Look What's New!

This week has been a little hectic here at Rustic Silk Soaps.  Business has picked up exponentially and I've outgrown my kitchen (and my entire house for that matter!).  Soap stuff is literally crammed in every nook and cranny to be found.  It takes up half of my living room, a whole hall way, closets, and usually my kitchen counters...  So I'm moving out!!

Well, I'm not moving out, but everything soapy related is.  I'm finally getting my own soaping studio!  I am literally so excited I feel like jumping up and down.  I'll finally have my own place that is for nothing but creating wonderful, deliciously fragrant products.  And I guess reclaiming half of my house is a plus, too.

Moving everything isn't going to be any fun, but at least I'll have a chance to reorganize again because everything has become quite chaotic.  I got my hubby to agree to a soap studio because I told him either I need new shelving in the house, or I need my own space.  He quickly agreed to a soap studio.

Anyway, other things have been going on this week as well!  I've released my first products in my skin care line.  My Rose & Aloe facial toner and facial moisturizer are currently available for purchase in my Etsy shop.  The first stock is limited, but more will come very soon!  I'm also working on an oatmeal based line.

Rose & Aloe facial toner and facial moisturizer.  Naturally colored
a soft pink due to the brilliant red rose water used to make them.

I've also finally gotten my Bubble Cookies listed on Etsy.  Right now, there's only four fragrances, but many, many more are to come!  You can find them in my Bath & Body section, along with a few other items.

Last, but not least, I've spent all week preparing for the Hog Wild Festival.  I'll have a booth there tomorrow and look forward to seeing you!  I'll have all kinds of products available - soaps, lotions, sugar scrubs, salt scrubs, bath bombs, and all of the products mentioned above!  Looking forward to a great day meeting people and talking about soap!  I'll do an update Monday about the show.

Thank you so much for reading!

What's New at Rustic Silk Soaps

Hi, you!

In the past year, I have seriously neglected my blog.  I eventually decided to close it down until I could figure out how to give it the attention it needs.  I'll be honest, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to post.

Well, I've finally figured it out! At least for now.  Every Friday, I'll be posting of what has been made that week, what has been added to my Etsy shop, and other little updates are going on at Rustic Silk Soaps.

So without further ado, here are some of this weeks projects!

Juniper Fields and Grapefruit Rosemary Aromatherapy Bombs just after
unmolding.

Juniper Fields and Grapefruit Rosemary Aroma Bombs waiting to be wrapped
and labeled.  Oatmeal, Milk, & Honey and Gardenia soaps waiting to be
trimmed up before being moved to the curing racks.

Gardenia, the first soap in my new line of lard soaps, and a restock of
Oatmeal, Milk, & Honey - one of my best sellers!  Ready June 17th.

After many requests, I finally made a Patchouli soap!
eady June 16th.

Patchouli waiting to be trimmed up.

Last but not least, Coco-Not was added to my Etsy shop.  You can find it here.

Introducing Lard Based Soaps!

I began Rustic Silk Soaps with the intentions of only offering vegetarian and vegan products.  I never planned to change that, but recently I've begun to feel differently.  Don't get me wrong, I'll still have plenty of veggie soaps available, but I've finally decided to include some lard soaps in my line up.

When I first started making soaps, I was put off by the thought of using animal fats because I was slightly icked out at the idea of slathering it on my skin while I bathe.  I broke down one day and finally made a soap out of lard.  I hot processed it because I wanted to try it quickly to see how it compared to my recipes at the time...and I found it very drying.  I figured this soap was bound to be inferior to my veggie soaps, so I passed the soaps off to my mother-in-law after a good cure and forgot about them.

After about six months, she asked me if I had any more of them.  I told her no, but that I would make her some and let her know when they were ready.  Once cured, I gave her several bars and kept the others to cure further.  A few weeks later, she contacted me and let me know she wanted a couple more because she had given some to one of her friends that had visited and raved about the soap in the bathroom.

Then, one day while I was visiting, I used the soap by her bathroom sink without thinking.  After I dried my hands, I couldn't help but notice how silky my skin felt.  Imagine my surprise when I realized I had used the soap I had given her!  I was quite impressed with the soap, and started questioning my decision for using only veggie oils and butters.

The final decision came when someone pointed out to me that using fat in soap was an ecologically responsible way to use all of the animal that was sacrificed.  When I was growing up, I spent lots of time outdoors hunting deer with my Dad.  He instilled in me from a very young age that you only take what you need and use everything that you can.  The thought of disrespecting the animal's sacrifice by not using every part slowly nibbled away at my mind until I started seriously rethinking my mindset toward animal soaps.

To date, my mother-in-law has recruited several people who are in love with the lard soap that I began making for her.  They all claim that it's the gentlest soap they've ever used.  So I have decided to include this soap in my line up for the people who need a little gentler soap.