Soap Stories

The Every Day and Any Occasion Gift Guide

Rachel Sloan

The Every Day and Any Occasion Gift Guide

I have never been a lover of "things." So when it comes to gifts, I prefer the kind that disappear! If you give it it to me and it doesn't exist in a year, that's the kind I like. This gives you insight into one more reason why I love soap. It's beautiful, it smells nice, and in a month or so, it's gone! I wrote in the November newsletter that you all keep Nature's Trace alive and well because you buy all year long. For many of you, Nature's Trace is not for gifts, but your every day hand wash and always in your...

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Windy City Made! Year 2

Rachel Sloan

Windy City Made! Year 2

My first time on Television, where I proceeded to give more credit to the trees than myself ;)

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Field Museum Collaboration - Celebrating Sue!

Rachel Sloan

Field Museum Collaboration - Celebrating Sue!

This is our second Field Museum collaboration! (You can read more about the first one here.) To celebrate the most famous dinosaur in the world, Sue the T-Rex. The current Sue exhibit contains an olfactory element.  And the Museum asked me to create something so visitors could take those smells home with them.  To develop the scents I did a deep dive into the Cretaceous period and learned about ancient plants that would have been in Sue's part of town. I took the main notes the museum had already, of Cypress, Magnolia and Ginger, and then blended and sniffed and tweaked until I came...

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Hello, Love

Rachel Sloan

Hello, Love

I don't usually name a soap something other than what it smells like, or by the tree or flower or place that inspired the scent or design. This month however, the name, "Hello, Love" seemed like the perfect thing. That and, "Cedar and Lavender with roses but it doesn't smell anything like roses," didn't fit on the label :) It's February, so of course there's Valentine's and all the pink hearts and cards and roses abound, (some would say, ad nauseam). But celebrating Love toward ourselves or others is always a good idea, and I've always wanted to make a soap with...

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And what Wonderful Adventures we shall have

Rachel Sloan

And what Wonderful Adventures we shall have

A little year in review of 2022

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