Soaping Season

Soaping season has officially started. 

The Farmers Market Holiday Bazaar is typically the second weekend of December. Handcrafted soap is best if cured for a minimum of 6-8 weeks, so I always soap throughout the month of September in order to have everything made and curing by the end of the first week of October.

Starting the beginning of September gives me plenty of time to plan out my soaps and get 4-6 loaves done every couple of days. This year I waited until we got Anthony moved onto campus on the 7th before starting. I wanted that last week with him at home to be focused on him. 

The kids think it's annoying my soaping stuff takes up the whole kitchen table during that month's time, and I do agree. I have to keep shoving it aside when we eat or I use the table to separate and fold laundry, lol. However, it would be far more annoying for me to put it away and take it back out daily! No thanks. 

Most days I soap by myself, but typically there a few days, like on a weekend, where Sam helps me get a few done. My mother also helps me sometimes. It's nice to have Sam cover the liquid measuring, or my mother wash the dishes, as it frees up my hands and brain to focus on the design and execution. But I do enjoy working alone most of the time. I turn on my music, tune everything else out except for soaping, and get to work. In the end, I really take pride in the finished product. 

Every year I look back at what I did the previous year, and decide if I like the scent well enough, or if it sold well enough, to make it again. I also decide if I like a design well enough to repeat it exactly as is, or change it up. I've always wanted to add dried fruits IN my soap, instead of just packaging them WITH, so this year I stuck them into the soap a little bit and I think, aesthetically, it looks pretty cool. 

I also like to pick up a few different fragrance oil or essential oil (if I can afford them!) scents to add to the collection. This year, if all goes well, I will have 16 different essential oil soaps, and 16 different fragrance oil soaps for people to choose from. I'm also hoping to make some soap on a rope. I am looking to make something different I haven't seen other soap makers in my town make. Since it seems that there are more soap makers popping up around me, I'd like to at least stand out a bit. 

I am just about halfway done, and looking forward to finishing sometime the first week of October. Then everything will sit and cure until bazaar day. I'll type up and print all of my labels, take photos to post, advertise on social media, plan out my table, etc. Hopefully I'll do really well at the bazaar this year. What I don't sell at the bazaar, I gift to friends. Thankfully, Sam also helps by taking what doesn't sell at the bazaar to work with him and his co-workers usually buy a lot of soap, of which I am thankful for.  Fingers crossed for a good year. I'd like to feel like it's worth my time to continue, and I'd like to retain the happiness I get from soaping. I really don't have the time and energy to do something that doesn't work financially anymore, or doesn't bring me any happiness. If that were to ever be the case, I would simply just go back to making soap for us. 

With love,

Mama Hauck