Show Season is in full swing!

Our first 3-day show took place last weekend...with terrific results. Sooooo many people stopped by to pick up our soaps, handmade with olive, palm and coconut oils! My favorite customer was a lady who arrived at the show Friday and talked about how sensitive and irritable her skin is. It was blotchy, red and dry. I sent her away with our Fresh Face Honey & Almond w/Oatmeal soap. She arrived back at my booth on Sunday for more!!! She'd had a chance to use the soap 3X and said her skin felt amazing. On observation, the red & blotchy areas had eased and her skin looked soft and more smooth. Horray for her!!!

Rocky Corner Soapworks sold over 100 bars of our customer favorite, Cranberry Fig! My hubby will pull one from inventory if there isn't one in the shower...it's a "must have" for him.

Castleberry Fairs and Festivals did a great job of promoting the Specialty Food and Craft Fair in Salem, NH this past weekend. Kudos to them and their team for being organized and on top of things.

If this past weekend is any indication, Rocky Corner Soapworks is looking at a very busy pre-holiday rush. Our next large show is Thanksgiving weekend at the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. After that, we move onto the Hartford Expo Center in Hartford, CT for three days. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, put your website orders in early...!

All for now...we're off to make "Great North Woods" today. Tomorrow, Orange & Clove. This weekend, Cranberry Fig. CRAZY!!

Karen

Christmas...less than 8 weeks away!!

Hello to all and sorry for being an "absent" blogging soapmaker.

Hub is laid off again and he's always got a project around the house he wants me for. Then there's homeschooling an 8th grader and a 12th grader. Looking at colleges, visiting open houses, etc. is taking time, as well.

Now onto the good stuff...We joined the Salem, NH Farmer's Market in July. We sell our wares at Hedgehog Park in Salem every Wednesday from 3-7 in summer and 2-6 in the fall. The market closed 2 weeks ago for the season, BUT the great news is we've secured a location for the Salem Winter Market. Beginning


Don't forget to check our website for info on shows we've added in December, 2010. We'll be at Bishop Brady High School the second weekend in December, along with the Castleberry Fairs/Festivals show at the Hartford Expo Center in Hartford, Ct. the first weekend in December. If you need any discount coupons for entrance to our Castleberry Shows, please contact me. Also, we've put several soaps on clearance through our website so check them out for soap savings.

Rocky Corner Soapworks has a new soap friend! Allegra Boverman from the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune stopped by on Oct. 11. She watched and took pictures as we made 125 lbs. of Honey/Almond & Oatmeal Soap. Besides being a sweetheart, Allegra showed a genuine interest in the soapmaking process...she's hooked!
















Jack Frost Handmade Soap New England Christmas Soap


Off to the soap kitchen...Rocky Corner Soapworks is whipping up Cranberry Fig and New England Christmas today! Tomorrow...more Honey/Almond Oatmeal!

Karen
Rocky Corner

A crazy time!

Wow, we've been going nuts lately in the soap kitchen. Rocky Corner Soapworks is humming along at a point where we might actually have to hire help outside the family! Amazing is all I can say!

Rocky Corner has committed to a summer full of Farmer's Markets. The Salem Farmer's Market is held every Wednesday from 3:00 to 7:00 on route 38, Hedgehog Park in Salem, NH. We have some amazing vendors with the most glorious fruits and vegetables...and basil plants that would make my grandfather jealous! Our set-up and break-down time has decreased to the point where we can manage it in a little over an hour. Our first show, ever, we took almost 5 hours to set up ~ LOL.

Here's a link to the Salem Farmer's Market so you can check it out...terrific pics and even a Facebook page! We love the locally grown produce and have made some terrific farmer friends. They're a warm and generous group!

This past week, we've made 200 lbs. of soap...yes, 200! We've got a busy show schedule beginning a month from now, and our wholesale accounts are funneling large orders our way. We've got another 500 lbs to make during the month of August.

New soaps coming our way are:

Charcoal Soap (excellent at drawing toxins from the skin)
Axe Phoenix Soap (type)....as yet un-named, but we'll decide soon
Pumpkin Spice
New England Christmas
Patchouli Lavender

Please stop by and see our booth at the Gloucester, MA Arts Festival in Gloucester, Massachusetts August 14 & 15 from 9 to 5 each day ~ Stage Fort Park, Oceanside! Just beautiful!! We'll be showcasing our Summer Collection of soaps, including our Moisturizing Skin Care Soap, Sea Island Grapefruit, Pomegranate/Peach, Garden Mint, Cucumber Melon, Fresh Honeydew and our "Storm".

Lastly, I'm looking forward to vacation in Prince Edward Island with the family. We'll be renting Somerset House in Covehead, PEI again. Our mantra: "Relax" before the crazy Fall/Christmas show schedule!

As always, contact me with any questions regarding our products, show schedule or our musings.........................

Karen

New Summer Collection on sale now!!!

Rocky Corner Soapworks has put together a selection of (7) summery soaps to tempt and tantalize your senses! They include the following:

Garden Mint
Pomegranate & Peach
Sea Island Grapefruit
Fresh Floral Honeydew
Cucumber Melon
Moisturizing Skin Care Soap
After the Storm

They're beautiful to look at and a real treat for your skin! On sale on our website for $20 plus flat rate s/h.


Check out our summer collection of soaps at RockyCornerSoapworks.com

How to make Handmade Soap...

Rocky Corner Soapworks
Cold Process Soapmaking
Handmade Orange & Clove Soap

Handmade soap is natural skin care without harsh detergents and unnecessary fillers. Rocky Corner chooses beautiful, high-quality oils as our base, then we add fragrance/essential oils, labcolors, micas, french green clay and/or botanicals for a custom one-of-a-kind soap.

The process is a recipe the soapmaker creates, usually using a computerized calculator. Oils saponify (change from oil to soap during a chemical reaction) using a water/sodium hydroxide mixture. Recipe ingredients should be weighed using a digital scale for better accuracy.

Completely melt the oils together in a large stainless steel or enamel coated pot. Put on your safety gear; eye goggles or safety glasses, rubber gloves and an apron. Weigh your water in a stainless steel or enamel coated pot. Weigh your sodium hydroxide into a large plastic bowl (I use a large tub that I used to store leftovers in). With plenty of ventilation, gently begin to add the sodium hydroxide to the water; NEVER add the water to the sodium hydroxide. Continuously stir until all is dissolved, being careful as mixture will begin to heat very rapidly.

Carefully draw a cold water bath in the sink to cool the lye/water and/or your oils to the same temperature. I like to use a temperature of 130 degrees to cool my oils and my lye mixture to. It allows me extra time if I need to color/fragrance several smaller batches out of the large batch without cooling too much.

Again, with your safety gear on, very gently drizzle the lye/water mixture into the melted oils. As you drizzle, gently stir in a figure 8 pattern. You'll begin to see the beginning of the chemical reaction, as your soap mixture will begin to thicken in the pot.

When all ingredients are combined, it's time to get creative!! Today, we made Sweet Orange & Clove Soap so we began with crushed cloves and dried orange zest we made ourselves.
















Using a stick blender, begin to blend the soap mixture until it is the consistency of thin pudding. At that point, add your fragrance/essential oil(s) and stir well with a stainless steel spoon or stick blender. When you lift the spoon/blender and soap sits on the top of the mixture before it settles back into the pot, that's called "trace" and it's TIME TO POUR !! :)

Carefully pour the soap mixture into pre-lined molds, working quickly and efficiently (remember your safety gear).
































Cover each mold with plastic wrap, making sure there's no air under the wrap because soda ash may be produced. I use 1" thick handmade pine molds that have matching wood covers for extra insulation. Lastly, cover your soap evenly with a pile of cozy blankets and DON'T PEEK for 24 hours.

After 24 hours has passed, carefully unmold your soaps...gloves on your hands as the soap is still a bit caustic. Trim, cut and rack your soap for 4-6 weeks to allow it to dry, harden and so the ph levels out a bit.

You've created something very unique and special...ENJOY!!

As always, if you have any questions about the information posted here, please contact me through our website, RockyCornerSoapworks.com and remember, you're working with a dangerous chemical...SAFETY FIRST!

Until next time.....
Karen

results

They're gorgeous...we're so happy with the test batch fragrances! Sooo, we'll be adding more to our line in the VERY near future. Enjoy the visual

Test Batching

We decided to test batch at the end of our soaping day. With 40 lbs. of Cranberry Fig and 12 lbs. of Summer Hill under our belt early today, it was a treat to play with fragrance and color :) We had fun with a holiday fragrance, a pomegranate peach, a grapefruit, a honeydew melon and a special one for my hubby, Pinaud. Pipette's were flying around the soap kitchen as we swirled colors, blended fragrances and had a fun time winding down after a long morning. I'll try to post pics tomorrow after we uncover and cut our new little soap gems.

We've booked two more shows ~ one in mid-November and one over Memorial Day weekend. It's busy enough that I've asked a family friend to help out two days so far this week...and she'll be back again tomorrow for a bit. I'm hoping for a rainy day tomorrow...no laundry to hang out, no garden to till...maybe cut soap, do some custom batches and then read a book while curled up in a warm blanket.

Out of the Box samples are due this week ~ we're sending Sweet Dreams (Victoria's Secret Amber Romance type) and Coconut/Lemongrass. I love both of them and sometimes it's hard to choose what to showcase to potential customers. Many times, I go with my favorites, or what the time of the year reminds me of.

Karen

A new look for Cranberry Fig ~ and other musings :)

Elizabeth and I conspired to create a "new look" for Cranberry Fig today. This soap has gone through several physical changes, each one what we consider an improvement over the last. Cranberry seeds make an appearance in the new and improved version, and why not! It seems natural to add this lovely seed to this very special, fragrant soap.

I received a call today from a Garden Center in Chichester, NH...they're looking to stock our soaps and we're very excited to partner with them to help them launch their Open House in June. I'll post more information as it becomes available. We received a similar call yesterday from a potential client who found Rocky Corner Soapworks on the Real Handmade Soap website. They've invited us to participate in a Farm Day at their equestrian facility over Memorial Day weekend, as well as place our products in their small, specialty items store. We're getting busy...............!!!!!

After Elizabeth and I produced 50 pounds of soap early this morning, I decided fresh air was in order. So I grabbed my new gardening tools my hub and kids gave me for Mother's Day and headed outside. Perennial beds that looked quite neglected came alive once again. I found my share of cut worms and grubs but overall the soil was quite clean and easy to work with. I've missed working in the yard...the soap keeps me pretty busy (*insert smile here*).

A giant thanks goes to Derek Bond for setting up the Rocky Corner Soapworks blog, as well as taking care of other minor website projects! He's a real blessing to this computer illiterate soapmaker! Thank you, Derek!

I hope all who ordered Out of the Box Samplers are enjoying their "cottage industry" goodies, including our "After the Storm" soap.

All for now, folks...if anyone has a suggestion for a show they'd like to see us display at, please drop us a line or post it on our blog...and thanks!

Karen

Hampton Falls, NH Show, May 8 & 9, 2010

Thanks to all who braved the pouring rain on Saturday and ferocious winds on Sunday to visit our display over the weekend! We had a wonderful show with Castleberry Fairs & Festivals and enjoyed meeting many new customers. Please enjoy all your purchases and as always, call or email if you have any questions...Karen@RockyCornerSoapworks.com

Also, Out of the Box Sampler is featuring our "After the Storm" soap for the month of May...made from coconut, palm and olive oil and high on visual appeal. If you haven't ordered your OOtB Box yet, hurry!!! They go fast!

The agenda this week includes Sandalwood/Patchouli, Lemongrass/Patchouli and Cranberry Fig.

Welcome to our blog!