iMuse: Soap Life.

Work in progress.

Purple Quail Soap Company.

So it's still a work in progress (and a big pain in the butt due to state mandates), but I'm on the road to launching my own soapmaking business! It's something I've wanted to do for some time now - I bought the supplies for it while I was still living in Astoria, so probably since 2012? Unfortunately I couldn't make real soap (read: lye and oils) for awhile because I had neither space nor time to handle the chemicals and cure the bars. But now I have all of the above!!

Unfortunately, I have to go through all sorts of hoops and file a bunch of paperwork to start my own business - even if I'm just selling on Etsy/online in general. Urgh! Notarized documents, fees paid, taxes, diagrams of my home and the proposed spaces I'll be using....and that's just to declare myself a home business! Ridiculous. I understand it to a point, and there's no way of really being able to say to the government, "yeah, but it's just a small home business thing..." but REALLY - It's just a small home business thing. Still, tons of stuff needs to be done, and hopefully it will all work out, though I'd be lying if I said it hasn't kept me up at night. All I want to do is make some damned soap!!

On the other hand, I'm now awash in all sorts of soap inspiration (sorry Pinterest friends), and am dying to figure out my niche. I'm leaning towards all natural, but am so SO tempted by the colorful, fun swirly side of things. I probably won't use animal fats (lard/tallow), but I'm still on the fence about that, since it produces a great bar of soap (especially amazing for laundry), and it's something that would get thrown out anyway. Seeing as I'm a meat eater, it seems silly to waste something so good. I'd feel 100% content if I could get my animal fat from happy, local, grass-fed cows, but that's a bit tough to find here in Florida. Probably won't go 100% vegan, as I don't want to exclude milk, honey, and other goodies from my stuff.

That said, I will most certainly be palm-free. I had no idea this was an issue until I started researching soap recipes, and I've weighed the arguments and different approaches, and I don't feel it's worth it to use this particular oil (even if it is cheap and makes a good bar of soap).

In a nutshell:

-Probably animal fat-free (but not 100% vegan for all my soaps)

-Definitely palm-free

So as you an see, work in progress. I haven't even figured out my packaging design yet! I'm trying out lots of different looks, and really liked the stamped brown craft paper look (plus that fits with my 100% all-natural jive), but it's all fair game right now.

Here's some of my results (nothing that hasn't been on Facebook/Instagram, but just a way for me to compile my work so far):