He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother…

Kudos to our brothers and sisters who put together an entertaining and FREE festival for the artistically minded folks in Swainsboro– Year after year youngsters from all over come to enjoy art and music… We showed up this year (to peddle some of our Fall 2010 Collection), and we ended up having a fabulous day despite the 95 degree temperatures at the end of September.  We showed up with this much-envied sign:

Our new cafe' sign

Thanks to my wonderful brother who makes me anything I need (even if I tell him I need it in just a couple of days)!  Plywood and hinges with a little chalkboard paint can really draw the eye… Our two year old loves it too!  The other side featured some of his art– And why not?  It was an ARTS festival!

I’m adding a few more pictures below… I do want to go ahead and let our regular customers know that we are taking Christmas custom orders now (to give us time to order needed materials, make the soap and other products, and let the soap cure (minimum of 4 weeks).  Let us know your gift-giving needs– We’ll be happy to work with you to create the perfect gift!

Finally, we debuted our LIP BALMS at the Arts Emanuel festival… They were a big hit (we even sold out of our Raspberry-Cream)!

Thanks everyone for your support of the arts in Emanuel County and for your support of Folkstar Soap Company!

Our booth

More from the booth

Russian Tea - A mix of sweet orange and clove essential oils with a ribbon of ground clove in the middle

Wicked - Eucalyptus and Peppermint... A twist on an earlier Euca-Mint Bar. This one has little drops of green chlorophyll at the bottom of the bar.

The Citrus Bar - Grapefruit, Bergamot, Litsea essential oils with a ribbon of lemon peel in the center.

Black Magic - A more masculine blend of Spearmint & Patchouli... The guy of the group's new favorite!

The Buttercream Frosting Lip Balm - Good enough to eat!

The Lip Balm BOMB - Raspberry Cream... Sold Out (but making more tomorrow)!

Thank God I’m a Country Boy…

Actually, Thank God I’m a Country Boy and Girl…

Congratulations to the Swainsboro Downtown Development Authority for a fabulous first Friday Farmers Market on Roger Shaw Street at Patriot Park!  There were only about 7 vendors, but we had lots of customers and successful sales.  Southern Swiss Dairy and East Georgia Produce were there with fresh milk, butter, beef, and a variety of vegetables.  Despite the 100 degree heat, we had a great time and enjoyed showcasing our soaps to the public…

Enjoy the pictures! And take special care to look at the picture of our new bath bombs– They fizz like crazy and have a good amount of moisturizing Epsom salt and baking soda….The smell is unbelievable too!

View from the Folkstar Soap Company Booth at the Swainsboro Farmer's Market

The Tickled Pink Fragrance Bar

Another view of The Tickled Pink Fragrance Bar

The Natural Hawaiian-- An Essential Oil blend of Geranium, Sweet Orange, Bergamot, and Ginger

The Herbalist- A natural blend of Basil, Bergamot, Eucalyptus, and Sweet Orange... Colored with liquid chlorophyll

My new personal favorite-- The Charmer! A mix of patchouli and lavender essential oils.

The Charmer Bath Salts

The Tropics Bar-- A Papaya & Coconut Fragrance Bar

New Bath Bombs-- These are The Tropics Bomb (yellow) and The Tickled Pink Bomb (pink)

Any way you want it…

Folkstar Soap Company is now selling our Lullaby Bar (the baby soap or the soap for people who want baby soft skin) at G & L Apparel in Swainsboro, Georgia.  You will only be able to get this bar at this location- The store’s owner, Laci Davis Kirby, has two kids of her own and definitely knows the value of making and selling great products for our kids.  Check out the store and pick up some of the soap–

We haven’t blogged in a couple of weeks… Our family reunion at Tybee Island called us to the beach for a weekend.  On the way home, we made a few pit stops on Riverstreet in Savannah.  After eating, we explored some of the stores and found a couple that sell handmade soaps and spa products– surprisingly, none of the products were 100% all natural, and none of the soaps were sold in 4 – 5 ounce bars.  Most of them were between 2.5 and 3.5 ounces.  Research… gotta’ love it!

Right now, we are in the process of triple-milling some soaps (by grating and melting down, grating and melting down again…).  Our bar, The Classic, is a little too light in the scent department.  Because I am triple-milling it, I can add more essential oils each time, making the scent more lasting and more aromatic.  I’m excited about this new project.  The smell is lavender and jasmine.   By the way, for any soapers who stick to the fundamentals, I wish I could do a real, old-fashioned triple-mill (like the French do)!  We can’t afford one of those huge mills, but we are able to do all of the processing.  It is interesting stuff!  I’m glad I’ve had the summer off to be able to experiment in these ways.

This is how we do it…

Have you noticed that I am naming my blogs with songs… Well, maybe not the actual song title, but good first-liners.  Folkstar Soap Company has an affinity for the finer things in life and has thus purchased a brand new copy of Glee- Season 1: Road to Sectionals on dvd.  It has been playing in the background as we make soap.  So, when you lather up, don’t be surprised if you start humming a tune or two– just part of our magic!

I used liquid chlorophyll last night for the first time and was impressed, to say the least!  Since we don’t really like to use micas or oxides (technically, they are not all natural despite what some soapers will tell you), we are constantly on the hunt for natural ingredients to color our soaps.  I’ve been reading about chlorophyll for a while, but I’ve been too scared to try it.  Luckily, Herbs & Vitamins (a health food store in our hometown) sells it at a great price.   I discounted 1 ounce of water from my water/lye mixture and poured 1 ounce of chlorophyll into the soap at a light trace.  The color is a mix between a light mint and a light olive… LOVE IT! Check out the picture:

Immediately after molding... Will be ready in 3 1/2 weeks!

This soap is completely all-natural… Made with 0live, coconut, palm, canola, avocado, and corn oils, we’ve scented it with basil, bergamot, sweet orange, and eucalyptus essential oils.  The resulting scent is a very earthy and “herby” smell with undertones of licorice (from the basil).   We are definitely planning to use more liquid chlorophyll– Maybe a Euca-Mint No. 2 bar?  Any suggestions?

The Lullaby… Will it work?

Our new soap for babies is currently curing… It is a very rich mixture of high quality oils with lavender essential oil, honey, and buttermilk.

We’ve used local honey from Milledgeville (great tasting and great in the soap)…

Check out the pics!

Lavender and Honey

Oils- sweet almond, avocado, olive, coconut, and palm

Something tells me I’m into something good…

Folkstar is now blogging!

We can’t help being excited about the launch of this blog, our website (www.folkstarsoapcompany.com), and our new 2010 Summer Collection!  What a busy few weeks!

Just so you know, our new summer line will feature all kinds of wonderful summer scents!  And, we’re branching out- We added bath salts to our line in April, and now we have bath bombs, and sugar scrubs!  We’d love to know what you like, too. We are toying with the idea of making lip balm (which by the way, is super cool- all natural lip balm is amazing).  So, hit us up in the comment section here or drop us a line at folkstarsoaps@yahoo.com.

Thanks for joining us!  Check back often of demonstrations of soap making, cool recipes, and tips on fine living the Folkstar way!