Have you seen our redesigned Why Handcrafted Soap brochure yet? Not only is it full of great info for consumers, but it features product photos from some very talented makers! Over the next few months, we’ll be featuring the makers behind the photos here on Cut to the Trace; we’re so grateful that they’ve shared their incredible products with us! … Read More

Last year, we redesigned our popular Why Handcrafted Soap Brochure to reflect our new branding! During the rebranding process, we gave our members an opportunity to submit images of their soap to be featured in the brochure; and Sandy answered the call! In this interview, we’ll chat with Sandy Palisch, creator of the soothing array of soaps on the inside … Read More

Have you seen our newly redesigned Why Handcrafted Soap brochure yet? It’s full of great info for consumers and beautiful product photos from a few of our members! Over the next few months, we’ll be featuring the makers behind the photos here on Cut to the Trace; we’re so grateful that they’ve shared their incredible products with us! Today, we’ll … Read More

Let’s start by stating the obvious: we have a very talented community of makers! When people aren’t in the soap business, they see a bar of soap as a bar of soap; many don’t realize that it takes heaping amounts of creativity to really make a bar stand out. Whether that creativity comes in the form of packaging, design or … Read More

Happy National Soapmaking Day! That’s right; the last Sunday of every September has officially been dubbed National Soapmaking Day. We’re celebrating National Soapmaking Day by recognizing all of our fantastic Members and fellow makers all around the globe; today is your day! Recently, I sent National Soapmaking Day founder Kerri Mixon a few questions about this very special day and … Read More

I went through a move recently and you know how it goes; every drawer must be purged, every item designated as “keep”, “toss” or “donate”. Boxes long forgotten hold old journals, treasured stuffed animals – all sorts of memories, good and bad. While going through my alarmingly-large collection of notebooks, I found one special spiral bound legal pad, still opened … Read More

Back in April, the staff here at the HSCG decided to have a staff soapmaking day. We had all of our materials, gloves, goggles, aprons, etc. We picked our scents and our colors, and then the soapmaking began! Under the watchful eye of HSCG Executive Director Leigh, we began mixing, scenting and coloring our mixtures. Once we were happy with … Read More

We had to do it, Makers – it is April Fool’s day, after all! We haven’t really found a way to make saponification happen without lye – instead, let’s take a look at an alternative for those who don’t want to handle lye during the making process: melt & pour! What do people mean when they say their soap has … Read More

It’s really tempting to get into a routine that works and stay in that lane. After all, you’ve got your business routine down – production is fine-tuned, shipping is as streamlined as it can be at this moment, why rock the boat? When you decided to become an entrepreneur and either completely walk away from corporate employment or walk side-by-side … Read More