Greetings and I hope you're doing well! I'm finally getting to my first blog post. As many of you know, I work full-time as a nurse and run my little business in my free time, so juggling product production, filming and editing videos for YouTube, keeping up on social media, and maintaining a website can be a challenge, but I appreciate your patience.
I'm happy to say I have the wonderful opportunity to teach classes at a local yarn and gift shop called Oliver's Originals right here in Manlius, NY. Shannon's shop is an adorable place, very cozy and inviting. It's not only a yarn shop, it's a gift shop. She appreciates locally made items and her shop contains everything you'd need for not only knitting and crocheting, but handmade wares from local artisans. Plus she offers classes in knitting and crocheting (I just started my knitting class and I'm in love with my new hobby already).
Her shop has a beautiful, bright and inviting room where classes are held. She invited me to teach a melt and pour soap class, and we decided to see how things went and then we'd go from there.
Well, the first class sold out in 24 hours and people were asking about a second class. The first class was a great success and a lot of fun. I've heard from a couple of the people who took that class, and they continue to get creative with making their own melt and pour soaps at home, which is music to my ears. What I enjoyed most about this class was the sense of community and meeting new friends.
The second class is coming up on 4/22, and it is also sold out. The third one will be the weekend of Mother's Day. It's a great way to meet members of the community, relax, and have fun making some beautiful soaps.
I decided to stick with melt and pour soap making because making cold or hot process soaps from scratch involves lye, which needs not only respect and safety but good ventilation, and the entire process takes a good deal of time. Melt and pour on the other hand is a relatively quick process, and the soap will have firmed up enough in the mold to be able to transport it home by the end of class.
For classes, I put together a kit for each person that is yours to take home. The soap kit contains a melting/mixing/pouring container, spoon, pipette, molds, mini mixing cup for colorants, soap base, fragrance or essential oil (you'll have your choice of one of two fragrance or essential oils I bring), and instruction sheet. I bring gloves, paper towels, colorants such as clays or mica powders, and extra supplies in case you'd like to purchase anything to make more soap at home.
We'll be doing other kinds of classes as well. I plan to do a paint-n-sip (I'm not artist or art teacher, but I like painting acrylic on canvas, and it will be a fun evening being creative). I also would like to do other bath and body classes such as bath soaks and scrubs, and home fragrance crafting like soy candles, wax melts and potpourri. We had special requests to do a candle class, so I'm already planning that one.
I want to thank Shannon for the opportunity to do these classes. It's a great way to bring community members together, meet new friends, and learn from each other. We're also supporting local businesses and working together, and that's a win in my book.
Hope to see you at a class if you're in the area! Have a great rest of the week!
Jeannette
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