another hectic day in the workshop

Posted on | October 3, 2007 | No Comments

we’ve really been snowed under since returning from sydney.
i am getting on top of all the new accounts at long last and orders are rolling out the door.
it has not left a lot of time for playing with new soaps….but you cannot have everything!
i am just grateful that we are able to replenish and keep up with the regular lines at this stage.

we spent 3 hours today making 1500 bars of soap and have a long haul tomorrow of cutting and refilling those moulds.
we’ve had more 1500 bar sessions than 1000 bar sessions lately and it’s really quite hard work.
i suppose we have just become used to the 10 batch sessions and the routine of those.
today’s session was particularly gruelling: 15 batches and no two the same!
so much separate mixing and carry-on!
tomorrow is much easier, with 7 batches of lavender mint, 6 batches of blood orange & patchouli and 2 batches of vanilla bean scheduled.
this way i can mix up big buckets of clays ahead of time and have the eo blends all at the ready.

my mother has been roped in to help cut bars a few days and she is marvellously fast and efficient.
she’s been a great help. thanks mum!
thank god she is only running her own business and doing volunteer work and raising cows and looking after all our chickens, and has time to fool around with soap.
lucky us, eh?

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i have an obsession about having back-up equipment.
we are rural-ish and remote-ish.
our gear is kind of specialised and in most cases is completely custom-made.
over time i’ve built up a back-up stockpile of equipment, so i always have a spare.
a breakage or failure of anything would send us into a spin and slow our production, if not halt it completely.

this evening, i got myself another unit of my favourite stick blender online and now i have two complete sets of every single thing i need to keep my workshop humming along.
this model is the bees knees and my last one lasted me ten years of daily use….through commercial kitchen jobs and then into the beginning of my soapmaking company.
i probably do not really need one…..not for another eight years perhaps…..but it does feel good to know the spare is there waiting to leap into service if required.

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