Albany Visitor's Center Gift Shop

I recieved a very exciting phone call the other day. We are honored to be asked to sell our soaps in the gift shop at the Albany Visitor's Center. Going to drop off some goodies tomorrow. Check them out!
 http://www.albany.org/VisitorC​enter/AlbanyGiftShop.aspx

Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center

25 Quackenbush Square Albany, NY 12207 (518) 434-0405 (518) 434-1217 Albany.org

I love Albany and have lived in the city of Albany and the surrounding suburbs most of my life. Every day I drive to work in Castleton I am in awe of our city's skyline. I never get tired of it. What is your favorite thing about Albany?

With all of these new opportunities- I had better go make some soap! Getting geared up to make my fall fragrances. Pumpkin Spice and Chai Tea! Yuuummmmy!

Types of Soap!

Soap is a simple chemical reaction.  It is a salt of a fatty acid. This basic reaction is between fat and lye (sodium hydroxide). Soap is a mixture of sodium salts of various naturally occurring fatty acids.

Air bubbles added to a molten soap will decrease the density of the soap and thus it will float on water (think ivory soap-check out this link if you want to see the lore behind floating soap   http://www.ivory.com/purefun_soaplegend.htm).

There are Four Methods of Handmade Soap Making

Melt and Pour - melt pre-made blocks of soap and add your own fragrance
Cold Process - the most common - making soap from scratch with oils and lye
Hot Process - a variation of cold process where the soap is actually cooked
Rebatching/Hand Milled Soap- grinding up bars of soap, adding milk or water, and re-blending them

Cold Process Soap making is my area of expertise...although I have made soap using all methods. They all have benefits and are ALL better than commercial soap bars, some better than others. In the next few blog posts I will demonstrate each and provide you will information about each.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Be safe at all of your BBQ's and parties.

Albany, NY Fireworks from Rensselaer side of the River

Delmar Farmers Market

Good things are happening! Starting September 17th Theresa and Jim's Handcrafted Soaps will be at the Delmar Farmers Market! So incredibly excited about this fantastic opportunity. Please remember to buy local and handmade!