Soapmaking Day 4

By Eve Donnelly

Today was my last day of the internship.  I took my soap of of the mold and it looks really good!! Not like anything we expected but good! After I cut my soap, I dusted some gold mica dust on top. I must admit it is quite girly looking but I love it!  

When Ellen wants to create a new kind of soap she tests out smells in small amounts of essential oils. We tested many smells today and with Dave’s help she decided on one of them: a gardener’s soap. After she decided on the smell, we made that batch of this new soap along with two other soaps. The last thing that I did today was learn how to put figures into a database that helps keep track of how many soaps there are left, how many were sold, what materials are running low and need to be replenished.

I have enjoyed this experience from the start to the end. I would definitely love to work with Ellen again and to make more soap!!

Soapmaking Day 3

By Eve Donnelly

Today I got to make my own soap!
 

I made a grapefruit scented soap that’s yellow with pink swirls. I had to use two containers in order to use two colors.

I had to line my mold with freezer paper which is what Ellen did for many years before she got reusable ones. I began to make the soap. First I mixed the oils and then I added the lye water. I next poured a small amount of the mixture into another container and added pink clay so that I would get a pink color. I added the grapefruit essential oils to the larger container and began to mix it.

As soon the trace began to appear on the top of both mixtures, I swirled the soap with the pink clay in it into the larger container which I then poured into my mold. I covered it and let it sit. We also made whipped shea butter today and packaged it in small containers.

Soapmaking Day 2

By Eve Donnelly

Today we took the soaps out of the molds and cut them. It’s really exciting to see what the inside designs of the soap will look like. I used a “log cutter”  and cut into bars with what looked like a large hard-boiled egg cutter.

After I cut the soap and put the bars on the racks to dry, we began to make lip balms. We melted oils specifically used to make lip balm and put essential oils in. I then poured the melted mixture into the molds.  

While they cooled, we put together a few gift basket orders, wrapped and packaged them by hand and got them ready to be shipped. When the lip balms had cooled, I capped them and put labels on them.

Soapmaking with Ellen April Handcrafted Soap

By Eve Donnelly

For my artisan internship, I worked with Ellen Watson, a woman who started a small business of making luxurious handmade soaps. She works out of the workshop that she and her husband Dave built in the garage of their beautiful house. The name of her business is Ellen April Handcrafted Soap.

When Ellen first began to make soap, she did a lot of research. It was almost one year before she made her first batch. She has now been making soap for nine years. She sells her soaps and other products (lip balms, creams, body and room sprays) at local farmers markets (including the Phoenixville Farmers' Market) and ships packages out as well. She is as green as possible in her business by using recyclable and reusable bottles, recycled paper bags, reusable liners for the soap mold, and soy ink for her business cards. She also uses wind power throughout her house and in her workshop.

DAY 1

Today was the first day of my internship. It was so much fun! In the morning we measured oils in preparation for making soap. We used soft oils (i.e. olive oil) and hard oils (i.e. coconut oil). Ellen uses the cold process to make soap using colds oils and cold lye water (which was made ahead of time). I learned that in the winter time when she goes to market, all of her soaps are wrapped by hand. In the summer they are put into bags with labels. After measuring oils, I labeled these bags while Ellen created the different labels on her computer. After lunch, we began to make soap. We made three batches: buttermilk honey, snow on cedar and a trial batch of orange. She seems to have hundreds of essential oils of every scent and lots of clays and oxides for coloring the soap. We mixed all of the oils together and then she added the lye water. As soon as she put it in the mixture, I noticed that the bottom began to appear milky. We added the essential oils which reacted with the lye water and sped up the process of the soap thickening. You will know the soap is ready to be poured into the mold when you dribble some of the mixture over the rest and it stays on top of it like a little ridge. This is called the trace. Next, Ellen poured the soap into the mold and we covered it. The soap has to sit for a while to go through the process of saponification, so after we had finished making the soaps and cleaned up, I made lavender bags that you can put in with your clothes in the dryer while Ellen input data into the computer and answered orders.

Saint Peter's Bakery

By Ariel Gallegos I've been able to make and try so many things at Saint Peter's Bakery. I've helped make breads, I've made and decorated cookies, I've made pear and apple pies, helped make cinnamon buns and croissants, and have been able to make sugar flowers. Here are some finished sugar flowers. I've also tried serving and it was hectic to say the least. The bakery has been able to keep their business growing by offering lunches and selling at markets. Though they don't advertise much, Melanie has been interviewed in magazines and newspapers and they always count on word of mouth. The atmosphere in the bakery is warm and most of the customers who walk in the door are regulars and have gotten to know Melanie and her team of creative chefs quite well. The women there are very friendly and they love what they do. Most of them started out wanting to go into a different field of work when they were in college but found their love for baking and ran with it.  Here is the dough for the Easter cookies. Here are the decorated Easter cookies. Most, if not all the baked good made at the bakery are made into dough, shaped, then frozen till they are ready to restock. No matter if the dough is made on a different day the goods are always freshly baked and always delicious.

Sweetwater Bakery - Wholesome Ingredients

By Julia Lipkowitz

Today we once again rolled, baked, and packaged cookies, and bread was formed and set aside.

It was a short day, ending at 11am, as the villagers had a meeting. As this is a very short entry, I will describe the ingredients that are used in the products at Sweetwater Bakery. All of the ingredients are organic and natural, and even though they use white flour for some of the products, it is unbleached and keeps the wheat germ. The whole grain flours used are ground fresh, and the salt is unrefined. Also, they use a combination of sugar and rapadura sugar, which is completely unrefined.

Last Day at Sweetwater Bakery

In the last day at Sweetwater Bakery, we baked and packaged the bread like on Tuesday, and were done by noon. This week was fun and very interesting, as I loved baking before as well as Sweetwater’s products. The internship gave me a different perspective, as I got to see how all of the products were created and what systems were used to organize them. The only challenge I had was having the pressure of knowing that what I did would affect someone else’s business, but that kept me determined to be as helpful as possible. It was such an incredible experience that I’m seriously considering having a summer job at the bakery. In all, this practicum was educating and opened the door to many great opportunities in the future.

Julia Lipkowitz