Our Approach to Soap

Soap, for me, has become a creative outlet. It is my opportunity to p lay with color, fragrance, and liquid additives, and names!

It started as a way to use some of the fragrance oils I (we) had purchased. We, here at the Garden Gate, have a weakness for frangrance ils, and it was getting way out of hand. Solution, pour them into soap!

So, we began making small runs of soap (four bar loaves), and putting them out at a show. Wow, people loved them! That gave me the green light and justification, plus it was really fun!

I realized something after our small runs of bars sold…I really didn’t want to remake the same things. That didn’t sound like fun at alll ,I wanted to do something different. seaglass

We embraced the idea of not re-doing soaps and decided to make it part of our soap making philosophy. I don’t have to commit to only one color scheme or name for a fragrance oil (something that my Libra personality is very thankful for.) I can use one fragrance oil in a red, yellow and orange soap and call it “Dawn Breaker” AND use the same fragrance in a green and yellow combo calling it Wasabi!

That equals more variety for you! And, because we use the same recipe (coconut oil, sustainable palm oil, olive oil and canola oil with a 5% super fat) you can be guaranteed that each bar is going to be just as fabulous as the last.

I do also like to play with different liquid options, my favorite include beer, wine and fruit/veggie purees. I’ve also tried coffee and tea, I may again, if the mood strikes.

allmadhere

If I ever do use a liquid other than water, then it will be clearly stated on the label, no surprises.

The other kind of soap we enjoy making is 100% pure castile soap. That is soap made only with olive oil. In these, I have a different kind of fun. I like to infuse the olive oil with herbs (mostly from my garden or wild crafted). It is wonderful to see the end result, how it alters the color of the oil and the fragrance, and what benefits it adds to our final soap. It is so much fun, but I am a bit of a herb nut!

What this means for you…..you can be confident that you will always have a quality bar of soap. You will always have a fun and new variety of soaps to choose from. But, if you see or smell somthing you like, don’t wait, because it might not be there for long, and will likely not be made again.