Soy You Think You've Seen It All

An especially savvy entrepreneur looking to enter the candle market might try something a little different. A brand that channels rock’n’roll cheekiness as surely as rose petals and chiffon. A southern vibe that blends the comfort of Mama’s kitchen with the cool of Daddy’s garage. A line of scents that range from sweet to sassy, from Bayberry to Eucalyptus, from simple’n’pleasant to simply sumptuous. Unfortunately, said crafter would be a little late to the game, since Auntie Di’s De-Lites has already accomplished all this and more. With a gallery of unique soy candles labeled as freshly as the scents they evoke, augmented by a full complement of handcrafted soap, earrings, necklaces, and rings that capture Di’s inimitable style no less effectively, this is one proprietor who has carved out an entire shelf where most of us stop at simply acquiring a small niche.

Of course, it’s no use stirring the imagination with names like Moon Lake and Fleuriste if the dream is priced out of reach. Thus the reasonable prices of Auntie Di’s candles and jewelry are all the more reason to love this shop. And with a number of Your Choice packages to offer in time for spring gifts, and a delectable new Lovespell scent featured for this season, the time is now to stop by this delightfully offbeat store and browse the collections yourself. As a way of encouraging new customers to explore the Auntie Di’s experience, the owner is also offering a wonderful giveaway to Wishing Willow’s faithful readers. Today’s winner will receive an 8 oz candle of their choosing. To enter, visit AuntieDis.etsy.com, then come back here to tell us about your favorite product. Tell us in an additional post if you subscribe to Wishing Willow, or follow us on Twitter, and "tweet" about the giveaway. To post without a Google account, just click “anonymous.” Be sure to also leave your email address. Contest ends 3/10/09.

Be sure to also enter our giveaways here.

A Revolution? Let’s Soap So…

Lightly soothing, softening up under gentle pressure, bubbling brightly at just the right moments… To stop and think of it, in times of stress a well-made soap is a lot like a well-rounded friend. Even smaller wonder that artisans such as Janell of Dancing Mooney, whose shop features soap injected with pure personality, are especially loved. With signature items such as the olive oil-based Green Tea and Lavender soap, its stirring fragrance locked into a series of layers as verdant and dark as the bed of a Scottish loch, its dressing of tea leaves as fine as a sprinkling of rare pipe tobacco, the store scores high marks in mystery and suggestion.

In the category of sweet’n’salutary, however, Dancing Mooney is no slouch either, with items such as the Vanilla Mint and Oatmeal soap encapsulating the very idea of class in a glaze-white confection comforting as honey porridge and spry as a young mint leaf plucked fresh from the garden. Bold as Bay Rum, inspiring as Ginger Peach, coastal-clean as Ocean Air, the myriad varieties of soap offered in this store stir the senses and light up the eyes, reminding us that even the oldest and most basic of bath items can be transformed into a work of art when placed in the right hands. And speaking of hands, you’ll be able to get yours on this irresistible product sooner than you think, should you be lucky enough to win this great giveaway. Dancing Mooney is sharing with you, our lovely readers, a bar of Green Tea and Lavender Soap to call your own. To enter, visit DancingMooney.etsy.com, then come back here to tell us about your favorite item in Janell's shop. Tell us in an additional post if you subscribe to Wishing Willow, follow us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, and "tweet" about the giveaway. To post without a Google account, just click “anonymous.” Be sure to also leave your email address. Contest ends 2/26/09. We have a winner. Congrats Leane!

Hand-some Tastes

“And now,” to borrow a Monty Python phrase, “for something completely different.” If you’ve ever wondered why soapmakers don’t use a little more creativity in their molding process—after all, there’s no law that says a bar of soap can’t be shaped like, say, a cowboy hat or a kidney—you’ll want to take a moment to visit Plastic Foliage, home of the aptly named Handsoap. Crafted into the actual shape of hands that range from the adorably pudgy, stubby infant variety to the larger, more developed toddler form , these soaps are as impossible to employ in the bath without an accompanying smile as they are sufficiently kitschy-creative-cool to make you the cultural envy of any houseguest who should pause to lather up at your sink. Plastic Foliage is also a lovely place to locate other “handy” items like the Happy Face Tote bag or perhaps a pair of Wrist Zips, which allow active people to remain hands-free by zipping away their coins and chapsticks in little pouches worn on the forearms. If your shopping is guided by everyday, conformist standards, this may not be the place for you. If, however, you’ve got a little personality in you and don’t mind showing it, browsing the goods at www.plasticfoliage.com just might be the most fun you’ll have this winter.

Dairy Fine Bathing

Is it possible that milk “does a body good” in more ways than one? Any woman whose skin has ever been softly kissed by the smooth-as-velvet lathery richness of a milk-based soap would consider the question rhetorical. Referring to most beverages, the phrase “I’d gladly take a bath in it” is mere hyperbole. When it comes to milk, the phrase is quite literal. For as it turns out, as uber-soapmaker Anne L. Watson demonstrates in Milk Soapmaking (the indispensable companion to Smart Soapmaking), milk soaps made properly are well-known for a quality of luxurious buttery softness that is undeniable. Watson also proves, through the use of recipes as seductively named as Chocolate Silk, Cinnamon Oatmeal, or Avocado Cream, that once milk is added to the basic fat-and-lye combination at the heart of most soaps, the possibilities are deliciously far-reaching. For those of us who need help with the basic questions (Cow, goat, or plant milk? Whole or nonfat? Farm-fresh, or pasteurized?) of dairy, let alone the chemical quandaries of the soapmaking process itself, Anne once again acquits herself ably as a scholar of the suds and a natural communicator. We can’t all be professionals, but we can certainly show a little love for someone who knows her Shea Butter from her coconut oil (and isn’t afraid to use them). To order a personal copy of Milk Soapmaking, click here.

A Soap Ah-hah-pera

It unfolded like a scene from a PBS documentary on working-class homemakers driven to diabolical extremes by the current economy. I walked in on Tara unexpectedly as she labored in our kitchen over an unidentifiable substance; her eyes and hands covered by a bulging pair of industrial goggles and latex gloves, a white lab coat the only piece missing to complete the chemist’s ensemble. Aghast, I looked behind me to make sure no patrol cars were passing along our street, then quickly closed the door, trying to formulate a polite way to ask my wife why she had declined to tell me she was giving up coffee in favor of a much stronger home-mixed stimulant. Not to worry, she said, looking up at me through the goggles. It’s soap. Thus I came to learn that for the past few days, Tara had been researching the ancient practice of soapmaking, her education guided primarily by one Anne L. Watson, universally respected and loved author/crafter/curator of this lost art for thousands of aspiring soapers (and one of the few crafting icons out there today who actually invites beginners to contact her with the many questions they invariably have.)

Watson’s groundbreaking Smart Soapmaking isn’t the only book on the market that breaks down this obscure process, but it’s unquestionably the best book with which to begin. To be precise, it’s probably the most accessible, most reader-friendly, and most immediately useful container of information on the subject a first-time soapmaker could hope to find. Turning out a bar of soap is not as simple as it looks. It is, for one, dependent on a chemical reaction (saponification) that comes from mixing vegetable oil or animal fat with a strong alkali, and thus involves the use of some ingredients that are caustic, hazardous, and hide-the-children-while-I-pour-this powerful. Balancing fragrance with other elements also tends to require quite a bit of trial and error. Anne Watson’s wonderful recipes, however, combined with her attention to questions frequently asked by novices, all laid out in straightforward language, make for a feeling that anyone can do this, and that even if one fails at the process, at worst the failure will make for a great story. In other words, it’s not elementary, but thanks to Watson it’s far less mysterious. To visit her home page, to contact her, or to order your own copy of this invaluable book, visit www.annelwatson.com.

The soap pictured is my attempt at making Anne's Shea Butter Supreme recipe (her recommendation for your first batch of soap.)