Much of today has been spent putting together gift sets for Saturday’s craft fair:
- Take a (fully cured & bevelled) bar of soap, a co-ordinating facecloth and a wooden soap stand:
Wrapping Gift Sets – A Tutorial
10 Tips for Organising a Craft Fair
Last Saturday I had a stall at a local craft fair. Not any old craft fair mind you, this was important to me for two reasons. First off, it was right here, in my village – the first one we’ve ever had. Secondly, it was the first craft fair that I’ve organised myself. It was the culmination of a couple off months of planning, and, if I’m honest, a fair bit of anxiety. I needn’t have worried – it was a great success, so I thought I’d share with you here a few things to consider if you’d like to organise something similar yourself.
- Do your research regarding other markets and craft fairs in the area and make sure your event doesn’t clash with another on the same day. As well as competing for visitors, you’ll also be competing for stallholders.
- As soon as you’ve decided on a date, secure your venue. You don’t want to be inviting stallholders until you’ve confirmed your accommodation for the day.
- Invite / organise crafters as far in advance as possible. Many crafters book themselves into markets and craft fairs many months ahead. It’s also worth considering asking for a deposit on the cost of the table – this decreases the risk of stallholders not turning up on the day.
- Ensure that all your stallholders have public liability insurance.
- Ensure you know how many tables you can fit into the available space. You don’t want to ask 20 crafters to attend and then find when you’re setting up that you can only fit 19 tables into the room! It’s definitely worth having a trial ‘set up’ before deciding how many crafters to invite.
- Don’t double up on crafts unless it’s a BIG event. There’s nothing worse for a stallholder than setting up at a fair of, say, 12 stalls to find that there are two or three other stallholders there selling something very similar. It’s not fair on any of them.
- Don’t try to charge too much per stall / table, especially if it’s the first time this event has taken place. You won’t have any idea what the footfall is going to be and won’t be able to make any claims as to likely number of visitors.
- Advertising, advertising, advertising. You want as many people walking through the door of your venue as possible, so this is an instance where too much advertising is never enough. Get your event all over Facebook – on your personal feed (ask friends to share), on local selling pages, and on local community sites. Put a small ad in the local newspaper, a paragraph in the parish magazine, get it listed on’What’s Happening in Your Area’ type websites. Make sure there are posters put up in the area. Don’t forget your local tourist bureau and local hotels / guest houses if you live in a popular area for visitors – local crafts are just the thing that they’ll be interested in.
- Have a spare cash float or two. It’s not unheard of for stallholders to arrive at a craft fair without their cash box. Not me of course, oh no… well, only that once a few months ago 😀 and I was both grateful and impressed that the organisers had thought to bring along a couple of ‘spare’ floats for just that eventuality.
- Rope in as much help as possible. Setting up, decorating the venue and getting plenty of directional signage outside and in the immediate area can take longer than you anticipate. If you’re also planning on holding raffle / tombola / lucky dip / cake stall you’ll need yet more hands on deck.
- A bonus tip – if you’re holding the craft fair or market to raise money for a local cause, consider also having a raffle / tombola / lucky dip / tea, coffee & cakes stall. Just make sure that you put out the call for donations well in advance
I IG, do you?
I love Instagram. I was a bit of a late adopter, signing up in October 2014, posting once and then posting a second time in November. I didn’t really get the point of it to be honest, and didn’t post again until February of the following year.
However, once I had devoted just a little bit of thought and time to it, I began to see the benefits:
- Promoting the business. By actively seeking out potential stockists on IG, following them, interacting with them and even direct messaging them, I’ve gained five new wholesale accounts in the last 9 months.
- Connecting with other soapmakers. When you’re as obsessed with soapmaking as I am, following, ‘meeting’ and chatting online with other soapmakers (many of whom are now Facebook friends too) is a joy. I once tried to reach out to a local soapmaker with the hope of soapy chats over mugs of tea (can’t stand coffee lol) but was rebuffed. I have no idea why, but I thought it was a shame – there are absolutely enough customers out there for the both of us but hey ho… I digress – IG has helped me to meet loads of other lovely, friendly and inspirational soapmakers, even if it is only online.
- Which brings me to – Inspiration. Now I’m not talking about seeing someone else’s soap and copying it – that’s very much frowned upon, and rightly so. No, my inspirational browsing is purely revelling in the beauty and creativity that is other people’s soaps. Sometimes I might see something that inspires me to try a particular natural colourant, or give a particular technique a go. Sadly though, I’m usually too busy making my own restocks that I rarely get the opportunity to ‘play’ and experiment.
- It’s a vanity platform. Let’s be honest, it’s a rare person who doesn’t enjoy a bit of positive feedback. Once you have a few followers and those hearts and comments start totting up, it’s quite a confidence booster.
These days Instagram is overwhelmingly my favourite social medium. Follow me here for daily photos of soap and more.
Blogtober 2016, Day 24. Completed with 13 mins to spare… And breathe….
Makeovers (7. Love Spell / Bewitched)
The soap that I’ve long called ‘Love Spell’ is scented with a fragrance oil that is a copy of the designer perfume ‘Love Spell’ by Victoria’s Secret. Having recently applied for my bath bomb assessment, which includes bombs fragranced with the same fragrance oil, I was reminded that I can’t call them (or my soap!) Love Spell as it contravenes copyright. I knew this, and I should have changed it ages ago, but to be honest I just didn’t spend the time to come up with a replacement. As it was, when I received the message from my assessor, the new name came to me within a minute or two. Typical! Anyway, it will henceforth be known as Bewitched.
I first made it back in the summer of 2014. You can clearly see where the top portion, coloured with titanium dioxide, shrank more than the rest of the bar during the curing process. The top was simply spattered with leftover soap batter:
Soon after that I got into tiger stripe pouring, which I initially made with a flat top (and experimented with some black stripes):
And later with a textured top:
Finally I brought it in line with the rest of the range i.e. with a full bar drop swirl:
Day 23 of Blogtober 2016. I’m starting to believe I can actually do this 😀
Name that Soap! (Competition Time)
I have a brand new essential oil bar, and it needs a name… This bar is scented with lavender, lemon and lime EOs. Heavier on the lavender and lemon, lighter on the lime, but it’s definitely discernible.
I’m offering a free bar to the person who comes up with the name that I eventually select, and you can either enter below in the comments field, or on the competition post on my FB page. It’s open to anyone, wherever you are in the world – I’ll cover postage costs too (last time I did this it the bar went over the pond to the US). So don’t be shy – I know you’re a creative lot!!
FYI The other essential oil bars in my range are called Serenity, Clarity, Peace, Boho Baby, Flowers and Luscious Lavender.
PS – the winning name will be chosen on Saturday 29th October, 9pm UK time.
Go go go!!
The Mermaid Spa, Portmeirion
It’s been a busy month on the wholesale front, and I’m so happy to introduce yet another new stockist of our luxury handmade soap – The Mermaid Spa in the extraordinary village of Portmerion.
For those not in the know, Portmeirion is an Italianate village designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975. It’s situated on a headland on the north Wales coast, and the spa itself overlooks the estuary. It’s a stunningly beautiful and relaxing place to have a spa – the perfect place to visit for a bit of R&R if you’re in the area.
Yesterday they took delivery of a great selection of our soap – as if you needed another reason to visit such a glorious place!
Chaos Reigns on Throwback Thursday
A spanner has been thrown into the Blogtober 2016 works. This week my kitchen (well, the entire interior of the back of my house) has been ripped out. Right back to the brick:
I knew it was coming, but I stuck my head in the sand and told my myself everything would be ok. Well of course it is, and it will be even better, but flipping heck it’s having a major effect on daily life!! Needless to say I’ve not had much of an opportunity over the last few days to just sit and write, so here I am, again, with just 63 minutes of the day left, determined to get Blogtober Day 20 out before midnight.
Fortunately for me, today is Thursday, so I can do a little #throwbackthursday post.
This here soap is one of the very first drop swirls that I made to sell, made on the 15th June 2014. If you know my current range, you’ll know that I’m rather partial to a drop swirl, and here, folks, is kinda where it all started. Things have changed a bit since then:
Black Jack was fragranced with Aniseed and Spearmint essential oils, and although I thought it smelled utterly amazing, sadly Joe Public didn’t and It was dropped from the lineup PDQ. Perhaps one day I’ll make it again, just for me 🙂
I’ll be back tomorrow with Blogtober Day 21. I Will. I WILL 😀
10 Favourite Foods
When I woke on Saturday 1st October, the idea for this blogfest of daily posting came from some fellow bloggers who had all committed to participate in Blogtober 2016 as organised by Mandi at Hex Mum +1
I very much wanted to do my own thing though. I needed to get used to blogging again after a few months away from the keyboard, and I also wanted to find out whether I would/could be inspired to find something to write about every day.
Having got halfway through the month it seems that inspiration isn’t an issue at all, but lack of time is. I have ideas for many posts, but many of them will take more time than I usually have to do justice to the topic.
So today I’m going to rattle off a fairly quick one, and for this I’m referring back to Mandi’s original list of themes:
October 19th – 10 Favourite Foods.
I love food. I was a terribly picky, fussy child, but as an adult there’s very little I won’t eat. Unfortunately, while I’m eating my way through the foods of the world (except for tripe, and goat’s cheese, bleugh!) my children are channelling my youthful aversion to anything remotely interesting. Karma…
So, in the interests of sharing a little more of me, I give you 10 of my favourite foods, in no particular order (note, I don’t say my 10 favourite foods – there are far too many favourites for that kind of narrow mindedness :-D)
- Cheese. Yep, despite considering goat’s cheese to be an abomination, I LOVE all other types of cheese, especially Camembert and Stilton. A good mature cheddar is a thing of wonder too.
- Chocolate Mousse. Not just any chocolate mousse mind. It has to be a dense, rich, dark chocolate mousse. The more like a ganache the better…
- Smoked Salmon.
- Great bread dipped in extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- Moules Marinière
- Steak (rare) and chips
- Crispy, oven baked jacket potato with (real) butter and cheese
- My mum’s raspberry trifle. Oh my word I salivate just thinking about it. I guess I should share the recipe here sometime.
- Pizza. Not necessarily a fancy pants pizza, just one made by my husband with plenty of mozzarella, pepperoni, onions, peppers and mushrooms. Yum!
- Chicken fajitas, nice and spicy with lots of guacamole and sour cream. A traditional Saturday Night In dish in our house.
I’m not sure whether there’s anything more you can read between the lines here, but there you go, you now know a little more about this Soapmaker.
The Christmas Specials
This year I’ve made three seasonal bars especially for the Christmas period. These are limited edition soaps – there are only 29 available of each fragrance – but they’re made with the same luxurious base recipe of highest quality, food grade oils and butters that all our bars are made of.
It still feels rather early to many to be thinking about the holiday period, but these bars need a good 6 weeks curing time, so won’t be ready to buy until mid-November – just in time to start shopping 😀
Without any further ado – here are:
Christmas Tree (Cool herbal fragrance of pine, mint, green leaf and ozone, hints of jasmine and lily and supported by notes of precious woods, amber and patchouli)
Three Kings (A resinous, woody-oriental fragrance with citrus top notes mingling with warm base of frankincense, myrrh and amber), topped with gold mica.
Candy Cane (Buttery peppermint and spearmint with hints of vanilla)
Luvit, Barmouth
I am VERY excited to announce that we have a brand new stockist!
Luvit is a gorgeous gift shop on the High Street in Barmouth, in the south west corner of the Snowdonia National Park.
Owena at Luvit is very supportive of local makers, and sells a wide range of lovely gifts, many of which have a retro / vintage twist. And now she now also stocks a selection of our luxury handmade soaps too – woohoo!! Please pop in and have a look if you’re in the area 😀
Check out Luvit’s Facebook page too.
Dinosoap!
I rarely make novelty soaps, but I spotted a great dinosaur mould and thought the kids – my kids that is – might like some dinosaur shaped soap. They were a HUGE hit so I’ve made a few more batches to sell as stocking fillers at the Christmas fairs. Made with exactly the same base recipe that I use for my regular bars, some are scented with a Christmas Tree FO and others with a Jelly Beans FO which is always popular with children.
Hopefully they’ll go down as well with my customers as they did with my children:
This was Day 16 of Blogtober – hanging on in there 😀
Swiss Roll
Today has mostly been spent keeping the children occupied, made easier by the fact we had a 3rd birthday party to attend this afternoon – 28 small children and a bouncy castle kept the adults on their toes! Once the kids were in bed, wrapping and labelling soap took up most of my evening and once again I’m on the threshold of being late with my latest Blogtober post. Deadline is T minus 80 minutes – eek!
Today I thought I’d share something a bit different. I’ve been baking for much, MUCH longer than I’ve been soaping; I was baking with my mother as a small girl, and I’ve continued to do throughout my adult life. There are undoubtedly similarities between soapmaking and baking, so I thought today I would share one of my recipes and see if I can’t inspire a soapmaker out there to try it.
Sadly, the time to bake just doesn’t seem to materialise these days, and the closest I get to baking is catching up with The Great British Bake Off while wrapping soap. Last week the contestants were asked to make a roulade, which, let’s be honest, is nothing more than a big, fancy Swiss Roll. Homemade Swiss Roll is MILES better than the mass produced ones that you can buy at the supermarket, is really quick to make and has the added bonus of being a fat-free sponge. What’s not to like?
Pre-heat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
Take 3 large eggs. Weigh these three eggs (unbroken, in their shells) before you do anything else. Once you know the weight of the three eggs, you then need the same weight of caster sugar and plain flour.
Whisk together the eggs and the caster sugar with an electric hand whisk. You’ll need to keep whisking for a good 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken up and eventually will leave a trail when the whisk taken out of the mixture. It’s very similar to when soap batter reaches ‘trace’. Sift in half the flour, and fold in gently. You don’t want to lose any of the air that has been whisked into the mixture. Once the flour is completely folded in, do the same with the remaining flour. When the ingredients are all combined, pour into a greased, lined 12″ x 9″ baking tray.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the sponge is just cooked. If you go over, it’ll be difficult to roll.
Place a clean (!) tea towel over a cooling rack and dredge it with caster sugar. Turn the sponge out onto the tea towel, and immediately, while still piping hot, roll it up in the sugar coated cloth. Allow the sponge to cool down a little, for about 10 minutes, then very gently unroll and remove the cloth. The sponge will hold much of the ‘roll’, without cracking. Spread the ‘inside’ of the roll with jam, chocolate ganache, lemon curd or whatever takes your fancy, and roll it back up again. Ta-da! You could now carefully slice off both ends (just like a loaf of soap!) and make it look really pretty, but the most important thing is to enjoy!
This is the last one I made, filled with lemon curd. I’m now inspired to make another very soon and I’ll try to add some ‘making of’ pics to this post.
Right, I’m off to press that publish button. Deadline T -29mins 😀
Happy Friday!
Blogtober Day 14
Yippee for Fridays! And today has been a particularly good day.
- It’s my wedding anniversary. 11 years ago today I married my best friend, and today I’m counting my blessings just that little bit more.
- I delivered the first order to a brand new stockist – more of that in another post very soon.
- My ‘coming soon’ bathbombs received a glowing review.
Not a bad day eh? We’re off out this evening for a rare outing – dinner, just the two of us, without the constant interruption of children. I. CANNOT. WAIT.
Anyway, back to that bathbomb review. A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of my trial bathbombs on Instagram and one of my IG buddies mentioned on the post how much she liked them. I offered to send her one to try, on the proviso that she give me her honest feedback. Well, turns out she loved it, and wrote a glowing review on her blog:
“The colour is awesome ! Unlike some bath bombs I have used before it doesn’t leave a horrid layer around the bath after draining the water . Neither does the colour stain the bath.”
Please check out the full review on Beauties and the Bibs There’s even a video of the bomb in action – please check it out!
It’s been a great day so far. Hope you have a wonderful one too.
Throwback Thursday – Blogtober Day 13
I started out so well. Most of my Blogtober posts have been planned, if not half written, the day before, at least. Occasionally they’ve been written early morning, on the day. Never before have I got to past 10.30pm before getting an opportunity to sit down and write. I’m flying by the seat of my pants here…
So it’s going to be another quickie (though I would imagine that’s no big thing when they’re coming at you every day :-D)
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a HUGE Instagram fan and Instagram is where Throwback Thursday comes into its own. Using the #throwbackthursday hashtag gives you the opportunity to showcase pictures of projects, creations or events from the past, and for me it’s a chance to look back at soaps I made years ago.
Back in 2013 I went through a phase of making gradient, or ombré, soaps. For some reason I’ve not made any since, but anyway, today seems like the perfect opportunity to share some photos of them here. Wonder if you can guess which ones were made in a proper soap mould and which ones were made in silicone baking pans 😀 😀
This last one was made in September 2013 for one of Amy @ Great Cakes Soapworks monthly challenges – the challenge was to make a gradient soap using more than two colours:
Actually I know perfectly well why I’ve not made any gradient soaps recently – I’m so busy keeping up my stock levels I’m not getting any opportunity to ‘play’ and make soap for fun. Now there’s something to put on my ‘To Do’ list.
Wet Soap Wednesday – Blogtober Day 12
Wet Soap Wednesday comes round again surprisingly quickly. Though, a bit like Christmas, it shouldn’t really be as surprise should it? It’s not as if there’s a possibility it might not turn up on time…
I digress. These are Super Scrubby Peppermint, Love Spell and Clarity, all freshly poured and rocking the glossy look.
This was Love Spell just poured and before the top was textured:
And here it is after the obligatory titivation:
Day 13 tomorrow – sooo close to halfway. If you’re still with me almost 2 weeks in I thank you, very much. If you have any themes or topics you’d like me to touch on during the second half of Blogtober do let me know – I’ll try to fit in a bit more of that personal stuff I find so awkward too 😀
Home – Blogtober Day 11
A full third of the way through Blogtober, and I’ve had a good run of soapy posts (with a single bath bomby interlude for good measure), so perhaps it’s time to share something a little more personal.
Whoah now, don’t get excited. No please…don’t 😀 I’m just going to show you where I live, that’s all. And not even my house – the closest you’re getting is my village. And, if I’m entirely honest, I probably wouldn’t even share its name with you here, except it’s plastered all over my soap labels so I can hardly keep it a secret 🙂
I live in a small village called Beddgelert, within the Snowdonia National Park in North West Wales. It’s nestled in a valley mere minutes away from the foot of Snowdon itself, and surrounded by mountains and rivers, yet only 20 minutes away from the coast and some beautiful beaches. As someone who loves being outside, walking the hills or swimming in the sea, I honestly cannot think of anywhere in the UK I’d rather live (despite the rather high level of rainfall we have to put up with!)
This river runs right through the middle of the village and is ideal for a dip on hot days:
Or we can walk a little further downriver and spend some hours messing about in the water here:
A lot of the time though we try to get up high. The six year old seems to have boundless energy, but the three year old is still somewhat limited in how far and/or high she can go so we’re slowly increasing the length and elevation of our walks.
I was brought up here, but spent a good 25 years of my life studying and working elsewhere, latterly in Manchester. There’s no doubt in my mind that moving back home to bring our children up in this area was one of the best things we’ve ever done.
My my, these blog posts are getting later and later – this one I’m publishing with just 2.5 hours to spare, but Blogtober, you’ve not beaten me yet!!
Makeovers (6. Clarity)
Blogtober Day 10. Day 10 folks!! A third of the way through, nearly…
Anyway, this the sixth in an occasional series on the evolution of Soap Mine soap designs. Previously I’ve covered Serenity, Wake Up! (discontinued), Tutti Frutti,Delicious and Luscious Lavender, and this time it’s the turn of ‘Clarity’, fragranced with a gorgeous fresh blend of Lemongrass and Clary Sage Essential Oils.
This one has proved to be one of my bestsellers over the years, and I’ve been making it for a long time, so please forgive the quality of some of the photographs. I’ve said it before but soap photography is as steep a learning curve as soap making!
First came the two color version – a cool grey base with lime green drops:
I wasn’t overly enamoured with with the grey, so soon after it became a three colour bar, with a green base and white and black drops.
When I started adding texture to the tops, Clarity was included of course:
And so it was, for many, many batches. But then one day, very recently, I decided to ring the changes and, drum roll please…Ta da! This is the new look for Clarity:
The black base of the bar is coloured with activated charcoal, purported to be excellent for your skin. I found this post recently which talks about the benefits of activated charcoal in soap, but of course, I make no medical claims for my soap whatsoever! 😉
Holidays are coming… Blogtober Day 9
There’s no point pretending any different by this point, Christmas IS coming 😀
I’m waiting for my holiday soaps to harden up a little so that I can get them bevelled and generally tidied up before I take some decent product shots, but here’s a first look at what I did with those stars I posted three days ago. Nothing fancy, but I rather like the simplicity of this one:
Soap Wrapping – Blogtober Day 8
One week of Blogtober successfully completed – woop! Today is day 8, the first day of a new blogging week as far as this challenge goes, and the first day I’ve come down in the morning and had nothing prepared to post. This is primarily because I’ve been spending the last couple of days wrapping and labelling every chance I get for a couple of large orders going out soon, so it makes sense to show you my soap packaging.
These are the full sized bars, wrapped and labelled. I place each bar into an individual cellophane bag with the ingredient label tied on with natural raffia.
Behind each soap I place an insert with all other mandatory information – contact details, weight of bar, batch number and best before date:
I also offer guest sized bars, which are one third of the size of regular bars. These have proved popular with guest houses and holiday rental properties, but I don’t sell them individually – they’re far too much work:
Have a great Saturday, whatever you have planned. Back tomorrow 🙂
A Custom Order
A couple of months ago I began supplying my soap to a local retailer, Glosters in Porthmadog. Glosters is a beautifully curated gift store, stocking handmade items made in-house, locally and further afield in the UK.
They took a selection of my regular range, but also wanted something exclusive, just for them.
One half of the Glosters team (Tom) is a potter (who sells his ceramics in the store) and the store also has a nautical feel to it. It made sense therefore when Myfanwy (the other half of the Glosters team and textiles whiz) said that she would like a ‘Potters’ soap and a ‘Sea’ themed soap. I sent away for some sample fragrances, and in due course Myfanwy chose her two favourites.
This is the Potters Soap, fragranced with a fresh, clean scent of green florals and citrus, on a base of amber and musk. The dark blue reflects the colour of the Glosters’ logo, and for this one I kept an element of my signature drop swirl:
And this is the Sea Soap, fragranced with a refreshing salty sea fragrance (of course!), designed with the sea in mind and topped with real sea salt from Halen Môn:
Both these bars will be available exclusively from Glosters very soon.