My Confession

Folks, I have a confession…  wait, let me do this properly…

Hello, My name is  Sherry, and I am an Addict!!  I admit that I have become a raging Soapaholic!

It happened innocently enough.  I started out making melt and pour soap, tweaking it with botanicals, fragrance or essential oils and colouring it fun funky ways, but that wasn’t enough for me…  I still wanted to make soap the “old fashioned way”, by mixing oils with lye to make real honest to goodness cold processed soap.

So, I bought olive oil, palm oil, shea butter and lye.  I’ve got the pot, I’ve got the scale, I’ve got my recipe, I’m ready!  I don my safety equipment, but I’m terrified of the lye… yes, I watched Fight Club… but I dive in anyway if I’m gonna do this.  I mixed the lye, I mixed the oils, I mixed them together and started stirring… and stirring… and stirring some more.  Finally after about 3 hours of stirring I figure, that’s gotta be enough.  So, I pour it in the mold and insulate it.  I’m impatient, and sneak peeks… is it soap yet.  Nope.  So ok, I’ll leave it alone over night and check it in the morning, by then it should have gone through the gel stage and become soap.  I look the next morning and…. AAAAAaaaaaahhhh, it didn’t work.  What could I have done wrong?  I figured it out that I hadn’t stirred it long enough.  So I re-batched it and yes, this time it is soap!!!  But THREE HOURS OF STIRRING wasn’t enough. So I became an occasional soaper.  I continued making the melt and pour, but I’d make my olive oil cold process soap now and then when I had ran out of the previous batch.

Well, in January it all changed.  You may have read my post Squeeee!  I got a stick blender!!  Well, that was the one piece of equipment that changed everything.  This thing has me all consumed with soap making to the point that I’m probably going to stop making the melt and pour soap altogether!

You see, it’s really not my fault, it’s the stick blenders fault, because now I can make a batch of soap, from the second I put on my gloves and safety glasses, to placing the filled mold in the freezer and walking back upstairs in under an hour!!!  Did you hear me?  I said all that in UNDER AN HOUR!!!

Before, it was a batch every now and then.  Now I’m doing multiple batches in a day!!!  And it gets worse (or better depending on how you look at it)  I’ve got wonderful new colours to play with, and I’m making cutesie soaps like cupcakes.  I’ve become obsessed!!  I lay in bed at night thinking what kind of soap to make next.  What scent and how to colour it.  What other recipes can I come up with…  Oh the humanity!!!

Here are a few pictures to show you how far I’ve sunk into this Cold Processed Soap making.

These Cupcake Soaps were made on Friday.  We had a terrible snow storm, so I came home and since there’s nothing good on TV anymore, I tried my hand at making these.

Vanilla Cupcake Soap

These are my first attempt, and you can be sure I’ll be doing more… and more… and yet even more!!  They will be ready for sale around March 23rd.

Then Sunday I made this.

Lavender in the mold

 

Lavender on the curing rack

Lavender close-up

Luckily for me this entire log of Lavender CP Soap is already sold as soon as it has cured.  I have a couple in town who love my soap so much that they buy it a whole log at a time.

I also made my favorite fragrance Rose Geranium.

Rose Geranium in the mold

I coloured it with swirls of pink and green then sprinkled a little gold dust on the top.

 

Rose Geranium cut end

It was a little too soft to cut, but I couldn’t wait any more to have a peek inside.

Rose Geranium close-up

I’ll finish cutting this log tonight and it will be ready for sale around March 24th.

So there, I’ve fessed up, I am a Soapaholic and I LOVE IT!!!  Beware, I Will Soap Again… don’t try and stop me, I don’t need an intervention, and I can promise that this obsession will get worse 🙂

Sherry.

 

 

 

Squeeee! I got a stick blender!!

Ok, so it’s been forever since I last posted.  Christmas was crazy as usual, then January came and like always I need a break so I closed up shop for 2 weeks for some R&R.  And when I’m away from the store I’m AWAY from the store.  I don’t read my emails, facebook, nothing.  It’s like for 2 weeks the store doesn’t exist, and it just so happens that during that time off I have a birthday.  Funny how that works eh?  I know that’s no excuse but I need the break.  Anyway now I have some big news… well I think it’s big news anyway.

Some of you may know that I am a soaper, my soap line is called Parson House Soap & Candle Co. (I make Soy Wax Candles too)  I make Goat’s Milk M&P soap and Cold Processed Olive Oil soap.  Now my Goat’s Milk Soap is fairly quick and simple to make, but the Cold Process soap took me FOREVER to make.  You see, I’m a make do kinda girl.  I make do with what I have and if I don’t have it I do without and just suck it up.  Anyway for me to make a batch of Cold Process soap, it would take a minimum of 3 hours of just stirring (any of you who make soap already know this) and that didn’t include the time assembling, measuring and weighting the oils etc.  Well this year I told my husband Brian that all I’d like for Christmas and or my birthday was a laser thermometer and a stick blender.  Well our anniversary is the 1st of December and Brian gave me a Kobo Vox E-reader and a Laser Thermometer!   This thing is fantastic!!  Before I’d use candy thermometers to measure the temp of my lye and oils.  They took a while to get an accurate reading, they have to be cleaned and they break way too easily and too often.  Don’t get me wrong, they work but…

For my Birthday I got a beautiful Sterling Silver Bracelet and a Stick Blender!!!  

So while my mom was here for a visit during my staycation we went down to my lab (mwuahahaha) and made a batch of Castile soap.  I figured if my regular Olive Oil soap took at least 3 hours of stirring to reach trace, then I knew that Castile soap would take even longer to hand stir with 80% Olive Oil, so lets test this puppy out.

Here are the results.  I’m armed with my brand new tools of the trade and my mom is armed with my camera.

I’ve already donned my rubber gloves and goggles and weighed out all my water, lye and oils.  Here we go!

Lye Solution:  lye mixed with water creates a lot of heat, almost to the boiling point, so here it is all mixed and cooling in the jug.

Oils:Here are the oils.  I used 80% Olive Oil and add a small amount of Coconut and Palm Oils to give the bars hardness and a stable lather.

Adding the Lye:Both the Lye and the Oils have reached about the same temperature, around 100 degrees.  The laser thermometer makes this part soooooo much easier, just point and click! So now it’s time to add the lye to the oils, you can already see the transformation to soap, but we’ve got a ways to go yet.

Stick Blending:The stick blender is like buttah!!!  I just love this thing!!!  I know all you other soapers out there are saying “Duh” but who knew!?!

Light Trace:Look how quickly this is going!!!  Woo hoo!

Trace Lines:Here’s a better picture of the trace lines.  This means we are starting to get soap!!  With this spatula, I would have been standing at the pot for about three hours or so a this point.

Thick Trace:Here we are at a thick trace, you can see the colour change before your eyes using this wonderful gadget!  Time to pour!

Lined Mold:My husband made me these wooden log molds and it’s ready to go, lined with freezer paper.

Pouring the Soap:

Scraping the last bits:We gotta get every last bit of the soap out of the pot, it’s just too good to waste and it makes the clean up go much easier later 🙂

Now at this point I would smooth it all out, cover the top with plastic wrap then wrap it up in towels to let the soap go through a gell stage.  I much prefer the look of a textured top, so I don’t do that anymore.

Texturizing the Top:I use the back of a spoon and add some texture to the top making it lumpy 🙂  With other soaps I’ve added a bit of glitter to the top just for a bit of fun, but since this is Castile soap, I didn’t want to add anything else, you’ll notice that I didn’t and any fragrance to this soap either.

All Done:Here it is!  From start to finish, and I mean the very beginning, where I first put on my rubber gloves to this point, taking this picture it was less than one hour!!!  Oh how I LOVE my stick blender!!!!!

24 Hours Later:Here’s our Castile soap 24 hours later!  Time to take it out of the mold and cut it 🙂

All Unwrapped:Isn’t that a pretty sight 🙂

Time to Cut:Here’s the first cut.  These end cuts are for Brian and I to use.  I always, always use the first bar of soap before I sell it.  The first use is on my hands.  If that is good then it’s into the shower I go and I use it head to toe.  I want to be sure that I’m putting a fantastic product on my shelves.  I’m my worst critic so if it doesn’t get past me, it won’t get to you.

Cutting the first Bar:Here’s our first full size bar.  I sell my soap as 100 gm bars, but since I hand cut them, they usually run anywhere from 110 – 130 gms.  They are always over, never under weight.

14 Bars Curing:And here they all are, beautifully creamy bars of Castile soap!  You may notice that the cut edges are a little rough.  In hindsight I should have left the log another 24 hours before cutting it.  At this point the soap was firm but soft and since I use a blade soap cutter the soap slices kinda stuck to the blade.  You know what it’s like cutting a soft cheese that sticks, well, kinda like that.  It doesn’t affect the soap, it’s just not quite as aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

After curing for 4 to 6 weeks these Castile soap bars can be used, but so that they will be at their best and mildest they will be curing for 4 to 6 months!

On Sunday I made a batch of my Olive Oil and Shea Butter soap with a Rose Garden Fragrance.  I’ll be cutting it tomorrow and it should be ready for sale around March 2nd.  I’ll be cutting it tonight and I’ll post pictures tomorrow.

This is the soap I made at the end of November before I was given my wonderful new gadgets.  It’s Lavender Olive and Shea.  Just for fun I stamped on some butterflies.  They are available in the store now!Well this has been a long drawn out post, but I’m just so excited I couldn’t make it any shorter.  I have so many great ideas swirling through my head with what I can do now and so much quicker too.  So I’ll stop babbling now and let you get on with your lives.  See ya tomorrow!

Sherry

 

January 2011 News and other stuff

Can you believe it’s the beginning of a brand new year? We had such an amazing 2010 and we owe a great big ‘Thank You!’ to all of our wonderful customers for an unforgettable Christmas. We’ve had an amazing time chatting with you online and in the store, we really do have the most fabulous customers we could ever ask for. So Thank You from the bottom of our hearts.

I haven’t posted in a little while because I’ve been mired in paperwork, inventory and deChristmasizing (is that a word?) the store.  Some things just aren’t any fun but they have to be done.  I’ve also rearranged the store, which was fun while I was thinking about doing it, but once I actually started, the fun faded real fast.  You see, I have a small store and when I move one fixture, then I have to move EVERYTHING else, all the product and fixtures to be able to move anything else.  Then of course it never fails.  Once everything is in a disheveled mess, customers come in in droves!!  They have to slither and squirm around shelves and display units that are in the most awkward of places.  Now I’m not complaining about customers in the store, oh no, but usually it’s new faces who come in and have never seen it in a better state.  I apologize profusely and offer to move things if they are in the way, and most people understand and are quite accommodating, but I’m still very embarrassed by the state of the place.  Well, with that said, the rearranging has been completed and for now I’m happy about the new layout.  It looks as though there is more floor space and so far so good.  I’m never bright enough to take before and after pictures, but I’ve got the batteries for the camera charging and I’ll try to take some good shots of the store and post them here for your viewing pleasure 🙂

And now for a little News:

I should have posted this sooner, but… well you’ve read what I’ve been up to… but, today is my last day in the store, then I’ll be closed….. Ha had ya worried didn’t I (well maybe not)… but I’ll only be closed for 2 weeks.  Sherry’s on Main will be CLOSED from Jan. 9th to Jan. 24th.  I’ll re-open at 10 am on Jan 25th.  No I’m not taking a fantastic tropical vacation or anything romantic like that, I’ll be taking the time to restock my own line of Parson House Soap and Candle Co. soaps and candles, making other product for the store, working on some ideas that are floating around in my head and recharging my own personal batteries.  After being open for 7 days a week starting the 1st of Nov. for the Christmas rush, and I get pretty darn tired and I just need a little respite from the store.  That and the fact that I need the time to restock.  There isn’t a single bar of soap left in the store AT ALL and the candle selection leaves a little to be desired.  So when I return there will be a whole new selection of Artisan Goat’s Milk soaps available, but my Olive Oil Cold Processed soaps will take a while to get here as they need 4 – 6 weeks to cure before they can be sold.  If you have any preferences of fragrances that you’d like to see here in the store, drop me an email or leave a comment and I’ll try my best to have it available for you.

When I return on January 25th I’ll have

NEW HOURS

Tuesday – Thursday 10 am – 5 pm

Friday 10 am – 5:30 pm

Saturday 10 am – 5 pm

CLOSED Sunday & Monday

As always I do offer after hours and private shopping.  Just call the store at 519-323-0251 and I’ll open just for you 🙂

And Now for a personal note:

My husband Brian and I have taken up curling.  We really have no idea what we are doing or how the game works (apparently drinking is a major factor in the game) but we are having a really good time doing it.  Last night was our second session of curling.  Now I have really BAD knees and I have to curl using a stick, there is absolutely no way I can curl the way you see them do on TV.  IF I could get down there, it would take a week and a hoist to get me back up again!!  So as I said I curl with a stick.  We’ve seen other curlers there that have this little handle thingy attached to the broom and thought that was kinda neat.  As I curl now I have a throwing stick (that’s my technical term for it) at each end of the ice and a broom.  Well, last night as I’m coming up the stairs from changing my shoes, there’s my husband buying me my very own “Throwing Stick Curling Broom” thingy as a Birthday gift.  My birthday isn’t until the 13th of January, but it’s one of those things that would be kinda hard to wrap.  Anyway, the “thingy” as I’ll call it seems to work pretty good.  I actually put the occasional rock where the skip wanted it!!  Well we curled only 6 ends because we gave the other team quite a lathering:) (no credit taken by myself or my husband for that one) then went into the club house to do the obligatory drinking.  The next thing I know, my husband coming out with a cake all aflame and the whole room singing Happy Birthday to me:)  I had absolutely no idea he was going to do that and when he first came out I was wondering who it was we were singing to!!  Hehehe, I’m a dope 🙂  Anyway we all had a few drinks and some cake and an all round good time!

I guess he got me back for the candle stuck in his hamburger!!  Brian’s Bday is Dec 26th and he’s not much on sweets so we don’t do the whole cake thing for him.  Since everything around here is closed on Boxing Day, we decided to go out for lunch on the 27th.  I had the girls at Al Jerkeys (that’s the name of the pub we haunt) come out with a candle in his hamburger and sing to him!  Hehehe, it was fun and I managed to embarrass him a little.  But he was smiling while eating the burger 🙂

Well, once again Thank You for a great 2010 and I’m looking forward to an even better 2011 and I hope the best for all of you too.  If anything fantastical happens while I’m closed I’ll post it, but other than that I’ll see you in 2 weeks time.

Take care everyone,

Sherry

New Name for My Soaps & Candles

As some of you may already know, shortly after opening my store, I started making my own brand of Soy Wax Candles, Goat’s Milk Soap and Bath & Body products.  Well a few years after opening the store, my husband and I bought our first home.  It’s over 130 years old and was the original Manse of the Presbyterian Church in Mount Forest.  With that in mind I’ve decided to rename these product lines from Sherry’s on Main, to Parson House Soap & Candle Co.  It’s the same great product that I made before, just a new look to the packaging as you can see in the two photos below.

Old label on my Goat's Milk Soap

New & exciting cigar band wrap on my Goat's Milk Soap

One other change to my soap is the shape.  The old shape was approx. 3 1/2″ wide by 1 3/4″ tall, the new shape is approx. 3 1/2″ wide by 2 1/2″ tall.  I think it gives a nicer feel in the hand.  They both weigh a minimum of 100g/4oz so the weight has also remained the same.

Since it’s gonna take me a while to make all new cigar bands and labels (yes, I make those myself too) I’ve decided to reduce the price of all my existing candle & bath & body products with the old Sherry’s on Main label by $.50 (fifty cents).  If you’ve never tried my soaps or candles now is an excellent time to do so, if you are a fan of my products this is a good opportunity to get yourself a deal.

See ya soon,

Sherry

PS.  If you would like more information on my Goat’s Milk Soap or my Soy Wax Candles feel free to drop me a note or stop in.  Also, I’d love some input on what you think of my changes.

Related Articles

• Healthy Bathing (lifescript.com)
• What’s So Great about Soy Wax? (thegreenists.com)

Bath Bombs + Humidity = Oh What A Mess

I have to make 150 Bath Bombs for a customers daughters wedding in September, so I gotta get these things done.  So Monday I think, ok today is a good day to make some Bath Bombs… well, the rain showed up, then the humidity followed.  Well I had made quite a few of these little buggers and didn’t the humid air make the outsides start to fizzle.  Now it’s just on the outside mind you, and they will still work in the tub, but oh god are they ugly!!  They look like they have leprosy.  So if you are in the market for a few Northern Blueberry Scented Heart Shaped Bath Bombs that look leprous, give me a call 🙂