Philadelphia Gift Show - Winter Edition

Lancaster County Soapworks, Etc. began the year at the Philadelphia Gift Show at Oaks, PA.  The weather was bitterly cold and unpredictable, but a number of hardy souls attended to search out products for their stores.

We saw many of our established customers, met some new ones and dreamed about how great a winter show would be if the "Arctic Vortex" weren't there too!

As you can see from our display, we were thinking - as were our customers - about spring!

Our great, all-natural, bug and rash products were very popular and generated a lot of interest. You may want to consider them as an addition to your own store.

As soon as the shop warms up (since I had turned the heat down before we left,) we'll be working to get all our orders out.

This is the second time we have "done" the show and felt that we learned a lot last summer to make this experience better. We were much more comfortable and confident and it was such fun seeing our customers, meeting new people and renewing friendships among the other vendors we had met last time.

Already looking forward to the summer show in July!

Pumpkin Souffle - Soap!

I had to come out to the shop early this morning to check on an experimental soap we made last night.

We had already planned to call it "Pumpkin Souffle," but didn't realize how accurate the name would prove to be!

Because of the addition of actual pumpkin and a number of spicy oils, the soap started to overheat and puff up out of the mold (which it already filled to the very rim.)

We saw what was happening and popped it into the freezer, which stopped the puffing.  As it cooled, the soap fell somewhat in the center, but since it will fit our cutter perfectly, all the crazy popping and dipping on the top will be trimmed off.

We love to try new things to see what happens and sometimes the result is something we feel the need to add to our regular line.  I very much doubt this will be a permanent addition, but if it were to be, there would be some changes made to the recipe - like the amount of pumpkin would probably be smaller.

I'll try to remember to update this post with a picture of the finished, cut soap...  Can't wait to try it and see what kind of properties the addition of pumpkin produces!

Sights around the county

On deliveries this morning, we saw this Amish family harvesting the tobacco crop. The tobacco is already "lathed," meaning it is cut and the leaves are pierced at the bottoms and laced on laths. That is what has caused the cone shapes you see in the field.   It appears the family is out with the wagon to pick up the laths which will now be hung in the barn to dry.  In the winter, the dried leaves will be "sized" and baled up ready for sale.

Tobacco used to be a very popular cash crop here, but some time ago, the price of the leaves (we grow the variety used as the outer wrapping of cigars) dropped dramatically.  It was so bad that the farmers refused to sell their crops and eventually just stopped growing tobacco.

If you look closely, you can see that the wife had already done wash and hung it out on the line stretched across in front of the barn. This family also has a large, immaculate garden in their front yard, vegetables and flowers combined beautifully... They sell both!  Don't try to find the garden! I just know it is there because we pass this farm pretty often. 

I'm assuming the price is back up because tobacco seems to be making a comeback here even though it is a very labor-intensive crop.  Planting, topping (removing the bloom from the top to prevent it going to seed) and harvesting are all hand work.  It is a good crop for a family that has extra hands and works well together.  

Tobacco used to be a very profitable crop here and it was not unusual for the boys on an "English" farm to be given their own acre of tobacco to tend.  In the late 60's, early 70's, if you saw a young man driving a new Corvette around here, chances were he had grown his *own* tobacco, saved for a few years and bought his car for cash when he hit 16. I know a lot of non-farm kids resented them, but that car represented a lot of sweat and toil.  

What is so rare....

As the saying goes, "What is so rare as a day in June."  Well, I'll tell you - not just one, but TWO days in July with low humidity and ideal temperatures, that's what!

We have had extreme temperatures and high humidity for the majority of our summer, interspersed with lots of rain.  My husband has been going out in the mornings, very early to try to keep the Christmas tree farm in some sort of order, but I have been doing my very best to stay inside, concentrating on the soap business and ignoring my poor plants and flowers!

As it turns out - they are all very forgiving and last evening, between the two of us, we finally cleared out the, oh-so-healthy, weeds!

Walking out to the shop this morning and seeing the riotous flowers with butterflies fluttering here and there was a joy - the kind of day when you just want to throw your arms up in the air and let out a whoop just for the joy of living!

Our tomato fences are full - need to be tied up one more time, I think.  The marigolds I planted in front of them have reached a mature size and filled in.  There is a sunflower at the end of each fence section and the grape arbor behind it all is lush and lovely.

I know this has nothing to do with soap, but I just wanted to share this delicious day with you all!

It is truly rarer than a day in June!

Philadelphia Gift Show! Come see us.

We will be, for the first time, be vending at the Philadelphia Gift Show at the Greater Philadelphia Convention Center,  Oaks, Pa.  The wholesale show runs from July 21 through the 24th. 

If you are coming, be sure to stop by our booth #1724 in the Handmade in the USA section, we'll be happy to see you and if you mention this blog post, we'll give you a small gift!

This it the show where shops and other retail businesses come from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey (and probably other states) to discover and order merchandise.  Many are coming to stock their businesses for Christmas.  We will be showing our special holiday packaging.

For the holidays, we repackage 4 of our soaps, spritzes and lotions specifically for the season.  We offer Bayberry, Citrus Spruce, Double Mint and Holiday Wine (Merlot.)

Although we are pretty well immersed in preparing for the show, we are also stocking like crazy so we will be able to fill all the orders we hope to bring home with us!

On Monday, we were making a number of soaps and my niece, Molly, was observing.  She was taken by the way we make our marbled soaps and took a picture as I poured a batch of Rosemary soap into the mold.  Our rosemary soap is scented with pure rosemary essential oil and the swirl itself is a lovely golden color which comes from powdered rosemary herb that we add to a part of the batch.

Fats Delivery!

A couple of times a year, we order a skid or two of the fats we use in our soap.

The trucking company calls us the day before they are ready to deliver so that we are prepared, but they always seem to be a bit off on their approximation of when it will be here, so we wait...

It is delivered in an 18-wheeler and our driveway is too sharp a turn for a truck that size.  We arrange to have the truck meet us in front of my sister's house - which is across from the chicken house you see in the picture.

When he gets close, the driver usually calls to give us a heads up.  We hustle on up to Tina's and transfer the skid of fats to the pickup.  Then we haul it down to the shop where we unload it and put it away.

It was a brisk, breezy day but by the time we were finished, we were quite warm!  Those 50 pound buckets get heavier with each passing year!

We were getting low on supplies, so now we are ready to get some of these new oils weighed up and make some more wonderful soap.

Something "borrowed"…..

There are quite a few recipes attributed to me in an ebook I had nothing to do with (see previous blog entries) - the first one was really mine. I don't think I used this name even if it was oddly appropriate, but the recipe was mine!  The more I look at the recipes, I really don't think that even the ones I actually did share with her were correctly copied.

Back when we had our shop, we were purchasing a liquid soap base that we scented and sold there. I read that the addition of glycerin was all that was necessary to make it into a bubble bath.  My husband happens to love bubble baths - and he also suffered from dry skin, although our soap seems to have solved that problem pretty well. I thought it would be fun to try something special for him and I scented it with his favorite at the time, patchouli. That's probably why it only calls for a few drops of essential or fragrance oil - with patchouli, more than that would have been totally over powering!
The bubbles didn't last at all because of the addition of the oil, but they looked pretty as the bath filled!  Maybe that was why it was called "Disappearing" Bubbling Bath Oil.
If, by chance, you decide to try this recipe, be careful getting in and out of the tub because the oil can make it quite slippery.

Disappearing Bubbling Bath Oil- From Lancaster County Soapworks
1 C. Apricot kernel oil
½ C. glycerin
½ C. liquid soap
Add a few drops of Essential Oil or Fragrance Oil
Shake gently and use ¼ C. into bath under running water

The next recipe is completely unfamiliar to me. If this is your recipe, you can be sure I did not give it to her.  I have never seen this before! The reference to liquid surfactant is interesting - I think that liquid soap IS a liquid surfactant. Also, the recipe calls for 20 drops of fragrance oil, but the instructions only tell you what to do with 5 drops! (I'd add all of it.)
Since I have never worked with this recipe or anything like it, I have no suggestions to add.  Apparently there is a gel type product out there, but it isn't mine and, personally, I find this kind of yucky!  Maybe kids would like it.

Lime Bath Gummy Recipe - From Lancaster County Soapworks, Etc. (Not really!)
2 Packets of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup of liquid soap
1/2 Cup of water
Green food coloring
5 T liquid surfactant
20 drops Lime Essential Oil
Plastic storage jar with lid
Empty the packet of gelatin into a bowl and set aside.. Boil 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan. Pour the hot water into mixing bowl and mix it with the gelatin powder.Dissolve completely. Next pour the liquid soap into the gelatin mix in the bowl. Add 2 drops of food coloring into the mix and also add your fragrance oil now (about 5 drops) and stir it very gently so the bubbles do not become agitated . Pour the mixture into molds, and refrigerate until set. To use, add one "gummy" to the bath.

There are still more to come...  meanwhile, be sure to visit Tina & Becky who are also sharing their purloined recipes on their own blogs.