It's time for the Saponifier's Reader's Choice Awards

Announcement from Saponifier magazine:

Greetings!

Here we are again, collecting data for the Saponifier's 3rd annual Readers Choice "Supplier Awards"

Since the past two years 'Supplier Awards' proved to be so popular across the industry, we've opened the polls for 2009!

This has proved immensely popular, both with suppliers and readers, so we have decided to make this an ongoing effort every year. The industry seems to love it, and has drawn so much interest both far-and-wide making our 'Awards' issue the largest one- both in single-copy sales as well as new subscribers.

Place your vote at http://saponifier.2009-awards.sgizmo.com.

Please note: The count was reset at approximately 6:00 pm today (August 11, 2009). due to the possibility that the original survey might have appeared leading or suggestive in ways not intended. If you have already taken the survey, please resubmit your answers.

Go vote for your favorite supplier today!

Famous Quotes About Soap

Making mostly natural handmade soap is one of my favorite pastimes. Soapmaking involves the use of lye, which can be dangerous especially around children and pets, so I have a designated soaping area in the basement, away from everyone else. I thought I might like to brighten it up a little with some art work. I have a metal sign advertising "Grandma's lye soap", and a painting of an old claw foot bath tub filled with bubbles and a bathing beauty. They're both nice, but I though it needed somethign more, perhaps a poster with some interesting quotes about soap. Here are a few that I like.

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul”
Yiddish Proverb

What is elegance? Soap and water!
Cecil Beaton

Anyone's life truly lived consists of work, sunshine, exercise, soap, plenty of fresh air, and a happy contented spirit.
Lillie Langtry

My grandmothers are full of memories, smelling of soap and onions and wet clay, with veins rolling roughly over quick hands, they have many clean words to say, my grandmothers were strong.
Margaret Walker

People used to complain that selling a president was like selling a bar of soap. But when you buy soap, at least you get the soap. In this campaign you just get two guys telling you they really value cleanliness.
David Brooks

Wash four distinct and separate times, using lots of lather each time from individual bars of soap.
Howard Hughes

“And a nice little boy had a nice cake of soap, / Worthy of washing the hands of the Pope.”
Rev. R. H. Barham

And one of my favorites, from the movie "Something's Gotta Give"
Julian Mercer (Keanu Reeves): I knew you'd smell good.
Erica (Diane Keaton): It's just... soap.

LOL! It must have been a handmade beautifully scented soap, one of ours!

There was also a scene in "The Preacher's Wife" where Dudley (the angel played by Denzel Washington) was fascinated by Beverly's (Loretta Devine's) scent. And of course it was......drumroll.....you guessed it, soap :). I can't remember or find the exact quote but I loved it.

Do you have a favorite quote about soap to share?

Patchouli....do you love it or hate it?

I don't know anyone one who is on the fence about patchouli. It seems to be one of those fragrances that you either love or hate. Some people say the hippies are to blame for the low popularity of patchouli. Their free and easy lifestyle didn't always lend itself to bathing regularly and they used patchouli liberally for it's supposed deoderant properties and aphrodisiac properties. Yes, aphrodisiac properties. I kid you not. I don't see that. I must admit, when my rather expensive bottle of patchouli arrived, it was definitely not love at first sniff. It smelled rather like dirt. My first impulse was to quickly garage sale it to some poor misguided soul who actually liked it. Fortunately, I took the advice of more experienced friends and tried blending it. I made soap a few days ago with it a blend of lavender and patchouli, and I DO love it! It adds a fascinating depth to the lavender. I've been told that when I soap it just by itself, it will smell better than it does straight out of the bottle. I'll let you know when I try that. For now, do any of you have any other patchouli blends that you just love? If so, please share.

Essential Oils vs Fragrance Oils

When I first began to make soaps, I gravitated toward fragrance oils because they were easy. They were easy to get, easy to use, no blending necessary and for the most part they were less expensive than quality essential oils. I have my favorite fragrance oils that will always have their place in my products, however, as I have grown as a soapmaker, I find that I want to get to know essential oils as well. The key difference between fragrance oils and essential oils is that essential oils are derived from the the leaves, stems, flowers, bark, roots, or other elements of a plant, whereas frgrance oils also known as perfume oils are synthetica. It is believed that most if not all essential oils offer therapeutic benefits. I am slowly building my collection of essential oils. So far I have sweet orange EO, rosemary EO, peppermint EO, clove EO, cinnamon EO, eucalyptus EO, and citronella EO. My latest aquisition was a rather pricey patchouli. We'll talk abou it tomorrow. When it arrived and I opened the bottle for a sniff, I asked myself why I had ordered it. I was not impressed. We'll talk more about patchouli tomorrow.

More help with labels for your soaps & lotions

If you have Marie Gales book on labeling that I mentioned in a previous post, then you should know exactly what has to go on the label and what sizes fonts must be. Soyou have it made, right? Not so fast. If you're anything like me, making your labels "pretty" can be just as intimidating as getting them technically correct. I am happy to report that help is available. World Label is offering two different designs for candle and bath and body product labels. Each design is available in 10 different label sizes, some rectangular, some circular, and some oval. They are in pdf format and allow you to change the font type, size, or color with ease. Check them out here.

On Vacation

As you probably guessed from yesterday's wordless Wednesday photos, my husband, my grandson, and I are on vacation. We're staying in an old Victorian inn on St. George Island. The proprietress, Jan, is very nice, and treats us like family. We'll be leaving tomorrow and Saturday I'll be in Atlanta for the Indie Breakfast with Donna Maria and Joann Hines, the packaging diva. I can't wait. I'll definitely be blogging about that over the weekend.

Wordless Wednesday