“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Archives for August 2012
Rainbow Spheres
I love love love color. From packaging inspiration to pops of color in the fashion world to wonderful soapy creations, COLOR is all the rage. We spent a super fun but slightly grey week in one of our favorite getaway spots (family pictures to come soon!) and upon my return, these great little soaps were on my brain. Who doesn’t love rainbows? Correction- Who doesn’t love double rainbows?
Playing with the Bath Bomb Maker
Product knowledge is essential for delivering excellent customer service. This is especially true when taking on a completely new and mechanically unique product like the Bath Bomb Maker (and eh hem, not all of us on the CS team are mechanically inclined, cough cough). So when the newest member of the Bramble Berry product line arrived, you better believe that our customer service team jumped on the chance to play with it. We made a half-day bath bomb party out of it (whoo hoo! Luxurious baths for all!). If you’re like me, seeing products in action is better than still photos so we also filmed a quick video demonstrating how the Bath Bomb Machine works.
Bellingham All-Stars Baseball
Meet the U11 Baseball State Champs!
My wonderful Bramble Berry team told me that I had to be back in the office by 2:30 last Wednesday. What the heck did they have up their sleeves? I had no idea at the time but I played along and planned my workout around meetings and was back to the office right on time. To my surprise, I was honored with a guest appearance from the Bellingham All-Stars 11U baseball team, AKA the Cal Ripken State Champs! Great job boys!
Make It Monday: #Natural Colorants
Who’s ready for another challenge? This time it’s going to be all about cold process soaps and Team Bramble Berry is so excited to see what you will come up with! Just like our Make It Monday Melt and Pour Challenges (#Layers, #Embedding, #Swirling and #Sculpting), each week will have a different theme and you will have the chance to have your creation featured in a Soap Queen blog post!
Etsy Updates Policies on Cosmetics Making Claims
Etsy recently updated their policy on a variety of products that many Soap Queen readers and Bramble Berry customers make: products to help with acne (usually containing Tea Tree Essential Oil), anti-wrinkle creams and serums (often containing luscious ingredients like Tamanu Oil or Seabuckthorn Extract), diaper rash creams (often containing zinc oxide) and anything making anti-itch statements (often with additives like calamine or calendula-infused oils). This move has caused some confusion and frustration in the Etsy marketplace. Bottom line: follow the current, existing FDA guidelines for labeling cosmetics and you will be in compliance with Etsy’s new policy.
For the long post details, including actual languaging from FDA Warning Letters, links to the FDA site, statements from Etsy on the issue, continue reading by clicking “more”. [Read more…]
Announcing Bramble Berry’s Soapy Pinsters
Last week we put out a call for pinners to join us on our brand new community Pinterest board. We were looking for soapers who were committed, crafty and ready to pin! Members of our community board will have the opportunity to share fun and inspirational pins like packaging, design inspiration and fabulous soaps. We had so much fun looking over all your entries (and your super crafty Pinterest boards). Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry!
Now, we are happy to announce and welcome to our community soaping pinboard (in no particular order): Wendy Bishop, Brenda Wolfe, Kelley Swan, Lora Duzhe, Tara Parish, Lauren Miller, Kristen, Rose Lewis, Amy Mekelburg, Dana Huff, Karina de Castro, Jodi Winfindale, Bethany Adams, Denise Karan, Jennifer Hofmann, Katherine Osman, Silvia, Marion Catalano, Luci Ayyat, and Leilani Olsen.
Guidelines for pinning on Bramble Berry’s community pinboard:
- Pins to the community board can be from the follow categories:
- Packaging, design inspiration, color palette, mold ideas, inspiring projects, and anything you think would appeal to a new hobbyist or soapers who have been in the business for years
- Make sure you check the source for your pin — no spam or inappropriate links, please!
- Please describe your pin, so everyone who is following knows what the awesome link is.
- If you choose to pin your favorite supplies make sure they are from your favorite distributor, Bramble Berry (*wink wink*)
- Bramble Berry reserves the right to delete any pins.
Follow our community pin board Soapy Pinsters on Pinterest to check out all the inspirational and creative ideas these ladies will be pinning!
Jamisen and Grandpa
“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”
— The Talmud
How to Use our Bath Bomb Maker
We have been working with a small local manufacturer to create these remarkable machines. Our Bath Bomb Maker will allow you to make numerous Bath Bombs in a fraction of the time.
The machine is an investment. If you are just starting out, I would not recommend this product for you. You’ll definitely want to build up your customer base and product line before getting one of these. But if you have been making and selling Bath Bombs and are ready to expand production – this is the tool for you! The ingredients for making Bath Bombs are very inexpensive and yet they can sell for $3 – $7 each. Since the profit margin for Bath Fizzies is aggressive and much of the cost ends up being in the actual labor of producing a bath fizzy, it can make sense to invest in a machine like this.
In this video I show how easy it is to use the Bath Bomb Maker. The key is to get your mixture just the right consistency. I have found that it needs to be a little wetter than the mix would be if I were packing the Bath Bombs by hand. The great thing is – if the first bath bomb doesn’t come out you, just dump it back in the bowl and try again! I won’t lie; the first time I tried the machine, I got frusterated. The mixture needed to be wetter than if I was making bath fizzies by hand. I couldn’t figure out how high to fill the little tube. And my bombs kept splitting. After a solid 20 minutes of experimenting, I was able to get the consistency right, the fill levels perfect and since then, I haven’t had an issue. I know just what my go-to recipe and technique is – and I share it below.
To Make this Bath Bomb recipe you will need:
- 1 cup Citric Acid
- 2 cups Baking Soda
- 2 Tablespoons melted Cocoa Butter
- 4 Tablespoons Kaolin Clay
- 1/2 oz Fragrance or Essential Oil
- Optional: Witch Hazel
Get everything you need to make these Bath Bombs with the click of a button!
Call for Teach Soap Tutorials
We’ve recently given the TeachSoap.com site a major facelift. And, with this new look, we want new recipes. Calling all crafters – we want YOU to help us out! Do you have a bath bomb, soap or toiletry recipe you’ve been dying to share with someone? Now you can. We are currently accepting submissions for recipes for our Teach Soap website. We’d love to feature some of the brilliant and beautiful recipes that you’ve been creating. And, psssst, there’s prizes! =)
Guidelines:
- Submit your unique and fun recipe by emailing us at teachsoap(at)brambleberry(dot)com.
- All submitted recipes must come with great photos taken by you (see below) and clear instructions to be considered.
- You have until Friday, August 31st to submit recipes.
- Submit as many recipes as you want (it’s okay if they’ve been published elsewhere but you have to be the original creator of the recipe).
- Your recipe and photographs will be reviewed by the Bramble Berry team and may be featured on the Teach Soap website with full credit to you! Please include your full name and email address with your submission. [Read more…]
Three DIY Laundry Soap Recipes
I’ve long wanted to venture into making my own laundry soap. But, I’ve been scared. A washing machine seems big and complicated and expensive to fix if I break it with my experiments. But, finally the requests for laundry soap on our Facebook page buoyed the team and I to action. Behold the project we’ve been busily testing for the last few months: laundry soap. Please note that I’d recommend a small test batch of any of our recipes with your clothing and your washing machine to ensure that the recipe works the way you expect it to. Washing preferences, like soap preferences, can vary from household to household.
On Palm Oil
Many of you may already be aware of the sustainability issues with Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil. Palm oil is grown on vast plantations in Malaysia, Indonesia, and many other South Asian and African countries. Due to the ever increasing demand for Palm Oil in both the food industry and booming biofuel production, more land is needed every year for more oil palm trees. Some unscrupulous plantations clear surrounding rainforest and peat for this land illegally, which has led to the destruction of orangutan habitat and local land conflicts in some areas. Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) are used in soapmaking as secondary lathering agents and also contribute to a hard bar of soap.
Running with Pens
“Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman’s swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will.”
-E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
Circle Swirled Soap in Column Mold
Today we’re launching our latest mold (drum roll), the Heavy Duty Column mold! To celebrate it’s debut, I’ve got a fun and fabulous tutorial that is a twist on the Faux Funnel Pour technique. This is a great recipe for an alternative to Olive Oil, for those late night soaping adventures where you realize you’re just short of an ingredient and it’s too late to hit up the store (anyone else been there? anyone?). Using contrasting colors in unexpected hues and a bright and fresh fragrance oil blend, I’m hoping you like this recipe as much as I do.