wonders why the half & half disappears so quickly and why the used coffee grounds are in a cup next to the coffee maker. I now have 1 lb. sacks of salt and have started buying sugar again ( I'm a diabetic). I even have taken to pulling Spanish moss out of our trees and stealing water and sand from the beach. Yes I'm a soapaholic and I have a problem. So now I have a large portion of my freezer dedicated to frozen "this and thats", for my soaps. I'd like to think I am doing my part to reduce landfill, at least that is what I tell myself... I just wanted to try my hand at soap making cause I was bored. It seemed like a good way to pass some time and maybe make some gifts for relatives. I think my favorite thing is hunting down recipes. I am truly recipe obsessed. I see no reason to make my own recipes since there are so many wonderful recipes on the web and in books but I do a lot of free styling when I am happy with a basic recipe. Yes I agree that people should get credit for recipes on line; but really are there any original ideas? Not sure- There are complicated and easy recipes; old fashioned and modern recipes; sophisticated and rustic recipes but original, hard to say. Some soapers have very distinctive styles, and yes, no one should rip them off blatantly and bad, bad when someone steels a photo, very bad. There are some styles that will just pop up all over the place spontaneously so soapers need to be realistic. no one ever steels from me cause I rarely make the same soap twice. That is just to boring for me and not why I started soaping.
Some 5 months and some 900 bars of soap later my husband wakes up with the scent of lavender wafting out from under the bed. Who am I kidding the soap has now filled up our book cases and boxes stacked to the ceiling. We are down to one bathroom since the other one has drying racks in the shower and a work table over the toilet and the laundry room has soap displays piled in the only available space. Long story short, I have now started selling soap. It was either start selling soap or ask my husband to move out 'cause I need the space. His half of the walk in closet would be perfect. I tell you all this not because I am discouraging anyone from making soap but if you are the creative type think twice. If you are artistic, the skies the limit on your ideas; if you are a baker then soaping is just like baking except for the lye; if you are the anal retentive type then the exacting formulations will appeal to you. If any of you get into soap making then be prepared to have soap making take over your life. If however you are the more contained type of individual that would like to make a healthy product for your family and soaping is no more important than dusting or laundry then this is yet another skill you can add to your knowledge pool and boy was soaping made for you. |
Soaperwoman
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