I want your input!

A sampler of Sarva Soaps. Click image for enlarged view.

It’s time to update the Sarva web site.   Help me create the site you want to use!

Got input?  Let’s hear it!

I’m looking for honest, constructive feedback on how I can create a better shopping experience for you.

You can leave a comment to this post… or, if you prefer, visit Sarva Natural Artisan Soaps, have a look around, and leave a message on my site’s contact form.

The site will retain its unique, “handcrafted” look, reflecting who I am and what I do… which is what created Sarva in the first place.

I am a one-person operation and do everything myself:  formulating, soapmaking, shipping, customer service, photography, packaging, and even the web site.  I’m completing my certification in web design, and the present site was built prior to having any training.  Can’t wait to get it humming.

Thanks for your feedback! Watch this space as well as the Sarva site for updates!

Expectations, or limitations?

Sarva Rosamaya Soap, as it "should" be (bottom), and as it decided to be yesterday (top). Click image for enlarged view.

Sometimes it seems like nothing goes right, doesn’t it?   You do something a certain way and you expect a certain outcome.

And then, it doesn’t turn out the way it always turned out before.  Or the way you expect it to.  Need it to.  Want it to.

It can happen with soapmaking, too.  Check out the photo to your left.  The bottom, more pale pink soap is Rosamaya as I sell it on my the Sarva web site.  The top soap is how it came out of the mold last night.  Yes, those are the same formulations!  Indeed, in retrospect I realized I did something slightly differently, but nothing that I would ever expect (there’s that word again) would produce the drastic difference in results!

I was so disappointed!  A mild form of panic hit.  I’m sold out of Rosamaya and really needed to restock.  This is my product… this is what I am in business to do.  I like to offer a consistent product, naturally.  This time, I think we can safely say I don’t have a consistent product!  I immediately disliked the outcome.

Because it wasn’t what I expected.

And then I took another look.  It’s really quite lovely, isn’t it?  Yes, it’s darker, and it could fade.  But there is a more mysterious, unique depth to the color.  The scent is the same, a very gentle and soft rose-like essential oil blend; and the lather is still just as wonderful thanks to Illipe butter and evening primrose oil – it’s a lush, creamy, amazingly decadent soap to use.   And you know what?  In truth, I like its new look better than that which I “expected”.

I’ll grant you, this is “just soap”.  But as I think about larger situations in my life, this lesson still applies.  When things don’t meet expectations, take a look at them from a new angle.  There just might be new opportunity there.   Stay open!  There’s so much to see.

Pumpkin Pie all-natural soap… sneak preview!

Sarva Pumpkin Pie Soap

Hot off the presses, still in its mold, I have created a brand new Pumpkin Pie soap!  Thought I’d give you a sneak preview here on the blog.   Feel free to click on the photo for an enlarged view.

I’m testing out a pumpkin pie-like essential oil blend that I created just for this batch.  I don’t use any fragrance oils, so every scent blend I use takes a lot of careful adjustment.  I suppose it would be less trial and error to just add some “pumpkin pie” synthetic fragrance to my soap, but I only use natural ingredients.

There’s real pumpkin in the soap, which gives it such a lovely color… though mostly obscured as you see it in the mold… and a hint of pumpkin scent.   Can’t wait to see it sliced!  Stay tuned.

The next batch will be “without whipped cream” because, as you know, some folks like just plain pumpkin pie.

Do you tend to your inner home?

Everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.

- Rumer Godden

Help me give this poor child a name!

a nameless soap from the Sarva Gallery Series!

Help this poor nameless soap!  (Help my Photoshop skills too, but hey, at least we know my soaps aren’t as artificially enhanced as half of Hollywood.)

This is a beautiful soap, contrary to the abundance of shadows you see.  My partner J said, “it’s a Zen soap!”  Maybe it is.   Hmm!

Anyway, it’s colored with French green clay, which also gives it a silky slip and creamy lather.  I’ve embedded a square of white castille soap in each bar.  Visually, this soap imparts a lovely stillness, a panacea for the craziness of your morning routine.

J likes its appearance.  I like the scent.  Basil and Peppermint… an unlikely combination that just smells divine.  Soothing yet awakening, somehow it’s both.  Japanese Matcha tea is like that for me.  Hence the color of this soap.

I want to call it something like “Mental Clarity”.  Once I find a variation on that theme which has more marketing zing, or if someone out there submits a great idea (a free bar if I use your idea!), in about six weeks you’ll see it on the Sarva Gallery Series page, about 4.5 ounces for $4.50, with its new moniker.  And a brighter photograph.

Of course, I may just call it Matcha!

Meet Miss Lily.

Miss Lily soap - Sarva Spa Series. Click photo for enlarged view.

Born at 10:30 this morning, August 2, 2008.  Named in honor of… well, you know who you are!

I’m not a mom, but I’ve been around plenty of babies at bathtime.  They don’t want to go to bed, they sometimes don’t like getting a bath, or they get playful and wiggly in the water, and then they get soap in their eyes.  That’s no fun!

So, here’s a soap that I designed just for babies.  Engineered to have a gentle, abundant, creamy lather… no big bubbles to jump up into baby’s eyes out of nowhere (some soap does that, even to grownups like me).  There is just a touch of lavender essential oil, in case bathtime is a bit tense.   And, no pink or blue!

I’ve infused extra virgin olive oil with calendula petals.  This, along with shea butter, creates a wonderfully mild formula.   Calendula petals add visual interest and will go down the drain just fine.  All pigments are natural, so there’s nothing funky and synthetic going on your little one’s skin.

Of course, for the few babies out there who do enjoy a calm and blissful bath, this will make it all the more wonderful.

Miss Lily weighs in at a whopping 5.5, almost 6 ounces per bar.  She will be ready to take home in about six weeks, after she incubates for a while.   She’ll be available as part of the Spa Series by mid-September and will retail for $6.95.  I do take advance orders; contact me here and put “Miss Lily” in your subject.

New soaps being born tomorrow!

This is the official teaser post

Tomorrow there will be at least two, ideally three, new soap pictures in this space!  You’ll be the first to see these new varieties.  They won’t be on the Sarva site or available for purchase for another six weeks.  (But I take advance orders!)  All soaps must cure on special racks for about 4-6 weeks before they are sold.

So, tomorrow morning you’ll meet:

1. Miss Lily, a baby soap.  Contains, among other goodies, calendula-infused virgin olive oil and just a touch of lavender-but not too much–to calm the little one at bathtime.
2. Nameless so far, I’ll share it when it comes to me.  Designed for those who like to take ritual baths before spiritual practice.  A special soap with sea salt, sage, and other essential oils.
3. Another nameless one, and you’ll just have to wait and see about this one!

Watch this space for baby pics on Saturday!