It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I love the holidays! It might be the carols I hear on the radio...or the seemingly endless opportunities to indulge in delicious treats...or the absolute joy I get in shopping for gifts. Or it might just be that the season is characterized by yummy smells of pine, peppermint, apple cinnamon, hot chocolate, pumpkin spice, and crackling fires. At the soapery, you know we love yummy smells! In keeping with that love, here we are preparing one of our specialty gifts this season...Peppermint Bark soap! It smells so much better than it looks...with the perfect blend of warm chocolate and peppermint. Yum! Customers tell us this is the perfect hostess gift for all those holiday parties this season...or a unique stocking stuffer for a hard-to-shop-for friend!

To make these even more wonderful, the peppermint oil in them that are for fragrance also have that "cooling effect" that peppermint products are known for. What better way to celebrate the season that to wash yourself in the scents and flavors of the holidays? :)

Light at the End of the Tunnel...

One million apologies for the lack of posting, but the soapery is in its final stages of preparing for its LAST craft fair of the year! (Yay!) OK, maybe I shouldn't be cheering, but I am not going to lie. We have really enjoyed the craft fairs this year...it's always so nice to be out in the public and meeting with people who like our products! But we have been fervently making soap for so many days straight that I am really looking forward to taking a few days off once this show is over. Plus, having time off means more time for experimenting and coming up with new ideas and perfecting old ideas!

But never fear, there's no extended rest for the weary here...the soapery has BIG plans for the rest of the year and 2011. Stay tuned, but we're hoping to finally put some of our goodies online as well as try out some new soaping ideas. Aaaand there will be much more updating of this blog, so there will more chances for you to put off that big pile of work that's sitting on your desk, or that big pile of laundry that is starting to grow legs, or whatever else you might be hoping to put to the back of your mind for a while. :)

Tonight, we head to Orinda to set up for this weekend's show. Wish the soapery luck. Trying to cram about 150 pounds of soap into a 3-foot display space is a feat we have never faced before. Ah, the challenges of being a soapmaker. ;)

Thank You, Santa Monica!

The Santa Monica show was so amazing! People had such nice things to say about the soapery's inventory, and we sold much more than we had expected! The weather stayed clear, and despite the rain clouds all around, shoppers came by in a steady stream to pick up unique handmade gifts for everyone on their list.


Here are some photos of our booth and some of what we were selling. We had 11 different kinds of dessert soap, snowflake soap, peppermint bark soap, polka dot and "drizzle" soaps, and Japanese stamp soaps.  People loved the scents of our soaps and the fact that they were all made with great ingredients like goats' milk and aloe vera.  It was great fun to get feedback from customers...and to meet all the other artists and vendors selling their creations as well.

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the soapery, and a special thank you to Debra Nakatomi and Sue Oda, who hosted the show. Now back to soap-making mode for the upcoming show in Orinda!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!


the soapery booth













Our constant bestseller, sushi soap bento boxes!

Peppermint-scented snowflake guest soap for the holidays

White tea and ginger scented "drizzle" soaps

Some of our polka dot and drizzle soaps



Japanese stamped soaps in reusable tins covered in handmade paper



Yummy dessert soaps





Factory Mode!

Sorry for the lack of posting, but the soapery has gone into super production mode, getting ready for two upcoming shows, as well as fulfilling holiday gift orders!

Here's a batch of mint chocolate chip dessert soap fresh out of the oven (soap mold).  It's just one of 11 different flavors we'll be unveiling at our Santa Monica show this weekend. In addition to old favorites (Lemon Buttercream Cupcake, Pumpkin Pie Shake, and Apple Pie A La Mode), we'll have new fresh flavors both for the holiday season and for all year round (stay tuned for an all Dessert Soap post later this week).

I'll also be bringing a few new soap projects, including my line of polka dot soaps, snowflake soap box sets, and Japanese design stamp soaps. I can't wait to post photos of all of these fun soaps soon!

If you're in the LA area, definitely come check out the holiday boutique in Santa Monica this weekend...and pray for clear skies! There's a slight chance of rain...which would be a disaster! If you know a reverse rain dance...we'd appreciate the effort. :)

Sushi Anyone?

 One of the soapery's best sellers at its first craft show was its Sushi Soap!

Our Sushi Soap bento gift boxes come in an authentic Japanese sushi takeout carton (thank you, Little Tokyo!) and include four pieces of sushi roll soap, complete with avocado, scented cucumber, and (thankfully) unscented maguro, or tuna. The box also comes with soap "ginger" and scented "wasabi" soap.

When I first started making sushi soap, as much as I loved how they turned out, I didn't think they would be very popular, and so I only brought ten bento boxes to the craft show. Lesson learned! the soapery sold out of these cute little gift boxes in about an hour and ended up taking special orders for additional boxes.  They make great gifts and conversation pieces, so customers were buying them in packs for upcoming Christmas presents!

I will definitely make sure I have more Sushi Soap in supply at the soapery 's upcoming shows. Just make sure to tell your kiddies that they are definitely SOAP and not food. We overheard a number of kids asking their parents if the soaps were edible! :)

A Soap Blog is Born!

Welcome to the soapery blog!

We at the soapery are super excited to finally have a little spot on the Internet from which we can share with you all you wanted to know (well, probably much more than you wanted to know!) about our products, upcoming shows, purchasing and ordering information and more! Please feel free to contact us or comment us with questions, since we would love to hear from you. We have exciting plans for this blog, as well as for the soapery in general, so check back often and become a part of our soap-loving community!