Fair 2011

9/30/11

It’s been an unusually busy year.
Summer was busy with the fair and the months previous, busy getting ready.

We changed, redesigned, and upgraded
everything in the soap business this year: the look of the tent for the fair,
packaging, business cards and brochures, recipes, bars and website. Hopefully
it will all make a difference.

The Lord has been good and even the
feel of the soap is better this year than before, even our goatsmilk soap that I’ve been doing for years and years.

Colors are coming together,
which have been a real challenge! There are sooo many choices for what to use,
and once you decide what kind of medium you want…it takes a lot of
experimenting to get it all just right. (Oh…and just right is
soooo important!)

I’ve learned that most natural
colors fade over time, so finding just the right choices for our “all
natural” vegetable oil soaps has been a challenge.

Our “colors by design”
vegetable oil soaps have been a lot of fun as it gives me the liberty to play
with colors and fragrances.

The website has taken forever,
though much of that was my own delay. The designer was a joy to work with and I
hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Bible Study Fellowship has started
again and we are studying Acts. So there should be some good insights here from
there. (Hope you enjoy those too.

Jeremy, our eldest son (was
violinist at the fair) has just been deployed for the 3rd time with the army
reserves. He enjoys it and likes being in command of what he does.

Aaron, our 2nd son, is working
construction and building a relationship with his wonderful girlfriend.

Not sure when I’ll be able to return
to the soap room, as there are still things left to do from the fair. But I do
feel that pull to “create” every time I pass the soap room door.

Thanks for stopping by

Laurie

A little About Me

4/8/11

I’ve known for a long time that I needed to start a blog.  The fear of “not getting it right” though has kept me at bay. Nor have I desired to write an “open book diary” for the whole world to see.

What I do want, is to share some of my new soap attempts and progression with people who are interested…as well as some of my own learning and insights on other subjects.

Often when I study the Bible for my lessons each week, the Lord gives me some wonderful “aha!” moments that I would love to share.  Sharing them with my adult sons or husband can be less than rewarding when they decide that I may be trying to lord some kind of great knowledge, or revelation over them. But I just get excited when the Lord shows me things in His Word, or insights that are especially for me each day!

So what better place to share my excitement, than here, with people who want to know?  (Or who can easily opt out if they don’t. :-))

This week’s joy came in the form of a promise in Isaiah 54:13.  “All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children’s peace.”  What could be more exciting than that?? (Mine are 26 and 30 years old.)

Now a little about me and the soap you came to investigate.  Awhile back I was challenged do describe my life in 6 words or less! (Can you do it??)  I used 7,  but here it is, “Soap designer, loved by God and family!”

I spend most of my waking hours planning, designing, or thinking about soap.  I love seeing two very unlovely ingredients transformed into something beautiful, useful, and wonderful in feel and performance (softens your skin!).  It reminds me every day that God can take even the most unlovely of us…add his cleansing love and sacrifice…and turn us into something beautiful and useful!

I (Laurie McRoberts Fiesel) grew up in a Southern California City, forever wishing to be transported to a far away, quite place in the country.  I moved to Oregon in 1974 and that wish was granted when I married Gary, a wonderful man from North Dakota, and his 30 acre farm in Oregon City.  (Yes, when you marry a farmer, you also marry the farm!)  We’ve lived here for 33 years, raising our 2 wonderful sons. For most of that time, I have been blessed and free to make soap.

~TALLOW SOAP~

For over 25 years I’ve made soap “the old fashioned way”…from tallow, like the pioneers did who brought so much strength and wisdom to this land.  Yes, tallow is from the fat of animals, which so many today think is despicable. But in actuality, it is a wonderful thing!

Animals will always be killed for meat, no matter what people think about it.  So why not use every part of that animal in a useful, renewable, earth-friendly, responsible way?  Merely sending it to the landfill is much more detrimental and disgusting it seems to me.  Soap made from tallow, is also the most wonderful, long lasting, skin softening that I have ever found!  I’ve heard many others echo the same thought and findings…”No other soap produces the same wonderful feel, and skin softening effect as tallow does!”

~VEGETABLE OIL SOAP~

A few years ago, I decided to branch out, and try my hand at vegetable oil soaps.  There are customers who prefer the idea of vegetable oil (though after trying my tallow soaps, they barely even look at the others!)  I also wanted to try working with colors, which I’ve not done before, and felt vegetable oils would be a better medium for that.

Coming up with the “perfect recipe” has not been as easy as I thought, even with internet access and myriads of information sources.  It took me 12 years to “perfect” the original soaps, (before internet).  In the last few years I’ve learned tons and tons while moving toward that “perfect all vegetable oil recipe”. Research…failures…and successes (oh yes, and of course lots of prayer!) But of course, I thrive on the process!

~NEW DESIGN FOR TALLOW SOAP~

Now, lest my first blog become waaay too long, and I lose most of you in the process, I’ll post some pictures and close for now.  The first pictures above are some of my soaps over the last 25 years. I’m moving into the future though, and leaving the cute little molds of goats and butter churns behind. So this picture is of the “new look” for the goats milk soap. Buttermilk soap will be discontinued in order to make way for the vegetable oil soaps.  I have two categories for those…”All Natural” and “Colors by Design” (where I use fragrances, and sometimes colors, that aren’t easily available from nature itself.)

Thank you for joining me on this somewhat uncertain adventure!

Would love to hear from you!

Laurie