A new blog

Hi, all.  In order to keep this blog more business  oriented, I have started another blog.  It is called "Cheap is Us". On that page, I will be devoting more info to how we have managed our affairs. It will include gardening tips, recycling tips and saving tips.

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            SilverPalaceSoaps

           
           

           
            Handmade Christmas        

   

Ok, it's time to get down to business

I have a lovely new soap with amber fragrance that I just can't seem to keep my nose away from.  I also completed a soap using Southern Soaper's Caramel Pecan Mousse.  Great color. I used rinsed out AAA lye bottles for the mold.  That gives the bottles one more use as I have to slice them to take the soap out.  My lowly contribution to the green movement.  I make ever so many more that this one is just an extra.  I haven't any pictures to show, yet, as I need to prepare a better setup for displaying my " beauties".
Because of my dairy allergies, I haven't prepared any goat's milk soap.  But, I did purchase some glycerin base that is SFIC Goat's milk. Perhaps that will satisfy those who  keep asking me for goat's milk. I will have to research what scents will be acceptable to this soap.

Fall is here

Well, almost anyway. It hardly seems real to think that we are already at the midpoint of the month. I have noticed, that, perceptually, time seems to go faster as you age. Durn it!!!!
I have so much to do in my business. I have so much to do to get ready for winter. Which one will go to the top of the list. It depends on "Emergency Rules". That which is the emergency, rules the list.
Now that my daughter and son-in-law have celebrated their one year anniversary, without killing each other, I think my thoughts will be calmer.

I am on Facebook. My business is on Facebook. I just have to figure out how to make the two of them link up, so that fans of each can be visible. Challenges abound. Did I mention that I am so busy???

The fall craft show season is here.

Trying to gear up for the big show season. Just got a great supply of essential oils and fragrance oils in. Most of them are old standbys that sell well, but. one of them is a new essential oil that I am going to use to blend my own scent with. Ok, Ok. My English professor would not like that previous statement, but, I don't have time to change it. Deal with it, OK???
It seems that the weather has a lot to do with my "inclinations to formulate". I have always felt very comfortable in the closed in, shelter aspect of winter. My wisdom becomes the "hunkered down" kind. That is when my creative juices start flowing. Maybe, in the summer, there is so much to do, that I have no time for planning and formulating. I don't know. Maybe, it's just me....

My best seller is a Cranberry Orange Marmalade fragrance oil that I buy from Southern Soapers. Just got another 8 ounces delivered today. It's great in soap, but, haven't tried it in lotions or bath bombs, yet. What do you say? Should I??

E commerce

I am racing as fast as I am able to keep up with the e commerce race. There are sooooo many advantages to belonging to the Artfire community. Every day they come up with new "gifts" to us to enable our small businesses to survive. As one who had only one semester of any kind of computer schooling, and, that was over 30 years ago, it is a struggle for me. I am self taught by observations, by asking questions and by reading. Having a computer and high speed internet service is almost as bad as having a microwave. You know there was life before they came along, but, you sure wonder how the world survived without them. When we lose electrical power, it seems to "cripple" me. I have to stop and think, "What did I do before?"

Sometimes, it becomes overwhelming, but, I will persist.

Just uploaded some more items from my camera to be placed on Artfire. They are not soaps or lotions, but, are items from my antiques business, Old Pavilion Antiques. They are fabric pieces listed under my supplies category. Keep watching the photos at left and you will eventually see them. It has been too humid to do much soap making and my husband hasn't been driving for car dealerships, lately, so I haven't been making lotions or creams, either.

All in Good Time!

Harvest time

Made my first batch of Bread & Butter pickles today. Only put up 6 pints. Hopefully, the cukes will produce more. I have to make them using Splenda, as my husband is diabetic. This is the third year that I have made them this way. They taste just as good as those with sugar.

Waiting for some more free time to begin formulating. I need to make more things for the upcoming indoor craft season. Have been adding a few more things to Artfire. Now to just find a good spot to photograph my goodies.....sigh!!!! Too much stuff, too little house!

Need to get more creative with my soap designing. I don't want to copycat, but, by the same token, there are just so many ways that you can portray your product. Colors, scents, swirls; these are all possibilities, along with shapes and formulations. I have to decide whether there are enough soap buyers who don't mind having animal fats in their soaps. Personally, I like the hard bar that tallows and other animal fats give. But, in this day and age, many people are put off by this. I do offer vegan bars, but in order for them to be hard, you have to incorporate cocoa butter or stearic acid in them. Perhaps this is why most of my soaps are not selling on Artfire, because they have animal fats in them.

More musings at a later date.