Nearly finished with this slavery!

Market went very well and I am there for at least the next 5 weeks. Turns out last weekend is the traditional worst weekend of the year. People get paid early for xmas and then have to wait 6 weeks etc. Tho I had not considered that since I get paid mid month anyway and so does M. Anyway had best takings ever and if thats the worst weekend of the year I should be able to make this work. Ginger and Lime soap looking good but have yet to pH test etc and will expect it to be ready sometime mid February. Intending to make a citrous - not sure yet but Lime, lemon, orange and possibly grapefruit but may miss out grapefruit since apparently grapefuit essential oil is unreliable quality wise from one year to the next. Also have yet to make this francinsence & myhrr soap I have been planning for ages. Having time to make new as well as make stock is proving difficult! Thats as well as experimenting with lip balms. They are finally sorted and now also have fizzy bath melts tho doesnt look to hopeful with selling them. Or there was no interest last week. That could be a presentation thing tho and this weeks are like little cakes in petit four cases. Last weeks were ( and still are since didnt sell any!) half hearts. I am also doing heart shaped bath bombs which have turned out to be a complete nightmare to make but seem to sell really fast. So I have a problem here. I originally intended just to do these for valentines and mothers day but if they really are best sellers maybe they will end up having to stay. I am only doing 4 flavours of them - all with flowers. We will see. Maybe they are selling cos folk are starting to think of valentines day. I had a go at solid perfumes this morning. Nowadays I get up at 5am and do a few hours before going to boring day job ( 2 weeks till give in notice now so only 6 weeks left there!). Means I get to do some experiments. If I try to do at night have serious problems with making dinner etc and since M does shifts it simply doesnt work! Causes arguements and have to say he does have a point when he has to eat dinner at 8pm and go to work at 9pm so have had to stop doing that ( dogs dont like having to wait for dinner either!) and so I now do early in mornings instead. Anyway back to solid perfume experiment - by the smell of it there is no perfume left. Must have volatilized when putting into the hot oils/waxes. What a pain this is. have to work out how to get perfume into the hot wax/oils before they cool and go solid. I need to do aromatherapy by the looks of it as well to learn how to combine fragrance types and also need to do lots of experiments with perfumes. Well should be fun but its going to cost in both time and essential oils by the looks of it. I also want to have a go at making vegan milk bathsalts or bombs. No idea if this is going to work but nothing ventured etc...........have never seen anyone else making these either. Must do an internet search infact. Other than that I have actually blogged, honest but cant publish it yet cos of possible inductrial tribunal and it might end up stopping me from winning. They decided not to pay me. That was on Tuesday and gave me 5 days to apeal. I am going to but they obviously think because I have not yet gone back that I am not going to. They dont know I have a very interesting document in my possession. Will wait and see what the union tell me to do tho. Anyway market tomorrow and I am really believing now that this is really going to work. If it does then its a thank you to Sandy Maine for her book about making your own natural products bodycare business http://http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creating-Herbal-Bodycare-Business-naturally/dp/1580170943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233308728&sr=1-1 cos thats what inspired me to go from a hobbyist cosmetics maker to a manufacturer albeit a small one.

If you want to do this you can do much worse than reading this. It doesnt give yopu business plans, it doesnt give you help in anyway really it just gives you inspiration and the belief to have a go and make it happen!

Well I think this weekend I will find out if I can survive doing this and if I can then slavery for me is about to end.............................................

Today at last is friday.

Well first half of week was horrible. Possibly just being back at work but really I think its down to bosses being paranoid. I am no longer allowed to be alone in the office at lunchtime apparently. No idea what they think I am going to do. Sabotage something??? Stupid people. I am going to take em thru greivance proceedures and possibly an employment tribunal. Why would I ruin my chances and sabotage something. I dont need to, I will get my wages and maybe even compensation for having had to go without them for weeks or by then even years so why would I do something illegal. I dont need to. I just need to wait and let the law take its course. Ofcourse I may lose but from my point of view it wont cost me anything and I might just win so I have nothing to lose. And it WILL cost them so even if I get nothing they will still have to pay so I win either way! I certainly wouldnt do anything to damage anything to do with their company. They really must think I am dumb. I know I am blonde but truly its dye in my hair and my brain does really work! Well Bosses now at Arab Lab so I am being watched by their side kicks now taking turns as to who misses their lunch while I eat mine. Never experienced anywhere like this place. Have applied for 2 jobs and am now going to do Rugby Market in 2 weeks and a Farmers market next week and have Brighton Vegan Fair looming at end of March. Its being advertised as the second largest Vegan event on the planet!! Honestly what was I thinking to go for something so big? I suppose nothing ventured etc but really I have hardly any time to make soap for markets let alone for a huge event like this promises to be. I probably should have gone for it next year but no, not me. Straight in at the deep end. Course it might just be the making of the company. I have a suspician we will just look fooliosh tho. Up there with all these long established huge companies. What was I thinking of!. I suppose it may be a good thing tho. The Yaoh team seem very nice and who knows this time next year I may be saying how it made the company viable. Right now its very scary cos I dont know how I will find time to make enough stock. They have said I need some sort of promotion too. I could buy badges but dont have the cash ( got some quotes yesterday!) so I see lots of late nights coming up while I get some soap stocks made to give away nuggets of soap to anyone who buys something! Considering it takes 5-8 weeks to cure the soap I have lots of work coming up in next 3 weeks to get all this ready on time so forgive me if this blog goes dormant for a while. I will be spending every spare minute making soap - or washing the equipment after making one batch so I can make the next. Boy do I need a dishwasher! Might have to invest in a second set of soap making kit too just to help me on my way! Other than that I should possibly check out wholesale quantities of vegan lollies - anyone got any offers out there???????