I have been a busy bee since the last time I posted. I finished up the mascot/logo for Dapper Dragon. I like how he turned out. It’s a bit cartoony, but smooth. Which is what I was hoping for.
I also got some feedback on the lotion bars. It seems like they’re pretty universally enjoyed, and considered to be effective. On the other hand, they are maybe a bit too slippery to just hold in your hand while using on the rest of your body. So I’m considering picking up some sort of twist-up or push-up container before I start offering them for sale.
On the soap front, things are also continuing apace. I have my oils, and my restock of caustics, and I have started making my soaps for the launch. On Friday night, I made my first set of soaps in the laundry room soaping table, or as I have taken to calling it, the Soap Lair. Things worked out pretty well, though I overloaded my equipment and that made everything take too long.
I ended up with three pounds of shaving soap in Dapper Dragon scent.
As you can see, it’s not all pucks. I misunderstood the statistics on my new column mold that I got from my parents for Christmas and ended up with more soap than would fit in it, and in the Pringles can I had set up for backup. (Fun fact: Pringles cans are the same inner diameter as my soap mold, and as many pucks of shaving soap.) So I ended up cramming some of it into the 2oz bar mold I used for the lotion bar. That worked out okay, though, because I just used those to make sample pieces. I’m a little anxious about the pucks, though. They aren’t as regular as I’d hoped. They are the right weight, but making them that way ended up with a combination of hand formed/combined pieces, and smooth pieces cut straight off the log. The nature of hot process soap (especially when dealing with more delicate fragrance oils) means that there are sometimes pockets of air and the like inside where the soap, which is no longer liquid once you mold it, didn’t compact down as much as you might hope.
Last night I cooked up two pounds of Blood Orange soap. Two pounds is a much more reasonable amount of soap in my current equipment. I’ll definitely be investing in some larger cooking equipment as one of my first reinvestments in the business – assuming I break even. I’m torn between a larger crock pot, or a large stainless steel pot & induction heating element.
The way things went this weekend, I think I’ll be making soap just about every day until I’m ready to start selling. And then it will depend on how quickly the soap sells. If we get lucky and catch popularity early, it might continue for a while. Or I might end up sitting on this inventory for months.
Either way, I’m pretty excited by the whole endeavor. Even if it doesn’t work out, it’s been a heck of a ride so far.
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