Stuffing Stockings and Giving Gifts

Lovely holidays await us! A time for giving thanks for our bountiful blessings and a time to show appreciation and honor to our Savior who came to this earth as a baby to save mankind from their sins! It's a fun, family time of gathering together and giving gifts.

It can remove the hassle and stress from the holidays if part of the gift-giving is a bulk order of customized guest-sized soaps, prettily wrapped in cigar bands, cellophane bags, and colored curly ribbons. At only $1.30 each, it's so easy to give a thoughtful gift to all those you care about without breaking the bank. 

 Bulk Guest-Sized Soap Favors 15/$20.00 on Etsy

These little artisan soap bars are the perfect size to place by the sink for your guests, in stockings by the hearth, in care packages, as part of a bath & beauty basket, or to give away to co-workers and friends.
 

They are such a loving, personal gift with beautiful essences, made of healthful, natural ingredients, and so very useful! 

Are You Getting the Quality You Paid For?

I am a lover of chocolate! Everything about it (except for the calories) is a delight to me! I love the creaminess, the svelte smoothness, the richness of the taste, and the way it makes me feel when I eat it. I will not be satisfied by cheap, waxy imitations! I even tried carob candy once, but it was no comparison to the real chocolate.

When I heard that a famous chocolate candy-maker was going to substitute vegetable oil for cocoa butter, I was aghast! How dare they mess with my luxurious treat!! One of the representatives for the company said that this change would save the company a lot of money as cocoa butter is much more costly than vegetable oil. He went on the explain that the consumer wouldn't know the difference. Hmmm.... does that make it OK to substitute an inferior ingredient to save them money... when the consumer can't tell the difference? I think not! By the way, I never noticed a reduction of price after this occurred.

What does this have to do with soap-making? Plenty! We soap-makers pride ourselves in choosing and buying very quality ingredients to make our beautiful soaps with. We know the difference in making a soap with the very cheapest oil/shortening and luxurious oils and butters such as coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, avocado oil, aloe oil, olive oil, and such like. We know that the more expensive oils/butters produce better lather, have more healing qualities, and last longer than cheap vegetable oils.

The cocoa Bean

Maybe we could make a soap to sell to the consumer made from inexpensive, poor quality vegetable oil. Huge soap companies get by with  it, after all, by extracting the glycerin from their soaps made mostly from questionable chemicals and ingredients that are drying to the skin. The soap-makers I know and I could never defraud the consumer that way!

Our handcrafted, artisan soaps may seem a little over-priced to some, but when you look into the skilled craftsmanship, artistry, scrupulous oversight of all ingredients purchased, research going into making very healthy skin-loving products, careful & precise blending of these ingredients, and all the beautiful wrapping that goes into making just one batch of soap, it's easier to understand.

Victorian Rose, handcrafted artisan soap

When you purchase artisan, natural, handcrafted soap made by a soap-maker who truly loves their business, you have purchased true quality and will not be disappointed as I am not when biting into a quality bar of great chocolate! :)

The Copper Corridor

I live in an area of southern Arizona referred to as "The Copper Corridor". This is an area along US Hwy 77 which winds around through canyons and rugged mountains north from Oracle to Globe, Arizona. It's a breath-taking drive taking in all the natural Sonoran desert cacti, wildlife, and mountain scenery. I don't think there are more Saguaro cacti anywhere else in the world. It's especially gorgeous if your drive takes you back through as the sun is setting. Then, you'll witness the bright amber, fuchsia, and purple colors reflected from the waning sunlight against the neighboring mountain ranges.
 

In the midst of this scenic drive are several copper mines. Some are no longer in production, but the ones that are, pull the strongest, toughest people with the greatest work ethic from small, surrounding communities every single day. It's a hard, gruesome work but it provides an income to support their families. The history of mining in SE Pinal County is focused on the development of two mines - the Mammoth which produced mainly gold and for a short time, molybdenum, - and the San Manuel which was copper. The first claims were located in the district in 1879. Arizona has led copper production in the U.S. since 1910 and still enjoys that distinction, producing approximately 64% of domestic copper.

To commemorate the rich history of copper and gold mining within "The Copper Corridor", I made a soap with the colors of bronze, copper, and gold. This soap, like the nature around us here, is natural, made with pure coconut oil, cocoa butter, olive oil, and vegetable oils. The mica colors are layered like the rustic landscape around the mines. It's scented with a lovely fragrance oil both men and women will enjoy, called Twilight Woods. I chose to call this particular soap with its color and design, "Copper Corridor".

The Making of Prickly Pear Soap

When I told a friend that I had made some Prickly Pear Soap, he said, "Ooooh!, That would be painful to wash with!" Silly man! No stickers go in my soap, only the rich juice of the beautiful red tuna (fruit) of the plant. 

I'm going to share with you just how I make my Prickly Pear soap. First, is to wait until the fruit of the Prickly Pear plant is ripe. In the Spring in southern Arizona, this plant is covered with the most gorgeous golden flowers! As the season progresses, fruit replaces the flowers and begins turning a beautiful crimson red color. Around the first week of September, the fruit is ready to be harvested for juices, jellies, and many other purposes ... including soap!

As luscious as these fruits look, they DO have tiny, hair-like stickers all over them and must be plucked with tongs. The next step is to singe off the tiny stickers.

Now that the stickers are gone, they can be popped into a pot to boil for about 20 minutes. 

Next, I smash them up pretty good to extract as much of the rich juices as I can, then strain the juices from the fruit with a nut bag.

Now, I'm ready to make soap! This video that I posted on YouTube shows me making Prickly Pear Soap. I've decreased the amount of water I used to dissolve the lye and replaced it with the same amount of Prickly Pear juice at trace.

Video of Making Prickly Pear Soap

Prickly Pear Soap

The finished product is a silky, smooth bar of soap, made with natural luxury oils and scented very delicately with my own fragrance blend. It has a rich lather and special nutrients to nourish and pamper your skin!

Is It Necessary To Put Drugs In Soaps?

 
It's important to our health and well-being to keep ourselves clean. About a hundred years ago, cleanliness was a large tub filled with hot water which was heated over a wood-burning stove. Father washed first with a bar of lye soap, then each member of the family, successively. Can you imagine the color/temperature of the water by the time the youngest of a large family plunged in for their bath? Women had very long hair and washed it once, maybe twice a month.

Things have improved so much over the years! How delightful to run clean water from a shower at whatever temperature you desire! We have every kind of body wash or soap in every style, scent, color, design, or substance! We have hand dispensers of soap at every sink in the house. There are antibiotic gels to keep in your purse in case you touch something germie. Even when you go to the department store, there are antibiotic wipes to keep everything nice and sanitary. 

I'm sure everyone remembers when we realized that too many antibiotics may not be a good thing. Doctors realized that prescribing antibiotics or injecting antibiotics for viruses or colds over and over again was producing "Super Bugs" ... diseases which were resistant to antibiotics. 

Is the same thing becoming true of antibiotic soaps? A very common antibiotic, Triclosan, is added to hand soaps, toothpastes, lipsticks, deodorants, mouth washes, toothbrushes, body wash, etc. Meant to kill off the bad germs which can cause serious skin infections, Scientists are discovering more serious implications to frequent use. Some dangerous bacteria on skin have adapted to the antibiotics in the product and have become antibiotic-resistant. In studies with animals, Triclosan has shown problems with hormonal balances, sperm production, and most alarming ... causing muscle impairment, including heart problems! 

Do we even need antibiotics in our soaps at all? The whole objective of cleansing is to remove the grime/bacteria from our skin ... not to kill it. When we apply something dangerous enough to kill the nasties on our skin, we are also killing the very beneficial good, protective bacteria in the natural flora of our skin.

The best option is to totally avoid any skin product containing antibiotics (unless prescribed by your doctor). Natural, handcrafted soaps are the healthiest way possible to gently cleanse your skin and build up the skin's defenses with the rich nutrients we soap-makers include in our recipes. Coconut oil, Jojoba Oil, Olive Oil, and such makes for the best possible skin-loving cleansers to be found! 

Men's 'Cool Water', Handcrafted, Natural Soap

For more information about Triclosan, please read the following:

1.  http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/05/03/studies-show-links-between-lipstick-antibacterial-soaps-and-health-issues

2.  http://www.logan.edu/mm/files/lrc/senior-research/2005-dec-38.pdf

3. http://www.drozner.com/uploads/3/0/1/1/3011688/hap_-_health_radar_nov_2012.pdf

Contests!

It is so much fun to enter contests that showcase your talent and abilities! I entered my handcrafted soap business,  Sonoran Scents from the Heart, in a contest put on by Lion & Rose Handmade Soaps. I was so hoping to win the first prize which was a copy of the new book by Anne Marie Faiola of Brambleberry, titled, "Soap Crafting". I did win 3rd prize, however, which was a Calendula Cleansing Bar, created using a soap recipe in the book! I may just have to order my own book! :) It sounds really helpful in that it has all the tips, techniques, recipes, calculations, and everything a soapmaker would ever want, wrapped up into one book!

Lovely Calendula Cleansing Bars made by Lion & Rose Handmade Soap, my 3rd prize!!

Another contest I've entered is the "American Made Contest", put on by Martha Stewart. It's a fantastic way to award the entrepreneurship of American artisans and small businesses. The top award is $10,000 to further their business and a free trip for two to New York City for an American Made workshop! Their business will also be featured on MarthaStewart.com. I would really like to win this! Starting up a home business is very expensive and a bit of a gamble that others will like what you've produced well enough to buy it. 

To vote for "Sonoran Scents from the Heart", please click on this link: Martha Stewart's American Made Contest.  Anyone can vote up to six times each day until September 22, 2013. You can also see all the details about the contest and vote for other crafters as well. 

It is very difficult to sell handmade crafts from your home. Many times, you are the owner, purchaser, secretary, producer, business promoter, and seller. You make daily choices that you hope others will appreciate well enough to purchase your artistic creation for their own. Many times, the handcrafted item is much more unique, creative, beautiful, and healthy than anything you could quickly buy at a lesser price at a discount store. We just hope people can see and appreciate the difference. 

Handmade (Prickly Pear Soap)

VS.

Commercially, mass-produced Soap

The contests are so fun to enter and its very wonderful to know that there are awards for making things by hand! The biggest awards, however, are all of the personal letters written by customers, telling me how much they love my soaps, shower soap favors, and gift baskets!

Ventures Video Taping Myself

In order to fully promote my handcrafted soap business, Sonoran Scents from the Heart,  I felt the need to make videos of how I make the lovely soaps I have for sale. My movie camera is an iPhone 4 GS. It has a great camera for taking pictures and videos. I've never had any qualms about taking movies of others or of my kitties. Taking videos of myself, however, is proving to be much more challenging!



I needed a tripod to get my iPhone high enough to video tape the counter space where I planned to make my soap. I found a really nice one on Amazon.com. The trouble with it was that it was pretty short! I fixed that problem mounting it on top of my huge coffee thermos. I positioned it so that it was perfect! The iPhone rested against my cabinet to keep it from moving. I got everything ready ... oils and lye perfect temperature ... parchment paper covering stains on cutting board ... everything within arm's reach ... cleared my throat ... took a drink of water ... cleared my throat again. I started sweating. Who would have thought taking a video of yourself would make you feel like you do when you go in for a job interview?


I tried to touch my camera 'button' on the back of the iPhone to start the video. Nothing happened! It couldn't sense my finger because I had gloves on! grr. I had to remove my gloves. Started the video. Tried to put glove back on ... that was a challenge with sweaty hands! Finally! I went through the entire soap-making procedure while making "Frosted Raspberry Soap". I thought it was done perfectly. I checked my iPhone. It had run out of memory!! I spoke so softly that it didn't record my voice anyway. 


Next time, I attempted to video tape myself making Lavender Vanilla Soap. I tried to make sure to have enough memory, speak loudly, and not have gloves on when I turned it on. When I uploaded the movie to my computer, I noticed the iPhone had somehow gotten away from the cabinet and was moving gradually upward, taking pics of my ceiling. AAAAHHHHH! Good thing I'm naturally stubborn!


I video taped the making of Prickly Pear Soap. This one turned out fairly well except that when I turned away from the counter and banged the soap in the mold on the floor to remove air bubbles, a glop of raw, uncured soap popped up and landed right on my lower lip! OUCH! I was still video taping so held in the screams until I'd shut the camera off. 

I think I need to hire someone to video tape for me! Any takers? :)

It's The Thought That Counts... Right?

The holidays are coming and we all want to give a memorable gift for every special person we love. Trouble is, there are LOTS of special people we love and buying something for every single person can add up in a hurry! Maybe making little gifts would be a great idea? ... or not?

I ran across this essay, written by Heather Armitage, and found it so delightfully funny, that I wanted to share it with all of you! Enjoy! :)

It's The Thought That Counts

by Healther Armitage on December 22, 2005 NHPR News

Heather Armitage lives, writes, and makes Christmas gifts in Kennebunk, Maine. Just look for the smoke.

"I love the idea of making my holiday gifts as a testimonial of my love for family and friends. I flip through the do-it-yourself craft sections in magazines and stare at the gorgeous photographs. The tempting projects appear so charming, so elegant. And so harmless.

It all started with candles. I thought candles for Christmas would make a simple but considerate gift. Pack some aluminum foil at the bottom of painted terra cotta pots. Pour in colored wax, mixed with dashes of nutmeg and cinnamon. And, voila! Holiday scents waft through the house. 

I didn't realize nutmeg and cinnamon were mildly flammable. Nor did I realize that some wicks shouldn't be used for candles made of wax. Nor did I realize that one shouldn't decorate a vessel of flame with oil paints. I didn't even think about the meaning of the word "accelerant". 

The holiday cards I received that year hinted at the wreckage wrought by my good intentions. One letter described a close call after an Aunt lit some candles too close to the Christmas tree. Those flames can jump, she marveled! 

My parents were thankful someone was home when the wick burned straight down their candle. The foil didn't hold, and a pool of fiery nutmeg wax spread across the table.

The next year, I tried my hand at handmade peppermint soap and lemon-oatmeal facial scrub. The oatmeal turned moldy during shipping. And then, my sister called to tell me that the tingling sensation from the peppermint soap quickly turned to burning. I spent Christmas day calling people to tell them NOT to use it on their faces. Luckily, my sister's red splotches disappeared after a few days.

My biscotti broke my father's tooth. My bath salts caused rashes and awkward infections. My simmering potpourri caused popping projectiles of boiling herbs. And an asthma attack. I went overboard with the peppermint oil for a peppermint foot soak. and Christmas morning was filled with watering eyes and cleared sinuses.

I persevere.

My poor friends and relations suffer. 

I imagine relatives treat my packages like a letter bomb. Carefully, oh so carefully, place package in garbage without disturbing the contents.

My dad suggested I start a product line called "Crafts of Muerte", crafts of death. I could send out catalogues to assassins for those times a hit needs to appear accidental. The heart-broken or homicidal could exact revenge during the holidays.

Everyone knows I mean well, that these gifts are meant to spread joy, not rashes and house fires. And thumbing through the craft books at the bookstore, I think, "How could anything go wrong with THIS project?" Until I find out.

How I want the thought to count.

I want these gifts to be useful and treasured. 

At my parent's house, I saw my first attempts at bath oils and salts on display over the bathroom sink. The coloring in the oil had long separated and the wax I (over) used to seal the glass bottles was hardened and yellowed blobs. So much time had passed the contents in the glass bottles looked like medical specimens at a creepy carnival.

Or maybe they always looked that way. Yet they were still displayed, lovingly placed on a shelf.

Unopened."

Happy note: You can avoid the holiday hassle by visiting my Etsy Shoppe! :)

Autumn Will Soon Be Here ...

After a sizzling summer, Autumn is God's refreshment! I love the crispness of a cool, Fall day! ~ The swirling, colored leaves on the pavement, the crispy song in the branches before the leaves are finally let go, the orchards teeming with fruits of a hearty harvest, plentiful apples, pumpkins, and garden produce ~

The very essence of Fall is exhilarating! ~ Starting a new fire in the wood-stove, homey scents of pumpkin pie, baked apples and cinnamon,  bubbling oatmeal & Honey, and homemade breads baking in the oven ~ Mmmm....

Many of us soap-makers love to capture the essence of each season in the scents we choose for our handcrafted soaps. It's such a delight to release our artistic talents while designing soaps with colors, designs, wholesome ingredients, and fragrances to reflect our creativity.

Some soaps I've made which are more alluring during the Fall months are my "Natural Oatmeal and Honey" and "Milk and Honey" handcrafted soaps. The Natural Oatmeal and Honey soap was made the cold process way without coloring or fragrance oil, leaving a wholesome essence with plenty of soothing lather. All the ingredients are natural and include olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, lard, honey, cinnamon, oatmeal, and sodium hydroxide (lye). The bottom layer is enriched with finely ground oatmeal for a natural and soothing but gentle exfoliation. All of the soap includes honey which has been proven to provide a gentle antibacterial and moisturizing property to the soap. The 'frosting' portion of the soap is only the honey-soap over the top of a cinnamon sprinkle. It is unbelievably refreshing to bathe with!

The Milk and Honey soap is a pure milk & honey cold-processed soap with a naturally occurring caramel color as a result of the milk and honey added during the soap-making process. These bars have a rich, silky feel and smell like a homemade sweet cake. The tops are lightly sprinkled with lavender buds. They are made with coconut oil, vegetable shortening, canola oil, lard, milk, honey, sodium hydroxide, lavender fragrance oil, and lavender buds. Keeping the recipe simple and including milk and honey lessons the chances of skin irritation while bathing your skin with rich nutrients. The honey contains natural antimicrobial properties which have been proven to help fight infection and moisturize the skin.

Rejoice in Fall and enjoy all the things that enhance it for you! 

Antipruritic Soap?

Something that is antipruritic is something that inhibits itching. Normally, when I think of an antipruritic, I think of antihistamines like Benedryl; corticosteroids such as hydrocortisone; local anesthetics such as Lanacaine; or a counter irritant such as camphor.

Tonight, I was totally and happily amazed to find out that a soap that I had made worked just as well! My husband and I were enjoying a warm evening on our patio until little black bugs started biting my arms. I went inside and suddenly started itching terribly! It was awfully intense and I started looking for something that would relieve the itch other than scratching myself raw.

When I lived in the Midwest, I would use Calamine lotion for itchy bites but I couldn't find any in the house. On a whim, I went into the bathroom and grabbed up a half-bar of my Botanical Soap with Aloe Vera. I vigorously rubbed up a lather on both of my arms and rinsed it off. Immediately, the itching went away! I was sooooo excited!

Botanical Soap with Aloe Vera

I waited for the itching to return, but it never did! I'm not sure why it was so effective against the itching but I'm extremely relieved it was! The ingredients in this batch include coconut oil, olive oil, canola oil, cocoa butter, lard, vegetable shortening, aloe vera oil, aloe vera juice, rosemary, fragrance oil, mica coloring, and sodium hydroxide (lye).

Perhaps it was due to all of the aloe vera that I included ... or just the natural composition of the soap itself ... which created the antipruritic properties? I'd have to be a chemist to figure it all out. It's just something very wonderful to know ... and to have on hand!

Debate of the Decade: Bar Soap vs Body Wash

When I went back to work and started making lots of money, I didn't have enough time at home to continue making every thing from scratch. I started using Body Wash and a pouffie nylon thing. In fact, quite a lot of things changed because I was just too tired or didn't have time. After graduating with my AAS Paramedic and staying at home to volunteer in my community, I had much more time to again make things from scratch. 

Me, at an accident scene. (I certainly needed a shower after this!)

I started making homemade soaps. YUMMY! Out went the nylon pouffy thing and in came my hand-crocheted soft cloths and lovely soaps made from natural oils and botanical ingredients. 

 

All natural Oatmeal & Honey soap

So... lets have the great debate! In one corner, we have the fashionable bottle of body wash. In the other, the rustic, handcrafted bar of soap. Opening the plastic bottle cap, I can smell delightful scents wafting upward from the plastic bottle of body wash. Hmm... "plastic bottle"... wonder how many of these things end up in land fills? How long does it take to recycle, and at what cost? A major concern, lately, is that plastic bottles may also leach chemicals into the product they carry, causing us to be exposed unnecessarily to toxic carcinogens. Looking at the ingredients of my previously favorite way to get clean, I notice that water is the main ingredient. This causes weight and volume meaning more energy and cost involved in transporting body wash to the consumer. The more transportation, the more pollution to our environment.

The average person goes through more than 200 bottles of liquid soap in their lifetime. 

Now, in the other corner, we have the traditional bar of soap, but not just ANY bar of soap. This is a handcrafted, natural, artisan bar of soap made with ingredients such as coconut oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, palm oil, lard, sodium hydroxide (lye), essential oils, and earth mica (coloring). It smells deliciously fresh! My favorite is scented with Lilac. This bar of soap weighs 4.5 oz as opposed to the 24 oz bottle of body wash. The packaging for the soap is a simple, handmade, paper cigar band with the soap-maker's logo. If allowed to dry properly between uses, the bar of soap lasts as long or longer than the 24 oz bottle of body wash. The handcrafted bar of soap does not impact the landfills at all. It's lighter so it's much cheaper to transport. It's ecologically sound and healthy for our bodies and the world we live in. It makes your skin feel delightfully refreshed and clean without that dry itchy feeling that so often occurs after using a body wash containing unnatural, synthetic, petroleum-based ingredients.

As for the ingredients on the bottle of body wash, here is a list on the back of the last body wash product I used: Water, sodium hydroxypropl starch phosphate, sodium laureth sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine, lauric acid, petroleum, sodium cocoyl glycinate, glycerin, sodium lauroyl isethionate, fragrance, hydrogenated soybean oil, cocos nucifera (coconut fruit extract), nonfat dry milk, gycine soja (soybean) oil or helianthus annuss (sunflower) seed oil, sodium chloride, steric acid, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, DMDM hydantoin, tallow acid or palmitic acid, sodium isethionate, BHT, tetrasodium EDTA, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, etidronic acid, methylsothiazolinome, Red 33, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5.

Phew!! I had to put on my bi-focals to be able to read all the tiny print! Let's do some further research. When I google some of the above ingredients to see what they're all about, I found some pretty disturbing information. To be honest, some of the ingredients can be identified as healthy ingredients such as a couple of the oils but it's the super long words that give me pause, and there are a lot of them!

Just of few of the strange-sounding ingredients in the body wash I used to use ...

DMDM hydantoin - a preservative that releases formaldehyde which may cause joint pain, cancer, skin reactions, allergies, depression, headaches, chest pains, ear infections, chronic fatigue syndrome, dizziness, and insomnia

Sodium laureth sulfate - Used in car washes, garage floor cleaners, engine degreasers and 90% of personal-care products that foam. Eye damage, depression, labored breathing, diarrhea, skin irritation, and death.

Tetrasodium EDTA - a preservative that’s made from the known carcinogen, formaldehyde and sodium cyanide.  It is also a penetration enhancer, meaning it breaks down the skin's protective barrier, going right into your bloodstream.

Need I go further? I would a whole lot rather be sudsing up with something that will nourish my skin, protect it, and attract moisture naturally with a fragrant, handcrafted artisan bar of soap than to apply a pretty-smelling carcinogenic cocktail to my skin!

Chamomile Neroli Handcrafted Soap with Avocado Oil

All Natural Botanical/Vegan Soap with ground Yucca, scented with Rosehip and Jasmine

Muddy Soap ... Oxymoron?

Someone once asked me if I had any "Dead Sea Mud & Sea Salt" soap for sale. I didn't but had been thinking about looking into making some because of the known benefits of Dead Sea Mud. So... I purchased 100% Dead Sea Mud and began formulating a soap recipe for it. 

If you don't give it much thought and you're looking at different scents and types of soaps, it might seem very odd to buy a soap with mud in it. :) After all, isn't that why we take showers and baths ... to rid ourselves of dirt? The oils of handcrafted soap are chosen specifically for their moisturizing and healing properties, but, why put mud in soap?

Dead Sea Mud is unique in that it contains more than 12 different substances and minerals than any other earthy mixture used for health purposes. These minerals are very good at enriching and nourishing the skin. They are derived from the Dead Sea in Israel, which is the earth's lowest hyper-saline lake. The lake is so salty that you cannot sink!

People have recognized the medicinal value of Dead Sea Mud & Salt for thousands of years. Containing the same minerals that the skin is composed of, these minerals are readily absorbed to rejuvenate the skin, help relieve skin problems, aid in internal bodily processes, and soothe arthritic pain. 

Combined with the pure oils in handcrafted soap, Dead Sea Mud and Sea Salt make the perfect combination to help heal skin ailments and to ensure that the skin stays supple and healthy.

Handcrafted soaps heavy with salts can be a little crumbly so I decided to incorporate the Sea Salt in a white soap swirl throughout the naturally colored tan soap which contains the Dead Sea Mud. Sea Salt is also richly sprinkled on top. The bars are lightly scented with a blend of "White Tea & Ginger" and "Flowering Herb", which has a luscious, fresh scent! This is a nice, smooth bar of soap ... lathering richly while providing great skin therapy!

These are now for sale on my Etsy Shoppe.