The Dominion Soap Blog

Soap Studio Reno

2010-05-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges of having a home based business (especially one where you have to get messy and where you have to keep the children and the soap at a mutually safe distance because you are making stuff with lye and also for some reason one of your children thinks soap is kind of delicious) ...is carving out a dedicated workspace. We live in a small 1930's bungalow that has a bedroom off the kitchen - not a great location for a quiet sleep, but a perfect spot to set up a soap studio.

Here are a few pictures of my recent soap studio reno. I repainted the walls and stripped and refinished the hardwood a few years ago when Dominion Handmade Soap Company was a mere twinkle in my eye, but until now I've had no counters or adequate storage. I didn't have the money for custom cabinetry, so I built the counters and topped them with some stainless steel sheeting. The cupboards are el cheapo laundry cabinets. Works for me.

I promised a web store opening for - what?- January? Ah, whoops. Maybe Juneuary...

The Right Path

2009-11-24T11:54:00.001-08:00

Two years ago, I was busy checking every soapmaking book out of the library, wondering if I could turn my passion for natural ingredients and talent for making stuff into extra income for our family. There weren't a lot of other options available; our son still wasn't sleeping well enough or often enough to make even a part-time retail job possible. Not many employers are willing to hire workers who are bleary from 3 or 4 a.m. bedtimes and who have to take weeks off for illness!

So, Dominion Handmade Soap Company was born. I found out how satisfying it is to source superb ingredients and make fragrant soap from scratch. I made some great soap. I threw out some awful soap. (Okay, a lot of awful soap.) I found a welcoming group of vendors at the Prince Albert Farmer's Market - not to mention local sources for beeswax, goat's milk, hemp oil, and organic herbs. I have also found some loyal customers who love what I do.

In short, it has been wonderful. Even if I'm still not making a lot of money. Even if I still have so much to learn.

So, what happens when you suddenly have to decide between two wonderful things?

Okay, maybe I should back up a little. As much as I enjoy making soap, my first love is painting. I spent many years learning how to be a good painter, but when our lives were upended with our son's autism diagnosis I had to say goodbye to the studio - for good, I thought.

Recently, some funny things have happened. I was offered a great studio space for way-too-cheap-to-pass-up. Strong encouragement to pick up my art practice came from unexpected quarters. A show in August materialized. So, somehow I'm back in the studio. I'm still dazed by the switcheroo, but also really happy.

Well, ecstatic, actually.

I've been hyperventilating though, when I think of the Christmas craft fair rush, and the webstore still not up, and how I need to put more time into Dominion Handmade Soap Company in order to turn a profit so that I can help pay for my son's treatments. And I've been thinking about all of the good stuff that makes it such a deeply satisfying project. I'm not ready to give it up.

After a lot of thinking and prayer I've decided that for this year, Dominion Handmade Soap Company is going to opt out of the Christmas frenzy altogether. No craft shows, no special orders. I hope this doesn't disappoint too many people. Instead, I'm going to focus the time I do have into finishing the webstore and getting a modest (very modest) variety of soaps and bath products ready for online sale in January.

We'll have a webstore launch party. A little, non-overwhelming one. You're invited. (Please bring cupcakes.)

Photo credit: Undecided
Originally uploaded by bertiemabootoo

Donate for Autism Research & Get A Bar of Soap Just For Being So Awesome.

2009-11-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite charities, Autism Research Institute, is hosting a great fundraiser for independent autism research, and I volunteered to help. Unfortunately, I forgot how much I dislike randomly asking people for money. Oops.

So, how can we make fund raising fun again? By giving stuff away! I have some soap left over from this summer's farmers market season; it's great soap, but I need to make room for new goodies.

So here's the deal: every person who makes a (minimum $1 US) donation to the The Million Dollar Puzzle Piece Challenge through our Paypal link: http://www.dominionsoap.com/helpautismresearch.htm will be mailed a bar of soap (regularly priced at $7.50 or $8 for two half bars), completely free. I'll even pay for the shipping. 100% of your donation will go straight to the Million Dollar Puzzle Piece Challenge, along with a paper puzzle piece with your first name printed on it.

Since my soap stock is limited, you will be asked to indicate your first, second and third choices after you make your Paypal donation. (Depending on availability, I may send either one full sized bar or two half bars in some combination based on your selection.) These are the bars that I have in stock right now:

Shea and Mustard Seed
Café au Lait (with goat's milk)
Earl Grey
Olive Oil & Goat's Milk (unscented)
Cucumber & Avocado
Avocado & Lemongrass
Peppermint Swirl
Vanilla Toffee

Does this sound like a good deal to you? Then come on over!

Emergency Earache Oil

2009-11-02T00:25:00.000-08:00

Our son has autism, and he can't tell us when something is hurting. Over the years, we've become a little better at reading cues that he's not well - but it is still very much a trial and error sort of thing. We've also learned that when we do see the signs, we need to act fast if we want to avoid a 4 a.m. visit to the emergency room.

Last night, the signs were all there. At first, it was nothing more than wanting to be close to Mom and Dad, but it quickly progressed to vigorous nose rubbing, then grimaces and sudden bursts of tears. We gave him some dye-free Motrin, but when he started poking his fingers in his ears I knew I needed to make a quick batch of garlic oil right away.

There are a number of really effective commercially-prepared earache oils on the market (like this one from Mountain Rose Herbs) and if you're a better prepared sort of person than I am, you will probably already have one of them in your medicine cabinet. However, if you're like me and your medicine cabinet contains a New York Islanders mug, several purple scrunchies, a canister of seven-year-old hair mousse and no earache oil, this simple recipe may mean a much better night for you and your sad little person. Although most of the commercially available natural earache oils have other herbal ingredients, they all contain garlic. Have you got a bulb handy? Great! Now, don't panic. This is what you do next:

Get a small saucepan.
Put about 1/4 cup olive oil in it and turn the heat to medium-low.
Crush about four cloves of garlic into the oil. The stinkier and fresher the garlic, the better. Use a garlic press if you've got one. The idea is to make this oil fast since you have a crying kid in the house, so the more garlic and the finer it is crushed, the better.
Stir the garlic-oil mixture vigorously, but keep the heat low. You're not cooking the garlic, just extracting all of the good stuff.
When the oil is good and stinky, take the pan off the heat. Pour the oil into a glass jar, using a sieve to strain out the pieces of garlic.
Cool the oil to body temperature (test a drop on your wrist, just like a baby's bottle).
Using an eyedropper or an oral syringe, put a few drops into both ear canals, even if only one seems to hurt. Try to have the child lie on their side so that the oil goes where it should.
Use a small bit of cotton in each ear to... uh.. keep the oil in. I guess. This is what my mom always did for us as kids, so it must be the right thing to do.
Refrigerate the remainder and use within a week. Remember to reheat to a comfortable body temperature before any additional treatments. If the earache vanishes, you've got a nice start on Wednesday's pasta sauce. Win-win!
Next time, have a bottle of earache oil ready to go in your medicine cabinet before you need it. I'm looking at you, René.

We always have a hard time getting the oil in the first ear, but it must have had an immediately soothing effect because our son was much more cooperative with the second one. Within ten minutes he wasn't crying anymore, and in another five he was asleep. Today there was absolutely no sign of ear inflammation or illness. The Motrin helped too, of course, but a lot of people (including me, based on many personal experiences) believe that garlic-based ear oils often get to the root cause of ear ache quickly, gently, and effectively. I think we can all do without more 4 a.m. trips for amoxycillin.

Here's some interesting links on earaches and garlic:
http://www.garlic-central.com/earache.html
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/garlic_granules.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxHQvtuTWcY

(Please remember: I'm not a trained health professional, and this should not be taken for medical advice. I did however take that picture all by myself. Not bad, is it?)

Welcome to the (New) Dominion Soap Blog

2009-11-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody. Thanks for following me here. I've moved from the blog hosted on my website to Blogger. There are two reasons why:

I found out that the lovely people commenting on my blog were being hit up for their email address, and then my website was automatically emailing them to see if they wanted to become "members". Don't ask me how this works, but there's apparently no way to turn this off.
I didn't have the option of a "captcha", and was starting to have to weed out a lot of spammers.

So, I was (inadvertently!) spamming other people and also getting spammed. Nice. None of those shenanigans here. You'll have to jump through the captcha hoop if you want to say something, but I won't be trying to get to second base with you, either. I hope that's a good trade-off.