Posted on July 30, 2017 by Vicki — 3 Comments

The Fortnight in Soap: 30th July, ’17

Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you – school holidays have totally messed with my blogging schedule (never mind my soaping schedule!!). This time last week I was most likely in the middle of a field playing swingball, or sitting on the beach in blazing sunshine, watching the kids building sandcastles, or eating fish & chips – the specifics don’t matter. The point is we spent a long weekend camping on the coast, in the most glorious sunshine, with no phone signal and certainly no wifi, and blogging was quite far from my mind. Our tent and the view from the front of it:

We were SO lucky with the weather – the cloud you see here is just early morning cloud (took the photo just after 7am) and it soon cleared and we had three glorious days of sunshine.

I didn’t manage to make any soap during the week before we went, and I suddenly realised when we got home on the Tuesday that I had nothing to cut during my regular Wednesday night demo the following evening. So I quickly whipped up a double batch of Serenity – too quickly as it turned out…

Once again I soaped at too high a temperature (the lye is usually at room temp) and it set up too quickly. It’s not awful, but it’s not as I would like it.

Remember the Clarity & Welsh Rose batches I made the previous week? I did actually take some photos as promised:

and

The rest of any child-free time I managed to wangle last week was spent wrapping soaps and bath bombs for my monthly craft fair in Porthmadog yesterday (Saturday):

This summer special proved to be the best seller by a country mile – Traeth Craig Du (Black Rock Sands) named after our nearest beach, about 20 minutes away:

It has ground apricot stone in the bottom portion to represent sand, and has a gorgeous beachy / ozoney scent.

Finally I made a couple of purchases this week that I’m very excited about. Firstly, I actually bought a stand thingummy and some lenses for my iphone so that I can think about making soaping videos soon AND I also bought and downloaded Jo Haslauer’s book on colouring soap naturally.

Jo has been a real inspiration recently (check out here IG feed here) the colours she manages to achieve from infusing botanicals are incredible, and I’m really keen to give them a go. Don’t ask me when though 😀

Thanks for reading. Bear with me during these school holidays, but I’ll be back soon!!

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Vicki — 3 Comments

Want to know more about me…?

Just popping in really quickly to say that I was honoured recently to be interviewed by the fabulously talented Bee of Sorcery Soap. Check out this link to find out what we talked about!

Back soon with a full post 🙂

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Vicki — 1 Comment

The Week in Soap: 16th July, ’17

Erm… these weekly updates are getting later and later! The idea is to get these posted on the Sunday evening, but here I am tapping away at my keyboard late on Tuesday. Never mind, I suppose as long as I get it done before I forget what the heck I did last week it doesn’t really matter. Anyhow, last week was blessedly quiet – there was a bit of a lull between wholesale orders and I actually took a few evenings off, so in all honesty this is going to be a fairly quick update.

On Monday night I made a couple of double batches – one of ‘Delicious’ and one of ‘Oatmeal, Milk & Honey’

The ‘Delicious’ moved way too quickly. Entirely my fault – I had two batches of lye water – one cool, which I should have used, one still cooling, which I used in error, while it was still a bit too warm. A really silly and frustrating mistake – I wouldn’t say the whole batch is ruined but I don’t think I’ll be able to sell it at full price, which is an annoyance. I didn’t even have the heart to photograph it when I cut it, so I don’t have an image of it to share here. Maybe I’ll do a post dedicated to bloopers at some point!! I did photograph the Oatmeal, Milk & Honey though. I’ve given it a little colour make-over and swapped out the dark brown for gold – I think it better reflects the fragrance this way:

I spent some time during the week wrapping etc, but in all honesty nothing of any note happened soapy-wise until Sunday evening, when I made soap again, this time two double batches of Welsh Rose and Clarity:

I had thought to cut these today but things have picked up again and I’ve had a few wholesale orders to put together, so hopefully I’ll get some time tomorrow morning to cut and photograph them.

This is the last week of school before the summer holidays start, and I’m really looking forward to having six weeks of fun in the sun (fingers crossed!) with my two little monkeys. It shouldn’t affect my soapmaking capacity too much, as I’ve always soaped in the evenings, but we’ve got a few extended camping weekends planned which might put a spanner in the works (and will definitely affect my blogging routine) but hey ho, I’ll try to keep on top of things 😀

Don’t forget, if you have a soap related blog, or you just like reading them, why not join our Soapmaking Bloggers Facebook Group to share your posts or find new bloggers to follow.

Thanks for reading – back soon!

Posted on July 14, 2017February 26, 2023 by Vicki — 26 Comments

10 (Yes 10!) Reasons my Soap is Better than Commercial Soap

Ever since I started making soap, I’ve been asked why? Why do I bother making soap when it can be bought so cheaply in the supermarket? Clearly, first and foremost I love doing it. You know what they say – ‘Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’. There’s much more to it than that though. Traditionally crafted, handmade soap like mine is superior to commercially made soap in so SO many ways.

*Please note, the reasons listed below apply specifically to MY soaps – they may apply to many other handmade soaps, but I can’t speak for the ingredients in anyone else’s handmade products

It is vegan- (and therefore by definition, vegetarian-) friendly. I use no animal fats or derivatives, not even beeswax (which can be used in soap to give a harder bar). According to Vegan.com most commercial soaps contain some degree of animal fat derivatives (look for sodium tallowate or sodium lardate on the ingredients list)

I never use palm oil. Palm oil is a popular ingredient in both commercial and handmade soap (for good reason – it’s cheap, and makes great soap) However it is also extremely contentious, as palm oil production stands accused of the destruction of the South American rainforest, and of human rights violations due to the forced relocation of indigenous peoples. There are, of course, two sides to every story, and some soapmakers who do use palm oil have been able to source sustainable, ethically produced palm oil. There is also an argument that cutting out the use of palm oil completely could cause economic harm to those people who are employed within the palm oil industry. As I’ve never used it, this isn’t a concern for me. Palm oil will appear as sodium palmate on the ingredients list of a bar of soap should you wish to avoid it.

My soap is never, ever tested on animals, just (very!) willing humans.

Glycerin. GLYCERIN! Yep, I’m shouting. This is important. Glycerin is a byproduct of the soapmaking process, and is fantastic stuff. It’s a humectant, which means that it draws moisture from the air and helps lock it into your skin. It’s not technically a moisturiser, but it has moisturising properties. Commercial soapmakers almost always extract the glycerin during the production process for use elsewhere (eg lotions or nitroglycerin production). Glycerin is found naturally within every bar of traditional handmade soap and is one reason that people with sensitive skin CAN use handmade soap but can’t use commercial soap

Traditional, handmade soap is…. soap. Obvious right? Well yes, except that some commercially produced soap isn’t soap at all. It’s detergent. Take a look at the packaging on a Dove Beauty Bar. You won’t find the word ‘soap’ on the label because actually, it can’t legally be called soap. It’s a combination of various ingredients put together to create a detergent that closely resembles soap in appearance. Clearly all those ingredients have been approved for use on the skin so it’s not necessarily inherently bad, but many of those ingredients can cause skin irritation.

My soap does not contain parabens, sls/sles, phthalates. As above, these ingredients have been approved for use in skincare products, but they can cause skin irritation (and worse) to those with skin sensitivities, and many people will avoid them at all costs.

My soaps do not contain triclosan or any other antibacterial compounds. The use of triclosan in soap has been banned in the US, but is still permissible in the UK/EU. It was claimed in the US that antibacterial soaps were no more effective than regular soap and water and they could even play a part in increasing antibiotic resistance.

For many of the reasons listed above, my soaps are FAR gentler on your skin than commercially produced soap. If you are one of those people whose skin is sensitive to commercially made soap and you ‘can’t’ or ‘never’ use bar soap, please contact me via The Soap Mine FB page for a sample (UK only) – you may well find that you can use it without any of the problems that commercial soap can cause.

Your skin WILL notice the difference. Do you need to use a moisturiser after washing your hands with commercial bar or liquid soap? You probably won’t after using my soap. The generous amount of cocoa butter and shea butter in each and every bar, along with all that lovely glycerin, will ensure that your hands feel clean, soft and moisturised after every use.

My soap is made by hand, in small batches, with an awful lot of care and attention to detail. Yes, you will pay more for it than you would a bar of commercially made soap, but you know what? You absolutely get what you pay for.

There you go, 10 really good reasons why I believe my soap is better than commercially produced soaps. Try some 😀

2 bars of Pineapple Handmade Soap — Pineapple Handmade Soap

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Vicki — 7 Comments

The Week in Soap: 9th July ’17

The highlight of this last week was a Soapmaking Demonstration that I did for the lovely ladies of the Tremadog branch of the Women’s Institute last Tuesday. I made a batch of Botanica (fragranced with Lavender, Lemon & Lime essential oils) and totally forgot to take a snap of it in the mould, but did take a pic immediately post-cut:

I get so excited when I get the opportunity to do a demo – it’s such a pleasure to be able to witter on (in an informed manner of course 😀 ) about soap to a captive audience! I’m actually in the middle of writing a post made up of tips for giving a soapmaking demonstration, and I hope to be able to share it soon.

The next evening was spent giving my regular Wednesday soapy talk at a local hotel. It usually starts around 8.45 / 9pm, after the guests have finished diner, and I’m usually home by 10.15 (it’s less than 5 minutes drive away) I’m never sure how big an audience I’ll have – sometimes there can be up to 20, and occasionally as few as 6, but I always get interesting questions which keep me on my toes!!

On Friday I found out that I’ve been accepted as a stall holder at a huge Christmas Fair that’s held locally over three days in early December. I got quite giddy – it’s the first time I’ve applied and I’m really excited to be ‘in’. I’ll have to be so organised over the summer and early autumn to make sure I have enough stock.

I had big plans for a Friday night soaping session, but after I’d done all my prep (melting oils, mixing the lye) I dropped a rather heavy dining chair onto my left foot, and thought I’d broken a toe. The pain was excruciating, and my toe quickly swelled up to more than twice it’s size. I’d already mixed the colours for a double batch of Tutti Frutti, so I decided to take a deep breath and carry on through gritted teeth:

That was enough. By this point my toe was throbbing painfully and I could barely walk so my soaping session came to an end and I was persuaded to sit down and rest.

I usually spend a large chunk of Saturday in the office, wrapping and labelling, but this week I just did a few hour in the afternoon so that Dean could go off and start dismantling a greenhouse that we’ve been lucky enough to get our hands on for free (yippee!!) The owners just want it out of their way and didn’t want anything for it. We’re so very grateful – I will certainly be taking them soap as a thank you gift. This was it before it was dissembled by the way, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can reassemble it without too much difficulty!!

I didn’t break my toe – by Sunday I could walk fairly easily, and by today (Tues) it feels almost back to normal albeit still pretty black and blue.

Oh I nearly forgot – here’s a cut pic of the Luscious Lavender that I made last week (with apologies for the rubbish lighting):

Hope you all had a great week, thanks for reading, back soon!

Posted on July 3, 2017 by Vicki — 1 Comment

The Week in Soap: 2nd July, ’17

I need to start keeping a diary of all the business related things I’ve got up to during the week. It’s Monday today, and can I remember what I did last Monday? Erm, nope…

I do of course keep a track of each soap I make for the Product Information File (PIF) so I can tell you that last Tuesday I made two double batches of soap – Bewitched and Traeth Craig Du (Black Rock Sands)…

And I even got round to photographing one of them. It traced faster than normal (or perhaps I was less careful with the stick blender, who knows?!) so it’s more a camo pour than a drop swirl, but it’s still pretty:

Bewitched, freshly cut — Bewitched freshly cut

I had two wholesale orders go out, as well as a load of mini’s for a local guest house:

On Thursday evening I made a load of bath bombs:

Saturday was a frenzy of making… My (have I mentioned how long suffering he is??!) husband took the kids out for the day, and I made soap, yet more bath bombs, another batch of facial soap AND made my first ever batch of lip balm. The soap was a couple of double batches – Luscious Lavender and Super Scrubby Peppermint:

Super Scrubby Peppermint in the Mould — Super Scrubby Peppermint

The lip balm was incredibly quick and easy – beeswax, shea butter and avocado oil with a little honey cosmetic flavour. To be honest I think I’ll leave out the flavour next time. I deliberately added very little, but it still had a bit of a synthetic tang to me. I made six tubes worth – one for me, one for Dean, and four to go out to testers. Make sure you follow my FB page if you want to be in with a chance of being a tester in the future – I have LOADS of ideas for things I want to make, as and when I have time, and they’ll all need human testers 🙂

I posted a question on Facebook and Instagram to try to find out whether people prefer tubes or tins and surprisingly it’s fairly equal between the two – if and when I do finally offer these for sale it looks like I’ll have to offer both options!

I’ve got a busy week coming up – all those bath bombs I made? All but six have gone – gone! So, there’s more bath bomb making in my near future. I’m also giving a soap making demonstration to a local branch of the Women’s Institute on Tuesday, giving my regular soaping presentation on Wednesday night, and Thursday will HAVE to be spent making more core range soap. I also need to find the time somewhere to bevel, wrap and label a load of bars. Roll on September when I’ll finally be able to work on the business during the days!

Thanks for reading, back soon!

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Vicki — 3 Comments

Well, that was June…

I can’t be the only one who’s gobsmacked that we’re halfway through the year? The days are already getting shorter and I’ve started thinking about Christmas specials – and all this before the summer holidays officially begin 😱

At the beginning of the month I posted some goals for June – here’s how I got on…

1. Research, and make some test batches of, lip balm ✅ After a bit of research I came up with a few recipes that I wanted to try, and made up a first batch:

I already love this one, but I’m only keeping one for myself – the rest are going out to testers. I still have a couple of recipes to try.

2. Finish making the summer specials ✅ I’m considering keeping one of them – ‘Yr Wyddfa’ – all year round as I think it’ll be pretty popular, living as we do at the foot of said mountain!

3. Create a ‘Core Range’ post for bathbombs ✅ This link is proving so handy to send out to potential stockists!

4. Post at least nine times here on the blog – oh so close! Still, I posted 8 times, and if I’d got my backside into gear and posted this on Friday night like I should have, I would have hit my target.

Not bad going eh? Thanks for reading 😊 back soon!

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Vicki — 5 Comments

The Core Range – Bath Bombs

This is the current range of bath bombs. I have two main ranges – bombs fragranced with pure essential oils only, and bombs made with fragrance oils.

There are two sizes – small & large. The small size retails at £2.00 and weighs a minimum of 80g (although in reality most are closer to 90g) and the large size retails at £3.50 and weights a minimum of 120g (but in reality most are around the 130-140g mark)

Please be aware that these are handmade items and as a result bombs won’t all be identical. Fragrances will remain constant, but designs may vary slightly from bar to bar.

I should soon be able to offer bath bombs to match every bar available in the core range of soaps, but currently the range consists of the following seven varieties:

Essential Oil Bombs

Luscious Lavender

Simply fragranced with pure Lavender essential oil, loved by all ages.

Serenity

‘The one that smells like a spa’. That’s how customers describe Serenity, and with good reason – the heady blend of Patchouli and Ylang Ylang essential oils combined with a citrus fragrance oil will have you relaxed in no time.

Clarity

Fragranced with Lemongrass and Clary Sage essential oils, Clarity is a real unisex fragrance, and one of my best sellers.

Fragrance Oil Bombs

Sugar Drops

A warm, caramel, vanilla fragrance, reminiscent of Aquolina’s Pink Sugar designer perfume.

First Kiss Luxury Bath Bomb — Sugar Drops Luxury Bath Bomb

Bewitched

A fruity, floral fragrance with notes of peach, cherry blossom and white jasmine. Reminiscent of Victoria Secret’s Love Spell perfume.

Oatmeal, Milk & Honey (OMH)

The ultimate comforting scent, OMH has strong almond notes with honey and creamy oats.

Welsh Rose

A classic fragrance, the luscious scent of fresh rose petals.

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Vicki — 8 Comments

It’s my Blogaversary!

Or is it a Blogday? Either way, I published my first couple of posts on the 28th June 2013, Woohoo!! At that point I hadn’t made any soap since the birth of my daughter two months before, nor for a good few months before that due to day-long morning sickness and an extreme aversion to the smell of fragrance AND essential oils. (I’d had to ask my husband to put all my supplies up in the attic as even catching an accidental whiff of any of my soaps had me heading for the bathroom – urgh..)

Fast forward and that newborn is now four years old (funny that :-D) and she’ll be joining her big brother at school full time in September. That will mean much, MUCH more time for soaping and the business as a whole (including the blog!). I’m also hoping that I’ll have a bit more time for myself, and of course my poor, long suffering husband who has spent more evenings than I care to mention alone on the sofa while I focused on The Soap Mine.

I have loads of ideas for new products, blog posts and growing the business generally, so please stick with me – I hope I’ll still be here in another four years time, and I hope you’ll still be reading. Thank you all!!

Oh, here’s a little bit of soap in the mould from a couple of days ago, just because it’s pretty lol…

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Vicki — 1 Comment

Slow Down World! The Week in Soap: 18th June ’17

It’s been a crazily busy week. And it’s not letting up, hence why I’m starting to write this at two minutes to eleven at night when I really should be going to bed! It’s going to be short 😉

Monday evening saw me out at a community meeting, so I couldn’t get any soapmaking done, and then Tuesday night was kickboxing grading night.

I got my orange belt – woop!

Wednesday night was kickboxing class followed by my weekly soaping presentation, but I did get the opportunity during the day to cut the Welsh Rose and Yr Wyddfa that I made last week:

Thursday night I had to spend catching up on paperwork and then finally, on Friday night, I managed to make something – a shed load of bathbombs for a wholesale order going out next week.

On Saturday, Dean took the kids out for a few hours and I finally got to make some soap – two exclusive custom batches for a local retailer. I LOVE making these two. The customer chose the fragrances and concept for them both, and they’re different in design to my regular restocks so I get to do something a little more interesting.

Potters' Soap — Potters’ Soap for Glosters

Saturday night we were invited to some friends’ house for dinner (I always try to take Saturday night off, regardless of what else is going on) and the Sunday was Fathers’ Day, so we all went out for breakfast and spent the day together.

Sunday night I made the rest of the bathbombs for the wholesale order – phew!!

Now to get them all wrapped for delivery on Friday!!

So although I’ve not been particularly productive this week, it has felt extraordinarily busy – I hope your week has been calmer. If it has, send some my way please?!

Thanks for reading, back soon.

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Vicki — 3 Comments

Bathbombs and Specials – The Week in Soap: 11th June ’17

I don’t know what the weather’s been like with you, but it’s been absolutely atrocious here this last week. Rain, rain and more rain. It’s beyond the pale, it really is. I keep hearing people referring to that lovely warm spell we had in May and saying that that was our summer – it’s all over now. Arrrghhhh please, no!! Despite living in one of the wettest areas in the UK (and loving it) I adore the sunshine. It brings out my freckles and a sunny disposition that, to be honest, doesn’t often get an airing 😀

Anyway, come rain or shine, there’s always something that needs to be done in the soap kitchen, so I’ll crack on and update you quickly on what’s been happening this week. Four double batches of soap were made: Clarity and Lemon Verbena Confetti (one of the summer specials):

Incidentally, remember the last batch of Lemon Verbena Confetti that featured in the post about Fragrance Oils going rogue? Well I received loads of tips about more things to try to avoid it happening, which I put into practice and got NO acceleration. I’m in the process of putting together an other blog post about it which I’ll share soon.

I also made Welsh Rose and Yr Wyddfa. Yr Wyddfa is the Welsh name for Snowdon – the highest mountain in England and Wales, and after which this area, Snowdonia, is named. Yr Wyddfa was first made last year, and I always said I would bring it back as a summer special. I’ve made a couple of changes to the design, and I can’t wait to cut it tomorrow:

I also made up a big batch of my facial soap. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the trial bars that went out, and many more queries from people wanting to buy it, so I’ve gone ahead and made up a batch in my tall & skinny mould:

I cut it couple of days later, and was very surprised to see I’d got a double partial gel! I don’t usually gel my soap, but clearly this got much hotter in the centre of the mould than it did on the outer edges. I actually don’t mind the effect at all, and it makes no difference to the finished product other than appearance, so I’m embracing it. Don’t think I’ll be able to recreate it though!!

This week also saw me making LOADS of bathbombs, some of which are heading out with a wholesale order today. Clockwise from top left we have Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, Welsh Rose and Luscious Lavender

In other news, thanks to the rain, there’s been far less work done on the garden than my optimistic post last week may have anticipated. Dean did manage to make the frames for the raised beds, and place them in situ, but that’s as far as we’ve got:

Oh, and the kids and I made some DELICIOUS chocolate chip cookies. To be honest, they were SO delicious, they didn’t last very long and we had to make a second batch. Ooops!!

I may well post the recipe sometime soon!

I’m off now to make that wholesale delivery, so thanks for reading – I’ll be back soon!!

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Vicki — 3 Comments

Goals for June

I am fully aware that we’re already a good quarter through the month, but I’ve been meaning to post this for days. I’ve not set any goals for a few months, and I kind of miss them. So with no further ado, this is what I hope to achieve this month, business-wise.

Research, and make some test batches, of lip balm.
Finish making the summer special soaps – I’m halfway there, still another 90 bars to go.
Create a ‘Core Range’ post for bathbombs, much like this one that I did for soap. I recently received my first wholesale bathbomb order, and I need to have an easy link to send to potential customers.
Post at least nine times here on the blog.

Just four specific goals – fingers crossed they shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve – I’ll post an update at the end of the month.

And, just because this is such a short, photo-free post, here’s a picture of one of those summer specials, just cut (and bevelled) Traeth Craig Du (Black Rock Sands), that I wrote about and showed in the mould in my last weekly update.

Thanks for reading, back soon!

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Vicki — 1 Comment

Slate and Things – A New Stockist

I first met husband and wife team Jon and Gill a few years ago when I started taking a stall alongside them at the monthly Porthmadog Craft Fair, and I’ve seen them almost every month since. Jon is a photographer by trade and he prints his images of local scenery (amongst other subjects) onto slate, turning them into very popular gifts:

Gill also sells her extraordinarily cute handcrafted items:

Just some of Gill's crafty creations — Just some of Gill’s crafty creations

They recently took the exciting step of opening a gift shop on the High Street in Caernarfon:

Slate and Things, 38 High Street, Caernarfon — Slate and Things,38 High Street, Caernarfon

and I was thrilled when they asked me if they could stock my soap. Of course, I said yes, and a week ago I delivered a selection of bars AND bathbombs, which are now available to buy:

Please do pop in and have a look if you’re passing / in the area. Jon and Gill are two of the most genuinely nice people you could meet, and it’s a pleasure to be working with them. I wish them every success with their new venture. Slate and Things are also on Facebook

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Vicki — 3 Comments

A Surprisingly Productive Week in Soap: 4th June, ’17

It’s June! Flippin’ heck I love the summer. Mind you, while we basked in some wonderful weather during May, June seems to have other ideas and has been a little wet so far, to say the least!

Anyway, I wasn’t expecting the last week to be particularly productive as far as soapiness goes. Dean (my other, some would say ‘better’, half) was working away most of the week and it just happened to be half-term so both kids were off school and I wasn’t able to get into the office for any decent period of time.

On Monday night I made the most of Dean’s last night at home to make some soap. This is one I’ve not made since last year, and is one of my summer specials. Traeth Craig Du (Black Rock Sands) is an homage to our local(est) beach. Just 20 minutes from home, we spend long days there in the summer, building sand castles and playing in the waves. The base of the soap has ground apricot stones in it, for a mildly exfoliating, sandy texture, and the fragrance is a refreshing marine scent. Think seaweed, rock pools and a coastal breeze – summer in a soap. Last year I made 15 bars, this year I’m making 60, so I hope it sells! I’ve only got in the mould photos at this stage – which aren’t very exciting, but I’ll post some cut pics very soon.

By Tuesday I had sent off all the parcels in this year’s International Soap Swap, and a couple of recipients have already received theirs. In order to avoid spoilers we’ve agreed not to share any photographs until everyone has received their parcel, but as soon as I can, I will…

Dean arrived home on Friday night, to a hero’s welcome from the kids (I let them stay up a bit later especially). I was pretty pleased too, not least because it meant I got to spend the whole day in the office on Saturday, catching up on wrapping and labelling. Not the most exciting of days, but I needed to make up for lost time.

Last night brought more restocks – Clarity & Lemon Verbena Confetti:

Clarity & Lemon Verbena Confetti in the mould

In other news, and this IS exciting, we spent some time in the ‘soon-to-be-recogniseable-as-a’ garden today. We have some scaffolding boards arriving tomorrow to build three raised beds, and today we levelled some ground ready for Dean to build the beds this week. Because of the incline there a fair bit of levelling to be done, so we’ll probably have to create a tier or two. But this feels like real progress, and I may even have sowed or planted something in there by this time next week – woop!!

It doesn’t look like much here, but it took us hours of digging and carting soil to get just this patch of ground nice and level. Those retaining bricks are only temporary by the way!

A different angle... — A different angle…

Thanks for reading, back soon!

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Vicki — 4 Comments

50 Things That Make Me Happy

And now for something completely different. Sometimes it does a lot of good to take a moment and count one’s blessings. I’ve realised how lucky I am that this really didn’t take me very long to put together…

Making lists. Win-win!
A large mug of tea. Strong, just a drop of milk, absolutely NO sugar (urgh). Oh, and a quiet 10 minutes to drink it!
Gardening. I don’t have much of a garden at the moment – it’s a work in progress, but I even enjoy the heavy, clearing work.
Spotify. Music while I work – yey!
A hot bath. With a good book – often the only time I ever get round to reading for pleasure.
An empty ironing basket. I REALLY don’t like ironing, so I don’t often have an empty basket 😀
Trying new fragrance oils for soap
Making soap. Obvs…
A long shower. It’s my child free, thinking time, so it inevitably goes on for a little longer than it should.
Running. I’ve got out of the habit recently – must get back to it, for so many good reasons!
An early night. Getting enough sleep is rare – must try harder!
Linguistics books. I love language, and languages. I studied linguistics at university and it’s still a passion.
Warm sunshine. Need I say more?
Camping. Just me, the other half and the kids, and NO wifi. Heaven.
Pink / purple hair. I like jazzing it up sometimes. I’m not ready for frumpiness!
Homemade Pizza. My husband makes the absolute best pizza in the world – his pizza dough is the stuff of legends.
A good novel.
Kickboxing. I only started at the beginning of the year, but I’m hooked. Trying for my orange belt in a couple of weeks time.
A glass of good red wine. Malbec is a current fave
Living here. ‘Here’ is Beddgelert, in the heart of Snowdonia. It’s often wet, but it’s also very green, very picturesque, very Welsh, and I never EVER take it for granted. I’ve done city living, now I’m home.
Cheese. Love love cheese. Except for goat’s cheese, bleugh…
Barbecues. With friends, sunshine and a couple of beers.
My filofax. I’d be lost without it. PLEASE don’t let me ever lose it!!
The Archers. I don’t watch any soaps on TV, but I do like my daily 15min fix of this.
A tidy, clear kitchen. It’s rare, but yeah, I like it 🙂
Baking. Cakes, cookies, scones, shall I go on?
Netflix. I don’t watch much TV, but when I do get a free evening, House of Cards and Dexter are current faves. The Sopranos, The Killing & Breaking Bad were just incredible.
Learning languages. Currently it’s Russian. I did a short course at Uni, then did evening classes in my 30s and got to GCSE Level, and now I’ve taken it back up again with the Duolingo app. Now I just need someone to practice on!!
Long walks in the countryside. But at the moment they’re never long enough for me as we’re trying hard not to go too far and put the children off walks for good!!
Days on the beach. With the children. Building sandcastles and playing in the waves.
My children laughing. I could have just said my children. And they do, of course make me happy, but they also drive me utterly crazy at times. But hearing them laugh? That’s just the best
Blog feedback. A little click on that ‘like’ button, or even better, a quick comment, is always appreciated, and guaranteed to make me happy! Unless the comment is to tell me you hate my blog. That wouldn’t make me happy…
Greek yoghurt with fresh berries. Not that horrid low fat rubbish mind – it has to be full fat!!
Fresh bedding. Show me someone who DOESN’T like fresh linen on the bed!
Modern Technology. My fitbit is never off my arm, and I don’t know what I’d do without my bluetooth speakers!
My mum’s trifle. She brought some to hospital after the birth of my first child. Best post-delivery snack EVER. But it mustn’t have jelly in it. Never ever put jelly in it. Maybe I should share the recipe?
Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups. Not a huge fan of peanut butter really, but add it to chocolate and I could eat it all day.
Christmas at home. Surrounded by family.
My husband’s cooking. I already mentioned his pizza up there ^^ But it’s not just pizza. He does most of the cooking in our house and he’s flippin’ good at it. I’m a lucky bunny.
Climbing mountains. It’s been over 7 years since I last climbed a mountain. Not since I was pregnant with my eldest. The youngest starts full time school in September and I’ve already told my husband that he needs to book a day’s holiday THAT VERY WEEK and we’re heading to the top of the nearest mountain.
Swimming in the sea.
Roller coasters and water slides. I’m a thrill seeker at heart.
Adventures abroad. I’ve done a bit in my time – Asia, Australia, Europe, but the last time we were overseas was when I was pregnant with our eldest, and I’m getting itchy feet. Plans need to be made!
The Big Bang Theory. Binge watched it on Netflix last year, and was bereft when we got to the end. Are they making more episodes?
Nutella. My guilty pleasure – I try not to indulge too much!
Star Gazing. I used to be a member of the British Astronomical Association, and I’m fascinated with all things space-related. Another of those hobbies that I hope to pick up again one day.
Waking up really early, and actually getting up…
Good grammar. I’m a Grammar Nazi. I can’t help it, it’s in my DNA 😉
Going to the cinema. These days it’s usually to see kids’ films, but I still enjoy the experience.
Second hand book Shops. Big ones, that I could get lost in.

So there you go. A little insight into what makes me, me. Have you ever made a similar list?

Thanks for reading, back soon!

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Vicki — 4 Comments

The Week in Soap: 28th May ’17

Building a business one soap at a time. That’s my blog’s sub-heading, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last few years. Just like putting one step in front of the other, I’ve been making one soap after another, and slowly growing the business But a lot of the time it feels like I’m flying by the seat of my pants. I knew nothing of business before I started this venture, and it’s been (and still is!) a huge learning curve. I was simply a soapmaking hobbyist who frankly, was looking for a way to make a bit of money when I realised that I really DIDN’T want to go back to the long hours of Project Management when my son, my eldest child, was born seven years ago. Seven years ago today in fact. I’m not sure where I’m going with this ramble, but it’s my gorgeous boy’s birthday today, and I’ve been reminiscing on the passing of time.

Before my boy arrived I loved my job. It was fast paced and I worked long hours, but it was absolutely not compatible with a baby – for me anyway. So I started wondering whether it was possible to build a profitable business making handmade soap. Seven years on and the business grows month by month and I love THIS job. Working my own hours is so family-friendly (and will be even easier when my youngest starts school full time in September) but I’m still nowhere near making the kind of income I had from my pre-children employment, and I don’t know if I ever will. It’s exciting, exhilarating even, and sometimes it makes me anxious. At times I drive my long suffering husband insane by fretting and worrying about how much I have to do in what little time I have available to me, especially when he’s working away and that available time is further reduced. I’m frightened of taking too much on, overstretching myself and letting customers down. I’ve been holding back on launching the website because I really don’t know if I can handle more orders than I’m already getting… A great position to be in, but it means that growth is slower than it could otherwise be.

Well, having said all that, I was lucky enough to secure two new stockists this last week. My soap can now be found in Conwy Art & Craft, 7 High Street, Conwy and Slate and Things at 38 High Street, Caernarfon. Do pop in and check them out if your in the area – both gorgeous shops with loads of lovely items for sale.

Needless to say, I’ve been doing a lot of wrapping and labelling recently, but I also made soap (of course!). Two batches each of Serenity and Botanica: (please forgive the shadows – I thought I’d try some ‘arty’ photos in the dappled sunshine but, erm, it didn’t quite work :-D)

And I even managed to get it cut in time to share some pics with you:

I’ve been inundated with orders for the mini guest bars – plenty of them gone out this week:

I’m STILL in discussions with a couple of companies re boxes for my soap – I’ll be sure to share more when I have something definite to report.

On a personal note, I’ve already mentioned that it’s my eldest’s birthday today. We held a party for him and his friends yesterday, and much fun was had:

He absolutely adored his Minecraft themed cake:

made by the super-talented Julie of Stickytreats – check out her Instagram account if you love creative cake decor…

That’s it for today, thanks for reading, I’ll be back soon!

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Vicki — 2 Comments

The Week in Soap: 21st May ’17

Did you have a good weekend? I’ve no idea where this last week has gone – seemed to fly by! My husband was away for a couple of nights at the beginning of the week, so although I managed to make a couple of batches on Tuesday night, once the kids were in bed, I didn’t manage to get as much done this week as I usually would… He’s away again next week, for three nights I think, and as it’s half term and both kids are off school, it could well be a rather unproductive week soapwise…

Anyhow, back to the good stuff. These were Tuesday’s batches – Clarity and Luscious Lavender:

And, for once, I managed to photograph the freshly cut bars – forgive the rough edges, these were taken just minutes after cutting:

Clarity – brand new & freshly cut

Luscious Lavender – brand new & freshly cut

I’m still on the hunt for soap boxes – I knew there was a reason I put it off for so long, it’s not an easy search! I’ll update when I have something to share.

This week saw the arrival of the last parcel (all the way from the US) in the 2017 International Soap Swap. I don’t want to spoil any surprises so I can’t really give anything away until all participants have received their return packages, but oooohhhhh I’m so excited to share. There should have been 15 of us in total, but 6 had to pull out for one reason or another, and the final count is 9. The contents of these boxes are stunning, and will be posted out to their rightful owners by the end of the week. Stay tuned as I can’t wait to share their contents with you….

Soap Swap boxes - woop! — Soap Swap boxes – woop!

My soapmaking routine is taking a bit of a shuffle this week. I’ve always been in the habit of making soap on a Tuesday night, so that I have a batch to cut at my soapmaking presentation on a Thursday night (48 hours later). However, the venue has asked me to move my talk to Wednesday nights (after my kickboxing training – eek!) for the foreseeable future, and therefore I need to make soap on a Monday night from now on. It does however free Thursday night up for soapmaking too, so my schedule from now on will mean soapmaking on a Monday and a Thursday as a general rule.

There you go, that was my soapy week in a nutshell. In other news, we spent most of yesterday working in the garden. Have I mentioned our back garden yet? It was a complete jungle when we moved into the house, and it’s slowly being tamed into submission. This was it last year – just look at those overgrown boundaries :-O (But on a positive note they hid pounds and pounds of juicy blackberries)

A couple of months ago... — Last Autumn…

Then, after lots and lots of hacking, digging etc etc etc we got to this point a couple of weeks ago:

Before yesterday's efforts... — Before yesterday’s efforts…

And by the end of yesterday:

After Sunday's efforts... — After yesterday’s efforts…

I’m starting to see potential, and am getting excited about what we could do with it. It slopes upwards, so it’s foreshortened in this picture, and is actually longer than it looks. I have dreams of a greenhouse, a seating area, raised beds for veg and salad, and plenty of flower beds. I absolutely adore gardening, and can’t wait to get to it properly! And obviously I’ll be sure to share the progress 🙂

Thanks for reading – back soon!

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Vicki — 4 Comments

The Fortnight in Soap: 15th May ’17

Good afternoon from a very wet Monday in Snowdonia! We’ve had some glorious weather recently, but this morning we awoke to pouring rain and it hasn’t let up all day. Ah well, the gardens will be all the happier for it!

I didn’t post a round up last Sunday, as, to be honest, there wasn’t that much to tell you. I’d made one batch of soap – yet another two loaves of Tutti Frutti (I’m selling out as soon as it’s cured, and I need to get stock levels back up):

And last week I only soaped twice – another restock of Welsh Rose:

and the second time was some wedding favours for my friend who gets married at the end of June. I’ll share those in another post as I’ve not got round to photographing them yet.

I’ve been really busy with orders for my mini bars. These are really popular with holiday accommodation owners in the village and the surrounding area. Three lots have gone out over the weekend, and there’s still more to do.

I only sell these on a wholesale basis, with the minimum order being 50, they’re just too fiddly and time consuming to wrap to make them cost effective in smaller amounts. I’m considering doing a selection pack of one of each of the core range, but I need to think a little more about the practicalities (I’m back to whether or not I can make them cost effective again)

The other big thing taking up my time over the last week or so has been trying to get some quotes for soap boxes. I currently wrap in cellphane bags, but I’m looking for something a little more professional, and which will give the bars more protection in transit / on shelves. I’d like plain white boxes with a window, so that the soap can be seen (and smelled!) and early indications suggest that they’re not cheap!! It’s a work in progress, and I’ll keep you updated.

But the main reason I’ve not made soap for a while? I was all out of Olive Oil, and had been for a week. I strongly suspect that there’s a shortage at the moment as, although I could buy plenty of Pomace Olive Oil, I’m struggling to get regular olive oil at a good price. I know many soapmakers use pomace without any problems, but I find it accelerates trace compared to regular olive oil, and that’s no good for my drop swirls. I usually get mine via Amazon’s subscribe and save facility, but they didn’t deliver April’s order, and when I went online to check what was going on, they’d cancelled the order without so much as an email to let me know ARRGHH May’s order is still in place so I’m hoping that turns up as planned. Anyway, I ordered some more from another supplier last Monday evening, and it finally arrived today…

Oh, and this blog was featured in Feedspot’s 100 top soap blogs last week. I’ll be honest, Feedspot was new to me, but it appears to be very similar to Bloglovin’. If you’re interested in soapy blogs (and of course you are, right?!) do have a look through. There I am, right down at No. 62 😀 (and it seems my location is wrong – I’ve not lived in Manchester for over 3 years, so I’ll need to find a way to change that – I’m guessing it’s here in my settings somewhere?)

And don’t forget, if you have a soapy blog yourself then why not join our Soapmaking Bloggers Facebook Group?

Thanks for reading – back soon!

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Vicki — 5 Comments

Facial Soap

It’s finally ready for testing! Back in early April I made up a small batch of what I hope will prove to be the final version of my long awaited facial soap. I’ve been using it myself for the last week, and I have to say I’m really really happy with it. It has a light, creamy lather and leaves my face feeling clean but so soft and not at all tight.

It’s unscented, uncoloured, and alongside the more commonplace ingredients, it also contains argan oil, jojoba oil, evening primrose oil and sweet almond oil. My feeling is it’s suitable for most skin types, but I’m no skincare expert, so I’ve asked for some volunteer testers via my Facebook page. I’m hoping to send out some samples this week:

This isn’t the final shape, and I have some work to do on packaging still, but hopefully I’ll be able to offer them for sale soon, together with a charcoal version for oilier skins.

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Vicki — Leave a comment

Calling all Soapmaking Bloggers…

Do you blog about making soap? I’ve created a facebook group where anyone blogging about ANY type of soapmaking (HP, CP, M&P, Liquid etc etc…) can share their blog posts, learn from others and find new soapy blogs to follow.

Please do join, here

I look forward to seeing you there 🙂