Phenomenal Woman - Maya Angelou

Reading Facebook yesterday afternoon and this morning, it seems everyone has a connection with Maya Angelou.  She touched so many people she never met.  She inspired me and serendipitously led me down a path I had sort of forgotten.

About 12 years ago, I signed up for a soap swap on a Yahoo list I belonged to.  It was a kind of low point in my life and I had decided to get involved with, at least, some people on the internet. The woman in charge of the swap called it the Phenomenal Woman Swap and we were to design soaps and packaging for a soap inspired by that poem by Maya Angelou.

Here is the poem and pictures of the soap (packaging) it inspired:

Soaps all wrapped in gold tissue with label and placed in beaded bags

Phenomenal Woman
by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
The swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenal woman
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can't touch

Individual label

My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back
The sun of my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.

I loved the poem.  I repeated parts of the poem in my head as I worked on the project. It not only made me feel good about myself for the first time in a while, but it inspired me to make a phenomenal soap. 

The soap was a dark mauve with veins of gold running through it. It was scented with an exotic combination of oils that I still love.

I decided to bead the bags - they weren't available like this at the time and so I set about to make them special.

The swap was a hit and I received a number of nifty soaps and compliments in return, but the biggest thing that happened was that I got some of my confidence back and was inspired and started beading again...  I bought a number of books about bead weaving and eventually attended Beadfest, just outside Philadelphia. 

At Beadfest, I saw a demonstration of enameled beads made with a hot head torch on copper tubing.  It was inexpensive compared to lampworking and so I bought the kit.

A week later, I realized how limiting the enameled beads were and signed up at a local glass shop to learn lampworking.  A month later, I had bought and set up my minor torch and kiln and was in the bead business!  Well, at least I was learning.

So, you might say that Maya Angelou led me to bead making and jewelry making.  Thank you, Maya - and farewell.

Elderberries and Garnets

In September, I wrote about here about a special project that I took part in.  A group of herbal friends wrote a booklet together about the herb of the year 2013, Elder.

Ever since we finished the book, I've been thinking about making some kind of jewelry with an Elderberry theme.  I had a vague idea of how I would do it, but with the PA Herb and Garden Festival in York, PA coming up this weekend, this seemed like the time to sit down and do it!

This is the result.  The "berries" are 4-5 mm round garnet beads and I love the leaves I found - they sort of have the sword-like shape and droopy habit of the actual leaves.  

I'll have these at the Herb Festival and, if there are any left - on my website next week.

I'm making a special trip to get more garnet beads on Sunday, so I will have more soon!

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.

More Purloined Recipes

PURLOIN

: to appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust

— pur·loin·er noun 

So, apparently that's what happened.  Our recipes were purloined.  And they were taken under the guise of friendship...  see previous post.

Well, here are two more that I will mostly claim.  I can tell you stories about both of them. That's the difference between someone who just simply lists recipes and someone who has actually worked with them.

(This is a very generic type of salve or ointment.  We made something like this in a class many years ago when we had our herb shop.  One of the attendees called us after the class and raved about the salve.  She told us it had cleared up what she thought was ringworm when nothing else she had tried helped at all.
I actually have a hard time believing that I ever added lanolin to anything because our mom had an allergy to lanolin and I always gave it a wide berth because of her warnings.  I suppose the addition of the fractionated coconut oil could have been a little twist I put in there just to make it different, but it looks more like a way of promoting some more exotic ingredients.
If I were making this now, I would use an 8:1 ratio, liquid oil:beeswax for a nice loose ointment (both measured by weight,) which is more comfortable to apply on damaged skin. The base, or vegetable oil would be really nice if it had been infused with calendula or comfrey - or both! I would not add the lanolin at all, and the coconut is entirely optional.  I would probably use about the same total amount of essential oils, but more like half and half - so 15 drops lavender and 15 drops tea tree.
So mostly, this recipe would be completely different!)  

Healing Ointment - From Lancaster County Soapworks 

This is a good basic recipe. Lavender & Tea Tree are a great healing combination.

1 T Vegetable oil*

.3 oz. Beeswax beads

2 T Coconut Oil, Fractionated

.3 oz. Lanolin, anhydrous

20 drops Lavender EO

5 drops Tea Tree EO

Melt all ingredients together. Allow to cool partially, then add essential oils. Stir well and pour into sterilized container. *Can use Avocado, Apricot Kernel, or your favorite carrier oil. Can add 1 oz. Of Emu oil as a part of the base oils.

(Bay Rum is a pretty common item. You can probably find various recipes for it all over the place and they are all pretty similar.
We did this recipe in a class one year, just before Christmas. As we did sometimes in our classes, we did it for the first time in the class, but this is a pretty straight forward item to make.  The hard part is to gather all the ingredients.
At any rate, during the class we made a couple of bottles of Bay Rum for our own use and put them aside.  I was not terribly impressed when we made this, but a couple of months later, out of curiosity I opened it and was quite taken with the mellow, spicy, citrusy aroma that had developed.
I have no idea where the orange extract came from in this recipe, I would add some fresh orange peel and possibly some lemon peel too.)

Bay Rum - From Lancaster County Soapworks

Combine:

3 oz. Witch Hazel

3 oz. Rum

3 to 4 Bay Leaves

1/4 tsp. Allspice

1 stick Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Orange Extract

Steep for 1-2 months, strain and bottle. Put a cinnamon stick, a few allspice berries and a bay leaf in the bottle before sealing.

So, I suspect the original recipes were not only purloined, but also changed in some ways.  They are certainly not the recipes in my book nor would I use them in these forms if I were doing this now.

I wonder why she even bothered giving anyone credit for any of the recipes.  Was this to give her publication some kind of credibility since she had none as a formulator, manufacturer or even a crafter in this type of product?  And why change them if she was already planning to credit them?

Be sure to visit Tina & Becky are also sharing their purloined recipes on their own blogs.

If You Are Going to Steal My Recipes, At Least Get Them Right!

I already posted this on my Lancaster Soaps Blog, but thought I might as well post it here too, while I was at it...

About 8 years ago, I briefly met a woman who was promoting a soap and candle gathering.  My sister knew her a bit better and we decided to attend her event and help her promote it.  The woman was, at that time, trying to put a CD together and begged us for some recipes to add, so we helped her out.  There were to be live links involved and proper attribution.  Well, the CD was a bust.  It wasn't produced properly and I thought that was that.

Fast forward to yesterday.  A name we hadn't heard in years was brought to our attention.  Well, actually, not her name, but a pseudonym that I remember seeing somewhere before and knew it was hers.  It seemed she had published an ebook (apparently at least 2 years ago!) which, supposedly contains recipes that I, my sister Tina and another friend, Becky contributed.   Some of the recipes that have my name on them are more or less mine, but I have never even seen some of the others.  I have a file of my recipe collection and I can easily check these things.

For instance, she lists an eczema salve and a scar salve, both of which she attributes to me.  I'm pretty sure I would not have given her a recipe for either of those.  For one thing,  I don't have those recipes in my file. I do have recipes named for eczema and for scarring,  but they belong to someone else who shared them and I would never sell them, but could keep them for my own use.

I resent that she used my recipes in another type of publication without even asking my permission, but even worse, I am concerned that I am being given credit for someone else's stolen recipes.

In researching it, I find (marketing master that she thinks she is) she has posted reviews everywhere on the internet - same reviews under different names - she even has pictures of some of the fictitious reviewers, make of that what you will.

I was planning to share all of my stolen recipes here, but the more I look at them, the more I am sure that many are NOT mine or have been changed - ingredients added that I do not work with.  For what purpose, I do not know.

There are a couple that are ALL mine and those I will share:

(This is something I made for a swap. I wanted to see if it was possible to combine fizzy bath bombs and bath melts... The theme was the Roaring Twenties and I colored them light green and scented them with "Gin Martini" and packed them in a Chinese takeout box covered in old photos with a miniature martini glass tied to the top! )

Fizzie, Sudsy Bath Melts

1/2 cup baking soda

1 T cornstarch

1-1/2 T. Mango Butter

1-1/2 T. Shea Butter

2 T citric acid

2 T. SLS - Sodium laureth sulfate (In the ebook, this was changed to Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate which is incorrect.)

20 drops fragrance or essential oil of your choice

Mix soda and cornstarch together. Melt oil. Add melted oil to the soda/cornstarch. After mixing, add fragrance and coloring, then add citric acid and SLS. Pack into molds, place in freezer for 30 minutes or
until solid. Unmold and set out to dry for several days.

(I came up with this one because I like to take showers, but love the idea of bath oil...  This definitely not something you would want to sell.  When water and oil is mixed, it can and will grow any number of nasties...  A preservative could be added, but I don't add it here, I just use this quickly and make up fresh frequently.)  Also, this may make the shower slippery, so be careful if you apply it while you are still in the shower.

Spray Bath Oil

1-1/2 oz. Oil

2-1/2 oz. Distilled Water

1 ml Polysorbate 20 (to keep spray mixed)

Preservative should be added according to manufacturer's instructions. Place in a spray bottle, shake 

well and spray liberally after shower, before gently drying off. 

There are probably a few more I can salvage in another post...   And Tina &Becky are also sharing their stolen recipes on their own blogs.

How does this happen?  I had all good intentions.

As 2012 ended, my books were up to date.  I even had my inventory done and finished all the dreaded end of year stuff for the accountant.

I was looking forward to the empty days that stretched ahead to organize the shop and give it a good cleaning.  A few soapy experiments were in the works.
There were plans for the house...  with three dogs now in residence, there are always floors to be cleared.
And after all the wild abandon of holiday eating, I could hardly wait to get back on my wheat/sugar free diet.  The diet started well, but that seemed to be all the good intentions I could muster up!  I decided it was just the low energy that comes for a couple of days with no sugar, but the energy (and resolve) didn't return.

I would awaken with thoughts of the things I would do that day - and then I would somehow manage to avoid them...  In my stupor, I did work of a new cuff bracelet and finally finished it a day or two ago.

The focal is a beautiful square hematite cabochon surrounded by silver seed beads and the cuff features silver fresh water pearls, hematite stars and leaves.  I have been imagining this cuff for a long time and was happy to see it turn out the way I imagined.

Meanwhile, we are almost through January and the diet has even fallen by the wayside.  But, today I seem to be seeing some light at the end of this dreadful tunnel.

This issue of the magazine is just about finished and I was trying to decide what to do first....

It seems someone in Spain managed to use my business debit card to make a sizable purchase which my bank has declined to cover.  Because I now find that this is at the discretion of each bank, I need to make a few phone calls to decide who will be getting my business when I switch accounts after 25 years.  We switched to this small local bank all those years ago when our big bank began treating us like a number.  Now they seem to have followed in their footsteps.

I have been putting this off and I think once I get past it, I may have more enthusiasm for the rest.

I may even manage to get back to the torch!

Back into the blog pool

I have thought about it for a while and decided this blog would be one of the things I to which I would like to pay more attention this year.

My glass (I haven't lit the torch in so long, there are spider webs festooning the  glass rods and the desk) is another thing I need to work with again, but today, it will be the blog.

This has always been my blog, not only for jewelry and business, but for talking about things that are important to me, sharing my life.  In the past year or so, I have lost track of this - my personal space - in favor of just blurting out things to the world on Facebook.  I suspect my withdrawal from the blog and glass has more than I suspected to do with my devotion to Facebook.  I've blamed it on the soap business - which, don't get me wrong is booming - but again, it's Facebook!

One of the reoccurring themes that I have seen, pretty much everywhere, but especially on Facebook is exclusion.  Maybe it isn't exclusion, just a terrible divide that leads to and encourages exclusion.

Opinions are stated in very black and white fashion, or a story is taken out of context - and the conclusion always seems to be that if you don't agree with me, you must be an idiot.  I wish I could say I have never posted anything like that, but, I certainly have.  I do have strong opinions, but unfortunately, it seems that these days, if we express them, we are either "hidden" or "unfriended."  Don't get me wrong, I've done my own share of that too!

Is it any wonder we all seem to live these days in a bubble of people who all agree with us?  When all you get in response to the things you write are a bunch of "likes" or other agreement, it is shocking to go to the news posts and read the comments.

I still don't agree with the "other side," but I do feel it is important to at least try to understand their point of view.  I'm not at the place yet where I can bring myself to tune in on the opposing side's "news" channel without experiencing a blood pressure spike, but maybe some day.

Maybe that way we may eventually be able to reach some kind of a mid point.

It isn't just politics, either, this attitude seems to find its way into all sorts of fields of interest.  My sister touched on it in the herbal community in her Dec. 30 blog.  I see all kinds of snippy stuff posted on glass boards and don't participate myself because I am just not aware of all the background stuff swirling around and fear putting my foot wrong as I attempt to enter.

I really don't know the answer, I just see a lot of stuff going on online that I thought we had all left behind in Middle School.

We'll see how this goes...

Sometimes I get involved in things other than jewelry and soap. 

One of the things I enjoy is helping my sister by doing the layout for her magazine The Essential Herbal.  We owned an herb shop a number of years ago and have many friends in the herb world.

Recently, a few of us got together to write a book about Elder/Elderberries.  Elder is slated to be the herb of the year 2013, so our timing is pretty good.  This is available only in PDF form and after receiving your order, it will arrive in your email within a short time.

So, come along and join us, a group of long-time friends, as we share our favorite uses for elder flowers and berries. We’ve even got a few uses for leaves and wood! Learn about growing, harvesting, preserving, making medicine, delicious dishes and tantalizing teas all using this very versatile native plant. Over 30 recipes, remedies and crafts are included, along with light-hearted folklore and lots of pictures to help you identify Elder. We’re certain that soon you’ll love the Elder as much as we do, and be finding a place for one (or more) in your yard or garden.

40 pages, 8 ½ x 5 ½ format. $5.00 Written by Michele Brown, Susanna Reppert Brill, Susan Hess, Betty Pillsbury, Tina Sams and Maryanne Schwartz

If you are interested, you can purchase the PDF through my jewelry website.

And if you haven't checked my website for a while, you may find something else interesting there! 
This little project has inspired me to make some jewelry with an elderberry theme and I'll be putting some new things up on the Elderberries page soon.

Busy hands

I'm really on an earring kick - just can't seem to stop making them.

The coffee table in our living room is a mess ... covered with little boxes and baggies of beads of all colors and sizes and shapes, plus I just got an order in today from Fire Mountain.

These moon and star beads are from the order and I couldn't seem to stop myself from making them right away...

This pair of leaf earrings have been lying on the table for a few days - in that I had picked out the beads and just needed to put them together..

Some more of the star beads I got in the mail today.. The large one is Rhodochrosite, the medium one is mother-of-pearl and the tiny one is hematite.

And finally, as the temperatures drop and the calendar shows the year slipping by, thoughts of fall seem to "fall" into our minds...

Soon it'll be cool enough to actually light the torch in total comfort!

While I'm at it...

I don't believe I ever posted my "Wishing Vessels" here. I know I posted them on Facebook, but this is the proper place. Well, actually, my (sadly neglected) web page would be the correct place.Each of these particular wishing vessels has a heart carved from unakite. Click here if you would like to know mofre about the metaphysical properties of unakite.
All the wishing vessels have at least one spiral and usually a trail of hearts somewhere on its surface.
At this time, I have been making all the wishing vessels in the same color combination. I like the earthiness of these colors.

Eventually, I will probably make some in other combinations.

Since, of course, I have not put these on my website yet, I will tell you now that if you are interested in purchasing one of these vessels, they are $35 each and if you send me a note, we can work something out.

Earrings on a rainy day

Even though I was suffering a bout of lethargy yesterday, at least I managed to make a couple more pairs of the "leaf" earrings:

Jade & PearlsTurquoise & Opals

Leafing out!

We went out to Boulder, CO last week to visit our son who is interning there for the summer with a software firm. It was a beautiful and we did quite a bit of walking. One afternoon, my husband and I sought out a bead shop just off Pearl Street and I found some nice beads to add to my arsenal.

I'm always on the look out for new colors or types of leaf beads for the wired earrings I can't seem to make enough of... I was pretty excited to find these green "milk glass"(?) leaves. They looked like something from the 40's and when I got them home, I couldn't decide what to put with them, but I happened to see some of my favorite peach seed beads and it all came together!
The other leaves I picked up there were a golden green color. It doesn't show up very well in the photograph, but adding golden beads, a gold-green crystal and a gold pearl made a really gorgeous combination.
Finally, I've had these red leaves for some time, but was stuck with exactly how to use them. Again, as I was pawing through my seed beads, the "right" ecru color popped out at me and the garnet colored crystal pulled it all together!
For now, I'm just posting these on my blog, but I spoke with my son about my website and he is planning something for me so that I will be able to update it much more quickly and easily and I will be able to update it and make everything available for sale. I will say though that these leaf earrings sell for $20 each and priority shipping adds about another $5, so if you are interested in purchasing a pair, please just shoot me an email at mschwa @ gmaildotcom (remove spaces and change dot to . ) and we can arrange it!

If you'd like to see more designs/color combinations of this type of earring, I posted some a year or so ago here on my blog.

Bridge Stories

Today, I found it necessary to cross the Susquehanna River twice.

On the way west, I took the "new" bridge, the Wright's Ferry Bridge on Rt.30. I guess it isn't really new, since it was finished in 1972. It seems there are always troubles on the bridge. People jump off it, cars and trucks wreck on it and traffic is stopped. It always seems clean - and bright and shiny - and impersonal. It seems to always be undergoing some construction....

Because of construction, I decided to use an older bridge when I came home and got thinking. As a child and as a teenager, the old bridge - the one we called "Poppy's Bridge" was the one we used:
We called it Poppy's Bridge because our grandfather was employed in building it. He was a carpenter and I guess he helped to build the forms. It was completed in 1930. We always heard the tales of the people who were killed during the building - falling into the large concrete "footers." I'm sure that isn't the right word, but you get the idea.

As I crossed the bridge, I really looked at it for a change. This was part of the first transcontinental highway - The Old Lincoln Highway. At the top of each decorative pier it has with what looks like a Greek key design in it... The new bridge is much wider and roomy, but it doesn't have touches like that - nor does it have a pedestrian walkway. Back in the day, people used to actually walk across the river between the two towns of Columbia and Wrightsville.

Speaking of which... I also thought about the tales our grandmother used to tell about going to visit her oldest sister.
Mimi, our grandmother, was the youngest of 17, born and raised in Columbia, PA. Her oldest sister, Esther, lived in Wrightsville. Mimi talked about how she would walk across the old railroad bridge, listening all the while for a train. If one should come along while they were crossing, she and any companion would cling to the sides of the bridge until the train passed... It always sounded terrifying. Although - I was just reading about the old bridge and it seems that the few cars that wanted to use the bridge would wait until the trains passed and then use the same bridge... Sounds like a rough ride!

There had previously been two record breaking long covered bridges over the Susquehanna, but the first one had been destroyed by ice, high water and severe weather on February 5, 1832.

The second covered bridge shown here...
was famously burnt to prevent the advancement of Confederate troops across the river.

I think in there somewhere was another covered railroad bridge, but these are the ones I have heard about over the years. Funny the things that will occur to you just driving over a bridge.

Soap Demo at Day Camp!

I got a call last week wondering if Tina and I would do a soap making demo for a day camp at the Hans Herr House in Willow Street.

I agreed, but told her we would only allow the children to make melt and pour soap, while we would make soap "the old-fashioned way" for them.

Well, over the weekend, Tina injured herself (majorly sprained ankle) so that I went on my own into this great unknown!

I thought of taking an apron along at the very least just to fit in, but decided to just go in jeans. Little did I know that part of the camp was that the children would be dressed in period costumes.
It was a new situation for me because we are were usually the ones who are in costume while we speak to people dressed in every day clothes.

The children were very well behaved and seemed to be pretty interested in what I was doing. Some of them even knew that soap was made from fats!

The best part was when I ladled out little containers of melt and pour soap for them to scent and add colorant and filler to. I explained that they were only to stir until everything was well incorporated, but they stirred and stirred until they had basically whipped the melt and pour into some sort of crystalline look!

They had listened so well while I made cold process soap, maybe they thought I was expecting them to bring it to trace...

3's the Charm

In an effort to avoid working on a project for the class Tina and I are taking, I thought I would put some thoughts down on paper (okay, screen!) and finally get a blog post up here.

One day, over three years ago, while out on soap deliveries, we stopped by the offices of a local farm/garden shop/grower supply company to pick up some supplies for my husband. We looked around and thought maybe they would be interested in selling our soaps there and through a convoluted series of events, were invited to participate, as vendors, in their fall "customer appreciation" show...
The first year, we got a few orders and one or two reorders... hardly anything to write home about.

The second year, we seemed to have about the same amount of orders at the show and a few more reorders.

Last year, we really seemed to be busy at the show and knew a lot of the people who came through. We had, maybe twice the amount of orders as the first and second years and are seeing an amazing amount of repeat orders. We have picked up some nice local places and a couple of more remote customers.

We often hear the adage that in advertising, one should always put the same ad in the same place for at least 3 times (for instance 3 issues for a magazine) before gauging the effectiveness of the ad. This little adventure seems to bear that out. After exhibiting 3 years, we have become "real" to the customers and they have apparently begun to trust us!

It has certainly brought to mind that old adage and seems to ring true. Certainly gives me something to think about when I plan any kind of advertising campaign.

Planting ahead for Christmas!

In a Facebook status update on Wednesday, I mentioned that we were planting baby Christmas trees. An interesting conversation ensued and so, I thought it would be fun to give a more complete explanation - complete with visual props. On Thursday, St.Patrick's Day, the normal day for planting potatoes and onions, we were planting more trees and Tina & I took some pictures and a little video of the process.

Bob orders the plants and they arrive, bare root, in boxes bound in ten plant bundles.

We count enough for a row and cut the cord that binds the bundles.
We pack them on the red shelf of the planter. This is the planter. I sit on the seat that you see in the lower left of the picture. The two metal parts that are to the right of the seat form wat we call the "shoe." It plows through the earth and I put the plants in the front of the shoe and hold on to them until the earth fills in behind them.
This is our fancy "measuring device" that trails behind the planter. When the roll of duct tape gets to the last plant planted, it's time to stick the next plant in.
For this job, I wear a "very attractive" outfit. I tuck my jeans into my socks to try to keep the dirt out of my shoes and socks. We call this picture "jazz hands" because I'm showing off the pair of Bob's gloves that I am wearing.
Bob drives the loaded tractor up to the field and checks to make sure the rows will be right.
I climb on board and we are off.
Tina took this lovely movie of us in action and she enjoyed making some commentary.


The final result is rows of these:
In 5-7 years, this tree will be a beautiful Douglas Fir Christmas tree!

Ready for Spring

Around here, at Lancaster County Soapworks, we often have a month or two to breathe and prepare for the onslaught of heavy duty business in the Spring. Many of our local customers are seasonal and while they may restock a bit after Christmas, our springtime orders tend to hit us hard.

We don't come to a standstill in the beginning of the year, but we do prepare for the busy months to come. One of the things we did this year that was a little different was to order larger quantities of raw materials farther ahead than usual. Because we heard rumblings of price increases (we should be used to this by now) we decided to order enough fats and lye to hopefully hold us over til the end of summer when, we understand, prices should drop - at least for the fats.

The truck arrived last week and we stashed the fats in the garage bay beside the shop. It is cool and shady in there in the summer and they should be fine. Here are a couple of shots of what I'm talking about:

And another view:
We have a pallet of lye at a guaranteed price coming in the end of March.

It is a good feeling knowing we are well stocked and ready to ride out the price changes of the coming months. Some people get a kick out of having shelves of canned goods in the basement. For me, it is the thrill of having fats ready for the next few months. Who knows what to expect when we next need to order.

While we were in some relative "down time," we were busy stocking the shelves. In the beginning of March these shelves were mostly full, but as the month went on and orders started rolling in, they are starting to look a little peaked, so we'll be making soap again to try to stay ahead of the demand.

So, here we go on our roller coaster ride through the busy season... Wheeee!

NYC and back

If you read my sister's blog, you've already had a good review of our trip last week to NYC.

We made a quick decision to leave on Monday (between storms) and return on Friday (between storms) for a longer stay than we had enjoyed before. The dates turned out to be just about perfect and we got to really experience the city in a bit more leisurely manner than that to which we are normally accustomed.

Although it surely was not "walking weather" and we spent most of our travel time in shuttle buses and an occasional cab, we did get out a couple of times to walk a block or two in each direction. The icy winds blowing down the canyons proved to us that we are not like the hardy folks who live there and walk to work or take their tiny babies, wrapped like mummies, out in well insulated carriages to get some air.

I suppose it was because of the big snows that fell in the city in the last month, but there was garbage piled all along the street - on top of or part of the piles of snow. As the week progressed, it seemed that the garbage collectors must have stopped every day to try to get at whatever new "treasures" became available because bit by bit the piles began to disappear. The only picture I took was 3 Christmas trees piled together against a post. Unfortunately, the picture was a blurry mess and I fear it would hurt your eyes to see. Living on a Christmas tree farm, though where trees seem to be part of our relatively distant past, seeing 3 still green trees on the street in NYC in the beginning of February was an interesting sight.

Every time we go to the city, I am always fascinated by the juxtaposition of the soaring skyscrapers against the remainders of an early, growing city. This church is on 57th St. We often see it when we are there and it is a prime example of this phenomenon.

We got home in the dark on Friday evening and remarked on the lights shining across yards full of snow covered by a thick sheen of ice. When I woke up on Saturday morning after yet another ice storm, I looked out to see limbs down on our front yard.

They had fallen from the big wild cherry tree right outside our front door. There were many more evergreen boughs down around the house, although I couldn't get to them to photograph. Branches appear to be down all over the area, so we are lucky our power never went out.
This Rhododendron seems to always wind up encased in ice at one point of the winter. It is right at the corner where two roofs converge and gets the lion's share of the water melting off the roof! I always think it is interesting - and hardy - because it will still be one of the first flowering shrubs to bloom in the spring!

Goddess Vessels

You might remember the goddess beads and necklaces I made a year or two ago.

I recently sent the only goddess vessel I made at that time to a friend who has a picture of that goddess form on her website. She asked me to make some more for her to sell, so yesterday, I lit the torch and played with the idea.These are the result. I'm pretty pleased with them and think they will only get better. They will be wire wrapped and corked and will be perfect for holding small amounts of oils or any other thing that has special significance to the owner - a bit of sand or earth from a perfect vacation for example.

Tussled with the camera and ...

After my little diatribe this morning, I tried once again to recharge the batteries for the camera. I have no idea what had happened, but two of them charged immediately. I put them in the camera (along with the two from my mouse!) and finally got some pictures.

So - tada!

First, a vessel.

Then, what I would loosely call a set. Probably the two smallest beads on the top left would make a nice pair of earrings and the other beads were all done using various combinations of techniques... And then, the last bead I made, a long (about 40 mm,) skinny bead that, I think, I added the best of everything to - and of course, I wrapped it in fine silver wire and got the silver beads embedded in it in a spiral pattern... I really love it.
Hope you do too!Not a bad way to start the year.

By the way, the other two batteries recharged, I got the use of my mouse back and the camera still appears to work!