Birthdays and such

  All great men have birthdays in January.  Capricorns are strong and loving.  I have a special fondness for one in particular and he shares his birthday with another man I have been fond of.  Elvis and my husband share January 8th for their birthday.  Funny thing, tho, my husband is extremely fond of all of Elvis' music.  I am not sure if it is because of their shared birthdays or not.
  What this has to do with Silver Palace Soaps is that without the support of my husband, I would not have this business.  The "poor" man hasn't had a commercially prepared bar of soap to wash with in over 10 years.  Hehehe!  And he doesn't complain.  Of course, he always says "Would it do any good?" 
  I want to give a special shout out to the Blogfire Guild of Artfire.  This is my first post to them, and this is their 2nd birthday this month. Thanks, Alicia, for keeping us bloggers posting.    

We Are Still Here.

It has been a very long time since I have written anything down in this blog. Life sure does seem to get in the way of the "best laid plans of mice and men"(women). While I was gone, I completed two cold process soap recipes, one at 2# and one at 5#. One is a clay infused shaving soap with lanolin and the other uses mostly beef and deer tallow, with some castor and palm kernel oils. The shaving soap has an lake type fragrance and the other is scented with Patchouli EO and an apple/pear blend. They are drying and curing as I speak. Good smells.

We have been having a warmer winter this year. In the house, that is. Last year we used not quite dry enough walnut to heat with in our wood stove. Barely got above 60 all day. This year, we have cured oak, maple, and box elder. The temp inside runs at 69-70 degrees. Very nice. Especially, when the temp over night is expected to be zero and below. Brrrrr!

I am anticipating the spring craft show business. Probably, because I know the weather will be warm. Although, I go outside daily and walk at least 500 ft, to get the mail, it is just not quite the same as being in warmer weather, outside. Too much is covered with snow. Sometimes, I can't even find what I am looking for, because, I don't recognize the lump.

Ah, well. More, at a later time.

What's happening at the palace

 Two new cold process soaps are curing, several melt and pour glycerin soaps are made and labeled and I have been selling vintage drapery materials on Artfire, but, not soap recently.  What's up with that? Well, one thing is certain. The craft show schedule is heating up and I know that I sell soap there.

  

  One of the soaps that I made has Bentonite clay and lanolin in it.  Adding clay to soaps is necessary for a good shaving soap.  The clay allows the razor blade to glide over the skin, making the process so much nicer.  Having lanolin in the soap helps in the process, also.  This soap is one of my daughter's favorites. The oils used in this soap are all vegetable, but, the added lanolin prevents me from labelling it as vegan.

  The other CP soap is definitely not vegan, as it contains both beef and deer tallows.  These make a wonderfully hard bar of soap that will last a long time in your shower or at your sink.  The very first time that I made soap with deer tallow, I was so impressed that I wanted more.  It had scented that batch with Peppermint, Lavender and Sandalwood essential oils.  This time I used Patchouli EO and mixed it with Apple-Pear fragrance oil.  Very nice fragrance.

  Be sure to visit Artfire to see my collection.  These will show up in about a month. The shaving soap is a mustard yellow and the tallow soap is neon blue.

 

New Year Intentions

  I thought about calling the title of this post, New Year Plans, but, decided to call it New Year Intentions.  My plans seem to often go astray, no matter how hard I try to stay focused on them.  It possibly could be that I am slightly ADD, or, it could also be that I have many different tentacles of this octopus that I call my life pulling me away.  Be that as it may, I need to put the plans on paper, er on computer, er, ummmm.  Just what do we call this?  Put the plans on Blog?!  I guess that will work.

  My soap making business will be growing.

  My soap making business will be acquiring a new sense of determination.

  It will become more professional.

  It will make use of the 10 Core Business Principles.

  I will totally invest myself into it.

  I will post more updates on this blog, on my Artfire blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.

  I will be serving those customers who desire a Vegan product.

  I will, also, be serving those customers who are not bothered by animal oils, as these make great soap.

  I will endeavor to use more natural products.

  

  As you can see, these are my plans.  Or intentions.  But, just remember this: "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Anonymous.   Stay tuned and see.

Merry Christmas, Happy Yule

  May your days be filled with Joy and Happiness, Newness and Wonder, Rejoicing and Frivolity, Peace and Calming this Holy-day season.

December musings

  Here it is December 9th and we have a snow storm coming.  This is just normal upper midwest weather, so why bother to worry about it.
  Had a really good  craft show on the 5th . It was a first time  show for this venue  and they had other quality  vendors, which seemed to appeal to the public.  I 'm  happy with my results.  This was the last show of the season for me, and now I have to focus on reorganizing  my stock, weed some of it out, and plan for the future.  But, I also have to deal with income taxes.  I have been doing our income tax by myself, but, may have to alter that plan.  We had some unexpected income this year and some unexpected outgo, too and I will have to do a lot of research to file properly.
   I want to give a shout out to all of my fans from Facebook.  Thanks guys, you are all great.  More as I have time.

Happy Thanksgiving

A Blessed and safe Thanksgiving to everyone.  Remember all that you have to be thankful for and remember all of those who may not have anything to be thankful for.  Peace.