In the fast lane

Things have been real hectic around here. And am sorry for not updating regularly. I have been at one flea market after another.....getting scorched in this unprecedented heat wave that seems to have engulfed Bangalore.........the rare intermittent rains have done nothing to help us feel better. I am so happy (surprised) at how well my products have been received. I have to say products due to my ever increasing product line........the rookie entrepreneur in me should have thought of this before coining the name Soaps By SanGi. But, what the heck, soaps will always be my first love. 

As mentioned in my last post, my butters have been received quite well. There seem to be a lot of requests for different smells. Maybe I need to add a few more to my existing line of 3 varieties of Body Butters. My Facebook page has started generating orders as well. Not to mention the increasing number of likes. Yeah.... 

Anyway, enough of trumpeting my little successes. Let me tell you what I have been upto. You guessed it.........a lot of soaping. I looooove soaping. Some of the batches I have made are

Rassoul Clay & Yogurt Soap

Milk Oatmeal & Wheatgerm Soap

Musky Cocoa Butter & Jojoba Soap

In fact, I am already out of the Musky Cocoa Butter & Jojoba Soap. I have another show coming up on Saturday and plan to introduce the Milk Oatmeal soap there......

At one of the fairs, I had a lady ask me for sugar scrubs. There was the beginning of another new product. She is yet to pick them up. But the pictures I posted on Facebook have got me orders and I have already exhausted my batch.

Minty Sugar Scrubs

I like making my sugar scrubs in single use sizes and shapes so we don't have to get our hands into the jars and ruin the entire scrub. Water can make your sugar scrubs go bad. This way you can open the jar and take just one into the bath with you.

These babies have all the goodness of Shea Butter, Olive oil, Sandalwood powder, of course, Castor sugar, and my Handmade soap...........I have tried them and they are wonderful on my excessively dry skin. Makes my skin feel like silk. I am in the process of making a fresh batch, with a little bit of difference. Shall post pictures soon.....

Love my whipped body butter

I have been wanting to try out a whipped version of the body butter that I have started making and gifting out. And yesterday I did just that. With all the goodness of Mango & Shea Butter, Olive & Coconut oils etc. I added a mix of Orange, Cedarwood, Ylang Ylang & Frankincense oils which has somehow given it a very mysterious smell. It starts off smelling like Orange and as it gets absorbed into the skin, which is not more than a few minutes, it leaves a woody scent with a hint of Ylang Ylang and Frankincense. Really nice. And so light on the skin. 

Body Butter scented with Orange , Cedarwood & Ylang Ylang

I plan to showcase them on Sunday at the Kitsch Mandi Flea Market. I have made them in 50 gm jars. They spread so easily on the skin. Just a little bit goes a long way and so this jar could last a while. Absolutely free of any chemicals, only butters and oils. I also managed to make another small jar for my daughters who love using anything I make. I hope people love them as much as they do my Lip Butters and Vaporubs.

Lip Butters & Vaporubs

My 2nd Flea Market

My stall at Royal Orchid, Bangalore

This was my 2nd Flea Market presence. Actually, it was my 3rd. I had another one on the 2nd of March. But that turned out a dud. Everyone was disappointed and surprised at the total lack of visitors. I left early. I heard the poor organizer had to shell out a hefty amount from her pocket to compensate for the loss she had incurred. I guess we all have our bad days.

Anyway, the one on Sunday, 3rd March was a lot of fun. I managed to do more sales and attract more visitors to my stall than the first one. That reminds me to send out those thank you mailers to all those nice folks who stopped and smelled my soap and also to those who picked a few bars up. I had one customer, who had come all the way from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and picked up 10-12 bars of soap and a couple of my Lip Butters. Hopefully, I will soon develop a profitable client base in the Middle East!

A pretty little girl was so exhausted at the Flea Market that she stopped at my stall and announced to her mom 'Can we stop now and have something to eat'. Her mom had to tell her that what I was selling was soap and not candy.........Should I take that as a compliment or.......?

Suddenly I seem to be busy with Flea Market attendance. I have one this Sunday and one the following Sunday as well. Love to meet so many new people. 

An update

I have another event coming up on the 3rd of March. I seem to be getting quite a few invites, thanks to my Facebook page. It pays to be out there. People do sit up and notice. I enjoyed my last event and it is a very heady feeling to know my soaps, that I have become so passionate about, are going to be exhibited to people I don't even know. I enjoyed the questions that came my way. Loved explaining my soap-making process  to complete strangers and hopefully have developed some repeat customers. Whilst it is very easy to make that initial sale to people who come to your stall out of curiosity and pick up a bar or two, the true test would be when I start getting repeat orders. Can't wait for that day........

Here are some of the soaps that I have not shared with you guys as yet. I hope you enjoy them..

Lavender Mint Soap with soap ball embeds

Yogurt & Aloe Vera Soap scented with Vanilla (hence the colour)

Coffee Creme Soap scented with Mint & Clove

Layered Milk & Sandalwood soap. Poppy seeds added for exfoliation

Confetti Soap made out of shavings of previous batches

Red Clay & Shea Butter Soap scented with Strawberry

Papaya with Milk Cream & Shea Butter. Smells lovely

Green Tea Soap with honey

Another Beer soap, this time with Kaolin Clay

Swirl Soap with Lemongrass

Soap for Dogs. Flea & Tick repellent

Yogurt & Clay Soap with a mild floral smell

Geranium & Cedarwood sample bars

I agree with all the soapers out there who swear by clay soaps. I love them too. Though, they have not completely cured as yet, I enjoy using them for my hands in the kitchen. My hands feel so soft and smooth. I can't wait to use them in the bath. 

I hope you enjoy all the photographs I have posted here. I would love any comments that you guys may have.

Soft Launch

I am sooooo excited..........Soaps By SanGi had its first ever public viewing last Sunday. I was so nervous! It is one thing to distribute your soaps to friends and family. Quite another to showcase it to complete strangers. There was a lot of curiosity regarding the process and the ingredients etc. I enjoyed sharing my journey of soap making with all those people.

I had included some lip balms made of Beeswax too. They were quite a hit as well. Especially with the kids. 

My helper for the morning. DD

SanGi from Soaps By SanGi - Me

And, I did manage to sell a few soaps too. And lip balms. I think I can totally get used to this. Interacting with new people, selling my soap, sharing my story. Here's to new beginnings..........

Current lot of soaps for sale

This is the current lot of soaps that are available for sale. I do have more bars of each type. If someone would like to buy them, they can get in touch with me at soapsbysangi@gmail.com. This display is not the entire lot. I have around 10 bars left in each. I am giving below a list of the ones that are cured and currently available. All the bars are around 65-75 gms in weight (approx.). There are about 6-7 batches that will be ready for sale by the end of February.

The current batches availabe are:
1. Red Clay & Shea Butter scented with Orange & Ylang Ylang - Rs 140/-
2. Carrot, Honey & Coconut Milk scented with Orange Cinnamon - Rs. 110/-
3. Milk & Cocoa Butter - Rs. 110/-
4. Yoghurt & Aloe Vera with Vanilla - 120/-
5. Thyme, Vanilla & Cedarwood - 140/- 
6. Beer, Honey, Cocoa & Shea Butter - 150/-
7. French Green Clay with Lemongrass - 110/- (not in pic)

Cucumber & Yoghurt Soap

I made some Cucumber & Yoghurt Soap. We all know the skin loving properties both these ingredients possess. Cucumber is very good for acne prone skin as well. Since it is highly astringent, I wanted to add something that would balance it out and make it moisturizing as well. There is a generous helping of Shea Butter. I love the feel of Shea Butter in soap. It gives the soap a silky feel. Since Shea is high in unsaponifiables, which means that a lot of the fat in it does not get converted to soap, we get the true benefits of this butter. My Red Clay soap which I made earlier is a hot favourite with all who have bought it.  

Red Clay Soap with Shea Butter

Frozen cucumber puree

I was hoping I would be able to maintain the lovely green of the cucumber. I pureed the cucumber whole, skin et al. But as you can see in the photo below, the lye did manage to alter the colour a lot. That was disappointing. Next time, instead of substituting the water with the cucumber, I shall add it at trace. Maybe that would help maintain the green colour.

Lye & Cucumber mix

My new molds being put to good use

I <3 soap

The soaps turned out pretty big, weighing roughly 125 gms each. That is way above the size of my normal bars, which are roughly between 70-80 gms each. This lot produced just 12 soaps. I made a few sample soaps as well. Cute little pumpkins!

They smell lovely with a blend of Rose, Vetiver & Cedarwood EOs. The Rose though seems to come out more strongly right now. 

 I know it has been a while since I have posted here. It was sheer laziness that prevented me from writing. And a few disappointments. Yes, I have been making soap and not all the batches have come out the way I wanted them to. I guess I should take it in my stride. But, with the craft bazaar coming up in a month's time, I would like to have a lot more soap to offer. It will be the first time that I am going to exhibit my soap. The soap I was most looking forward to was the Tomato & Milk Soap which went wrong from the word 'Go'. I had made two similar batches, one with Tomato Puree and the other with Milk. The idea was to attempt a funnel swirl. But, I guess the fragrance I added took me by complete surprise and the mixes went into accelerated trace. So, I had to abandon the idea of swirling and decided to just layer the mixes. 

Soap after unmolding

But, I guess luck was just not on my side that day. It was too thick to even layer the soap! Everything seemed okay when I poured (put) the mixes into the mold. But, when I unmolded it the next day, I was shocked to find that the top layer of the Tomato soap had separated from the layer of milk soap, as you can see below. 

The centre though did not come apart. I decided to try the oven method and rebatch the tomato soap in muffin trays. And this is what I got...

Not the prettiest of soaps, but they are meant for personal consumption. They definitely have all the goodness of tomatoes. 

I decided I wanted to make a tomato soap because of all the skin loving properties that they have. Tomatoes are high in vitamin content and are a rich source of anti oxidants called Lycopene. Lycopene can counter the aging process on our skin by cutting out free radicals in our bodies. The tonic benefits of the tomato deep cleans and tightens pores. Alpha-Hydroxyl Acids found in tomatoes helps get rid of pimples and acne through its gentle exfoliating action. But, since tomatoes are an astringent, I decided to counter by combining a milk soap to add to its moisturizing properties.

I will definitely not be able to put it up at the stall. It looks quite ugly, I must say. So, I shall enjoy all the benefits of the tomato and the milk........