21st century communication.

For those of you with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, with the ios 5 version, we are now available on iMessage or FaceTime at kwspecialties@gmail.com.

This is a free – very cool app that allows instant video chatting or photo messaging free between users anywhere.  It is also very useful if you want to see how a product looks.  Unfortunately they dont have the technology to smell fragrance oils through your computer (yet!)…

We are on the move (again!).  K&W will be moving to a new location in January, and in order to facilitate the move we will be closing the business from Dec. 23, 2011  through to January 23, 2012. We are giving you lots of notice and are closing during a traditionally slow time in the industry so that customers are not inconvenienced – and we appreciate your understanding and patience.  We are looking forward to serving your soapmaking needs even more efficiently from our new location.  Any new phone numbers or addresses will be on the web site as soon as they are available.

Some of you may notice that we are using shredded paper instead of packing styrofoam peanuts in our orders. We are trying to be “greener” and recycle scrap paper, as well as use something that is bio-degradeable or recyclable. Any peanuts we are still using are recycled ones that we have received with supplies. We are now offering Paypal as a method of Payment on our web orders – faster, easier, and less paper waste! See our ordering page for more info.

5% of all K&W ‘s sales for the month of October will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Our goal is $500.00 – please help us reach it!

Some news from K&W Specialties….

Our new shopping cart web site is up and running.  Please try it out – it will give you an automatic total for your order (except for taxes and shipping), which will be emailed to you after you submit the order.  This should save us a lot of time preparing quotes and you will get them faster.  As usual – the order won’t be sent out until payment is received so if you just want an estimate – it is a great tool.  Please bear with us if you encounter problems with the new site – and let us know if something isn’t working, we will try to get all the bugs out as soon as possible.

The url is the same www.kwspecialties.on.ca.

We are working on a new catalogue – unfortunately due to work loads – it will not be ready for the fall/Xmas season.  Please bear with us as we are aiming to have it ready in the early part of 2012.

New Fragrance Oils:

Grapefruit-Ginger and Rich Citrus Cream (type).  Prices and descriptions will be on the site in the next few days.

On Sale this month:

Aloe Vera Powder, Cranberry Seeds, Raspberry Seeds, Strawberry Seeds, Cucumber Powder, Tomato Powder, Spinach Powder and Vanilla Beans Seeds, all 20% off.

All Soap Colour Bars and  all Liquid Dyes both 10% off.

All in stock molds are still 50% off for the rest of the month.

As of  August 19, 2011 the office hours for K&W Specialties will be Monday – Thursday 9-5.  We are still here and working on Fridays but this will now be a day dedicated to inventory,  new product  testing,  ordering ,  and all the administrative tasks that get put off and interrupted during the week while we are focused on getting orders processed.  Orders can be called in and emailed but will not be answered,  or processed until Monday – so please bear this in mind when  timing your orders.

We have had a couple of comments regarding the voice mail vs. a “real person” and I would like to  address this.  I personally  return every  message that is left as soon as possible – always within 24 hours – more often sooner,  as well as  emails.  All I can say is that if you do not leave a message – I cannot know that you called.  I understand that people do not want to leave credit card numbers on the voice mail – just leave your number and I will call you for it  The nature of this business is that I cannot be sitting by the phone from 9-5 and  this is why we have a  voice mail system.  Please be assured – your call will be returned.

Thanks for  your understanding and co-operation!

Tamara

Yes the prices of coconut and palm oil have skyrocketed,  and yes alot of this is due to the fluctuating commodities market and the crazy gas prices.  Keep in mind that exotic tropical oils come from a long way from here and transportation is a large part of their cost.  Both coconut oil and palm oil have almost doubled since K&W’s last purchase and I have reduced the mark-up – but it is still expensive!  As a soapmaker, I feel the pinch too and for the first time in 13 years – I have raised the prices of the soap that I retail.  So far – no one has complained and sales have not been affected.

Here are some other ways to cope with the higher costs:

1) Reformulate your recipes to reduce the amount of coconut and /or palm oil.

2) Try experimenting with small amounts of oils that are made closer to home ie: canola, soybean, sunflower.

3) If you are not willing to increase your prices, try adjusting your recipes to make  a smaller batch – just reduce total fats by 5%, it will be hardly noticeable in the finished product and you will have  a slightly smaller batch, and thus reduce your ingredient cost.  Don’t forget to recalculate lye based on the new amounts of fats!

Pay attention to how you store your oils.   They can go rancid in extreme heat in the summer and should not be left in the sun,  if you store outside.

Any other ideas on this – feel free to share!

Spring has finally materialized in our little neck of the woods…after so much rain – everyone is so happy to get a few consecutive days of sunshine….it seems to help with whatever ails you!

We have some new products here and on the way in the next little while, so I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce them.  One of my favourite colourants is now being stocked by K&W.   The “Crafters Choice” line of Liquid Pigments and Ultramarines are something I discovered several years ago and I have never looked back – they are are a proprietary blend  of  glycerine and the powdered mineral based pigments that you are used to, but make it so much easier to mix with soap.   They work in both CP and M&P, no mixing required and you never get the powdery mess that appears in the bottom of your mix, and often your soap.  They are convenient,  colours stay true, no fading  and never bleed. You can use a dropper to measure out what you want, and just keep adding until you get the desired shade  (I use a Popsicle stick!)

You can mix them with other colourants or each other and they work the same way pigments do -  they will not stay transparent in clear M&P, but will give you a darker version of the shade and a more pastel colour when used with opaque M&P.  The Liquid Pigments & Ultramarines are all natural and are not affected by Ph levels.  They are water dispersible – so in CP soap they should be either mixed with the lye and water, or added at trace.

We will also be carrying the colour bars, same idea but these are for M&P only – and are available in the same colours along with some funky fluorescent colours (purple, magenta,, yellow, orange and peach, great for kid’s soaps).  You just melt a small piece of these in with your soap base, and voila!

To encourage  you give them a try – we have a special introductory offer for the month of May only.  All Crafters Choice colourants  are 10% off for the month of May. Check them out, I think you will marvel at how easy it makes colouring!

Essential oils are intensely concentrated , volatile, aromatic essences of plants. They can be extracted from flowers, buds, bark, leaves, fruits, roots and spices. Essential oils can be processed with heat (steam distillation) which is the more common method or can be distilled with water or Co2.

People often ask why essential oils are so expensive. The process of distillation is so labour intensive, and the resulting oil, so concentrated, that it takes 1.2 tons of flowers (an acre and a half of plants) to produce 8 litres of lavender essential oil. This makes you not want to waste a precious drop!

In soap making – some essential oils have better “staying power” than others. Stronger essential oils such as patchouli, cinnamon, peppermint, and lavender are long-lasting in soap while the citrus oils (lemon, orange, lime and grapefruit) do not fare so well. Often citrus oils are strengthened by a “fixative” such as Litsea Cubeba, which is known to help “hold” citrus oils in soap.

Essential oils are harvested around the world, and Lavender from France can be quite different than Lavender from South Africa. It is important to be aware of these differences, and to keep track if you are buying from different suppliers so that you have consistency in your ingredients.
As most essential oils come from overseas – add on the ever rising price of oil, and the result is increasing essential oil prices. There will be increases, and where the prices are extremely high, the 1Litre will not be showing on the web site – but if you are interested in a price – please call or email. When we are able to get a favourable deal on any new oils that savings will be passed on to you – so there will some price decreases as well. The essential oil market is very volatile, with prices changing rapidly due to weather, crop issues, diseases, and even politics, so prices can change rapidly. We will honour the price on the web site at the time your quote is done, even if the price goes up before your order is sent out.

Many of you have asked if order pick-ups are available.  I will be running the business from my home which is in Inverary, Ontario, 15 minutes north of Kingston, which is half-way between Toronto and Montreal, approx 3 hours from  each.  If you are in driving distance or are going to be in the area, I would be happy to have your order ready for pickup, please just let me know ahead of time, ( 3-5 days) as the packing requirements will be affected.I am looking forward to getting to know you and to meeting your soap-making needs!