Gray Barn tomorrow

Sorry to do two show posts in a row . . .

As I mentioned last month, I am doing a little one day sale at the Gray Barn Nursery in Redmond tomorrow.

It's their first annual art show, called Art at Gray Barn, with a small but wonderful group of artists showcasing garden themed works.  Cisco Morris will be broadcasting his gardening radio show live from there too.

It's Saturday, June 1 only.  Hours are 9am to 4pm.  Address is 207871 NE Redmond-Fall City Rd, at the corner of Sahalee Way NE.

Stop by, pick up some beautiful new plants for your garden, and check us out!

New Show - Art in the Park

Just a programming note - I've added a new show to my summer schedule.

I'll be at Art in the Park this year, held by the Allied Arts Association in Richland.

This is a new show for me, even though it's the 63rd year for the show itself.  It's super well-attended, in Howard Amon Park in Richland (Tri-Cities).

Dates are Friday and Saturday, July 26 and 27.  Hours are Fri 9am - 9pm, Sat 9am - 7pm.  That's usually the hottest day of the year, and it's especially hot down there.  But it's in a shady park on the edge of the river, so it should be a great weekend.  Looking forward to trying something new!

All the up-to-the-minute details are on my Show Schedule page on the web site.  Just working on fall show applications now, so I'll try to get some of those up in the next month as I get confirmations.

We all need a pep talk

Kid President is the coolest.  And everybody needs a pep talk now and then.



Not cool, Robert Frost!

Carrot or stick

I'm having a few doubts about the new veggie-based soaps after this past weekend.

I love them.  Like really, really love them.  And I think everyone that uses them will too.  It's not about the soap itself, it's the name.  I spent a lot of time explaining that the Carrot Coconut was named after the ingredients, not the scent.  And people seemed confused by the Rosemary Tomato name too.

Carrots don't smell much, but coconuts are luverly and quite a strong fragrance.  You expect Hawaii with that in the name.  But the Carrot Coconut soap does NOT smell at all like coconut.  It's a gorgeous strong ginger scent with a bit of lemon. Very nice and very popular.  But when people read the name on the soap, they didn't get it right away.  Which makes perfect sense.  In the "why didn't I think of that before?" kind of way.  It should be named 'Carrot Ginger'.  And the creamy goodness of the coconut is just an added bonus in the feel of it.




Some of my regular customers who were looking for the Rosemary Orange soap, didn't quite believe me that the new Rosemary Tomato is the same either.  New customers expected to pick it up and smell spaghetti dinner and were sort of like "huh, what?"  So that didn't go over like I wanted it to either.  It looks almost exactly the same, just a little more orangey-red.  And it smells exactly the same.  But it should feel better, and do nice things for your skin over the use of the bar.  I want people to pick it up, smell it, get it and want to use it right away.  Not muddle over it.

All my other soaps, and probably every body else who has ever made soap, names the soap after what it's supposed to smell like, right?  Unless it's unscented or something. So I'm going to adjust the names a bit for the next couple of shows and see if that fixes the problem.  I'm going to see if 'Rosemary Orange Tomato' and 'Carrot Ginger' works out better. And going forward, I'll change them up on the website too, so that it's all very matchy-matchy.

Today, however, I'm going to just get myself put back together after a long weekend of crowds.

U District Street Fair

This weekend is the U District Street Fair. It's the first big street fair of the summer, and the kick-off of my summer show schedule.  This weekend looks to be a mixed bag on the weather department, but hopefully stays fairly dry.  I'm hoping for more clouds than showers with our cloudy cool forecast.  Putting a wet tent and soggy bins back in the car after a long weekend really sux.

New organizers this year - the gal that ran this show for a million years retired.  I know that there are few changes, space relocations due to construction, marketing, all kinds of different staff and ideas.  So we're all hoping for the best this time out!

The details for the show:

University District Street Fair
University Avenue, Seattle
Dates:  May 18 - 19, 2013
Hours:  Sat 10-7, Sun 10-6 
My booth location: #316 in the Blue Zone, about a third of a block south of the intersection at 43rd and University Way, on the same side of the street as the Post Office (east side).

I'm in the same block as always, opposite side of the street and a little further south than last year. I'll have a few of the spring soaps and all the new summer stuff. Plus the rest of the kit & caboodle. Hope to see you there!

Dandelion Wine

In the summer newsletters, I usually add a little poem that describes a bit of what I love about that particular season.  In the email version, they get to see it too.  But I wasn't able to squish it in to the post yesterday with the body of the letter - or at least not in the pretty way that I wanted to.

So today I wanted to share that part too.  It's a quote from the book "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury.  Dandelion wine is a sort of fermented wine, made with dandelion petals, citrus fruits and spices or herbs.  The main character's grandmother made this wine - and it served as a metaphor for packing all of the joys of summer into a single bottle.  Nice, huh?

"It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow.  You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer."

(see credits HERE)

Summer Newsletter 2013

The new summer newsletter for this just went out to everyone's mailboxes and inboxes - so I'm posting it here just to keep everyone in the loop.  All the new stuff is easily reached on the Seasonal page of the web site - look for it HERE.

And here's the news . . .

Summer in a word means freedom.  At the very least it’s freedom from socks, pinchy shoes and scratchy sweaters – because all you live in is a t-shirt and flip-flops.  Schedules, work, and deadlines take a back seat to lazing about and taking it easy.  All that “stuff” that you’re supposed to do gives way to spontaneous runs to the beach, spur of the moment barbeques, and days off for fun and play.  It’s an entire season of vacations, for pete’s sake.  How can you not love summer?!

The other thing I love about summer – farmer’s markets and fresh-picked fruits and veggies.  So much juicy, tasty, produce that’s so good for you.  You almost can’t get enough corn, watermelon, peaches, berries, and zippy lettuces.  With that in mind, I’m doing a whole bunch of seasonal veggie based products this summer – living life on the vedge!

SUMMER SEASONAL SOAPS

In a tribute to summer, I’ve cooked up a basketful of healthy veggie-based 100% natural soaps.  These unique soaps may only be available for the next few months and are made in limited production – but I’m hoping that you love them as much as I do, and we’ll figure out which ones to keep on the standard menu.  More detailed info of benefits on the web site too! ($4.25 ea or 4 for $16.00)

Rosemary Tomato – This is a replacement of the Rosemary Orange soap, just amped up a couple of notches with tomato powder and fig powder for better color plus a whole lot of great skin benefits.  The herbal rosemary orange scent is the same, but the bright orange hue comes from the tomato powder packed with lycopene, a terrific antioxidant which nourishes skin cells and helps protect from the assault of environmental pollutants.  The fig powder adds a long list of vitamins and phytochemicals to protect skin and it’s also high in alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) which is thought to help brighten the skin.

Carrot Coconut – Sweet orange and lemon blend with lemongrass and loads of ginger, for a scent that is like liquid sunshine - bright, sparkly, almost effervescent in it’s brilliance. This soap is made with organic coconut cream, coconut milk, carrot powder, acerola powder and carrot extract.  It’s highly moisturizing formula is full  of vitamin C, beta carotene, plus a host of other essential nutrients and antioxidants, great for mature or dry skin. 

Pure Pumpkin – A triple pumpkin recipe with fresh organic pumpkin puree, pumpkin powder and pumpkin seed oil - the scent is so delicious, you’ll want to shower all day.  Pumpkin is a miracle worker for skin, full of essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and exfoliating enzymes.  It is decadent in it’s lush, silky feel and the fragrance is spicy, bright, fresh, and happy with citrus, clove, cinnamon, and rosemary.

Cucumber Yogurt – Fresh squeezed cucumber juice and real organic yogurt are calming and refreshing.  Aloe vera oil and avocado oil are easily absorbed into the skin, adding great moisturizing and healing benefits to the creamy coolness.  Great for sunburns or as a dreamy facial soap, it has a mild, peaceful scent of bay, grapefruit and orange.

Tea Tree & Blue Clay – Russian Cambrian blue clay is a rare and powerful cosmetic clay with a mineral content 5 times higher than Dead Sea mud, absorbing oiliness and purifying pores. Tea trea oil is the super hero here – fighting bacteria, infection, and inflammation.  Breakouts and problem skin are history with this soap, although all skin types can benefit.  The tingly, fresh herbal scent is a blend of tea tree, lavender, and peppermint.

AROMATIC SPRAYS FOR SUMMER

Summer is the perfect season to indulge in one of the aromatic sprays.  Keep a bottle in the fridge for a little spritz of icy cool on your neck or decolletage.  Spray a little bit of happy on your summer sundresses, fresh sheets, steamy car seats, or stinky dog.  This superhero stuff goes anywhere and everywhere, making the world smell a little more beautiful, one squirt at a time.  (4 oz bottle $6.00)

Beach House – A dreamy blend of salty ocean air, pretty lavender and green herbs, this scent is clean and light as a breeze.  With a zen-like calm, its soothing marine fragrance and beautiful translucent sea glass color transports you directly to the spa.  If I had a little seaside cottage, I’d have piles of these in every room.

Coconut Lemongrass – Tropical and beachy, this is like a pina colada with a squeeze of lemon – so fun and a perfect way to celebrate summer.

NEW WILDFLOWER DEAD SEA BATH SALT

I’ve added a new scent to my Dead Sea Bath Salts menu – Wildflower.  It’s very softly floral, but mostly fresh-cut green leaves and grass and meadows, which smells like summer and freedom and wide-open spaces.  My new favorite -  deeelish! (16 oz bottle, $ 8.00)

SUMMER FAIRS AND FESTIVALS

The arrival of summer means another season of sidewalk fairs and festivals. I have a full schedule planned and am looking forward to seeing you all.  I’ve enclosed a handy calendar to save for reference, and for even more details, including booth locations, check out the “Show Schedule” section on the website, SoapworksStudio.com.  As always, last minute announcements are posted on the blog, so check there too.

Tunes blasting.  Wind in your hair.  Open road . . . 

Mother's Day Sale

My pop-up shop is back just in time for Mother's Day! I 'm talking about my little retail space at Group Health on Capitol Hill which I do a couple of times each year. I'm open this week Wednesday through Friday.

I am "renting" a little retail space on Capitol Hill at the Group Health central campus.  A portion of all of my sales goes to their Patient Needs Fund, a part of the Volunteer Services Dept, which buys supplies and necessities for patients there.

The summer newsletter just went out today and all the new stuff is on the website (as of about an hour ago!) - so I'll have all the exciting new summer soaps there this week.  Mother's Day is this coming Sunday, so it's perfect timing to pick something up for Mom, or a treat for yourself for all your mad Mom skillz :)

Hours: 

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (May 8 - 10) 9:30am-4:00pm 

Location: Group Health central campus, Seattle

Address: 108 - 15th Ave E, Capitol Hill, half a block south and across the street from the big Safeway store at the corner of John St.

Hope you can get a chance to stop by over there!