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Pre-Holiday Update

We are pouring bunches of great new soaps, and it’s a good thing too — If you have visited the website recently it looks like we are out of almost everything! Let me tell you a little of what’s going on…

We are making a bunch of new coffee soap in our shea butter recipe (No.10), and lots of different mint soaps that are almost to die for.

We have updated our “Ginger” soap to formula No.10, have made a few loaves so far of Almond-Oatmeal, and are pouring a new scent that we haven’t even given a name to yet. We’ve got Tuberose in a new Q formula, and of course are pouring lots and lots of both Sandalwood and Goat Milk soaps, two of our best sellers. Oh, and lots of Lemongrass!

We are trying to offer a choice of bar size in more soaps, so that you can make your own decision on that, and will be simplifying the number of offerings on the website, working on that while soaps cure.

We were thrilled this summer to receive the last of Claire Hall’s calendula petals, grown right here in Wabasha, Minnesota. They are so much more vibrant and alive than the ones we would normally use, and look like petals of orange gold in each bar of No.08 with Calendula, of which we are pouring many slabs in the next few days.

I have personally been hiding a few pounds of expensive lavender essential oil for a special occasion, large glass bottles of Bulgarian and French oils, some organic… and you have never truly smelled lavender until you smell these. I think that all the lavender No.08s and No.170s we are about to pour will use these oils, just in time for Christmas. I think we will use it in the No.11s with yogurt that will be poured too.

That’s just some of what we are working on, and we will be posting new pictures to the website as soaps get cured and prepped. We also happen to make outstanding lotions, by the way, and bath salts too. We simply have not gotten to marketing those yet. They have certainly been tested. (smile)

Sorry for this long post. I started to write just a few sentences, and the more I wrote the more excited I got!

Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive this year, and helped us prosper. Our soaps really do continue to get better and better, with your help, and it is a fact that we would not exist without you. Thank you especially for your patience when it takes an extra day or so to get orders out, or when the website doesn’t seem to be working right, or when one of us fails to respond promptly to your comments or suggestions. You are much appreciated, and you have blessed us with your kindness.

Have a great weekend!
John

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Regarding a Choice of Free Shipping

A quick note…
After a recent software upgrade to the website, “Free Shipping” is now offered as an option when you go to Checkout, instead of just applying it automatically like it used to (assuming of course that you have met the dollar requirement). Naturally, there would be no reason to not choose free shipping when it is offered, but the fact that there is a choice at all is admittedly confusing. Some customers have chosen to still pay the $4.95 for shipping, either out of confusion or generosity, and they received a free bar of soap with their order.

The software that we use indicates that this is not a bug, but a feature, and offers a convoluted way to resolve the issue by rewriting some code. In anticipation of a patch being made available I have not yet invested the time to fix this myself, and continue to ask for your patience while we work through this glitch.

If Free Shipping is offered, then by all means choose it. Anyone who chooses to pay for shipping, accidentally or otherwise, will receive a free bar of one of our bestselling soaps — one that we want you to try.

As always, thanks for your business!
John

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Alma Soap Blog Goes Live!

Welcome! Well, the big day is finally here. Some of us were starting to wonder whether we would EVER get this thing going! Here are some quick notes to let you know what we’re still working on (besides almost everything), and what else is going on…

In the time we have spent putting this site together we have not been pouring soaps, so our inventory is down much lower than normal.  Rest assured that we are aware of this, and will be making all the soap we can in the next few weeks to make up for it. We will keep you informed of our progress.

We plan to setup a form for you to be able to request re-pours of special batches, or to request special combinations of soap & scent. You may also do this on our Facebook page (click here). Some fragrances present special challenges, but more often than not we can combine any fragrance and color with any soap base. As we see trends develop in preferred soap bases and favorite scents we will be doing this anyway.

Please note that the site is still actively under construction, and, although we don’t anticipate any large surprises at this point, we do ask for your patience while we work out any bugs and get systems in place. Given a little bit of time we will have everything running smoothly for you.

In our attempt to moderate spam you must register on the site to leave comments. We understand that many people may not want to take the time to register, and in that case we welcome your thoughts and comments once again on our Facebook page.

Thank you for visiting!

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On Testing Batches — S-No.s170 Cananga Silk

from behind the curtain…
By the time I mixed batch # 170 I was sure that this combination of oils, at these ratios, would create a soap that was equal to or better than any batch yet. Maybe we succeeded with this formula, or maybe not — soap is a pretty subjective thing. That said, I was initially disappointed in this batch when I tested the first bar at about a 3 week cure time. It just didn’t lather like it should have. In hindsight, this was great information. On a whim however, I grabbed a bar off the rack a few weeks later, and, having had more time to cure, it performed beautifully.

Regarding this particular soap, the custom blend of Bergamot, Tangerine, and Ylang essential oils is reminiscent of orange mixed in vanilla cream. Ylang has always seemed overpowering to me, and I was determined to appreciate it… to use it in a way that accentuated its lustiness, while maintaining good form. In this I believe I succeeded.

I hope this soap — this formula, No.s170 — becomes a great seller, but if it doesn’t that’s okay. We have so many great soaps, and many of our simplest formulas are some of our best. Please try a number of them, and let us know what you think. Thank you for your business.

— John, Lost in Minnesota