testing testing 123
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The website is live, yay!
It's still empty, but kimikasoaps.com is up and I'm working on getting all of the shipping and payment options set up while I wait for supplies to arrive. After doing a lot of reading and research, I decided to go with Zen Cart for my shopping cart. There are a ton of cart systems out there but I like the fact that Zen Cart is open source and infinitely customizable.
The downside is that those infinite customizations translate to a seriously complex looking control panel. I installed it and opened up the control panel and immediately thought, "Yeah, this looks like a good time to go find some caffeine and Tylenol." It really wasn't bad, though, there are a lot of tutorials and guides on the Zen Cart site, plus it's pretty straightforward and logical. It'll take a little while to work out all of the little kinks and get everything set up exactly the way I want it, but that's fine. Overall, I couldn't be happier with it.
I mentioned supplies arriving, didn't I? Lots and lots of supplies are on the way, everything from my base oils to fragrance oils, and I always get so excited about packages. It doesn't matter if it's a reorder of fragrances I've used many times over or something brand new, I'm always like a little kid on Christmas Day when soap goodies show up. Then the realization that I have to unpack all of it and get it put away and organized hits me, and I'm more like a kid who's been told to go clean her room. That's okay, it's always so nice to look at the neat shelves of supplies once everything is all settled in.
Speaking of settled in, it's nearly time for me to settle in for the night, so that's the news for today!
The downside is that those infinite customizations translate to a seriously complex looking control panel. I installed it and opened up the control panel and immediately thought, "Yeah, this looks like a good time to go find some caffeine and Tylenol." It really wasn't bad, though, there are a lot of tutorials and guides on the Zen Cart site, plus it's pretty straightforward and logical. It'll take a little while to work out all of the little kinks and get everything set up exactly the way I want it, but that's fine. Overall, I couldn't be happier with it.
I mentioned supplies arriving, didn't I? Lots and lots of supplies are on the way, everything from my base oils to fragrance oils, and I always get so excited about packages. It doesn't matter if it's a reorder of fragrances I've used many times over or something brand new, I'm always like a little kid on Christmas Day when soap goodies show up. Then the realization that I have to unpack all of it and get it put away and organized hits me, and I'm more like a kid who's been told to go clean her room. That's okay, it's always so nice to look at the neat shelves of supplies once everything is all settled in.
Speaking of settled in, it's nearly time for me to settle in for the night, so that's the news for today!
Monday, January 17, 2011
To palm or not to palm?
It's such a simple question, should I use palm oil in my soaps or not? Should be no problem to come up with a quick answer and stick with it, but it's not quite that easy. A lot of people have concerns about the use of palm oil in cosmetics and soap, as well as its use as a cooking oil, and I'll be perfectly honest, I share a lot of those concerns.
If you're not familiar with the controversy over palm oil, I give you this article from 2006. Mass deforestation and destruction of animal habitat, coupled with the pollution caused by trying to produce it as quickly and cheaply as possible...not exactly something that I want to support.
The problem I run into is that there's a reason palm is used so widely in soaps and it's a really simple one: it adds some great qualities to the soap that are difficult to exactly duplicate with other oils and butters. It adds a stable creaminess to the lather and produces a hard soap that lasts a long time. It's also less expensive than a lot of the other oils and butters, so adding it to a formula can reduce the cost per bar. Bottom line, it's nice in soap and it's economical, so it's enormously popular in soap making.
One possible solution is to purchase sustainably produced palm, it's more expensive but there's always a trade off, no? My biggest question about it, though, isn't the price but about greenwashing. Just how sustainable is it really? After doing a lot of reading, it seems to me that a lot of the practices involved in the production of the sustainable oil are only marginally better than the non-sustainable crops. Also, doing a bit of research on some of the companies that have obtained the sustainable certification is unsettling, some are directly and deeply involved in conflicts with indigenous people over land. While it'd be nice to simply admire the logo that pronounces the oil to be sustainable and thus guilt-free, I'm not sure that it wouldn't be the equivalent of sticking my head in the sand just so that I had an easy answer.
With any issue like this one, at the end of the day all we can do is gather the most reliable information available to us, consider it carefully, and make the best choice that we can. I've been pondering palm since the very beginning of my soap making and what I currently believe to be right for me is to just not use palm at all. It makes my formula a bit more expensive and it's taken a lot of experimentation and adjusting the recipe to produce results that I'm happy with, but I think that it's the right decision for me.
If you're not familiar with the controversy over palm oil, I give you this article from 2006. Mass deforestation and destruction of animal habitat, coupled with the pollution caused by trying to produce it as quickly and cheaply as possible...not exactly something that I want to support.
The problem I run into is that there's a reason palm is used so widely in soaps and it's a really simple one: it adds some great qualities to the soap that are difficult to exactly duplicate with other oils and butters. It adds a stable creaminess to the lather and produces a hard soap that lasts a long time. It's also less expensive than a lot of the other oils and butters, so adding it to a formula can reduce the cost per bar. Bottom line, it's nice in soap and it's economical, so it's enormously popular in soap making.
One possible solution is to purchase sustainably produced palm, it's more expensive but there's always a trade off, no? My biggest question about it, though, isn't the price but about greenwashing. Just how sustainable is it really? After doing a lot of reading, it seems to me that a lot of the practices involved in the production of the sustainable oil are only marginally better than the non-sustainable crops. Also, doing a bit of research on some of the companies that have obtained the sustainable certification is unsettling, some are directly and deeply involved in conflicts with indigenous people over land. While it'd be nice to simply admire the logo that pronounces the oil to be sustainable and thus guilt-free, I'm not sure that it wouldn't be the equivalent of sticking my head in the sand just so that I had an easy answer.
With any issue like this one, at the end of the day all we can do is gather the most reliable information available to us, consider it carefully, and make the best choice that we can. I've been pondering palm since the very beginning of my soap making and what I currently believe to be right for me is to just not use palm at all. It makes my formula a bit more expensive and it's taken a lot of experimentation and adjusting the recipe to produce results that I'm happy with, but I think that it's the right decision for me.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
So many packaging options, decisions decisions.
Until fairly recently, I honestly never gave much though to product packaging. I've been researching and looking at my options and wow...just wow...there are a ton of options out there. It's just about enough to make your head spin, but I've been slowly narrowing the list down and I'm really excited about the stuff I'm looking at now.
I love Distant Village, both the look and the philosophy, and I'm really leaning toward using some of their packaging. I also have some samples of biodegradable bubble wrap and packing peanuts (both are compostable) on the way. I really like the idea of my packaging generating as little trash and mess as possible, so I've enjoyed shopping around and contacting some of the suppliers to find out more about the sustainable and biodegradable alternatives.
That's the news for today, it's almost time for me to visit our lovely Saturday Morning Market downtown, so I'll leave you with a bit of soap trivia. In the year 1668, politician Jean-Baptiste Colbert under Louis XIV issued an edict making it illegal to make soap with anything other than pure olive oil. The Edict of Colbert explicitly forbids the use of animal fat and also doesn't allow soap making to be performed in June, July or August. Hey, an enforced summer vacation actually doesn't sound like a bad idea.
I love Distant Village, both the look and the philosophy, and I'm really leaning toward using some of their packaging. I also have some samples of biodegradable bubble wrap and packing peanuts (both are compostable) on the way. I really like the idea of my packaging generating as little trash and mess as possible, so I've enjoyed shopping around and contacting some of the suppliers to find out more about the sustainable and biodegradable alternatives.
That's the news for today, it's almost time for me to visit our lovely Saturday Morning Market downtown, so I'll leave you with a bit of soap trivia. In the year 1668, politician Jean-Baptiste Colbert under Louis XIV issued an edict making it illegal to make soap with anything other than pure olive oil. The Edict of Colbert explicitly forbids the use of animal fat and also doesn't allow soap making to be performed in June, July or August. Hey, an enforced summer vacation actually doesn't sound like a bad idea.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Dark Enchantment, my newest fragrance
I've been working on this blend for a while now, adding a little more of this and a touch of that, and I think I finally have it perfected. Rich and dark Madagascar vanilla, the sensual resinous sweetness of amber, and just the slightest touch of warm and earthy patchouli.
It's a beautiful scent, now to see how it behaves in soap. Some fragrances, no matter how lovely they are on their own, just don't work well in soap, so every new one has to be given a trial by fire in the soap pot. I hope to have a test batch done either tonight or tomorrow, I absolutely can't wait to see how it does.
It's a beautiful scent, now to see how it behaves in soap. Some fragrances, no matter how lovely they are on their own, just don't work well in soap, so every new one has to be given a trial by fire in the soap pot. I hope to have a test batch done either tonight or tomorrow, I absolutely can't wait to see how it does.
And so the mad scramble begins.
Welcome to the first post, this is the shiny new blog for Kimika Soaps.
Considering how much time I've spent working on my soap formulas and techniques, one might think that I'd be pretty much ready for the upcoming opening of the sales site. The closer I get to the big day, though, the more little things I remember or think of for the first time, and I've come to the realization that I'm going to have to absolutely work my butt off for a while.
There's paperwork to fill out, forms to file, a website and cart to get finished and tested, final details to be worked out on packaging, oodles of shipping and incidental supplies to pick up, and...I think that about covers it. Wait, I forgot one tiny little minor detail. Soap! Lots and lots of soap to make. That's the fun part, though.
I have so many fragrance ideas and have images in my head of how each of the soaps will look, I wish that you could smell all of them through your monitor. As the big day draws closer, I'll post photos and scent descriptions of the lovely soaps I'm working on. Until then, it's back to work for me, so many things to do!
Considering how much time I've spent working on my soap formulas and techniques, one might think that I'd be pretty much ready for the upcoming opening of the sales site. The closer I get to the big day, though, the more little things I remember or think of for the first time, and I've come to the realization that I'm going to have to absolutely work my butt off for a while.
There's paperwork to fill out, forms to file, a website and cart to get finished and tested, final details to be worked out on packaging, oodles of shipping and incidental supplies to pick up, and...I think that about covers it. Wait, I forgot one tiny little minor detail. Soap! Lots and lots of soap to make. That's the fun part, though.
I have so many fragrance ideas and have images in my head of how each of the soaps will look, I wish that you could smell all of them through your monitor. As the big day draws closer, I'll post photos and scent descriptions of the lovely soaps I'm working on. Until then, it's back to work for me, so many things to do!
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