I'm frazzled today. Things are going in the wrong direction.
First, the Havana soap. I'm pretty sure I made an announcement here that the Havana soap is back. It was a scent that I carried for years, a long time ago. And then the fragrance was discontinued. I bought up what I could and made it for awhile longer while I searched for a substitute. Years passed and there just wasn't anything like it out there. Until late last year. I found a new fragrance that was almost like it. And I made a test batch. It turned out perfect. Yahoo. It's fixed!
So I put it back on the website. Made the announcement. And nothing. I took it to a show, but during the summer I had so many spring and summer scents, that mostly I didn't bring it out to the public. It just wasn't selling online at all, so I took it out to Anacortes where people went crazy for it and I sold all I had. So when I went back to the website to temporarily put the "out of stock" sign on it, I realized that I had totally goofed and it was invisible all that time. It wasn't actually on the site. Oy.
I made more last week, the day I got back from vacation. I wasn't thinking. I just made it by memory without looking at my notes. Forgot a major component of the scent. So I've got about 60 bars of woodsy, but not Havana soap. And no time immediately to make more of that. I'm buried in Fall soaps and Puyallup Fair soaps - trying to get everything finished by the end of the month. I will get it back up, I promise, but maybe mid-September? Kicking myself.
Which brings me to the Fall soaps. I started a plan last month and made a little flurry of test batches. When I got back last week, I didn't like any of them. I really, really, really hate just doing what I did last time. Even though I've got requests for some of those same soaps, and I've still got bottles of those fragrances just cluttering up the studio. So I gave in, and made a couple of batches of repeats. But over the weekend I came up with a new plan, and made a few more test batches. This morning, I'm convinced they aren't going to be good either. I'm out of time! I've got to make all the rest of it, like yesterday. And I still don't know what to do. Looks like it's going to be a bit of repeats and a bit of um, something else. We'll see how today's and tomorrow's last minute batches turn out. But there will definitely be a few weirdo extra soaps at shows and maybe the clearance section.
Lastly, I'm in a panic about the Baby Love soap. It's one of the very first fragrances I started with. I've had it for over 15 years. And this weekend when I tried to buy the 2 different fragrance oils that I use to make that blend, both are discontinued. I think. They are just gone from my supplier's website. And they won't return my frantic phone calls today. Oh. My. God. There are so many people who will freak right out. It's all they use. Like forever. I have no idea how to replicate that sort of thing. It's a complicated blend of a bunch of things, and I'll never be able to do it on my own. An exhaustive search all weekend came up with absolutely nothing out there that even comes close. Just like Havana. It would be easier to try to do it on my own with a bit of McGyvering. But that's going to be a very long and expensive journey, and it will still be out of stock for an extra long time.
Ok, don't make a mad run on buying me out of that one. I'm still waiting for a call. I've got a bit more of the fragrances at the moment to make more, and the last batch isn't cured yet.
Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. But I'm in anxiety mode and don't know what to do about any of it today. Except dither and fret.
Bumps in the road. There are ups. And there are definitely downs. Gotta have both.
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