Another month has passed and what a summer we are having here in Ireland. This month I am happy to introduce you to Susan from Cloud 9 Handmade Soap
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| Susan |
Mo:
Hi Susan, good to meet you. Tell us a bit about yourself, what do you do?
Susan:
Hi Mo, good to finally meet you too. I’m Susan and my
business is Cloud 9 Handmade Soaps. All products are handmade using 100% natural
ingredients. I make soaps for people and also for dogs.
Mo:
How did you get involved with your craft?
Susan:
I started making soap
as a hobby after I developed psoriasis and really started thinking about the products
I was putting on my skin. So many commercial items are full of toxins and chemicals.
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| Open for business |
After a while I
had more soap than I could ever use myself (even after sharing with my friends and family who loved them) so I decided to look into what was involved with selling my products.
I realised the same was true with Dog shampoos as most of the products available were mass produced, chemical laden products. There was little choice for a natural option for dogs so I developed a bar of soap especially for them.
Mo:
Describe a typical
day?
Susan:
I tend to make soap in batches, which then have to cure for a number of weeks on racks. A soap making day involves a lot of natural oils i.e. olive and coconut and alot of clean up afterwards!
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| Cured soap |
After the bars have cured, they are hand wrapped and ready to go to their new homes! At the moment I’m busy wrapping up bars of lavender and dog shampoo bars.
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| some wrapped bars |
Mo:
Any Future goals and ambitions?
Susan:
I’m working on a new
project – liquid dog shampoo to complement my dog shampoo bars. Like my other
products, these will be 100% natural and will offer a choice of unscented for
super sensitive dogs and puppies and scented shampoo, using essential oils (suitable
for dogs).
For those of you who own dogs, I'd also appreciate help with a survey I've developed to gather information on what products I should add to my dog care range.
Mo:
Sounds like you are going to be busy. Do you have any advice for new crafters?
Susan:
Connect with other crafters and network as much as possible. You’ll find other crafters in the same position as you and only too willing to offer help and support. Not only that, there’s nothing nicer than having a coffee with a group of like-minded people taking about their craft passions.
Mo:
Where can we find you?
Susan: here are my contact details.
Mo:
It was great to meet you and have a chat. Thank you for being our August Designer of the Month.
Susan:
I really enjoyed our get together and I am delighted that you chose me for August. Thanks again.
Well that's it for this month. Do go and have a look at Susan's shop and if you are a dog owner why not pick up a bar of her very popular dog soap for your favourite pooch.
See you all next month and if you too would like to be our Designer of the Month, do get in touch.
Mo
