the feto soap blog

It’s that time of the month! No, not that kind! I mean it’s time for the local crafts spree at the Midtown Farmers Market on Saturday, November 8th from 8am - Noon. The Midtown Farmers Market is located in the front of Monica Pope’s T’afia. 3701 Travis Street @ W. Alabama directions here.

Choose from 40+ kinds of soap at my booth! Come and see locally handmade cards, jewelery, clothing & pottery.

If you can’t make it out this week, I’ll be back next month on December 13th and 20th, same time, same bat-channel.

If you live in the Houston area, you can now purchase Feto Soap products at Te House of Tea located at 1927 Fairview @ Woodhead in the Montrose area. They carry sandalwood vanilla, yuzu japanese citrus, white tea & ginger & lavender patchouli soap, bath salts, candles & dry oil sprays. They are the only place to get lavender patchouli candles - they are made custom just for them!

In addition to my soaps, they have dance nights on Friday - Tango and on most Saturday nights you’ll find me here dancing.  This teahouse also has nice dinner fare - the Chicken in a Blanket is my favorite!

That’s right! Only $5! Offer good for customers in the United States only!

I loaded in on Friday and set up my booth. I ran to Maru, which is this Korean owned and operated Japanese restaurant for one of their famous J-Bombs (and currently my favorite thing to eat in Austin) and then headed back to Maker Faire. Like last year on Friday night they had an evening for the makers with food and a few exhibits set up so we could enjoy a little of Maker Faire before it opened the next day. I got to spend some time eating tamales with Jennifer Ramos of Textile Fetish, Claire Chauvin of Poopscape and their families.

On Saturday Maker Faire opened at 10am and my booth was set up right next to the life-sized mousetrap game. To give you a sense of scale - instead of a marble, they used a bowling ball to launch it. All day I was surprised by friends visiting from Dallas, Houston & Austin at my booth. I came to Maker Faire by myself this year so I’m glad I was set up next to A Punkin Card Company and her entourage. They watched my booth for me when I needed to take a break. I was interviewed a bunch of times by a bunch of people, and hopefully I didn’t embarrass myself or the mafia. I got to meet a ton of photographers - they all started taking pictures at my booth. Here are some shots that John Knox from Austin took of my soap at Maker Faire.

Cool Water with Kelp

Blackberry Sage

Sunday - I bartered with a bunch of people for cardholders, scarves, pouches, cards, earrings, sold out of a couple of scents/styles of soap… and Kai and Winnie (who were running around interviewing people about a new show Make: Television) convinced me to stay another night, so I ended up eating sushi off of a boat at yet another Korean owned and operated place, Korea Garden. They told me about Flipside which is something like a regional Burning Man close to Austin. I am thinking about going next year.

Saturday afternoon the power came back on! I spent Sunday printing labels (for hours!) for all the new soaps that I have made for you, and will be taking pictures of them so you can see what I am talking about! I can’t wait to get back to work!

I’ve also been firming up my market dates. Here’s what I have scheduled so far:

Upcoming Events October 11th Midtown Farmers Market 3701 Travis St. Houston, TX 8am-Noon October 12th Soapmaking Class in Houston, TX October 18/19th Maker Faire / Bazaar Bizarre Austin, TX November 1st Midtown Farmers Market 3701 Travis St. Houston, TX 8am-Noon November 8th Midtown Farmers Market 3701 Travis St. Houston, TX 8am-Noon November 16th Soapmaking Class in Houston, TX December 5-7th Winter Holiday Art Market December 13th Midtown Farmers Market 3701 Travis St. Houston, TX 8am-Noon December 20th Midtown Farmers Market 3701 Travis St. Houston, TX 8am-Noon

yellow clay added to lye water for Lemongrass Sage Shea Butter Soap

In Houston, instead of “How are you?” people are asking “Do you have power at your place yet?” I don’t. I don’t mind not having electricity personally (It’s been a week), but it’s hard to run an immersion blender (the thing I mix soap with) without power. I might have to move the soapmaking operation to another site, but I’m hoping it won’t come to that. 77006 is on the “might get power today” list. Yesterday I made a batch of lavender vanilla lotion bars on the stove. (double boiler) This afternoon I’ll be making chocolate bon bon soaps on the stove to restock the Indie Fixx Shop. Thankfully I have running water, gas and sunlight for a couple of hours when I get home from the hospital. My soapy intern Sarah doesn’t have power either (77098) at her house, but she’s coming in to work with me for a couple of hours. What a trooper! I am so thankful to have help in the shop.

As soon as I can, I will have pictures up of the new soaps I have made for you! Lemongrass Sage, Coconut Lemongrass, Oakmoss Sandalwood, Pearberry, Black Forest & Frasier Fir are just a few new soaps I have made that need pictures added to the site, but are in stock and ready to ship now.

The Feto Soap workspace did not sustain any damage! We are without power, but still able to process orders, so if you were thinking about holding off on your order because of Hurricane Ike, don’t! The United States Postal Service has been running regularly since Monday so your soapy orders are still able to go out. I have a cell phone with internet and am able to charge it in the car when the battery runs low.

Betcha didn’t know we make foaming hand soap here at feto soap! It’s not a listed item! But we do make it by request. If you have a special request for us, don’t be shy! Just ask! We love custom work.

…after I got home from happy hour! I designed new labels for the feto soap line of candles!

Sarah the Intern came over Saturday and we made some new soaps:  Sandalwood Vanilla, Berry Wine & Zinfandel.

I admit it. I make most of my soap in tiny two-pound batches. I do this so I can make many different scents and still have room to walk around my workspace. But this weekend I made some of my more popular soap in 5 - 6 lb batches.

One of the batches of soap I made was my Blackberry Sage Shea Butter Handmade Soap in my new 18-bar mold. This yummy smelling soap will available in a month! Cold Process Soap takes a few weeks to cure and is totally worth the wait.

Pink, Purple & Orange is hosting a MEGA Giveaway with 30 winners! Enter and you may win my Lemon Bar Soap!

Shopoholics Daily blogged out my Chocolate Bar Soap on their Wednesday’s Bath Goodies list. Thanks Guys!

Hello Lucky is restocked with my handmade soaps and dry oil perfume sprays.  Check them out during White Linen Nights this weekend!

Hello Lucky
1025 Studewood Street
Houston, Texas 77008
713-86hello - 713-864-3556
http://www.hello-lucky.com

Hello Lucky will be part of White Linen in The Heights
Saturday August 2, 4 - 10pm
We will be open from 11 am - 10 pm
serving up some cool libations after 4

# 47 on the White Linen map
shuttle stop- # 10 on the shuttle stop index
So if you live close by, you may just want to walk to Hello Lucky
or park nearby us and catch a free shuttle from the shop to take you around The Heights

more about White Linen at: http://www.whitelinennightheights.com/

Road Trip on view now
Artists:
Jim Denk, Rachel Hewlett, Jillsbadcar, Melissa Lonchambon,
Mike Lonchambon, Whitney Riley,
Brooke Summers-Perry, Vagrca, David Waddell, Joanne Witt

Ongoing
work by Ryan Geiger, Woody Golden, JoAnn Park, Christine West
and a collaborative video by Elaine Bradford, Teresa O’Connor and David Waddell

July/August Monthly Challenge
Throughout the months of July and August
we will be a drop spot for plastic shopping/grocery bags as well as fabric remnants.
Itscool2care will use these items to create reusable shopping bags. http://www.itscool2care.org

This quarter Hello Lucky is happy to be working with Glasstire. A portion of in-store sells will be donated to the non-profit http://www.glasstire.com

Road Trip on view in store now!

Hello Lucky
http://www.hello-lucky.com

New Shop Hours
Thursday 11 - 5
Friday and Saturday 11 - 6
*Sunday Noon - 5*
We will happily stay later,
just call us before 5pm
xox

or by appt, just call

you are amazing, you are

One of our members is out of a certain fragrance oil that’s not being manufactured at the moment. She sent out an email to our member list asking if any of us had some to spare. I happened to have a pound of it that I’m not using, so I’m shipping it out to her tomorrow. Instead of cash I wanted  the glass topped tins in a case she happens to carry in her store, so we’re going to barter for them! They are perfect for transporting samples. Everyone wins! It’s a great group of supportive soapmakers!

To become a member of the Texas Soapmakers Association (TSA), you must:
• manufacture handcrafted soap in a business or hobby capacity and/or sell soapmaking supplies.
• live or have a principal place of business in the State of Texas.

Benefits of Membership

• info and advice from experienced soapmakers
• New 3 month mentorship program available - limited spots available
• friendship
• use of the TSA logo
• discounts from member suppliers
• access to the members-only section of our website, with recipes, co-op listings, etc.
• quarterly TSA newsletter
• reduced admission to our annual conventions
• participation in our mailing list discussions

Membership Dues TSA Membership dues are $25 per fiscal year.

If you have questions about TSA membership, please contact the TSA Membership Chair at membership@txsoapmakers.org.  http://txsoapmakers.org

After I teach my soapmaking class the students fill out a feedback form with their comments. These comments are from the latest soapmaking class held on Sunday.

“Thank you for sharing your info and knowledge. This is so cool!”
“Really enjoyed it. It was very laid-back & comfortable.”
“Enjoyed it! Very informative and educational!”
“Good Class - very informative.” “Great Class!”

If you have taken one of my classes and have not filled out a feedback form, feel free to respond to this blog post or email me - lisa at feto soap dot com. I’d love to hear what you have to say.

If you missed this class and would like to attend a basic soapmaking class in Houston, TX, here’s the signup link! Private classes are also available.

My next soapmaking class is coming up this Sunday, July 27th

Soapmaking 101 with Lisa Chouinard of Feto Soap

In this class I will cover the basics on how to create your own soap from scratch with lye, water and soapmaking oils. It is a hands on class and everyone will have an opportunity to participate. I will provide the protective gear (gloves and goggles).

Class Number: R1020D Sun 2-5pm July 27th
Location: Houston JCC 5601 S. Braeswood

To register, go to Leisure Learning Unlimited’s Website:
http://llu.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=42614

or call them at 713.529.4414 with the class number R1020D.

fragrance oils from the txsoapers convention garage sale

I attended the Texas Soapmakers Association Annual Convention in Austin, TX over the weekend. It was jam packed full of great speakers, activities and soaping camaraderie. There aren’t many places I can geek out about soapmaking in person, so I’m always excited to gather with other like-minded individuals. I attended this convention last year, but didn’t meet nearly as many people as I did this year. This year I helped out with registration, so I got to ask EVERYONE their name so I could check them in and help them find their name badge. I also got to know the other soapmakers that were at the registration desk.  Sarah Bongle from Dallas specializes in making soap wedding favors with her company In the Soap Dish. She’s also signed up to be our new secretary. There were two soapmakers from Houston at the registration desk that I hadn’t met yet - Marcia Cunningham and Melanie Brown. Evelyn Martin from Lathers Del Corazon was at the other end of the registration table. She made an awesome smelling (and looking)  mp flip flop soap with a bead in it and leopard print embeds for the swap. 40 of us participated in the swap, so I took home a very large and heavy bag full of soap, candles, lotion, lip balm and bath salts. I’ll be sharing some of my swap goodies with my soapmaking class students this weekend.

During the Saturday night social there were raffles - (I won a Soap Hutch no line test mold!) & a soapers garage sale where I spent way too much money! The picture to the left is the stash I got compliments of Margie Lemons of Hill Country Haiku - I bought a few of those items, but the rest she just gave to me at the end of the garage sale. Her thank you note is in the mail. There was a Texas Natural Supply hosted a Make Your Own Bath Tea table (that’s where I get my base oils for my soap) and an essential oil smelling contest - if you guess the right essential oils, you got a prize!

In my goodie bag I got a sample of smokey patchouli from Bramble Berry. I was curious as to what it smelled like after hearing about it on the Bramble Berry blog and can’t wait to make a bar of soap with it.

My favorite speakers were Kelly Bloom from Southern Soapers - she spoke about Big Batch soapmaking, Mary Berry from Texas Beauty Labs - she shared her version of how she got wholesale accounts with her company B Pure, and four of our members shared their success stories/business models with us: Mama Says Wash!, A Wild Soap Bar, Roundtop Natural Soap and Shambhala Body Gallery.  They all have very different approaches to running their businesses.

A term that came up more than once during speakers talks was about creating a Life Plan before you write your business plan.  From Startup Nation:

“As we always say, plan your life, then plan your business. Some of the most successful and happy people we know are entrepreneurs who created a business that’s in perfect synchronicity with what they want out of life. If you do what you love, you’ll work harder, better and more happily.”

I can’t wait until next year’s convention.

Last year I was talking to a fellow microbusiness about google and she didn’t think that feto soap would come up in a search for handmade soap in houston. I had never googled those terms before and a computer happened to be nearby, so I punched in handmade soap in houston. Guess what? Feto Soap was the first result. Daisy Soap was the second result. I clicked on their link and they had the Texas Soapmakers Association logo prominently displayed. I hadn’t heard of it until then. They were showing that their annual convention was the following weekend, in Houston! On Monday I signed up for the convention. I participated in the bath & body products swap - and I came home with a canvas bag FULL of 40 handmade bath & body goods from my fellow Texas soapmakers. I’m glad that I had a conversation about google searches or I wouldn’t have learned about the Texas Soapmakers Association!

This year I am bringing one of my most popular soaps to the swap - Blackberry Sage. I packaged them in chinese take-out boxes. I can’t wait to see what my fellow soapmakers have created for the swap. If you click on the picture you’ll get to see more pictures (like what’s inside!)