Hi everyone!
This is one of the hardest posts I have ever had to write. It is with a sad heart that I announce that as of February 29, 2012, SudsMuffin will be closing its doors forever. There are several reasons for this, the main one being that we simply do not have enough traffic to cover our costs. Since moving last February, our walk-in customer traffic has fallen by over 70%. The lengthy street closure due to construction contributed to this in part.
I would like to take a moment to extend a heartfelt thank-you to all my super loyal customers. Your support and friendship means the world to both Johanne and I. Now if we had had 500 or more loyal customers just like you... Well that's that.
From now until our closing, keep an eye out for super deals and specials. I am going to be doing some great things for Valentine's Day! If anybody is in need of office furniture, let me know as we will be clearing that out as well.   Thanks again for your support over the years and we are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us next.

Pop! Pop! Pop!  This is the sound that prevailed above the sound of voices in our store this past Saturday Oct 22! We celebrated our 11th anniversary of soap making with Yummy homemade cupcakes, free coffee and  balloons with prize coupons.  Lots of people went home with lots of prizes, that included lip balms, bath bombs , Shea butter and a $25.00  gift card.

 Thanks so much for all the support over the past 11 years from customers old and new. I hope everyone enjoys their prizes. Congratulations to Beth Winchester on winning the grand prize in our one day draw a super duper basket of SudsMuffin Product valued at $100.00.

We plan on being around for a long time so we hope that you visit us often and send your friends.

Thanks with love and appreciation!
Ivan and Johanne and Maia
The SudsMuffins

Hey friends, I am in need of help, like "right now" help. I want to get the word out about our Bath Bakery Birthday Parties for kids. These are an important part of our business and I will be honest here, business has been less than it should be and having a full schedule of parties will allow me to continue making your favourite SudsMuffin products for a long time to come.

Here are answers to the most common questions I am asked about our Parties.  
Q- How much does it cost?  
A- It is $15.00 per child, for a minimum of 6 children, and a maximum of 14.


Q- What ages can have a party?
A- Ages 6 to 16, and up. We have held parties with younger children but just ask for more parental involvement in those parties. 


Q- What do they do at the party? 
A- Younger kids make simple but fun mini-soaps, lotion, and fizzy bath salts. Older kids make more complex soap projects, layered salts, lip balms, etc.


Q- How long does a party last?  
A- About 2 hours


Q- What is provided? 
A- We provide a decorated party room at SudsMuffin and all the supplies for the making of the products, including special labels and baggies for the bath goodies. I show the kids how to make their bath goodies and we all have a blast doing it!

Our party room also has a small fridge for pop and a small cake if you wish to bring either. (Sorry though, our freezer is too small for ice-cream or an ice cream cake.) We also take care of all the clean up so all the party goers need to do is show up and have fun. 

Unlike some other types of parties for the same price, the kids get to keep what they make and get to enjoy their delectable scented treasures for more than a day or an hour.  
       
So if all you wonderful folks would be kind enough to spread the word that would be great. I even have party info cards for you to give to your friends with kids. I am also working on a package as a reward for party booking referrals.

Thank you in advance. 
Ivan "SudsMuffin" McCullough

 Today I made 16 votive candles scented in Sweet Cranberry. I slowly melted 2 pounds of wax in a double boiler. While the wax melted, I set up 16 metal votive cups and placed wick pins inside each cup. Once the wax was melted, I made sure it was at the appropriate temperature for adding the scent. (Too hot and it can burn off the fragrance oil.) Then I added the fragrance and colour and stirred to incorporate them completely. I poured the hot wax into each votive cup. Once the first pouring had cooled sufficiently, I re-melted the remaining wax and capped each votive with a final pour, forming a perfect bubble of wax at the top of each one. The votives will need to cool and harden overnight, when they will be removed from the cups, have the pins popped out of them and then have a tabbed wick inserted into each one and trimmed to a 1/4 inch. They will then be ready to use. All my votives are made by me, using the method I described, and are $2.50 each. Come in and sniff out your favourite!

Soap, jabón, savon, sapone, seife, however you say it, it is one of the things in life that I feel you truly get what you pay for.  I got turned on to handmade soap over 10 years ago and have never looked back.  To me the feel and the scent of good handmade soap cannot be compared to any commercial mass produced product.  A good bar of soap makes you remember it. It stirs a feeling of happiness. 

It started as a simple craft fair purchase; just a little something of a treat to try it.  The girl said I would notice a big difference.  Well guess what I did notice?  The lather, scent and feel of the soap were all I needed to become a convert.  The bar did not dry my skin even a little bit and I felt moisturized.  This was quite different from all the other things that I grew up with.  Irish Spring was a big one in our house; a scent that always left me with a headache and most times a mild allergic reaction.

It was such a change from what I was used to, to have something that left me both smelling and feeling good.  It was not for quite some time before I embarked on my own soap making journey where I discovered that making a great bar of soap is far more complex than one might think.

Although I have access to all the soap I could want, I still like to buy the occasional bar of homemade lathery goodness from another vendor just because it is always a good idea to see what others in your field are doing, plus it always feels like a treat to get it from another soap maker.

I on occasion find one that just doesn't measure up. This can be due to a variety of factors, too much lye, too little lye, too much or too little of the proper oils. Perhaps not enough water or other liquid.  As I said, a variety of factors.  When this happens I tend to be a little judgmental, even a little snobbish.  I don't really intend to do so but after having tried dozens of exceptional bars of homemade soap, both mine and others, I feel that I am a good judge.  I have even thrown out my own creations if they did not meet the standard.  If something is not good enough or if it is not pleasing in some way then it has no place by my sink.  If that makes me a snob, so be it.  I am a soap snob. 

What is your passion?  What things are you "snobbish" about?  We all have something, be it your favourite brand of ketchup (or is that catsup), car, computer, or pizza. Let us know.

I have often heard the ill-informed and uneducated say this about Pride Week: "What have they got to be proud of?"

I do my best to let them know as gently as possible that Pride Week is not really about pride, per se. It's about not feeling shame (which is the diametric opposite of pride).  It is about believing in yourself and in the right to be different, unique and loved.  Everyone has the right -- or at least should have the right -- to be who they are, so long as no one is hurt or forced into a place they don't want to be.

Whatever term you wish to use for the incredible diversity of people who take time and energy to produce a fine festival, please at least put aside your learned prejudice and hate and try to look at the world through a rainbow. You may find yourself reflected in the prism. The volunteers are all people and they deserve just as much respect as anyone else.

I don't like labels.  I view people as people, regardless of whom their nature says they are.  That being said. Go out experience the awesomeness of the people of your city, they are your co-workers, neighbors, and friends. Embrace life, enjoy the diversity of spirit and ideas that abound about you. You maybe surprised just how alike you really are.

P.S. Drop on into SudsMuffin during Pride week, If you display your rainbow you get 10% off any purchase over $10.00.

The scents of summer; for me those have always been fresh cut grass, blueberries, strawberries and watermelon. Last but not least, the coconut scent of sun block. I must not be the only one who loves that scent because our Cabana Boy products have that same rich scent and sell so well.

I enjoy the memories of summers past. I remember swimming at the "Old Mill" or at the "Tunnel." Both were little more than stream areas made into swimming places. The Old Mill was just that, the remains of an old lumber mill. The deep water area that used to house the paddle wheel was where we swam. It was really deep but the bottom could be dangerous with sharp metal and old pieces of wood. We would spend hours swimming then across the road we would go to the Browns' for iced tea or Pop Shoppe pop and a lunch of some kind. The Tunnel was even better, only a longer walk. It was actually a huge metal culvert that ran under the highway. It had diverted the stream enough to make a deep water area that was fast moving water and "mostly" leech free. I remember the first time I jumped. I was scared to death but I did it. No way was I gonna let anybody call me chicken.

I also remember that we had to work hard before it was play time. My Uncle Bob believed that you did not get something for nothing. We worked for our play time. If we were not berry raking, we were clam digging; not clam digging, we were periwinkling; not doing that, there was always wood to cut, lawns to mow, gardens to weed, etc, etc.

I sometimes hated the work but we where always well rewarded. I still remember the trips to St. Stephen or St. George to the Pop Shoppe; all those flavors and we got to pick the ones we liked. Ah! Those were the days. They seemed a lot simpler; a whole lot less complicated. We would never dream of spending the summer hunched in front of a gaming system or television. Even on rainy days we would play games or draw comics or make up stories. I miss those days.

How about you folks? What was summer like for you as a kid? We would love to know.

Advertising, word of Mouth, love at first (sight, sound, taste, smell). What do you find to be the most influential in your decision making process. Does price and preconceived valuation have a great deal to do with it. How about presentation?  I ask these question because as our friends and customers( new and old) I  highly regard  your opinions.

What are some of the things that we can do to make your shopping easier, more pleasant, and memorable. We want  make our shop a place that you want to buy at, a place that you are inspired by when you come in.

We have a few ideas on the go, but would love to have your input. As I have said you are important to us. So please leave a comment and I will study them carefully. At SudsMuffin we desire to inspire!

I would like to welcome Brenda Foster to the Village. Brenda comes to us with a bevy of certificates. She is an expert at the Art of Reiki. Brenda expects to be up and running very soon. Stay tuned for details as I get them.

Nails by Abby has been very very busy. This girl does great work and her clients love the results. They all walk out of her flashing their gorgeous nails to the world. Book an appointment here.

Rowan Brooks has been sought out for her skill with the Tarot deck. Her clients have been very happy with their readings. Book your reading here.

The Cooling Rack Gallery had its first show this past Friday and it was an extremely great success. Congratulations to Trish Manuel on her Creative Print Show showcasing her fabulous photography. The Gallery was packed and the prints and photos were all amazing. Find out about the next exhibit, coming June 5th. 

Now on to the shelves:
Cabana Boy has been all the rage; from the new Cabana Boy Shea Butter lotion and the delightful Cabana Boy roll on perfume to the Cabana Boy bath bombs. We have gotten so much demand for this that we have enough stock on hand to suit anybody.

We also have two new Shea Butter lotions to choose from: 

• Tangerine is a light and sweet citrus scent with notes similar to our famous Satsuma. 
  
• Lavender Lemon is sure to be a winner with its blend of light floral and medium citrus scent. It's a perfect blend of oils for relaxation and concentration.
  

We also have a couple of other new additions to our roll on perfume line:

My new favorite is a delectable and yummy-scented number I call Cookiebar. (I sold out of my first batch).  This fragrance stands out from other delicious baked-goods scents due to the hint of nutmeg and praline. Buttercream and all-around cookie yumminess is rounded out with rich base notes of cocoa and vanilla.

Spice Island has an exotic. woodsy scent with Italian Bergamot, Apple Wood and Tonka Bean to round out the darker, sensuous Patchouli, Cedarwood, and Oakmoss. To keep this from smelling like a freshly cut wood floor, spices of Cardamom, Allspice and Vanilla Bourbon have been introduced.

Our Shea Butter now comes in beautiful new low-profile black jars, which are larger and easier to get every last creamy dreamy bit of butter out.

Due to several requests, we now offer a beautiful Botanical Clarifying facial toner and a delightful Marigold eye cream.

Get yourself into the store to see everything that's new for yourself. You don't want to miss the Cookiebar perfume. I promise!

With the help of Wikipedia and other online sources, here is a history of soap as we know it.

Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid. Soap is mainly used for washing, bathing, and cleaning. Soaps for cleansing are obtained by treating vegetable or animal oils and fats with a strongly alkaline solution. Fats and oils are composed of triglycerides: three molecules of fatty acids attached to a single molecule of glycerol. The alkaline solution, often lye, promotes a chemical reaction known as saponification. In saponification, fats are broken down (hydrolyzed) yielding crude soap. Fats are transformed into salts of fatty acids and glycerol is liberated, leaving glycerin as a byproduct.

Early history:
The earliest recorded evidence of the production of soap-like materials dates back to around 2800 BC in Ancient Babylon. In the reign of Nabonidus (556-539 BCE) a recipe for soap consisted of uḥulu [ashes], cypress [oil] and sesame [seed oil] "for washing the stones for the servant girls." A formula for soap consisting of water, alkali, and cassia oil was written on a Babylonian clay tablet around 2200 BC.

The Ebers papyrus (Egypt, 1550 BC) indicates that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly and combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to create a soap-like substance. Egyptian documents mention that a soap-like substance was used in the preparation of wool for weaving.

Roman history:
The word sapo, Latin for soap, first appears in Pliny the Elder's Historia Naturalis, which discusses the manufacture of soap from tallow and ashes, but the only use he mentions for it is as a pomade for hair; he mentions rather disapprovingly that among the Gauls and Germans men are likelier to use it than women. 

Although no one really knows who or when soap was discovered, there are various legends surrounding its beginning. According to Roman legend, soap was named after Mount Sapo, an ancient site of animal sacrifices.  After an animal sacrifice, rain would wash the animal fat and ash that collected under the ceremonial altars down the slopes to the banks of the Tiber River. Women washing clothes in the river noticed that if they washed their clothes in certain parts of the river after a heavy rain their clothes were much cleaner. Thus the emergence of the first soap – or at least the first use of soap. 
    
But there is no such place, and no evidence for the apocryphal story. In fact, the Latin word sapo simply means "soap"; it was likely borrowed from an early Germanic language, and is cognate with Latin sebum, "tallow", which appears in Pliny the Elder's account. Roman animal sacrifices usually burned only the bones and inedible entrails of the sacrificed animals; edible meat and fat from the sacrifices were taken by the humans rather than the gods. Animal sacrifices in the ancient world would not have included enough fat to make much soap.

A soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soapmaking was known as early as 2800 B.C.  Inscriptions on the cylinders say that fats were boiled with ashes, a soap-making method. Moses gave the Israelites detailed laws governing personal cleanliness.  Biblical accounts suggest that the Israelites knew that mixing ashes and oil produced a kind of hair gel.  Soap is mentioned twice in the Bible, but it is generally agreed that the Hebrew word “borith”, which has been translated as soap, is a generic term for any cleansing agent. By the second century A.D., the Greek physician, Galen, recommended soap for both medicinal and cleansing purposes. Galen describes soap-making using lye and prescribes washing to carry away impurities from the body and clothes. According to Galen, the best were German and ones from Gaul were second best. This is a reference to true soap in antiquity

Bathing habits all over Europe rose and declined with Roman civilization. When Rome fell in 467 A.D., so did bathing.  It’s said that the lack of cleanliness and poor living conditions contributed to the many plagues of the Middle Age.

Medieval history:
Soap-makers in Naples were members of a guild in the late sixth century and in the 8th century, soap-making was well-known in Italy and Spain. The Carolingian capitulary De Villis, dating to around 800, and sometimes attributed to Charlemagne, mentions soap as being one of the products the stewards of estates are to tally. Soap-making is mentioned both as "women's work" and the produce of "good workmen" alongside other necessities such as the produce of carpenters, blacksmiths, and bakers.
In France, by the second half of the 15th century the semi-industrialized professional manufacture of soap was concentrated in a few centers of Provence— Toulon, Hyères and Marseille— which supplied the rest of France. In Marseilles, by 1525, production was concentrated in at least two factories, and soap production at Marseille tended to eclipse the other Provençal centers. English manufacture tended to concentrate in London.

Finer soaps were later produced in Europe from the 16th century, using vegetable oils (such as olive oil) as opposed to animal fats. Many of these soaps are still produced, both industrially and by small scale artisans. Castile soap is a popular example of the vegetable-only soaps derived by the oldest "white soap" of Italy. Not until the seventh century did soapmakers appear in Spain and Italy where soap was made with goat fat and Beech tree ashes.  During the same period, the French started using olive oil to make soap.  Eventually, fragrances were introduced and specialized soaps for bathing, shaving, shampooing, and laundry began to appear.  King Louis XIV of France apparently guillotined three soapmakers for making a bar that irritated his very sensitive Royal skin.
    
The English began making soap during the 12th century. In 1633 King Charles I granted a 14 year monopoly to the Society of Soapmakers of Westminster.  In the reign of Elizabeth I, soap consumption in England was greater than in any other European country. It seems that Queen Bess set the fashion herself, for it was reported that the Queen took a bath every four weeks "whether it was necessary or not."  Just as the soap industry was gaining momentum in England, it became the subject of a series of restrictions and crippling taxation. It was not until 1853 that Gladstone abolished the tax on soap.

It wasn't until the 18th century that bathing came into fashion.  In 1791, the French chemist Nicolas Leblanc discovered how to extract soda from common salt.  Around the same time, Louis Pasteur proclaimed that good personal hygiene would reduce the spread of diseases. 

In modern times, the use of soap has become universal in industrialized nations due to a better understanding of the role of hygiene in reducing the population size of pathogenic microorganisms. Industrially manufactured bar soaps first became available in the late eighteenth century, as advertising campaigns in Europe and the United States promoted popular awareness of the relationship between cleanliness and health.

Liquid soap:
Until the Industrial Revolution, soapmaking was conducted on a small scale and the product was rough. Andrew Pears started making a high-quality, transparent soap in 1789 in London. His son-in-law, Thomas J. Barratt, opened a factory in Isleworth in 1862. William Gossage produced low-price good-quality soap from the 1850s. Robert Spear Hudson began manufacturing a soap powder in 1837, initially by grinding the soap with a mortar and pestle. American manufacturer Benjamin T. Babbitt introduced marketing innovations that included sale of bar soap and distribution of product samples. William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James, bought a small soap works in Warrington in 1885 and founded what is still one of the largest soap businesses, formerly called Lever Brothers and now called Unilever. These soap businesses were among the first to employ large scale advertising campaigns.

By the beginning of the 19th century, soap making was one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S.  Rural Americans made homemade soap using a process from the Colonial times.  They would save ashes from their fires for months.  When they had enough fat left over from butchering hogs they would make soap.
 
Old fashioned lye was made using hardwood ashes, a barrel or ash hopper, and rainwater.  Holes were drilled in the bottom of a barrel.  The barrel was placed on a grooved stone slab which rested on a pile of rocks.  A layer of gravel was placed over the holes.  Then a layer of straw, twigs, and sticks was placed on top of the gravel as a filter to prevent the ashes from getting in the solution.  After filling a barrel with hardwood ashes, rainwater was poured through the ashes to leach out the brown lye liquid which would flow into the groove around the stone slab and drip down into a container.  Some soapmakers used an ash hopper for making lye instead of the barrel method.  Using the same basic process,  the lye dripped into a container located underneath the hopper.

The most difficult  part of early soapmaking was determining if the lye was the correct strength.  The “lye water” was considered the proper strength to make soap when an egg or small potato placed in the solution floated about halfway beneath the surface of the solution.   If the egg or potato floated on top, the lye was too strong.  If it sank quickly, the lye was too weak.  Some early soapmakers used goose or chicken feathers to test their lye.  If a feather inserted in the lye water began to dissolve in it, then the lye water was at the right strength.

Since there was no accurate way to measure the lye concentration, this old fashioned method often resulted in harsh soap, which has given lye soaps an undeserved bad reputation.  Early soapmakers often had to make many batches of soap before one was suitable to be used by their family.
 
During World War I, commercial soap, as we know it today, came into existence. The injuries of war brought an increased need for cleaning agents.   However, at the same time, the ingredients needed to make soap were scarce.  German scientists created a new form of "soap" made with various synthetic compounds and as a result detergents were born.  Many commercial soaps available today are actually detergents, which are made with petroleum by-products.  Since these "soaps" are detergents, by law cannot be called soap.  Chances are that when you see a soap called a "body cleanser", it is not soap at all.

The most popular soapmaking process today is the cold process method, where fats such as olive oil react with lye, while some soapers use the historical hot process.

Handmade soap differs from industrial soap in that, usually, an excess of fat is used to consume the alkali (superfatting), and in that the glycerin remains in the soap, leaving it naturally moisturizing.  Superfatted soap, which contains excess fat, is more skin-friendly than industrial soap, though if too much fat is added, it can leave users with a "greasy" feel to their skin. Sometimes an emollient such as jojoba oil or shea butteris added "at trace" (the point at which the saponification process is sufficiently advanced that the soap has begun to thicken) in the belief that it will escape the saponification and remain intact, or in the case of hot process soap - after most of the oils have saponified so that they remain unreacted in the finished soap. Superfatting can also be accomplished through a process called a lye discount, where, instead of putting in extra fats, the soap maker puts in less lye.

At SudsMuffin, we use both Cold and Hot process methods of soap making depending on our desired effect. We also superfat our soaps so that they retain a rich moisturizing feel and do not dry out your skin. 

I hope this little history lesson (ok maybe not so little) was interesting and educational. Let us know if you have any other questions about soap in general, soap ingredients, special requests, what have you. We are happy to answer your questions.