Testing Day

I've been working (ever so slowly) on a new line of soaps that are going to be fun in color, fragrance, and name, and a little more economical than our round classic soaps. So today I spent the day testing new fragrance oil blends and color blends. Here are some of my test soap samples. Each are labeled with the scent or color blend I used.


Now if I could only remember what I scented this white, unlabeled sample with.

More New Candle Melt Scents!

We've added some new candle melt scents! As well as being great as they are, several are great blenders, meaning you can mix them with other fragrances of candle melts we carry for a different or unique blend of your own.

White Vanilla: Strong yet light vanilla with subtle notes of white orchid and white musk. No bakery notes so that even those of you that are not into food type scents would probably enjoy this one. Great on it’s own or try blending it with any of our floral or fruit scents.

Cinnamon Strudel: Flaky pastry made with real butter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar warm from the oven. This is great on it’s own or mix with any of our fruit scents for a delicious fruit pie scent.

Peppermint and Eucalyptus: A clean, brisk, energizing blend of two favorites.

Baked Apple Cinnamon: This is a yummy baked apple sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar and butter. And if you aren’t counting carbs blend this with our Cinnamon Strudel for a wonderful Cinnamon Apple Strudel scent.

Testing new pumpkin and spice scents!

I've spent the last couple days testing pumpkin and spice scents for our candle melts and during this time I've learned that 99% of these type of fragrances are predominately cinnamon blends. Now I like cinnamon, but what's happened to clove, allspice, or nutmeg(one of my favorites)? They probably don't sell as well (big sigh.) Oh well, I do have a couple pumpkin scents that smelled yummy when pouring my testers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will throw well in our melts.... To be continued!

New candle melts scents added!

New candle melts scents added to our web store, and all other scents (except Lily of the Valley) are back in stock. New scents include the following: Bartlette Pear, Clean Cotton, Twilight Woods, Ripe Cantaloupe, Lemongrass & Sage, Black Raspberry Cream, Sliced Pineapple, and Apple Harvest. For descriptions see web store;)

If you notice, many of the scents we carry are single notes fragrances which make for easy blending. For example if you like apples and oranges, blend our new Apple Harvest with our California Orange. Like Lavender blends ? Try blending our Soft Lavender with our new Clean Cotton, or classic White Gardenia or.........you get the idea. The blending combinations are endless.

Fresh Soap!?

I was recently at a local market when I heard a fellow soapmaker promoting their product as being "freshly made." Ahh, fresh soap! Sounds so good doesn't it? And watching how people were responding to this marketing angle it was working! I mean we all love fresh things like fresh baked bread, fresh picked vegetables, or fresh bottled milk. So why not fresh soap? We'll because like a fine wine, soap is best with aging, or what is known in soap maker's lingo as "curing."

Curing is a very important part of the soap making process and should not be overlooked by the serious soapmaker. Curing allows freshly made soap to lose the excess moisture leftover from the soap making process thereby causing it to become harder, longer lasting, and better lathering. Curing also allows time for the soap to become milder (ph lowers naturally with cure time) and thus much gentler on the skin than a piece of freshly made soap. The curing process usually takes about 1 month to six weeks and sometimes even longer depending on the soaping method used and the oils used in the recipe. And there's just no good substitute for the time spent curing soap if one wants to produce a premium soap. So leave fresh for bread, vegetables and milk, but buy soap that has aged some if you truly want a premium product.

Some of our Almond Delight soap on the curing rack. The card notes the date it is ready for sale.

Two Best Sellers Back in Stock!

Our Best Selling Almond Delight (made with freshly ground almonds) and Oatmeal, Milk & Honey (made with whole ground oatmeal, local raspberry honey, and creamy goat milk) are back in stock!
Almond Delight- Oatmeal Milk & Honey

Mango & Cream

Yum! Coming July 17th our Mango & Cream scented soap. Ever have a mango shake? Well this delicious fragrance reminds me of just that. Ripe, succulent mango blended with sweet vanilla cream makes for one dreamy, tropical treat!