This year's Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild conference was at the Gaylord Texan Resort in the town of Grapevine, north of Dallas, Texas. It was the fourth HSCG conference I've attended and was notable in that I tested for and received Advanced Soapmaker certification and was also  recognized as being a five year member of the guild. (Plus I got to see my two daughters and little granddaughter who now live in Texas, and she recognized me as her grandma!)

I've been making soap for over 10 years but wanted to be certified to show that maybe I really do know a little bit about making soap. Plus my friend Carol of Skinkist Soap encouraged me to go for it. She was my soap buddy at the conference, and she is my soapmaker friend here in Jacksonville. We have fun making different kinds of soap and talking soap together. Plus we often eat biscuits together at Maple Street Biscuit Company. That's a lot of pluses, and biscuits!

But I digress.

The Gaylord Texan Resort was a great venue for the HSCG conference, as well as a great place for a reunion with my daughters and granddaughter. The atrium of the Gaylord was the center of activity for hotel guests who could experience family-friendly activities connected with a Peter Pan themed Summerfest, which included the roaming characters Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Wendy, and Tinkerbell. Plus it was Prom Weekend for the local high schools, and the atrium and restaurants were filled with roaming wanna be princesses and their Prince Charmings - and their picture taking parents. Quite the sight. Plus 500 soapmakers, but who noticed them?

There were numerous speakers at the HSCG conference including Anne-Marie Faiola of Bramble Berry Soap, Charlene Simon of Bathhouse Soapery, Clyde Yoshida of Vibrant Soap, Zahida Map of Handmade in Florida, and many others. Plus Dr. Kevin Dunn, who is HSCG's own soap scientist extraordinaire. He and I had a short conversation during one break. I enjoyed hearing their perspectives on the business and art of making soap and appreciate what they contribute to the soap making community. In the universe of soap makers, they are all stars in their own right.

The Advanced Soapmaker certification process includes making a batch of plain soap from scratch using SAP calculations, keeping a weight record as the soap cured, labeling it correctly per FDA standards, submitting SDS sheets of each ingredient, and passing a multiple choice test. Yes, there is math involved. Thankfully online practice tests are available. And the math isn't too bad once you figure it out. Just ask Maggi, the gal I gave an impromptu math lesson to during a break. She did the math and passed the Basic Soapmaking certification test. Yay!

(Here's a helpful soapmaker math hint: remember to multiply by 40 and divide by 56.1 to convert KOH SAP values to NaOH SAP values. Oh, and pay attention to the instructions on how to round the answer.)

Moving right along.

​There is the soap making universe and then there is BrickUniverse. Yep. Both have conventions - one is for building the network of soap makers and the other is for Lego builders. And unlike a basic soap recipe, creating with Legos is never simple. But for a moment at the Gaylord Texan Resort, both of these worlds collided as I stopped to admire this treasure:

And here is the soap I submitted for certification. I call it Simplicity, because it's pretty simple. Unlike a Lego replication.

You may notice that my label has a new updated look. Plus it's now 100% FDA label compliant. I rather like the easier to read font and will continue to update my soap labels as I make more batches. If you'd like a bar of Simplicity, there are a few available in my shop.

The Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetics Guild convention filled 3 1/2 days. Whenever I had some time to spare, I took off my soapmaker name badge and put on my other name - Grandma. My granddaughter doesn't care that I'm a certified Advanced Soapmaker. Maybe when she's older I will show her how to make soap. Or how to build with Legos. Or how to do simple math. Regardless, she is a star who lights up my universe. With or without boots.

So let your light shine in someone's universe. With or without boots.
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Thanks for stopping by!

​~Debbie, aka Grandma

I am a member of the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild, a non-profit trade association serving the handcrafted soap and cosmetic industry. Last year I tested and received Basic Soapmaking Certification. At the guild conference next month, May 2019, I plan to test and receive Advanced Soapmaking Certification. As part of that process, I had to make a basic soap from scratch. This entailed doing all the formula calculations by hand, getting safety documentation of all the ingredients, and submitting information on the soap making process. Such a far cry from the inexactness of making soap in times past! As I wrote in an earlier post, "For the pioneers, making soap was a hot, exhausting process involving wood ashes from their cooking fires and animal fats from their livestock or leftover cooking grease. It was an imprecise process at best but did result in a functional soft soap that was good for cleaning clothes but rather harsh for cleaning skin." Instead of dealing with all that mess, the basic simple bar of soap (pictured below) I made in the comfort of my kitchen is gentle and beautiful without added color or fragrance. 

Thanks for stopping by!

​~Debbie
Live simply. Use Soap.

Recently I updated the About section of my Facebook page, so this is a good time to include some of that info here.

My name is Debbie Lamb and I make soap. This is my story.

There was a time when I didn’t even know there was such a thing as handmade soap anymore. I thought the days of soap making from scratch was confined to that period of time when early settlers of the United States had to make do with what they had, or when hardy pioneers forged paths across the country in search of a new piece of land to call home. Who made soap from scratch in these modern times?

For the pioneers, making soap was a hot, exhausting process involving wood ashes from their cooking fires and animal fats from their livestock or leftover cooking grease. It was an imprecise process at best but did result in a functional soft soap that was good for cleaning clothes but rather harsh for cleaning skin. Today soap making is both an art and a science. Ready made lye is available in convenient pellet or flake form. Vegetable oils, animal fats like lard and tallow, and exotic butters like shea and cocoa are easy to find. A myriad of formulas can be formulated with online soap calculators to ensure the bar isn't harsh from too much lye. Micas, oxides, clays, and other colorants are used to add beauty to each bar, and an ever growing library of techniques is evidence of just how artistic soap making can be.