12.21.2007

Exploding Lather...On Sale Now

So it begins; Olde and I have jumped head first into the soap business. No turning back now. Last week, just in time for the holidays, Olde and I, despite the ribbing and teasing from friends (prompting us to unofficially title our venture the "Really...We're Not Gay Soap Company"), made our first batch of soap. It won't be long, now, until we take over the industry and secure our positions as soap moguls.

Our first batch was a glycerin soap, fully concocted with lavender bits and vanilla scenting. The process went off without a hitch (unless you consider our lack of inspection of the unsealed molds, or the failed attempt to layer our bars with the lavender on top). We started by separating the lavender leaves from the stems and weighing the glycerin with our coke scale. Next, we melted the glycerin down to liquid form, at which point we added our essential oils, scents, and dye. When it was all mixed and stirred in, we poured it into our molds (which were, as mentioned above, unsealed and leaked, thus leading to a thinner bar than anticipated) and let it cool/harden.

Half an hour later, to speed the hardening process, we placed the tray of soap into the freezer for an additional 30 minutes. It was now time to remove the soap from the mold. Unfortunately, we didn't plan ahead for an easy removing process (we could have placed wax paper underneath, for example), so it became a difficult task to get our soap out. Actually, because it took so long to get it out, and as we were in a rush, I gave up and took a shower while Olde chiseled away at it. By the time I was out of the shower (sans exploding lavender lather), Olde had the soap out of the tray, cut up, and separated for our respective distributions.

Labeled with an official seal, and professionally wrapped, our soap was soon ready to hit the market. With a keen sense of marketing and promotion, we have decided to make our initial product available at no charge. Actually, we are unsure of the quality of our first batch, thus did not want to charge people for getting rashes and having allergic reactions. As a cautionary note, you may want to limit the use of our soap to just hand washing. However, our next batch will be made to perfection and our users will be able to enjoy its exploding lather body-wide.

To place your orders, you can leave us a comment or email us at: stumptownsuds@gmail.com

10 comments:

Aurora said...

ok--this looks like a fun endeavor--please send me some soap to try!!! thanks!

Anonymous said...

I can attest to the quality and aroma of Stumptownsuds. The lavender is wonderful. You have quite a set up there guys. Can't wait for the next batch. I will definitely be purchasing your product in future.

Anonymous said...

Excellent work guys. -Mikey

Anonymous said...

I bathed all over with the glycerin lavender/vanilla soap and had no allergic reaction. My skin felt soft and cleansed. I have sensitive skin so consider me a guinea pig to your venture and bring it on.

Aurora said...

thanks for the soap guys! It is quite lovely....but here are some packaging suggestions--wrapping in bubble wrap to ship via mail is not good enough! one bar arrived broken in half. Wrapping in tissue is not a good idea--it stuck to the soap! andwas a hassle to get off. Maybe some re-cycled lightweight brown cardboard to wrap it in? with a natural rafia bow? or something--but not tissue paper--please!

luckygreen said...

"..re-cycled lightweight brown cardboard to wrap it in? with a natural rafia bow?"

I don't know what that means, but it sounds like something Portlanders would dig.

Pork said...

Maybe we can come up with something using some of my card stock, made into boxes (you've seen some of them Jeff), and when shipping you can wrap the soap in bubble wrap prior to placing in a hand made soap box. Rafia is a nice touch, earthy and very Portland. Good suggestions, Aurora.

Oldie said...

Cool, glad you guys liked the soap. The feedback is always appreciated (yes, even from you Aurora).

Word is spreading like a San Diego wildfire, and we're going after Dove, Palmolive, Dial and all those other mothers...they better be prepared to lose some precious market share to a couple of Stumpers, boyee.

Anonymous said...

Your soap is great. For cost purposes, I would suggest keeping the packaging simple - raffia is a nice, simple, cost effective touch, I agree. Do most of the spicing up with the names, though. Can I recommend the lavender vanilla be called the "Dirty Blonde" bar? Oh, and I have been doing some campaigning here in Colorado for y'all...you gotta hit ALL the "naturalist" markets!

Anonymous said...

This is the best soap i have ever used as soon as my rash clears up with the oral steroids i plan to order some more!