My soaping journey began as an idea to fund a field trip for my AP Chemistry High School class. I had always been fascinated by the chemistry of soap making, and so during one summer I spend a lot of time reading, learning, and planning to make my first batch.

I was lucky to find several local suppliers for the ingredients and some inexpensive wood containers for simple molds from a local craft store. I didn’t follow the conventional advice, which is to make a plain, unscented, uncolored batch first - I was too excited! Instead, I used two colors of clay and peppermint oil. The chemical reaction that creates soap is called saponification, and the process can get started quickly, or more slowly, depending a number of factors including temperature, ingredients, and scent and colorant additives. My first batch took the faster route! I had to hustle to get it into the mold, and there were some bubbles in the final product - but it was soap! Not only was is soap, but it was GOOD soap - sudsy and aromatic. I was pretty lucky - I had created my own recipe and nailed it on the first try! Over the years I have tweaked the recipe, but it is essentially the one I started with.

After this first venture, I designed three soap bars - lemongrass, rosemary mint, and lavender. Choosing the best quality essential oils I could find resulted in beautifully fragranced soap that lasted a long time. The following school year, my chemistry students pre-sold about $700 worth of soap and we made bars after school for several weeks. They were a hit. The following year we sold $2000 worth and the third year we sold $3500 worth! Each year we added a few more choices and went into massive production mode during after-school hours. After taking break (due to Covid), we resumed our soap sales, and this year we matched our prior earnings! Making 500 bars of soap is a lot of work, but the students are proud of their product and thoroughly enjoy their self-funded field trips. Our school soap has become a holiday tradition that brings joy to me, my students, and our school community.

After my first attempt at a school sale, I decided to try selling under my own brand name, Rook & Wren, at a local holiday craft bazaar. Sales were good and so we have returned each year for the last seven years as we have continued to expand our brand. It has been exciting to see return customers who tell us how glad they are that we’re back because they needed more of our awesome soap! While we make some sales at the same holiday bazaar each year, most sales have been from word of mouth, which has been facilitated by the addition of our website - rookandwren.com. To date, I have made over 250 batches of soap, and I am still learning and trying new things. I love the opportunity to continue expressing my creative side as there are always new scents, color combinations, and swirl patterns to try out! I also love always having lovely smelling, sudsy, luscious soap in my shower - it is a great way to start the day!