Punkins' world....SUNSHINE, seeds and no more drought!

[punkin]

essential oils and some fragrance oils

I use veggie food coloring. Natural no chems. I get a ton of range of color then.

I am averaging about 500-700 bars per week. I make monster batches. Use 4 out molds and run about 20-30 molds per pour and do that 7 days per week along with 2 runs per day sometimes. (I work well into the night..lol)

Everything I buy is in bulk. I buy from those warehouse places that you have to have a biz license and bulk only....so I buy like $1500 worth of fragrance at one time.

I got big money into this big time.

Now I have 36 fragrances running now and to add a few seasonal like Pumpkin Pie and Christmas Tree Pine scent in Nov and Dec.

(remember I have been doing this for over 10 years and it is a biz for the farm)

All I can say is WOW!

Do you use some kind of industrial stirrer?

No wonder you have a soap room.

 

[FarmerChick]

I have a business soap setup and yes I have drying racks, 3 monster ones, they take up 2 walls in the room and the soap room doubles as my computer room and print labels and do my email biz etc.

I don't make a batch of soap on the stove...lol.....I did in the beginning but I upgraded to biz soap setup. I had to in order to keep up with orders and stock.

Like I said though, it is a real biz and been doing it for over 10 years so over that time as I made profit I bought new equipment etc. Alot of my stock is in the garage on racks for use. No where to put it..LOL

I do wish I had a separate drying room and this room dedicated to only making soap. Oh what I wish for..HA HA

If--and this is a big IF--we decide to try to even go bigger with the soaps, Tony and I are talking about building an outbuilding as a soap store and plant. But not sure if I want to go that far. Heck I am trying to downgrade.....not upgrade.

I don't know...alot of irons in the fire. Never sure which way to go. The cost of a soap building would not be cheap....so not sure if I want to take that on at this point. I do well with my soap room as is..LOL

 

[punkin]

FC, just to give you a laugh, my soaps are on a wire rack across my garden tub. All 35-40 bars.

 

[Farmfresh]

I just have "soap cabinets".

When I built new upper cabinets for my kitchen I moved the old ones to a work room in my basement - the old coal shoot. I remade one cabinet into a drying cabinet by adding wire shelving to it. I keep my soaper supplies in another one. It does have more humidity than I would like but it is heated in winter (when the furnace finally comes on) and there is an operable window in the room in the summer, so it works out.

 

[FarmerChick]

FC, just to give you a laugh, my soaps are on a wire rack across my garden tub. All 35-40 bars.

COOL

nothing like your first load
you could be in biz before you know it!

I started making soap on the stove and pouring molds on the dining room table---alert---be careful...hot soap kills tables!

plus I had to remove my dining room rug. the hot soap just nailed the carpet. But I knew I was getting rid of that carpet so I didn't care..haha....now the dining room is just that, not a soap room and the carpet is gone and nice wood flooring is done.

progress at least..HA HA

 

[punkin]

At the moment, I don't want to get into "big time" like you, FC. Hard to imagine me ever doing that many bars per week.

I'm just making up enough for gifts and such and then we'll see how that goes. If enough people like it, I may take to a couple of stores that friends work in. I would think right now, all I can do is 50 bars per week, maybe.

So, if no one likes it or I can't find an outlet for it, I won't have invested that much money.

Besides, seed sowing in the greenhouse will start in Jan. Now, that I have an outlet for and I do very well at it.

 

[punkin]

I just have "soap cabinets".

When I built new upper cabinets for my kitchen I moved the old ones to a work room in my basement - the old coal shoot. I remade one cabinet into a drying cabinet by adding wire shelving to it. I keep my soaper supplies in another one. It does have more humidity than I would like but it is heated in winter (when the furnace finally comes on) and there is an operable window in the room in the summer, so it works out.

The humidity in the bathroom is one thing I worry about, but I really have no where else to put it. Unless, of course, I start getting alot of requests, then I'll have to do some major shuffling.

 

[punkin]

This weekend we went to a couple of craft fairs. Saturday was Punkintown in downtown Athens. It was supposed to have started Friday evening, but the threat of a tornado held alot of vendors off.

It was divided into seperate areas such as "Old Time Crafts", "Childrens Fun Zone", "Food Court" and others. I met a woman from Tellico Plains ('bout 35 miles away) who makes beautiful homemade soaps. Bummer that she doesn't give classes. I did ask alot of questions and she was happy to answer them.

Sunday was "Potter's Mill Gold Festival". Again, the weather held alot of vendors at bay. DH made the comment that he didn't see anything that I couldn't make. Sure, if my days were 40 hours long, maybe. I was really disappointed that they didn't have actual demonstrations of the crafts they were selling. That probably would have peaked my interest more.

That afternoon we took DH's bobcat over to my uncle's. He needs to rock a bad spot where his cattle get stuck in the mud. While there, my Aunt and my cousin's wife expressed alot of interest in my soaps. As soon as some cures, I'll give them samples.

Today has been in the mid 60's with showers. I've just stayed inside and made a couple of batches of soap and worked on some totes. Time to spiff things up and start thinking about supper . . . maybe hamburgers.

 

[punkin]

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store. I bought a 3 lb. box of lard. Came home and set it in the bottom of the pantry (forgetting it is a meat product).

That evening, we went to a friend's house to eat supper. When we got back home, the lard was laying just outside of the doggie door. The box was chewed and ripped and one corner had been eaten. I guess the pantry doors (bifold) had been left a smidge open. Maggie, our little Miss Nosey weiner dog who is a gifted bifold door opener, had pushed the door open. Somehow the 3 of them had drug it across the kitchen and pulled it out the doggie door.

My lesson learned: Don't leave lard where the dogs can reach it.

 

[FarmerChick]

yikes ---lesson passed on and noted.