Teach Soap

I sell my soaps at the local flea market and I have quite a following BUT I can't make enuf soap to keep up with the demand. I like to have a combination of hp and cp. I can make 16 bars hp per batch...and 32 bars of cp per batch. The last time I had 100 bars ready to go, I sold out in 3 weekend days...it took me three weeks before I was ready to return and I sold out this weekend. I want to develope a consistant presence up until christmas.

My comforatble rate of making soap is about 2 hp batches a week and I did one cp batch on the 9th and didn't try another cp batch until the 23rd.

I don't know if its lack of peaceful time in my life...I love to zone out of life and make soap...then again I don't know if I'm afraid to run two crock pots at a time, or soap more than half a bucket at a time...I have 9 two lb molds...

How do you keep up with demand...I like to have at least 100 ready bars to work with per weekend.

Be content that you are running out of stock rather than having it hanging around for months with no-one interested. The next step would be to turn it into a business which, by the sounds, would take the fun and relaxation out of soaping, trust me I know. Running a soap business is great and stressful and hard work and rewarding and maybe not what you are ready for right now?

Good luck no matter what you do.

_________________
Jackie


Beautifully Handcrafted Soap

If I was you, I would get another mold and use both of your crock pots if need be.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

That is good news , selling out . I would do what soapbuddy suggested .

Kitn

I guess it's a matter of pushing myself past each plateau while staying true to the craft. I had to sleep on this dilemma, because it's a reality I may need to skip a weekend or three as I build my soap making stamina up. The first flea market weekend I was exhausted, talking to so many people, aternately sitting and standing. Then I had the wind knocked out my sail when a person came back raving about my soap, they did not realize I used lard and I was so disappointed I had sold someone a product they would not have intentionally brought. (I had ingrediant list on a flyer, given with each sale. Now I have labels I cut lard totally out and now use beef tallow exclusively.

I saw the guy this weekend and let him know how sorry I was and that he changed me as a soapmaker, I gave him a free all veggie bar and a hug.

When I "pushed" my soap making, I made a batch I really wasn't satisfied with, which I will have to accept will happen, I will also have to accept I like experimentation which also results in un-saleable bars. This week I'll try and graduate myself up to running two crock pots of hp every Monday...and I'll just stay patient...and maybe one cp batch a week instead of every two weeks.

Congratulations on being nudged from your comfort zone. It's great that the soaps you enjoy making are enjoyed by your customers. I'm still curious about the bad vibes that lard produces. I sort of naturally stayed away, but made some soap with it recently out of desparation since I'd run out of my usual oils and had to use what I had locally. The soap turned out well, with good lather, scent and color, and I'm enjoying it here at home. I once had rendered tallow but was kind of sick of the smell by the time it was ready to soap with, even though the soap turned out. So, my question - why is lard such a bad boy, even for those who accept tallow? Or is it just a matter of preference with some part of the market perfectly content with lard as a soap ingredient?

First of all let me say that I love tallow in CP. Use it from fall till I run out in the spring. Beacuse it's here local ( no shipping) . But I also make some with palm oil for those folks who are ickey about animal fats.
And if you think your busy now, the holidays are coming up and my buisness tripples from about the first part of october till the middle of december. The last 2 years I ran out of soap to sell mid december just keeping the gift shops in stock. Im trying not to let that happen (ever) again.
If your like me you'll run out of somthing you need to make soap and have to waite on it before you can make more soap.
Enjoy being busy.......................................

What you have said about being exhausted doing these flea markets, fairs, etc. is exactly what has worried me most. I can't stand up to this kind of routine (age & arthritis), but to keep doing what I enjoy, I feel that I may need to do more of this kind of thing.

Philly, you said:
When I "pushed" my soap making, I made a batch I really wasn't satisfied with, which I will have to accept will happen...

I recently learned a lesson about that, as well. I have some prospective clients who could turn out to be big wholesale buyers, but had a lot of input on what they wanted. My attempts to do it their way, rather than my own, left me very disappointed with the results. I approach this as an art form, and as an artist (apart from a "soap artist" ) those that I create as I go, turn out best. I realized that I must be true to what I know best, and how I go about achieving it. I accept that not every client is for everyone. They will find someone who can please them, and likewise, we will build a client base who is happy with what we produce.

My husband, a landscape artist, is currently working in a similar situation. He does beautiful paintings, when left alone. Very recently, he "won" a nice commission to do a painting for a large and important lobby. The person commissioning it, took a painting my husband had done, said he wanted it like this, but remove the water (small river), replace it with a pasture, put in a barn, change the trees to fall, but add flowers in the field.... show more sky, and make the sky all blue. He wanted to see a study for this painting first.... and I can tell you that the study told the story. ALL the creativity and life has been bled out of what could have been a beautiful painting. I just pray that he can pull this off.

We must be true to ourselves, do what we enjoy doing, or it won't work.

_________________
Barbara at Oasis Soap Co.
http://www.oasissoap.com

Linda Wise---- boy is that the understatement about the busy season coming up! My second grandchild is coming Oct 19th ( yipee!!) via c-sec so dd needs me with her for a few weeks. She's an hour away and I would NEVER make soap around my grandkids so I am trying to soap like the wind now...whew! Homemade soap is an affordable luxury item that makes a terrific gift for anyone, so they really do sell well during this period.

scents---- I agree some of it is religious but I think another large part of the lard issue is lack of education about the soaping process. I've had people think they will be greasy washing with lard or tallow---- geesh! I personally use all veggie oils but when some people grab my soap to look at the ingredients, some will comment on their "relief" that there's no animal fat in it.

Baraka---- it isn't easy running around to fairs and shows, that's for sure. I would like to have my customer base built up to just operate off a web page! But..... you get so much exposure from the shows.
Also, your point in being true to yourself is well said. I can't believe the "suggestions" from customers...I just smile and tell them it's something to think about! Wouldn't you love to be able to say what you really wanted to? Like---- try making your own then

and by the way--- your soaps are unbelievable! Just beautiful! Great web site too.

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You may be only one person to the world, but you may also be the world to one person

Thanks, Phillysoap. I hadn't considered religious, cultural preferences and was wondering only about how lard or tallow would affect the skin or possible environmental concerns. I'm finding I do like it in soap; but still like all veggie bars as well. I saw the 50# block offered at Columbus Foods, and was wondering how big that might be and how one would store it. I'm not making huge amounts of soap for sale, but do find I use more oils/butters than I think I will. It would be great to divide it with someone; I'll just need to locate the someone. (Sorry, didn't mean to jump in the middle; but I wasn't able to sort out the quote function.)
Scents

One of the reasons that I use tallow is beacuse I know the butcher ( he raises the cows to slaughter for beef in the fall and was throwing all the fat away. I know tallow makes good hard soap and Im a pain in the A## about not waisting things.The thought of all that good material being thrown in the trash was awful. I think if your going to kill an animal you should use it all if possible......................................................... Now I'll get down off my soap box