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

Are you Labeling Challenged?

Labeling products properly is one of the most important tasks that I face as I work on building my business. Not only is important to the end consumer, who wants to know what's in the product that they are purchasing, it is important from a legal standpoint as well. As small business owners who produce handmade bath and beauty products, we are required to use INCI names for our ingredients and we are bound by FDA regulations, the Fair Product and Labeling Act, the Uniform Weights & Measures Law, as well as various state and local laws. There are rules regarding minimum font sizes, and rules for what can and can't be on the main label. It's enough to give anyone a migraine. So what's a soapmaker to do? Get a copy of Marie Gale's book, Soap & Cosmetic Labeling, 2nd Edition. It's an excellent guide to the proper labeling of soap, cosmetics and other bath and body products. There are lots of examples in the book. My copy is quickly becoming dogeared as I turn to it repeatedly. If you don't already own a copy of this book, do yourself a favor and get one.

The Unlovely Cake and Plain Jane Soap

Hmmm, you may think, what do cake and soap have in common? Well, in this case, quite a bit. This zucchini cake with caramel frosting is decidedly aesthetically challenged, especially before it was frosted. It was a bit lumpy and had a ridge that ran all the way around it, probably where the zucchini settled into the batter. But just one bite of this exceptionally moist cake, especially if that bite has a bit of yummy caramel frosting, and you will forget all about how homely it looks. LuraLu's Plain Jane soap is like that too. It is quite plain, with no colorants added and no fragrance, but it gives tons of rich creamy lather, and leaves your skin feeling great with out that tight feeling that some soaps leave you with. Because there is nothing in this soap to irritate sensitive skin, it is beloved by those who have eczema, psoriasis, and other skin ailments. No, it isn't a miracle soap that will heal you. If it was it would no longer be classified as soap. It would be considered a drug and I don't do drugs. It's what isn't in this soap that makes it so special. There is simply nothing in it to irritate you. Try it you'll like it, I promise. And that's just what I told my husband about this cake. You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, and you shouldn't judge homemade cakes, and handmade soaps by their looks either. You may miss out on something wonderful if you do. By the way, one bite and my husband agreed, although he still says he would prefer an apple cake, and he still prefers his soap to be fragranced.

An inexpensive way to take better product photos!

No, it doesn't require a fancy schmancy high-dollar camera. But if you're into that sort of thing, hey, don't let me stop you. For the rest of us, who just want to take a good product photo without spending a fortune, try the Ott-Lite. They've been popular with crafters for years with very good reason. The Ott-Lite produces a bright natural light comparable to daylight. They reduce eyestrain, show better truer colors and don;t cause glare and distortion. And most importantly for those of us trying desperately to take good product photos, anything photographed with an Ott-Lite shining down on it, is going to look a lot better than the same object under conventional lighting.

I found an Ott-Lite on sale at Lowes. It was originally $99, I think, and I got it for $39, but you could the same result by visiting Michaels or Joanns and purchasing an Ott bulb with a regular lamp base. That should cost you less than $10 and you'll be amazed at the difference it can make.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm In Love With a Balm!

Kiss-E All Natural Vitamin E Lip Balm, from T.A. Helton of Coffeehouse Suds is amazing! I know from personal experience how hard it can be to develop the perfect balm formula. Some are too hard and waxy while some are too soft and mushy. But just like the third bowl of porridge for Goldilocks, this balm is JUST RIGHT! I was fortunate enough to receieve one of these delightful strawberry flavored balms in the Bath Tweets swap at the Alabama Soap & Candle Association's annual meeting last month. If you've been looking for the perfect balm, your search is over. Try one. You'll be glad you did!

Neat Things I Found at Lotion Crafter!

I just finished placing an order with LotionCrafter and for once I took the time to browse the site rather than just quickly ordering what I needed and moving on to the next thing. I am SO glad that I did. I found several neat things there. I found a spatula with a notch conveniently built in that allows you to set your spatula down across the top of your bowl without fear of having it fall into the bowl, and with no fear of contaminating it if you lay it down. I didn't know I needed this until I saw it, but luckily Jenny at Lotioncrafter did. They also offer a drip clip that allows you to clip a spoon to a bowl, and a wide assortment of tiny measuring spoons and cups. I also found a melting pot that can make lip balms a breeze. If you haven't taken the time to browse her site lately, be sure that you do, You'll be amazed at the tools she offers that can make formulating a lot easier and a lot less messy.

And the winner is .........Sindy Anderson (sssoap)!

Congratulations, Sindy! Folks, I apologize for being late in conducting the drawing. I intended to do it July 1st, but as previously mentioned I took a few days off from the computer. Sindy, I'll pop it in the mail to you tomorrow. And Sandi, don't feel bad, you can still have one in exchange for another of those awesome lotion bars. As for the rest of you, keep those comments coming and if you're not following me already, please do. We'll pick another random winner on August 1.

If you're a blogger who runs competitions & contests on your blog or website, I highly recommend the free software program The Hat. It's a a simple but effective utility which offers an easy way to automatically determine a random name from the list of names you specify, and yes, it's the software that I used to choose the winner for the contest.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Hi there! I took a break from the computer this past week to focus on family. I hope you noticed, LOL! I'll be back posting on a regular basis next week, and may post over the weekend if I find myself with a few spare minutes. I hope that you will all have a safe and happy fourth of July. I am a big kid when it comes to fireworks. There's a big celebration nearby at the American Village in Montevallo and I'll be there oohing and ahhing more than any other kid. While you're enjoying the festivities in your area, be sure to take a moment to reflect on the meaning and the history behind our celebrations. Be sure to share the history and the menaing with the young folks around you. Our forefathers fought hard and many gave their lives so we could all enjoy freedom, especially religious freedom. I don't think they would be happy at the way that God has been removed from the equation in so many ways. I know they wouldn't be happy at the way that prayer has been removed form schools and so may public events. Where is the freedom in that?

Ok, off my soap box now, or is it back on the soapbox? I'd like to share some patriotic soaps with you. Perhaps they'll inspire you as they did me.

Red, White & Blue CP Soaps from Kelly Bloom of Bloomworks and Southern Soapers

Red, White & Blue M&P Loaf also from Kelly Bloom of Bloomworks and Southern Soapers.

Patriotic Soap

Patriotic Soap on Etsy

Painted Patriotic Bird House Soaps

Patriotic Soap from SoapLove

Have a great 4th!