I wasn’t daunted by my first dismal failure at soap making and soon made another batch. This time it worked; friends and family were soon getting samples so I could get some feedback. Not content with just making plain soap though, I experimented with different oils and soon progressed to using fragrance and colours, producing lovely patterns and discovering the world of essential oils and fragrancing. Jenny loved using them to, so did her friends, and the house smelled fantastic!
The drawback with hand made soap is that you can’t just make one bar, you have to make a block, and after a while we found we had much more soap than we could possibly use, or even give away. That was when one of Jenny’s friends let us know she was organising a craft fair and would we like a stall. I couldn’t believe anyone would actually pay for our soap but decided to give it a go. Off I trekked with my folding table and boxes of soap to a community centre in the Black Country on a wet Tuesday afternoon. I was terrified.
There were handbags stalls and jewellery makers, some pottery and handmade gift cards. There was a great deal of hustle and bustle as everyone set out their stalls. I got some great comments about the fragrance coming from mine from the other stall holders and soon relaxed. Soon we were all ready and the doors were opened. And we waited, and waited. It had been advertised but it would seem that people had more pressing things to do on a wet midweek afternoon than traipse around a room full of handmade stuff!
All was not lost though, I did get some custom, from the other stall holders! I sold some soap and got some great feedback. I think I made about £30 on the day. It wasn’t a great deal of money but it gave me the confidence to keep going and try more craft fairs. I did realise that it would be a long trek before it would be something I could make a living at and I couldn’t quite give up my day job. Not just yet.