New blog

The new blog that is devoted to the business is here.

I'll add more products as time allows. Right now time is not my friend.

Now back to making this a noncommercial blog.

Before the new format

Since I'm pretty sure the graphics will go away, I've decided to change a few things.

This blog will be about things. I'll create a new blog for the soaps and things. I don't want people to think this has turned into an advertisement.

So...where are we?

Has anyone noticed the leaves? It's not as noticeable in the Homer area, but up around Soldotna there are a lot of yellow leaves, plus some rust colored one.

And the fireweed. Oh. My. Gawd. It's there. Most of them are at the top. Start counting. Six weeks from today. Winter.

At least I'll spend winter in Homer. Yay.

I love this time of year. I really do. The days are cooler and with the hot flashes, cooler days are a really, really, really good thing. Oops. Was the TMI?

Okay...time to save what I can of this blog and create a new one.

Soon

The graphics and design to this blog will disappear. As far as I know there isn't anything I can do to stop it.

Pamela Joy designed the look for me. She set it up to where it went to a folder on my main website to get the graphics. After Pamela's brutal murder two years ago I haven't been able to change things on the website. I can't access.

Which is why I don't use the jodypryor.com emails now either. After my computer crash, I can no longer access them.

I don't know what I'll do when all the pretty things disappear from here. Probably find a stock template that blogger offers and use it. But I hate to see this contribution that Pamela made disappear.

In other news, my job in Soldotna is about over. I put an end to it. I'm not getting enough hours to move up here, but I'm getting too many hours to work up here from Homer.

They aren't too happy with me. I know they put a lot of money into training me. But I can say with 100% accuracy, they didn't put as a high a percentage into me as I put into them. I drained my savings trying to make it work. But in the end, the numbers weren't there.

I do have another job. After two years of wandering the state, I'll finally be back in Homer full time. Completely out of the medical field.

I've learned many things.

The main thing I learned was something I said years ago still applies. When we opened our shop a reporter from one of the local papers asked us why we chose Homer. Without giving it a second thought I replied, "Homer is where the heart is."

I don't know if one of the real estate agents used that saying back in 1998. But it's more true for me today than it was in 1998. Homer is where my heart has always been.

Changes. They are good. Maybe I do need a new look for this blog.

Done

I'm done for the day. I have many more soaps to photograph. I hope you don't mind me putting them on my blog.

I'm having fun soaping and I'm proud of the ones I make. I do have a big batch of rejects. Everything I make doesn't pass my inspection. I have a bunch of soap that if I were to package it, it would have a name straight from a Harry Potter novel. One of these days I'll figure out what do to with it.

Thanks for tolerating my show and tell.

Eclipse

Every now and then, I order an essential oil as a treat. Vetiver was such an oil. I really didn't know how it would blend with other essential oils, but I wanted to try it.

I also had a few ounces of tangerine essential oil, so I blended the two together. Vetiver is a strong scent, and even using a very small portion in the blend, the smoky, earthy aroma is present. It's more a man's fragrance than for a woman.

The soaping oils are: palm, coconut, olive and canola. The soap includes Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide and coconut milk.

Black Knight

I bought this fragrance on a whim.

It was promoted as a complicated scent. And it truly is. It's a blend of citrus, floral, spicy cinnamon, rose, plus patchouli and vanilla. It's a very manly scent, but many women love it, too.

The fragrance is a blend of fragrance and essential oils.

The soap oils are, palm, olive and coconut. It contains purified water, sodium hydroxide and coconut milk. The color is from ground red sandalwood.

Bay Crest Morning

Bay Crest Morning is a blend my daughter created.

The oils used are palm, olive, coconut and sweet almond. It contains Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide and coconut milk. The fragrance is a blend of lemon, lime and litsea essential oils.

It's a nice cheery morning blend.

Alaskan Handy Man Soap

I wanted to create a soap that was manly, and would cut through grease. This is my version. I used olive, palm kernel, coconut, vegetable and castor oil. It also contains Alaskan rainwater and sodium hydroxide. I added ground oatmeal for a coarse scrubbing affect. The fragrance is a blend of blood orange (cuts grease) and patchouli essential oils.

This soap comes packaged in a muslin bag so the Alaskan handy man or woman in your life can toss it in his or her tool box.

Shameless promotion today

Today I'm going to upload pictures of the soaps. There will be several posts today. This is what I've been doing with my time. It's why I don't blog much.

Hopefully you'll be able to tolerate this. If not...well...I guess I'll find out.

August????

Once again, another month has slipped past and I don't know where it went.

This picture is a sample basket of the soaps and balms that are ready for the public.

Today I delivered some of my "Fish On" soap to Ulmer's Drug and Hardware. If you're in the area, stop by and examine it, buy it, use it. It is scented with anise essential oil. According to everything I could find, it accomplishes two things. One, it washes the human smell of us. Two, fish like the smell of anise.

Some soapers have customers who rub the soap on their hooks.

Not only do the bars I make contain anise essential oil, but I add anise seed to the mix.

Some even use the "fish on" soap for hunting. I'm not sure about using it for hunting in Alaska. I've read that bears also like the smell of anise. For some reason, I don't think too many hunters are interested in attracting bears.

I've tried to get a few things finished after spending a little over two weeks up in Soldotna. There just isn't enough time to get everything completed though.

I need to work on the website, but there isn't enough time. I need to make at least another 20 pounds of soap. I need to work on more lip balms. I need to create so many different things. Then there's the ugly business of taking care of the paperwork that's involved in running a business. It's all time consuming and going back and forth between Homer and Soldotna eats into time that I just don't have.

Right now, my customer base is in Homer. I deliver products and then disappear for a couple weeks at a time. I have a great group of customers and retailers. They deserve more than me disappearing on them.

Today a huge problem was solved though. I was informed how to get supplies to Homer at a very reasonable price. I'm very excited about this new information. I can now order without having to worry about paying as much or more in freight than the materials cost.

Tomorrow I have to get ready to go back to Soldotna. But at least this time it's only for one day.

With any luck, I'll find time to go fishing, too. I think I should try out my "fish on" soap and "fish on" lotion. I need fish. Lots of fish.