Bramble Berry just added a new fragrance – Smoky Patchouli. It smells suspiciously like firewood in the bottle but in cold process soap, smells like a rich, deep and expensive Patchouli. You can find it here.
Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
Bramble Berry just added a new fragrance – Smoky Patchouli. It smells suspiciously like firewood in the bottle but in cold process soap, smells like a rich, deep and expensive Patchouli. You can find it here.
Filed Under: Business Musings
If you missed the “Why does this soap cost so much” question, click here to read the answers and discussion on this important craft show question.
Make sure that you have your own personal answer to this question so that it rolls easily off your tongue when asked. And, please add your own thoughts and answers in the comments. This is just a starter answer to get you thinking.
Cool! How is this stuff made!?
(smile)
Generic Lotion Answer: Making lotion is this super cool process that involves mixing oils and water together. Using real oils is the reason my lotion is so good and luxurious for your skin. Unlike big store brands that try and sell you waxy water, I actually put real oil like XYZ and XYZ into my lotion. The oil provides your skin with a barrier against environmental stressors as well as helping to rejuvenate your skin to a moist and supple state.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
The talent in this little resort is bursting at the seams! I cannot get over how many amazing artisans and soap artists are all gathered in one place. Here are some of the entries to the “Best Of” Soapers Showcase.
Are you feeling inspired yet? I was absolutely in awe, mouth agape, at the entries. They inspired me to step up my CP game and get to work on being more creative. This embedded CP soap was one of “Wow!” soaps for me. I really felt like it was a work of art, something to be cherished and admired.
Embedding multiple colors of cold process soap is a true art and science unto its own. I wonder if teaching this technique plus swirling and layering might make for a good Otion Soapmaking Advanced Class?
I am on such a creative high after seeing all of the unique and different ways to make, display and package soap. There are a lot of soaps the Soap Guild show at to be proud of.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
On my smooth and easy flight to Vermont (thank you Alaska & United!), I came across this ad. Check it out! Ice Cream that has HALF the calories and HALF the sugar of regular low fat yogurt? Rejoicing all around! After all, that healthy probiotic laden yogurt I’ve been eating down daily for breakfast for years is getting boring. And, with summer coming on, frozen, slow churned yogurt from Dreyers (owned by multi-national Nestle who also, shocker of shocker, makes Haagen Daz ice creams and Starbucks ice creams) sounds way better than boring ol’, low fat yogurt.
INGREDIENTS (Chocolate Fudge Brownie Yogurt Blend Slow Churned): skim milk, corn syrup, chocolate brownie pieces, sugar, cream, cultured skim milk, fudge swirl (sugar, skim milk, corn syrup, cream, water, cocoa processed with alkali, bitter chocolate, modified tapioca starch, sodium alginate, potassium sorbate, salt), corn syrup, chocolate brownie pieces (sugar, wheat flour, soybean oil, eggs, cocoa processed with alkali, corn syrup, water, natural flavor, salt, soy lecithin, xanthan gum), cocoa processed with alkali, maltodextrin, whey, mono and diglycerides, milk minerals concentrate, guar gum, locust bean gum, carrageenan
So, the slow churned “yogurt” is really like eating milk with corn syryp and flavoring in there. I don’t see *any* probiotics or yogurt starter in the ingredients listing. According to WiseGeek, in order for a product to be called “Yogurt” it must contain either Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricusbacteria. The Dryer’s Slow Churned “Yogurt” contains milk, corn syryp and a thickener to make it seem like an actual health food.
Filed Under: Business Musings
I had the honor of speaking to the IAAP (International Association of Administrative Professionals) yesterday. I spoke about the importance of having a very strong support network. Every successful person has a huge massive support team around them – you may not see them, but they’re there. Not only am I lucky enough to have a fabulous group at Bramble Berry, I also have my Mastermind Group. Here’s a photo my Mastermind Group, comprised of women business owners in Bellingham, Washington.
What is a Mastermind Group? The concept of a Mastermind Group was introduced to the world in a formal manner by Napolean Hill, the author of “Think and Grow Rich” in the 1900’s. He defined the Mastermind Principle as, “”The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony. No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.”
My Bellingham Mastermind Group meets once a month. We have homework, book reports and a long update process that involves talking about our business (and personal!) goals and our progress on those goals. We rarely talk about problems but instead focus on getting more success out of our lives.
I felt honored (and humbled) to speak to the group of (mostly) woman professionals about starting their very own support network to help them reach their goals and potential.
From the Get Rich Slowly Blog: “Without goals, you are living reactively, letting life push you around. With goals, you can live a proactive life, steering toward a destination. When you have an end in mind, it’s easier to see when you’ve made a wrong turn. You know where your path is supposed to lead.” And with a Mastermind Group around you, helping you and supporting you down that path, it’s a lot easier to get on and stay on the path to your personal bliss
You are the sum total of the five people you spend the most time with. Do the people you hang out with lift you up? Inspire you to reach your highest potential and urge you to shoot for the stars?
If you’re interested in learning more about this concept, here are some resources that you can draw from to start your own support network.
Mastermind Resources
Books:
by Napoleon Hill
by Jack Canfield
Mastermind Group Resources Blog
http://www.evancarmichael.com/Mastermind-Group/
The Masterminding Maven
http://www.makeadifference.com/
(online courses, books, movies)
How to Start a Mastermind Group (in a nutshell):
Filed Under: Business Musings
Bramble Berry: Your photography is clean, professional and very artistically staged. Do you have any sort of art background or photography training?
Lisa: Oh my no. I’m such an amateur. I just do a lot of reading & researching. I’ve learned many tips & tricks about using natural lighting vs. light boxes and it’s helped me to fine tune the color and contrasts of my photo’s. I prefer to shoot images of my products using the ‘hero’ shot (a shot which shows product alone) rather than a styled shot (which uses other appropriate elements along with the product). There’s a great tutorial and how-to article on “The Storque” on Etsy here.
Lisa: You’d be surprised at how far my soaps have come in the 5 years that I’ve been making soap. The very first year I soaped, my bars were so small and skinny, it was embarrassing really. Again, through tons of reading until my eyes were bloodshot, I educated myself about fatty acid profiles (with the help of some VERY talented & more experienced soapers) and properties of oils and butters so that I eventually was able to formulate an incredible recipe for my soaps that made it easier to sculpt the tops of the logs after the pour. I’ve tweaked those recipes to perfection over the years and I’m happy to say that my current 3 soap formulas have been perfected and haven’t been tweaked in a very long time. Depending on the FO or EO used, some batches are thinner than I’d like, so it takes a little bit of patience to wait until the soap batter is thick enough to allow me to sculpt the tops. My trick? Simple, I use an ordinary kitchen whisk. Make the whisk your friend and you’ll be able to get very high whips, peaks and textures. I also purchased a ‘tank’ soap cutter from For Crafts Sake, which was made to my specifications. This allowed me to make sure my bars were all uniformly cut to a very thick bar. Everyone comments on the size of my bars. They’re quite large and heavy in comparison to most handmade soap.
I love to get creative with the tops after I’ve sculpted them, by using raw materials and ingredients that I feel compliment the name or scent of that particular soap. For example, on the cinnamon frosting soap, I thought that putting some cinnamon chips on the top of the soap after I’ve textured it, would be a nice touch that would draw the eye directly to that soap. It worked. Everyone loves that look and I’ve had other soapers ask me if it would be alright to try to duplicate that look themselves. Sure, I say…. “go for it.” There really are no original ideas, only the realization and fulfillment of an idea. Besides, every soaper puts their own twist on things anyway. Have fun, I say. Experiment, play around. That’s what’s so exciting about this craft, whether it’s just a hobby or your primary business. There are so many ways to do the same thing.
Bramble Berry:Tell us a little bit about your solid shampoo! The bars look great!
Lisa: Aaaah, my solid shampoo bars. One of my best selling b&b products. People love them because they’re extremely economical, great for traveling because there’s no leaky mess in a bottle to worry about, and they last forever. I could never understand the reason behind paying for a bottle of water (liquid shampoo). Such a waste. With our solid shampoo bars, there’s no waste, no bottles to clutter up landfills and you’re getting a product that not only is better for the environment, but it’s a fantastic product for the health and conditioning of your hair, if I do say so myself. You get a literal mountain of thick, creamy, foamy lather on your head with only 2-3 swipes of the bar. I’ve been going to an upscale spa for almost 10 years now to get my hair done and every time I go, my stylist remarks about how healthy & shiny my hair has become since I started making and using the solid shampoo and solid conditioner. It’s basically all the same ingredients that I would use in my liquid shampoo, minus the water. I use many different emollients for the conditioning that your hair needs, plus I add in the extra goodies like panthenol, hydrolyzed wheat protein and cocoa butter. The surfactants that I use are very mild and gentle and contain no harmful chemicals or sulfates. These solid shampoo bars will clean your scalp so well that you’ll be amazed at how fast your hair grows after consistent use of the product. We can’t even wait a full 6 weeks in between hair cuts in my household.
Bramble Berry:Your salt bar looks awesome! When do you add the salt? Is it a lot of salt? A little? Tell us more about the concept behind the bar.
Lisa:Much to my own surprise really, I can’t keep my salt bars in stock. They sell very, very well. I say that I am surprised because I didn’t think that my customers would really ‘get’ what the salt bar is and how to use it. It’s not a regular bar of soap, it’s not a salt scrub. It’s a combination of the two. You won’t get tons of lather like you do with one of my bars of soap. Instead, you’ll get a lovely white, milky, lotiony effect. You won’t feel a lot of scrubbiness, it’s not harsh or overly abrasive. Rather, it’s very much like a smooth river stone would feel if you rubbed that on your skin. It’s very smooth. But don’t be fooled by that, you definitely will be exfoliating your skin and you’ll notice a healthy, radiant glow after stepping out of the shower with just one use. The idea behind the salt bar has been around for ages, but I’m fortunate enough to know an incredibly talented soapmaker who lives in Denmark, that openly shared her methods and techniques to perfecting the salt bar. Of course being the formulating tweaker that I am, I couldn’t leave well enough alone after reading and researching about this type of bar, so I came up with a few extra ingredients that I add in with the salt, to help give the bars that extra ‘umph’. I have my own technique and methods for making these bars, but I’ll have to keep those a secret for now. Haha! But if you want to try your hand at making your own salt bars, I’ll give you a few hints: Use a high % of coconut oil, as this is one of the few oils that will actually produce a lather in a salt environment, calculate the total amount of your oils/butters (NOT including the water & lye) and then use equal amounts of fine dead sea salt (do NOT use the iodized). If the salt feels too coarse to you, just throw it in your food processor or grinder. You don’t want a powder, but you don’t want large, rough chunks of salt either. Always use the FULL water amount suggested by your favorite lye calculator and superfat your batch at least 10%. I superfat mine at 15%. I soap using the cold process method, but for this soap batch, I use the CPOP method. Be prepared to move fast, because of the high salt content and depending on your scent choice, these batches set up very fast. Stick the whole log into the oven at 170 degrees for 2 hours, turn the oven off and let the log sit inside the oven for an additional 3 hours. Once you remove it from the oven, you need to unmold and cut right away, otherwise the salt content turns the log into a hard, solid brick very quickly and you’ll be unable to cut the log into bars. Voila, salt bars! Hope that helps.
We’ll have Part II of the Lissa from Arcadia Aromatics tomorrow.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
The Seeds of Compassion show at Qwest Field was inspiring. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama was incredible. Even in the nosebleed section (section 307, row KK, seat 11), his burbling joy was palpable. His sense of humor was mischievous and delightful. Click here to read the Seattle Time’s news story about the event (that’s their photo on the left). Over 50,000 people attended to hear the Dalai Lama’s message of compassion.
My favorite take aways from the talk were:
* Internal Disarmament – His Holiness spoke of the need to improve ourselves, individually, so that we can improve the world as a whole. He also called for this to be the “century of dialogue.”
* Women Leaders – His Holiness asserted that women are better leaders than men because of our propensity to have compassion rather than aggression. He said the world would be a better place if we had more women leaders.
* State of the World – His Holiness shared an anecdote about meeting Queen Elisabeth. He asked the Queen if life was better now or when she was younger. The Queen has lived over a century. The Queen told him that life was better now. The Dalai Lama agreed and exhorted us to recognize the life is better now than in the past.
The entire event was well executed, run efficiently and honored the diversity of nations during an opening procession.
To learn more about the group that brought the Dalai Lama to Seattle, Seeds of Compassion, click here.
Filed Under: Business Musings
IGourmet.com is an excellent place to start your Olive adventure if you’re not lucky enough to have a grocery store with an Olive Bar.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
After a long weekend away to Portland and back, it’s hard to get in the swing of things. Not to worry, the mound of mail and stack of bills is enough to swing me right back into tempo.
Thankfully, I had a little “prize” at the end of my mail pile. Nahia Creations in Pullman, WA sent me a little care package with two beautiful soaps! The photo taken with my phone, on a messy desk, clearly doesn’t do the soap justice.
The custom stamp is an especially elegant touch. Shelley sent me Chocolate Espresso and Chai Tea, both made with Bramble Berry Cybilla Fragrances.
She also made my day by trying a recipe posted on the Soap Queen – “Sugar Scrubs the Bakima Way.” Over on her blog, she says: “I used White Tea & Ginger fragrance and it was *amazing*. (I think this might be my new favorite fragrance.) I also added rice bran and adzuki bean powder as an exfoliant (my favorite exfoliants). This actually turns out to be quite heavenly…”
Have you tried to make the scrub? If you did, we want to hear how it went!
Red Envelope, the purveyor of beautiful and pricey items, has massage candles for sale! This little set is on sale for $38. If you haven’t tried to make your own, you can find instructions here.
Bramble Berry has new essential oils – Sage (Dalmation), Citronella, and Sweet Southern Birch.
Mosquito season is almost here so the Citronella essential oil is sure to come in handy. Remember, if you are making cold process soaps, now is the time to make your Skeeter Beeter Camping soaps. With cure time, summer will be almost here when your soap is ready to sell.
This week on the Soap Queen, I’ll finish up the lipstick tutorial and start on a fun springtime soap project. Expect a post this evening with more information on making your own lipstick at home.
Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Lip Products
Day One – Colorant Choices
Day Two – Ingredient Choices
Once you have all of your ingredients assembled, it’s time to start designing your perfect color. There is no easy way to do this. Designing the perfect color is a process of trial and error. Thankfully, so long as your recipe contains no butters, you can melt, remelt and melt over and over with no damage to the balm.
Some basic rules of thumb:
If you want an opaque matte look, keep the titanium dioxide close by.
If you want a sheer look, stay away from titanium dioxide and use oxides sparingly.
This is Merlot Mica with titanium dioxide (left) and without (right). Both are very different look on the lips. Notice also the air bubbles in the titanium dioxide lipstick on the left? This is easily solved with a hit of the heat gun. A heat gun can be purchased in the hardware store in the paint stripping section.
This photo shows the power of brown. The container on the right is brown oxide addition. It has great coverage. It’s an opaque color, and a little goes a long way. Notice that the brown opacity really tones down the shimmer in the lipstick.
To get this color, I used a lot of Pearly White (what’s “a lot?” Well, as you can see from the top photo on yesterday’s post, coloring is almost a 1:1 ratio with the lip balm. There is at least 1 tsp of Pearly White in this 2 ounces of balm) and Merlot Mica and Cellini Red Mica to achieve this color. The Merlot Mica and Cellini Red were 1/2 tsp additions each.
I’ll be traveling to and from Portland tonight and Saturday for the “Portland Soapers Unite!” luncheon and will finish the lipstick tutorial next week. In the meantime, expect photos from the luncheon (including best and worst soap contest winners!), random soapy posts and cupcake shopping galore.
Filed Under: Lip Products
Making lipsticks is just like making lip balms – except with about ten times the color. Since Bramble Berry’s Lipstick Kit*was included in the holiday gift roundup for the Boston Herald newspaper, we’ve been getting some questions about making lipstick. This week’s blog posts will focus on making lipsticks from scratch (along with the usual random musings, cupcake cravings and business round-ups). Before we get started on our product, let’s discuss ingredients for lipstick. The most important consideration when making lipstick is the colorant – the types you can use, what they are and safety considerations.
*UPDATE: This kit has been discontinued. Click here for more kits.
Titanium Dioxide—Titanium dioxide is a mined mineral, famous for its natural SPF factor. It is an inert, flat oxide that provides for opacity in lipsticks and foundations. If used too heavily, it will leave your skin pale and chalky. It has natural UVA and UVB protection. Because of its fine grind, it allows the skin to breathe and have a healthy exchange with the environment. In lipstick, it helps to add color to the lips because it provide opacity. Sheer glosses will have little to no titanium dioxide in them.
Mica (also called Sericite) – Mica is a naturally colorless mineral that is mined from the earth in large, flat sheets. This product can also be manufactured in a lab and much of what is used in our makeup today is the manufactured product. Mica reflects and refracts light, adding shimmer and sheen to your foundation, your eye makeup and lipstick. When the flat mica platelet is coated with color, it becomes the perfect base for eye shadow. Mica can be coated with a variety of things, from FD & Cs and oxides to dyes and carmine. Even though it is naturally occurring and sometimes mined, when individual mica platelets are covered in FD&C colorant, it is categorized as an FD&C colorant. If you are classifying your product as “all natural,” be sure that the mica you are using is not coated in FD&C based colors. The dual sided nature of the mica color platelets is what causes the shimmer and sheen of micas. Mica is the same stuff you see in your lipstick, eye shadow and blush. Micas work best in clear products, like clear melt and pour, because the shimmer needs light in order to reflect and refract nicely. On the lips, with the thin layer put down, the mica shimmer will come through well. The more titanium dioxide that is used, the less shimmer and shine will show up in the final product. Not all micas are approved for use on lips. You’ll need to research with your vendor if the micas you have are lip safe. Click here to see the list of lip and eye shadow safe Bramble Berry colors.
Iron Oxides—Iron oxides, commonly called pigments, were once mined. Since the 1970s, the FDA has demanded they be lab-created for cosmetic use because iron oxides in nature are often attached to toxic metals like lead, arsenic, mercury, antimony, and selenium. Their purity and safety from naturally occurring sources can’t be guaranteed. The lab-created pigments have the same molecular structure and same quality of color, just a different creation process and a purer, safer end product. Only synthetically prepared iron oxides are approved for use in cosmetics in this country. (Johnson, S.T. & Wordell, C.J. “Homeopathic and herbal medicine: Considerations for formulary evaluation,” Formulary, 32, 1167, Nov. 1997.) To achieve vibrant and beautiful colors, iron oxides are prepared in the lab using iron salts, which are then oxidized using a controlled water process. Iron oxides are safe, pure, and vibrant. Not all oxides and pigments are approved for use on lips. You’ll need to research with your vendor if the micas you have are lip safe. Click here to see the list of lip and eye shadow safe Bramble Berry colors.
The good thing about using pigments in makeup is that they are stable. They are also cost effective; at $3-$6 per ounce, you’re looking at a very cheap, per pound price, for color.
Natural Colorants—There is no legal definition for a natural colorant. FDA classifies colorants as either those requiring certification and those not requiring certification. “Exempt colorants are inherently neither more nor less safe than certified colorants,” concludes an article in the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. We may consider them as less hazardous because we perceive them as “natural.” But “like all color additives, they are fabricated products.” Historically, bugs were ground up for colorant. Cochineal (the boiled and ground nymphs of the Coccidae, or scale insects) were crushed by the Aztecs and Mayans for a nice red color. Today, potential customers get squeamish about that so we skip the bugs.
Some popular natural colorants to use are:
Yellow – Annatto, Saffron, Turmeric, Carthamin
Green – Chlorophyll
Brown – Cocoa beans (pods, shells, stems), cocoa powder, fermented tea
Red – Paprika (may be irritating)
Purple – Alkanet Root
The list goes on of course.
The nice part about using these colorants is their marketability as natural products. However, it is difficult to achieve the color you want using natural colorants. Natural colors also lack consistency, so you can’t always get a smooth color (depending on the herb or spice used), and they are expensive to use. Additionally, many of them are not oil soluble so will not blend into the lipstick base smoothly.
Tomorrow’s blog post will discuss equipment needed and specific base ingredients.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
First of all, major kudos to Amber for these amazing photos. Don’t these jojoba beads look luscious and intriguing?
At the request of multiple customers, Bramble Berry just added jojoba beads. What are jojoba beads? Liquid jojoba oil is actually a liquid wax. Like many oils, it has different fatty acid profiles that make it the oil (wax) that we all know and love. One of these fatty acid profiles turns into a true hard wax (or a jojoba wax ester) when separated out. Unlike other exfoliants, these beads are a circular shape with soft edges ensuring that no microscopic tears are formed in the skin when exfoliating. Microscopic tears allow for premature wrinkling and also may introduce bacteria into the skin. It’s important to treat your skin right. Are you using the right exfoliants on your face?
The INCI name is Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil plus the color for ingredient labeling. Some ideas for using these cool and colorful additives are: Liquid Suspension Base additive, an alternative to a sugar or salt scrub or just for a little color in a traditional scrub, in cold process soap for an exfoliant, and in melt and pour soap. The melt point is 160 to 170 degrees so the jojoba beads will do well when added at a more cool (read: not steaming) temperature.
The suggested usage rate is 1 – 15% of the product. This roughly equals out too 4 Tablespoons of beads per gallon of suspending liquid soap or 1/4 to 3/4 Tablespoon of beads per pound of cold process or melt and pour soap.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
It’s a Red Velvet Day redux, only this time, instead of Red Velvet LabColors… it’s a Cupcake Royale Red Velvet cupcake. I’m happily hunkered down at Cupcake Royale in Ballard (a cute suburb of Seattle) writing this post. See the laptop on the right in the photo?
Red Velvet Cupcakes are my favorite cupcake at Cupcake Royale. Judging for the line out the door (I’m not kiddng; there are 19 people currently in line here), I’m not the only one that has a serious crush on their cupcakes and coffee. Then again, sugar and caffeine are two of the most addictive substances known to man so maybe I shouldn’t be so amazed at the line out the door.
I’m in Seattle for the next 6 or so days on a massive business whirlwind scouting/meeting trip. Last night, my dear husband and I had the best time over at Nicole Donnelly’s house. Nicole is a super rad chick (that’s her in the pink dress by me) that founded BabyLegs just 3 years ago. In her short time in business, her leg warmers for babies have taken the baby fashion world by storm and now her company grosses several million dollars and is sold in over 30 countries. And, in the sincerest form of flattery, multi-billion-dollar conglomerates have started knocking her designs off. I guess you know you’ve arrived then!
Here is half of the dinner party, goofing around, all wearing Baby Legs as arm bands. Nicole assures me it’s the hot new thing so I’ve been wearing mine proudly all day, feeling every second my thirty year old, non-hipster age.
You wouldn’t guess it by the goofy picture but all the people in the photo run their own businesses, all grossing in the 7 figure range. The guy on the far left is Christian and he founded SilverCup Coffee Company nine years ago. They roast their own coffee beans and sell to independent stands all over the nation. The young guy on the far right? That’s Russell and he runs multiple sleep clinic locations that diagnose over 88 different sleeping disorders. It was an impressive, energizing group. We felt privileged to be invited.
Yes, I am wearing BabyLegs on my leg as a trial. You’re right, it’s not my best look.
Hubby and I slept over in Seattle and spent the morning walking Seattle. We wandered to Pike Street where I promptly over indulged in cheese at Beechers; $16 worth of Tumalo Goat Cheese and Flagship Reserve. I plan to eat it all. And then, when the guilt sets in, I’ll make some insane running goal to work it off and force you to watch it all transpire on my Nike running log. Just warning you….For now, we’re safe. I’m too hopped up on sugar and caffeine to think very clearly about consequences for my poor dietary choices today. Because 9 ounces of cheese wasn’t enough of a fat indulgence for breakfast, I also got the World’s Best Macaroni and Cheese and ate it for breakfast. I know its the World’s Best because it won an award saying it was. Given that it’s 98% fat and 2% carbs (there’s like two noodles thrown in for good measure in between all the glopping layers of creamy, hot cheese), I’m suspicious that this was like eating a pure stick of butter for all the nutritional good it did. But, like many things that will eventually kill you, it was good.
And phew, that brings us full circle to Cupcake Royale. I’m here, walking Ballard (maybe that will help the healing start from the fatty breakfast?) looking for Otion Store Two vacancies and eyeballing the passerby to see if they are soap-worthy. I’m going for a sharp, attentive look as opposed to a creepy beady-eyed stare. Judging by the amount of people that seem to cross the street when they see me coming, I’m guessing that I’m projecting the latter.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
These two features in the New York Times are fascinating. Pricing on Palm Oil, a common soapmaking ingredient, have risen almost 70% in the last year. The first thing that comes to my soap-obsessed (or maybe it’s just soap-addled) mind is “Wow! That’s going to raise prices on finished soap.” But, on a global scale, it really affects people on a subsistence level. Palm Oil is a diet staple in India. With pricing rising so quickly, families in developing nations are directly affected.
Click here to watch a 2 minute video about how Palm Oil is processed and farmed. This is a 10 photo slide showabout the impact of Palm Oil pricing on families in India. It is worth watching. For me, it’s a reminder that life isn’t always about soap.