You're fired!

Just watched The Apprentice which this week had the two teams making soap and was absolutely facinating from the perspective of a soapmaker.

Everything they had to do was instantly recognisable as we've been through every single one many times over. It was also interesting that a lot of essential parts of the process were missed out, but I suppose that's TV and back up from a huge manufacturer, e.g. there was no sign of product certification being carried out.

I must admit that I was encouraged by the many disasters which befell the teams, it gave a bit of perspective to the difficulties we have to go through to get everything to come together.

I won't relive the whole programme but the best bits from the perspective of a soapmaker were.

*One team marketing their soap as 'in touch with nature' but stamping on crabs while collecting seaweed to put in it.

*The other team thinking a lump of honeycomb with the honey dripping out makes a nice addition to a bar of soap.

*Costing products without including the cost of your employees, large factory etc.

*Agressive selling is as ugly on TV as it is in the real world, - and that's why we don't do it.

*Essential oils are expensive, some are very expensive! You need to know that before you add them to your product.

The choices the teams made for their products was also interesting as they were similar to some we make at Barony, although ours are far superior even if I do say so myself.

Our Soothing Honey and Oatmeal bar has the honey thoroughly mixed in so that it doesn't drip on the floor and is soothing on the skin. Although we don't collect our own honey we do get it from a local beekeeper.

Our Soothing Honey & Oatmeal Soap

We also have a bar containing seaweed (All Along The Foreshore) which has lots of minerals which are good for the skin.

Our All Along The Foreshore - Seaweed Soap

Our Sandalwood Soap contains a sandalwood fragrance rather than essential oil. One reason is the cost as highlighted in the show. The other is that good quality sandalwood essential oil is extracted from trees that are at least 50 - 80 years old and concerns have been raised that over extraction to meet demand is badly damaging a lot of trees. Why would anyone want to contribute to damaging these trees when you can choose a cosmetic copy and get the same scent?

I won't be seeking any business advice from the apprentices any time soon, but I am considering applying for next years show ;)

The Information Soaper Highway

(Hello World)

We have just made a huge technological step forward at Barony Crafts.

We've had a wireless network for a while now so that I can use my laptop anywhere in the house which is great. However I've never been able to use it in my workshop as it is too far from the house - the signal was too weak.

Dave has now laid a network cable between the house and the workshop so I can finally access everything in the workshop too. This is great as it mean no more running back 'n' forth from the workshop to the house every time I need access to a file or order supplies on the internet AND... no more swapping of memory sticks (it's a nightmare trying to remember which one has the most up to date version of everything). This should improve productivity hugely, or so Dave tells me anyway! But the absolute best bit is being able to access my huge iTunes library while working, perhaps not quite so good for productivity!

Soundtrack to work at the moment: Alabama 3, White Lies, Muse & Carter Burwell's Twilight Score. Also really like Zero by Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and In For The Kill by La Roux.

My Newt

Last night while getting ready for todays Crieff Market (despite having no shows for weeks we still needed to work til midnight to be ready) I found this outside the workshop door.

It was a bit of a shock as I have never seen anything like it before. We both stopped and spent a few minutes watching and photographing it and trying to guess what it might be.

Our options were

1. A Komodo Dragon

2. A dinosaur

3. An extra from Primeval

Some research on the internet today has helped narrow down the field a bit.

Komodo Dragons only live in Indonesia so that was ruled out.

It appears that dinosaurs are extinct, so not that.

No sparkly anomalies nearby so not Primeval either.

A bit more reasearch has revealed that it is most probably a smooth newt. It is very rare to see one in your garden never mind on your doorstep, but probably more likely than finding any of our original options.

We have now registered our sighting on a website which records where amphibians are spotted to help identify populations and habitats.

Good Crieff

Had our first monthly Crieff Market of the year today. We hadn't been looking forward to it as the weather forcast was not looking good. The forecast did improve as time went on and we were a bit more optimistic and spent the last two days with our fingers crossed.

This must have worked as this morning we woke up to a nice sunny day which thankfully continued for the whole day although it was a bit breezy at times.

The good weather and the easter holidays meant it was a really busy day with one of the most successful Crieff markets we have ever had. As usual Crieff Cranachan and Lemongrass and Lime were the best sellers but our one off Easter Bunny went well too.

Also selling well were our new range of Hand and Body Lotions which proved very popular. These will be on the website as soon as I take some photos.

So all in all a good day, and my fingers are now crossed that all of this years shows will go as well. After all it worked with the weather this week!

2009 The year ahead

It's been a long time since my last post, I just haven't gotten round to writing anything. Anyway I will update some of the things I have been up to.

I expected January to be a very quite month, especially compared to December. It was thankfully a lot quieter than December but not as quite as I expected. I have made favours for several weddings, I had no idea January was so popular for getting married. I've also been making bars for VisitScotland to take to several events in Europe promoting Homecoming. This is a series of events throughout the year to encourage people to visit Scotland. My soap complete with Homecoming logo have been included in goodie-bags for the journalists and travel writers at the events (photos to be posted at a later date)

This week I have been planning my calender of events for the year ahead. It's already looking like a busy year, with events pencilled in all the way to December already. I will be starting to return booking forms this week so look out for updates on the website soon.

Also attended our first event this week, a Ladies Pamper Evening in Stirling. It did take a bit of time to remember exactly how to do everything but once into the swing of it everything fell into place.

Anyway, here's to the year ahead, and more regular posts, I promise.

The Christmas Rush

It's been a hectic few weeks for us in the run up to Christmas. We have done 17 days of craft fairs, markets and events since the end of November. This works out at 4.25 days every week, but most done on Saturdays and Sundays with Dave and I doing separate events on the same day. This of course means lots of time spent in the workshop making things for the next show and not much time for anything else. This is why there have not been many posts but I will try to catch up with all that has been happening in the next few days.

Our last show was on Sunday at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh and we were both looking forward to having a bit of time to relax. Sleep has been an item on my whiteboard 'To-Do-List' all week, and the only Christmas present Dave has asked for is a day off! However, since Sunday I have made 52 wedding favours, a rush order of 50 bars for Jamesfield Farm Shop, done all of my Christmas shopping and written all of my Christmas cards. We will deliver these tomorrow, using our 'Just In Time' management principles again! Maybe next year I will be organised! So it is safe to say we are still looking forward to some time to relax.

Soundtrack to work this last month has been: The Wombats - Is this Christmas?, Vampire Weekend - A-Punk (great tune at 2am to keep your spirits high). Anything Christmassy, from good ol' Bing to The Waitresses, including Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You (I mean, for goodness sake!). And for the record... always Jeff Buckley, never Alexandra! You all know what I'm talking about.

It Never Rains But It Pours

Our central heating boiler packed in about a month ago. Now usually we'd find the money somehow and get it fixed but this time it died a death and it's never to be switched on again. So a new system for our wee cottage is now going to cost around £800 just to get the boiler, nevermind the gas conection charge. Finding the type of system and the money is the the easy bit sorted out (we'll not the money side, so much) we now need to find the time for David to install it. The run up to Christmas is our busiest time and we really never have a moment to spare. Dave and I have managed to heat ourselves by our open fire (which badly needs swept) in the living room and a wee electric fan heater in the bedroom (I woke up the other day and the room thermostat flashed 7 degrees. It flashes under 10 degrees to warn you there's a hypothermia risk!). So we've been coping and trying not to mump too much, I just keep thinking about how my grandparents managed to lived without double glazing and central heating. I must admit that I love wearing my fantastic 'Icebreaker' thermals - Don't laugh. They were bought for our travels to Spitsbergen and I now wear them as an extra layer at our Winter markets. My Icebreakers are the best thing since sliced bread, especially the boxer-shorts.

Then...

On Sunday the washing machine went wizz, bang, wallop, FLASH while I was standing looking at it wondering why it was making a funny scrapping, gurgling, static noise. Bloomin' fireworks came out of the top as it came to a grinding halt. You've never seen me jump so high! So I've been through my whole wardrobe of clean clothes and I'm now on to the bizarre mix'n'match of clothes that really shouldn't be seen out in public together.

On top of that my cooker (inherited when we bought the house has decided to only allow me to use the smallest ring and half heat one of the large pot rings. The oven thermostate burst many months ago so I haven't baked for ages.

So, the new washing machine is getting delivered tomorrow, the cooker has been ordered and the boiler, well it been ordered and I hope that we will find some time before Christmas to get it fitted. I now have to go out and sell a hell of a lot of soap to pay for it all.