The other day I told you on my Facebook Page that I had new molds coming.  Well, they are here, and I love them!  With all the energy spent  getting the huge 2500 bar order of beer soap en route to Korea and a show tomorrow in Davie that we have been preparing for, I have not been able to unwrapped all the molds and fill them with soap.  Which I had planned to do once they arrived.   But one did get  the best of me, and I just had to soap something!  Here is Et Une Rose, made with lovely Rose Clay.

I decided this morning to do away with the Flat Rate Shipping section on Etsy. I think it may have been confusing potential buyers, especially when they see listings for one bar of soap that costs $6.50 to ship. A lot of buyers did not realize that was a flat fee for multiple purchases or if you needed your bar in a hurry.

So I am going back to the old fashioned way. I will combine any order of 3 bars or more to save you shipping fees, the best shipping option will be applied.

We will not be debuting any new brews for a few weeks while we catch up on some soapmaking on our ZAJA Natural line. The quick success of our beer soap line has left our regular soap line in a state of neglect for several months.  Right now I am awaiting my new molds, which I hope will be arriving shortly. Then you can expect to see a lot of new ZAJA soaps and a lot more sales going on.

Still trying to figure out how to add coupons effectively so that I can offer them to you in my newsletter.  I want to create a smooth buying experience.

What’s in store in the next few weeks? Sugar scrubs, bath gelato, bath bombs, and quite a few new surprises! Stay tuned!

21 batch: 22 bar x 21= 462 (we beat our of 400 bars in one night!)

Yes, some look like they are erupting out of the tube. They do that when they get hot, but settle down after a few hours. One of these days we will invest in building an actual holder, but until then cardboard boxes do just fine, lol!

The holidays are quickly approaching and I am starting to feel the pinch.  Wholesale orders and inquiries are coming out of the woodwork and its been busy!  Last night I was up till 3 am writing out a new mini business plan, trying to figure out the things that I could do differently this upcoming year.  From the beginning my business has always been about cold processed soap.  Yet with each day that passes, I see a lot of melt and pour soap sellers selling pages and pages of soap, while cold processed soap makers might make a page in sales, if that. So what’s the secret?  Is it because melt and pour is so quick and easy and therefore melt and pourers can crank out more soap batches a day and put them right online within hours of making?

Or is it the versatility in colors and shapes and sizes?  Quite frankly I prefer my soaps to be a bit more uniform in shape.  I feel it looks more professional. I like to take cues from big names like The Body Shop, Lush, Bath and Body Works, L’Occitane, Fresh, and what I see if a consistency in shape and size. Not 1 square bar here, rectangle bar there, wedge here, triangle there, uneven cut here.  That drives me nuts, lol. I would like to see my items on a major store shelf one day and having 8 differently shaped soap bars is not going to cut it.

There have been many times that I have been tempted to add a melt and pour soap line, but I always abandon the idea.  I research a good natural base, and just as I am about to click on submit order, I close the browser.  Reason being that I really like knowing what I put in my soap, and the only way for me to be able to do that is if I make it myself from scratch.  And I thought that buyers like that, versus buying something made from a base.  But I don’t know, some of the top sellers on Etsy are the melt and pour guys.  So it seems most buyers do not care much, as long as its pretty and they smell good.

I bought a book on transparent soap making a few months ago, and have dabbled with a few recipes.  The book is be Catherine Failor and it has taught me a lot about making my own transparent soap. So maybe I can ap into that clear soap market after all, without having to abandon my preferences of being able to make things myself from scratch.  And if it is deemed too dificult, well, perhaps there is a good melt and pour base out there with my name on it that I will be able to tweek and mold to fit my needs.