Time for a giveaway?

Very quickly we're creeping up to 400 likes on facebook, incredible! So when we do reach that magic number, I'd love to give away a $25 gift certificate towards any Old City Soapworks product! The only restriction is that you must be a fan of our facebook fan page and that the $25 does not include shipping. You pay the shipping and I give you $25 of free products, not bad!

So what will you spend the $25 on?

Partial payment towards a custom loaf of soap?

A set of wool dryer balls?

Some body scrubs or body butters? 

Or a few bars of soaps?

Price Increase

After much deliberation, I've decided to increase the price of my soaps from $5.50 per bar to $6 per bar. This increase will start March 1st. 2013.

It's been a hard decision to make but it's time. Canada Post increased their rates (as did USPS) so my suppliers were forced to increase their prices so my supply costs increased quite a bit. And I've started using different ingredients (silk, organic butters, different unrefined oils) which has added to the cost but oh, what a difference it makes in the soaps! The costs of those ingredients is higher and also, it takes a lot of my time researching those ingredients and creating recipes.

I have updated my packaging and have met with a most wonderful design artist who is creating a new logo and new product labels. Which I'm so excited to share with you in a few months! She sent me a draft of the logo and then we discussed colour and goodness, it's fantastic!

I haven't been respecting my fellow soap artisans with my pricing. Even at my local farmer's market when there were two other soapers, I had the lowest prices. At first I was proud of that but then I quickly realised I'm not doing anyone any favours by undercutting myself. Even the retail shops that sell my soaps have my soaps priced higher than what I sell them for. How's that fair?

And lastly, I have a vision for this little soap business of mine and in order for me to get there, I need to start to build a little nest egg. I can't do that right now when all my income goes right back into supplies, market fees, packaging and transportation costs.

The good news is that I've already factored in my current costs for the Organic soaps when I priced those so they won't be increasing. Nor will any other products but for the Natural Artisan Soaps and the Artisan Soaps. And if you're already on the Reservation List for soaps that come off the cure rack in March, you'll still only pay the $5.50 for those soaps.

baby & me

At long last, I've made an all organic baby soap! And it's been in the making for nearly a month now. I started this soap by infusing organic chamomile, calendula and lavender buds (all Vancouver Island grown) into organic extra virgin olive oil. After that finished doing it's thing, I used organic olive oil, organic coconut oil and organic castor oil as my base oils. I decided to very lightly scent this with organic lavender essential oil and kept it super creamy by avoiding gelling during the initial cure. It's a very mild bar filled with the benefits of all those herbs that's perfect for a baby's skin. Or a mama's skin. Or really, anyone who has super sensitive skin which is in need of some gentle cleansing. 

I decided to make these an oval shape after asking for opinions on my facebook fan page. The thought was that an oval bar would be much smoother on a baby's skin and easier to hold during bath times. I agree! I thought I had enough oval molds but nope, I was short 1 tray so with the leftover raw soap, I poured it into my heart molds which I'll be adding to gift baskets once they're cured!

Black Raspberry Vanilla

I made a smaller batch of Black Raspberry Vanilla. It's a great seller and I wish I had enough of the fragrance to buy a bigger bottle but I'll remember for next time. 

I'd describe the scent of this as a sweet and creamy. Here's the description from my supplier: "a velvety combination of blackberry and raspberry with a heart of creamy vanilla, followed by lingering nuances of earthy vetiver.  One of our most popular fragrances, it is a knock-off of the popular bath and body works scent of the same name." I'm not sure I completely agree with the description but regardless, it's a fantastic scent! 

It is a fragrance oil (phthlate free of course) so for those that like a scent that lingers longer on the skin, I think you'll love this. 

I was not expecting to soap this scent on this day, I had planned on soaping a mango scented soap but I forgot that I wanted to adjust the recipe to include some mango butter. Just as I was about to add the mango fragrance, I remembered the missing mango butter so switched to this scent instead. Even though I wasn't prepared for this soap and it wasn't exactly like I had envisioned, I like how it turned out! I wanted the entire top to be covered in soap curls but there wasn't enough and I wanted the purple to be more predominant but oh well, I'm happy with how it turned out. :)

This soap will be ready March 11th. 

our weekend!

United Eclectic was this past Saturday and it was such a success (even a bit better than last time)! The vendors, the hosts and the shoppers are all so fantastic. 

I played around with my table display this time and really like how it all came together. I think I'll be doing all my indoor shows like this from now on! Of course I'll have more soap next time as not all my soaps were cured for this market (catching up on ALL my stock is hard to do).

Dave and I spent the night in Victoria (in a hotel literally across the street from the church where the market was held) while the kids were with Nana in Nanaimo. We went out for dinner, slept in and did some shopping in the morning before heading home. I got some new tea from David's Tea downtown which is SO good. Not as good as tea from the Teafarm but still; yum! I picked up a new record as well.... not new but a much loved album that I didn't own in record form: Oh, Brother Where Art Thou. So good. :)

Anyways, here's some photos of my set up. I'd love to hear what you think!

united eclectic

My first artisan market of the year is quickly approaching. This coming Saturday to be exact! We're heading to Victoria for the weekend, just Dave and I. The kids are spending it with their Nana and while they'll be very much missed, this mama is looking forward to a much needed night off.

This will be my second time vending at United Eclectic, the first time was actually mine and Dave's 5th wedding anniversary. <3 

We had a great time, sales were fantastic although I'm not sure how much of what was earned came home with us as the shopping was pretty fantastic too! 

Because Christmas was so unexpectedly good for Old City Soapworks, I spent all of January building up my soap stock and am now just getting to replenishing my very empty body care products inventory. Replenishing stock and getting ready for a busy market means many late nights and busy weekends! 

Dave and the kids went out for the day today so I could focus on getting ready for the market. I chose to spend that time finishing off a few batches of body scrubs, labelling and packaging various products. I think I wrapped and labelled about 90 full size bars and 45 mini-bars today!

I do hope you'll stop by and say hi if you're in Victoria! 

Wish us luck. 

:)