Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild, Inc.

May 3 - 5, 2007, St. Louis, MO

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Friday, May 4th, 2007

Friday morning everyone awoke to attend some soap making sessions as well as sessions on Trade Shows and Chemistry. What a way to start out Friday with a bang than to have two fantastic presentations

Linda Stevens of Upland Soap Factory conducted a class on large batch soap making. Linda has a way of making this difficult task easy and affordable! Linda was able to show attendees how to mix 100 pounds of soap in your shop without breaking your bank. Attendees were full of questions for Linda, who’s knowledge of soap making is first rate!

Susan Ryhanen of Saipua was on hand to do a fantastic presentation on Trade Shows. Susan's experience (and success) with trade shows, along with her vast soap making experience made this a very valuablt presentation.

After a break and a snack the attendees headed into the mid-morning sessions, including another presentation by Linda Stevens on Calculating SAP Values. This class was very helpful for anyone planning on taking the test for the HSMG Certification Levels starting in 2008.

Concurrently, Kevin Dunn, chemistry professor and author of "Caveman Chemistry" wow'ed us with a detailed review of the experiments he conducted (and oversaw) on determining the effect of super-fatting or lye discount on the final bar of soap. The results were carefully documented and somwhat surprising to a lot of the attendees. (A summary of his presentation is included in the Fall HSMG Journal). He also presented information on why some essential oils cause seizure in the soap pot and gave some options on how to make some scents more stable.

After the morning sessions everyone headed down to lunch and the HSMG Annual Meeting. Members received reports on the current status of the organization and voted on several matters.

Next in the schedule were the final sessions for the day.

Trina Wallace of Snowdrift Farm did a presentation on scenting soap.

Joan Wysocki did a presentation on Herbs and Herbal Infusions

Party Time!

The highlight of the evening and one of the highlights of the conference itself was the wonderful networking party held by Debbie and Dave May of Wholesale Supplies Plus. It was an absolutely wonderful party, held in the tower building of the Sheraton and the views of the surrounding area were excellent.

There was a steel drum band, Mongolian BBQ and excellent hot appetizers, enough to please any taste or preference. The bar was open and there were round tables everywhere for people to congregate and have a chance to speak in a casual and fun setting. Debbie and Dave said a few words but mainly were content to mingle with the attendees and enjoy the festivities right along with them. They conducted a drawing of business cards and awarded the winner a WSP gift certificate worth $500!!! The lucky winner was, Leighsa Leask of Bubble Hut, Inc.

We would like to thank Wholesale Supplies Plus for throwing a wonderful party for the second year in a row! In fact, if you missed it be sure to attend the conference in 2008 in Burlington, Vermont where WSP will be on hand with another memorable event.

Continued ....