Soap Conference Day 2

Here is the email to my friends of my second day at the Soap Conference.

Hi All,

The day starts out great. It ends even better.  Two really great workshops with phenomenal speakers. (Diane Hunke http://www.essentialwholesale.com/ and Ann Evanston http://www.annevanston.com/) Then lunch and more workshops. One of the speakers I really liked, Ann Evanston, said she was doing an impromptu Twitter thingie in the hotel bar. This was not part of the conference. I had a decision to make. Do a workshop on photography and copy writing, or drink at 3 in the afternoon and have fun tweeting with a really cool lady and some new friends. So I get out of character and have a margarita, learn more about social networking , laugh so much it hurts, and make some really great connections. This continues through the "Dinner Extravaganza" with more drinks, laughs and tweets. The. Best. Day. Ever. 

The 3pm Twitter meet-up with Ann Evanston  (photo credit, who knows!)

The March Fourth Marching Band (http://marchfourthmarchingband.com/)

Ann with the borrowed skittles vest

Can you believe we all walked through their legs??

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Handcrafted Soap Conference 2012 Day 1

The next few days I will be posting an email I sent home to friends while I was away for the 15th annual HSMG Soap Conference (http://www.soapguild.org/) in Portland Oregon.  I will be adding websites and pictures to the email for you.

Hi Everyone,

This is my second day here, but the first day of the conference. Keynote speaker (Mary Lou Quinlan http://www.marylouq.com/ ) was great, vendors were fun, but the best part of the day were the 2 workshops I did with Marla. We work very well together, I can anticipate what she needs before she know herself (what do you expect, I was trained by doctors)  Both sessions were on formulating creams and lotions (don't look at me with glazed eyes!) and there were over 200 people who attended. Of course they came to see me in my pretty new black apron (with the slogan "Raise the Bar, Use Handcrafted Soap") Believe it or not (because I actually don't believe it myself), I wasn't nervous. I had fun with it. Amazing, huh?

Getting ready to mix up some lotion! (Photo credit to Holly Port)



Two of the vendors (Anne-Marie Faiola of http://www.brambleberry.com/ and Debbie May of http://wholesalesuppliesplus.com/) put on a party after hours called Casino Night. They brought in real dealers and transformed the place into Las Vegas. Roulette, Black Jack, whatever you wanted to play. We all started off with $1000 (fake money, of course).  At the end of the night I had $3425 (I kid you not!)  We turned our money in for raffle tickets which I won absolutely nothing with. It was still a great day.

Anne-Marie Faiola and Debbie May

The dealers took the time to explain the game to those of us who had never played

Party time!

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela




Natural Perfume Making

I have always loved scents. I remember getting a perfume kit as a child and making perfumes for my mom and sisters.  A year or two ago, I took some classes with Charna Ethier of Providence Perfume Company (www.providenceperfume.com). Charna makes amazing perfumes from essential oils and absolutes. I have six of her creations and can't decide which is my favorite.

This past Friday night I assisted Charna during her Blending Natural Perfumes class which was offered through Back Porch Soap Company in New York City (www.backporchsoap.com). It's an easy and enjoyable job.  I welcome her students, collect her materials fee, melt the beeswax/jojoba mixture for the solid perfumes and listen to her teach. It's a joy to watch her inspire her students. Every time I assist her, I learn something new.



Charna talking about top, middle and base notes

 Charna brings many different essential oils and absolutes for her students to experience. She must have a collection of over 100 scents for them to try.  I watch the students faces as they smell the difference between Jasmine sambac and Jasmine grandiflorum. I watch them crinkle their noses at an "unpleasant" odor, only to learn how to use it to make their perfume smell better. And I watch as they learn how to put their own personal stamp on a perfume by creating unique tinctures. They leave with a solid perfume and two liquid perfumes which they've created, a starter kit of basic essential oils for them to play with at home, and so many thoughts and ideas swimming in their heads.

I am already looking forward to the next time Charna comes to teach, are you?  I hope to see you there!


Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Farmingdale High School Green Fair

The Farmingdale High School Green Club

I was introduced to a beautiful, energetic young woman named Kirsten.  Kirsten goes to Farmingdale High School and invited me to participate in their Green Fair. It was a gorgeous day to be outside and I enjoyed all the festivities, meeting her classmates and talking about my soap with them.

  

The Owl

 

Spinning yarn into thread



The Hawk





Face Painters

Key Club

Relay for Life



Farmingdale High School National Honor Society

The New Students (www.thenewstudents.com)

I had a great time in the beautiful weather, listening to a great band called The New Students, and meeting all of Kirsten's friends. They were all so full of life and working hard to do what they can to bring awareness to our environment.  There were lots of raffles and homemade food being sold to support different charities.  Sort of makes me hopeful for our future. Thank you Kirsten for the invite. 



My friends through technology

My friend Ginger Mincey Moore (http://neoscreations.net/) posted this on my Facebook wall recently.

"I am supposed to pick 12 women who I've gotten to know online (never met) It's funny we have never really met, cause when I see your Facebook symbol, I think "There's my buddy!" I think that if this awesome group of women were ever to be in a room together, there is nothing that would be impossible.
I Know I chose the right twelve. May my hugs, love, gestures and communications remind you how special you are, there for each and every one of us, now send this to 12 women (or more) (u can copy & paste) within the next 5 minutes ..... and remember to send this back to me, I count as 1 ..... you'll see why. REMEMBER: THIS IS FOR ONLINE FRIENDS ONLY, WOMEN YOU HAVE NEVER MET.Love you (((HUGS))) ♥"

This started me thinking of all the people technology has made it possible for me to meet.

Ginger would be my technology Facebook friend.  I know she loves coffee (gotta have my cuppa..), loves her little man (son) and writes with a southern accent.  She makes me laugh and I can't believe the energy she has. She lives in Tennessee and the next time I'm down there (and trust me Ginger, I will be), I'm stopping by her house for some sweet tea. (Sorry, I don't do coffee)

Donna Maria Coles Johnson (http://indiebeauty.com/) is my technology podcast/webinar friend.  Every week or so, dM has some kind of information session online for her Indie members.  Her children will sometimes run around behind the camera, and it's fun to see her "at home" side.  I've learned dM is approachable and without technology, I would have never had access to her wealth of knowledge.

My next technology friend is someone I did meet once, but got to know through emails.  Fran Grillo (http://www.greenessentialnaturals.com/) and I went to a NY Indie meeting and sat at opposite ends of the table. I don't remember who emailed who first. I do know I found a comrade, someone who struggles with technology as much as I do. We can laugh at how hard we find some things that others seem to pick up quickly, and I don't feel so alone.  

Which brings me full circle.  This technology I struggle with has also blessed me with knowing people I would have never had contact with in my everyday life.  And this is good. 

 

My Easter Weekend

                                              

View from the backyard

My husband has family who live in Maryland and we spent Easter this year with them. They have 20 acres of property on the San Domingo Creek, which is off of the Chesapeake Bay.  It was an absolutely beautiful weekend with perfect weather.  I had my soaps, balms, scrubs and camera with me and couldn't resist taking some pictures.

For three days I was surrounded by picturesque scenery, great food and my immediate and extended family.  How lucky am I??

A Very casual experiment

"How long will a bar of your soap last?" a new customer (thank you Carol) asked me a few weeks ago.  The thing is, being a soap maker, I always have a few different soaps in my shower at one time.  Usually, these are the odd pieces and scraps I don't sell.  So I couldn't answer her question. However, I believe "I don't know" is not an acceptable answer unless it is followed by "but I will find out for you."  So I did.

When I got home I unwrapped a bar of my Lavender Lemongrass soap (because it's my favorite) and I weighed it before using.  I weighed it randomly during the next few weeks.  Below are my results.

 Day 1       4.2 ounces

 Day 8       3.2 ounces

 Day 15     2.5 ounces

 Day 24      1.1 ounces

 Day 28      0.3 ounces                

 Day 30      Last shower

Since I shower once a day, a bar of my soap lasts me 30 days. To be honest, I felt I needed more data and I enlisted in help.  I asked twenty people I knew to keep track of how many showers they got with a bar of my soap.  The only two requirements were to keep the soap out of water when they weren't showering and not to let anyone else in their family use the soap.  The second stipulation proved to be the difficult part, eleven people told me they were unable to stop family members from using the soap.  These people were eliminated from "the Very casual experiment".  Now we are down to nine people and here are their results.

Jess         17 showers
John        17 showers
Joe          19 showers
Sophie     21 showers
Linda       22 showers
Tony        23 showers
Liz           26 showers
Mary        28 showers
Patty        30 showers

If you do the math you can see the average number is showers from a bar of my soap is 23. 
Carol, I have an answer for you.

Yours in gratitude,
Angela