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https://soapmakingclasses.wordpress.com/

FOLLOW US TO OUR ACTIVE BLOG! 

We have a BLOG located 

HERE:  

https://soapmakingclasses.wordpress.com/

Making Sexy Soap

 Wow! I never thought making soap could be so sexy--from the videography to the music. This is not mine but I hope to have one like it someday! Enjoy!



Arts&Crafts IV: Soapmaking from Olha Dmytriv on Vimeo.

Woad Natural Colorant

Woad Natural Colorant--- ***UPDATE***

The woad color has faded to grayish-green color similar to using French Green Clay. I still think it's pretty and this one smells so good!

Cardamom Silk Soap- This Luxurious Silk Soap will make you feel like a day at the spa with Exotic Spices of Cardamon, Pachouli, Sandalwood and Lavender. READY FOR SALE! See it here: http://www.mossycreeksoap.com/natural-soap-styles/cardamom-silk-soap/

Using Woad as a Natural Soap Colorant

I love color, I am always looking for different ways to get certain colors naturally.
Sometimes working with a natural color is the way to go to get that certain blue or green color.  In this post I will share with you how to use both Cambrian Blue Clay & Indigo Powder and Woad Powder.

Here's the recipe I used:

Olive Oil- 1474 gr
Coconut Oil- 623 gr
Palm Oil- 396 gr
Water- 855 gr
Lye- 337 gr

Cambrian Blue Clay- 2 tbsp
Indigo Root Powder- 1/3 tsp
or

For The Woad Recipe

Woad- 1/2 tsp

Mix your sodium hydroxide into the water, then add your clay and indigo into the hot lye.  You will want to extract the colors out of the indigo and the blue clay so we add it to the lye. Blue Clay can sometimes come out very greenish looking so I like to pump it up a little by adding some Indigo Root Powder.

Blue Clay & Indigo in the Lye

Woad in the Lye

At about 110 degrees-mix as you would normally, pour into your molds and after two days remove from the mold. Let cure 4-6 weeks.  

Cambrian Blue Clay & Indigo Root

You can see it's pretty green right now but the blue will develop over the next two days.

Woad in the mold dusted with cocoa powder

When you unmold the woad comes out a little more greenish than the Blue Clay and I hear it has a history of fading.  Only time will tell. I will update this blog as to how fast or slow it fades.

Hope you get the opportunity to work with these two fabulous natural colorants.

Visit our small town american Soapmaking Studio!

 We thought it would be nice to share some new pictures of our soapmaking studio here in Perry, Georgia. We are pretty excited since we've moved from our former location. Lots of space to create, dream and design new projects! We even have a GIFT shop where you can purchase our soaps, soapmaking equipment,fragrance,essential oils and herbs.

                                                  904 Northside Drive, Perry Georgia 31069

Cosmetic Manufacturer or Drug Lord? Which one are you?

Education goes a long way when it concerns safe cosmetic manufacturing and I am not only talking about the "big guys" but also many small businesses as well.  In our quest to make a fabulous product and our passion to share it's wonderful benefits we may in fact be selling drugs. Making health claims on your products is a BIG no no unless you have the data and the license from the FDA to make those claims.  The FDA is very adamant about what you can and cannot say with your cosmetics-

http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/ucm074201.htm

"Intended use may be established in a number of ways. The following are some examples: 

• Claims stated on the product labeling, in advertising, on the Internet, or in other promotional materials.Certain claims may cause a product to be considered a drug, even if the product is marketed as if it were a cosmetic. Such claims establish the product as a drug because the intended use is to treat or prevent disease or otherwise affect the structure or functions of the human body. Some examples are claims that products will restore hair growth, reduce cellulite, treat varicose veins, increase or decrease the production of melanin (pigment) in the skin, or regenerate cells.
• Consumer perception, which may be established through the product's reputation. This means asking why the consumer is buying it and what the consumer expects it to do.
• Ingredients that cause a product to be considered a drug because they have a well-known (to the public and industry) therapeutic use. An example is fluoride in toothpaste.
   

This principle also holds true for "essential oils." For example, a fragrance marketed for promoting attractiveness is a cosmetic. But a fragrance marketed with certain "aromatherapy" claims, such as assertions that the scent will help the consumer sleep or quit smoking, meets the definition of a drug because of its intended use. Similarly, a massage oil that is simply intended to lubricate the skin and impart fragrance is a cosmetic, but if the product is intended for a therapeutic use, such as relieving muscle pain, it's a drug."

Be very careful about making these claims because they do not play when they come knocking on your door. Whether you have stated in your description on your own online website, ETSY or distribute information at your craft shows--seller beware BIG brother is watching you. 

So do not become one of these companies:

http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ComplianceEnforcement/WarningLetters/ucm081086.htm

More links you want to know about:

http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/CosmeticsQA/default.htm

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/HowDrugsareDevelopedandApproved/ucm2007006.htm
http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ResourcesForYou/CosmeticsManufacturersPackagersDistributors/ucm142760.htm
http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/CosmeticLabelingLabelClaims/CosmeticLabelingManual/ucm126444.htm#clgk

Are you thinking of making a cosmetic and want to stay within the guidelines?  I suggest purchasing this fabulous book--  

Marie Gale makes it very easy to wade through these guidelines by providing examples to help you comply and not sell drugs without a license.  I hope you have found this information helpful.

Courtesy of: Social Caffeine

We're going to the OSCARS next month!

We're pleased to announce, in association with The Artisan Group, we are participating in a luxury celebrity gift lounge hosted by GBK Productions on February 22-23, 2013 at an exclusive location in Beverly Hills, California, in honor of the The 2013 Oscar Awards Nominees and Presenters. 

Here's a sample of what's going to members of the press at the OSCARS!

Building Your Small Business Credit

Starting a business in a recession is never easy and most small soapmaking business owners fund all their purchases via personal credit.  It’s fine to do in the beginning but when revenues increase and you are making larger purchases you may need to look for new funding.  This is where your business comes in. You will need to first apply (if you have not done it already) for a EIN number with the IRS (this is an Employer Identification Number), Register your business with your local and state agencies and designate a legal entity for your business (sole proprietorship, LLC..etc).

 Remember when you had to establish personal credit?  You applied for credit and used your credit to build a history which was then reported to the various credit bureaus.  Well in business the terminology is a little different and works like this: As a business you will try to establish trade credit and it is when another business issues your business credit= trade credit.

At that point a business trade credit file will then be established, which is then gather by various business credit bureaus:

• Dun & Bradstreet
• Experian Business
• Equifax Business

But the bad thing is that other businesses are not required to send in your information and the credit bureaus may never receive the good credit information that you have established. It will be up to you to check this report and make sure that your business credit is being submitted.  It may not matter to you now but with luck someday you may need to expand and get a loan. Then you will need this credit history.

You can check to see if your business is on file for FREE at DUN & BRADSTREET-  http://www.dnb.com/  and sign up for your DUNS number.  You can also pay to have your credit pulled from the above resources as well.

Some fine points to remember when establishing business credit:
1. Keep a business phone line separate from your personal line if your business is mobile. It sends up red     flags if you do not have one.
2. Update or create your business plan
3. Find businesses willing to extend you small credit and ask to see if they report to the agencies
4. Start at least 6- 8 months before you need the loan.


If you are intrested in starting your own soapmaking business join us for our 2 Day Weekend Workshop Jan 26-27, 2013.   Click Here For More Information!

A bar of soap is only as good as it smells

Today, My Husband Dan, sent me a very inspiring video that basically defines why businesses succeed and why others don’t. The questions presented are why do I do what I do? Or better yet why make soap at all? Or why teach it to other people? So I thought for a moment, thinking it’s going pretty good maybe I am doing the right things? Otherwise I would have been out of business already—right? Well we know where that came from… Let’s just say I have a healthy dose of EGO. Maybe my German Puerto Rican roots are showing now? Hmmmm..

Anyway, back to those hard to answer questions, I had to think back to when this all started.  It was the early 90’s in my 20’s when I flew for Delta Airlines and had numerous layovers in Brighton England. There I discovered a little shop called “The Body Shop” everybody knows them now because they raced across the pond to open up a shop in every mall in America.  The main reason I loved their shop was the aroma streaming through the English glass doors that grabbed by my nose and dragged me in.  Then once you are in—you are completely inundated with the why.  Let me explain, the Body Shop International is designed around their need to educate the public on why you should be purchasing FREE TRADE products that come directly from the source harvested in such a way to protect and encourage the communities they came from.  Inspiring right?  I bought from them because I enjoyed the natural smelling products with ingredients that were good for my skin. Needless to say, I probably built a few stores here in America.  Good times!

Which brings me back to what motivated me in the first place to start making soap?  Since early on in my childhood I knew I was different, I found out that scent would either:  give me a headache, make me dizzy or make me feel good.  So I set out for the “Feel Good” part.  Since then I have developed that part of my senses to be very keen on what exactly everything smells like. Heck, I still smell my glass every time before I pour something in it. Weird huh?  It’s a proven fact that our sense of smell is tied directly to the memory part of our brains, which is why scent is so inherently personal to each of us.  Check out The Sense of Smell Institute for some smell good facts:  http://www.senseofsmell.org/.

Ok so then why soap?  We’ll for me it’s the easiest way to facilitate the scent!  Not really, it has to be a good skin loving bar as well. But it was the main reason I picked a bar in the first place. I spent a lot of money in the beginning buying all my fragrances and essential oils because unfortunately there are a lot of stinky fragrances. So I had to wade through the fragrances that didn’t last or with stand the process of soapmaking, ones that didn’t morph into a scent that I didn’t recognize and ones that were just plain “stinky”.  Ultimately what came out of it was a new found knowledge of scent and where to find them. A bar of soap is only as good as it smells, if you don’t pick it up you will never know what you’re missing. I believe a scent memory is important to your wellbeing and genuinely want you to feel better. The scent for my soap is carefully chosen for their harmony with nature, clarity of mind, wellbeing of the body and quality to help keep you grounded.

Soap is pretty easy to make with a few ingredients that do not have to cost a lot of money, you don’t have purchase huge vats of anything to get started and you can use your own cooking equipment to mix it in. When you are ready to learn how—sign up for one of my classes.  The 2 day weekend workshop in January is filling up! Deadline to SAVE $$$ will end DEC 31.

50 Facts About Your Skin

Learn about data visualization software.

Backdrop Curtain Tutorial

Learn how to make a gorgeous backdrop for your craft table this holiday season.  It's pretty simple and only took me a few hours of my time and I had a fabulous backdrop.

****Some close up photos***

Enjoy and have fun while you are making this- remember you can use any strips of material or ribbon!

Happy Holidays-

It may not be so easy starting a small business anymore.

I just found out yesterday- Our local county here in middle Georgia (not the big city--but really--the country), wants all home manufacturing (soapmaking, bath and body products) businesses to apply for a zoning variance, attend a hearing (waiting for at least 40 days before the hearing begins) and supply a survey of their home so they can apply for a business license. And it's not guaranteed they would even get approved. What are your thoughts? State Regs are not even this bad. Mind you we are a community of about 150,000 people. I guess weeding out new small business is what's in right now?

See this document on the requirements for Houston County-  http://www.houstoncountyga.com/assets/downloads/BusLicHomeOccupationsRegulations.pdf

Southern Living Magazine "LOVES" our Soap!

We were contacted back in Aug by Southern Living Magazine to share our Christmas 2012 Soaps.  We'll I am happy to say the Issue is "Christmas At Home" 100 Ways to Celebrate The Season.  They gave us placement on page 9!

Thank you for that FABULOUS write up-- SOUTHERN LIVING!

Want to purchase that soap?  

See it on the front page of our website--

mossycreeksoap.com

The Olive Oil Story

There was some discussion about Olive Oil for soapmaking in our class this weekend.  I thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth so to speak when I post this.  I checked out the USDA's website for the grade descriptions and this is what they say.

There are 3 types of Olive Oil:  Olive Oil, Virgin Olive Oil and  Olive-Pomace Oil -

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3011889

"Olive oil is the oil obtained solely from the fruit of the olive tree(Olea europaea L.), to the exclusion of oils obtained using solvents or re-esterification processes and of any mixture with oils of other kinds and shall meet the minimum requirements of Table I, found in §52.1539 of these grade standards." 

"Virgin olive oils are the oils obtained from the fruit of the olive tree solely by mechanical or other physical means under conditions, including thermal conditions, that do not lead to
alterations in the oil, and which have not undergone any treatment
other than washing, decantation, centrifugation, and filtration and
shall meet the minimum requirements of Table I, found in
§52.1539 of these grade standards. No additives of any kind are
permitted." 

"Olive-pomace oil is the oil obtained by treating olive pomace (the
product remaining after the mechanical extraction of olive oil) with
solvents or other physical treatments, to the exclusion of oils
obtained by synthetic processes and mixture with oils of other
kinds and shall meet the minimum requirements of Table I, found in
§52.1539 of these grade standards. Alpha-tocopherol is permitted
to restore natural tocopherol lost in the refining process for refined
olive pomace and olive-pomace oil. Maximum level: 200 mg/kg of
total alpha-tocopherol is permitted in the final product. "

The New Yorker posted about "The Olive Oil's Darker Side" In Feb 2012 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/02/the-exchange-tom-mueller.html

Tom Mueller has done some extensive research on how corrupt this industry really is in his book called "Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil"

The Truth In Olive Oil Website:  http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/

A Buyers Guide in the US for Olive Oil http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/great-oil/how-to-buy-great-olive-oil/

What's your take on it?  What do you think of grocery store olive oil/no brand name? Is it really olive oil at all?

Color Branding

Color Branding?  Sounds pretty good hmmm.. I came across this very cool graphic and since I am designing new website this should really come into play. My new website should be up and running before Oct 1. We'll be expecting some down time and I will announce it before we switch over. So look for it:  http://mossycreeksoap.com/  It will be very user friendly with some very cool new features-

Anyway-  this graphic... It discusses color and why it's so important in branding your product. I thought I would share this with you guys--

 I love this company: http://dailyinfographic.com/the-illusion-of-choice-infographic .  I think it's important to say that most people love pictures.. so here you go!

Infusing Herbs in Olive Oil

In my quest for receiving the ultimate benefit from herbs in soap, I began researching how to get the homeopathic benefit from these delicate herbs without losing out to the harsh realities of using lye to make soap.  Because Lye is sodium hydroxide (a caustic salt), it can be too harsh and destroy many of the good properties of the herbs. One way to retain them is to infuse them into an oil.

This method is simple, like making tea but we are using oil instead of water. So that we may use the oil in our soaps, herbal salves and balms.

Let's get started on how you can create your own herbal infusions.

Step 1-  I use regular pint sized wide mouth canning jars with the lids.

Step 2- Gather your dried herbs and place them into sealable tea bags. 

I used about 2-3 tablespoons

Step 3-  Iron them closed

Step 4- Place sealed tea bag into the jars and pour olive oil over the tea bags

till 3/4 full and lightly tighten the lid

(do not over tighten lid until it's pulled out of the water bath when it's complete).

Step 5- Place jars into canning pot and fill with water till jar is surrounded by water but not touching the lid.

Step 6- Simmer on low for a few hours, after about 1 hour, check to see if the oils 

have changed colors. You may need to steep them a little more or less.  

It will depend on the herbs you are using.

Step 7-  Remove them from the hot water carefully, I use my canning tongs to pull them out. 

Let them sit a while to cool off. 

There you have it! 

 A gorgeous herbal infused oil that you can use in your soap, herbal salves and balms.

Indigo and Cambrian Blue Clay in Soapmaking

A while back I was discussing Cambrian Blue Clay in one of my online groups.  What I love about it is the color!  A nice blue is a tough color to achieve and Cambrian Blue Clay along with Indigo makes a beautiful blue color.  In the beginning you will notice it has a greenish hue to it but in the end once it's cured it looks fabulous.

Not much is known about the Cambrian Blue Clay which has an INCI name of Lilite.  Right now you can purchase this wonderful blue clay from http://www.etsy.com/shop/AltaiBotanicals 

I added this Cambrian Blue Clay along with Indigo Root Powder directly to my LYE solution to release all the good properties of both the clay and Indigo Root. 

Once I started I noticed there really wasn't anything to strain but I wanted to be sure.

 I added a Lavender, Patchouli and Sandalwood essential oil fragrance blend.

I wanted to add dimension to my soap so I add some Calendula Flowers

Sprinkled some 24k Gold Mica on top!

If you want to purchase this soap it will be ready 20 AUG online at

mossycreeksoap.com

Or you can learn how to make your own soap in our

  2 Day SOAPMAKING workshop in Sept!

Contest Winners for the Salute to Love Wedding!

We are so delighted to be apart of the huge event in which one lucky military couple will be awarded the wedding of their dreams! They had to submit a 2 minute video via youtube or write an essay explaining why they are the perfect couple to win " A Complete Wedding Giveaway".

Out of all the videos and essays, Megan Weekley and Marshall Glass are the WINNERS!

Aren't they just too cute!

CONGRATULATIONS Megan and Marshall you will be receiving our wedding favor soaps for your wedding reception!

If you would like to order your own wedding favors, please find more information on our website:

http://www.mossycreeksoap.com/wedding-baby-shower/