grievances, market trading etc

Well its been a long time it seems and I have been so busy had no time to blog. So this is a big catchup. Gave my notice in on Friday 13th February and was told by work I would be paid till the end of of the notice period Friday March 13th)but dont need to work. Spent last week getting markets sorted and then on Monday, yesterday, I did my first market in Hinkley. It was ok but didnt make alot. I was doing well till about 9:30 when the charity collectors arrived. Took about £30 then after the charitry collectors who had mini ponies - poor creatures were forced to stand up for 5 hours. Personally I reckon that is animal abuse at its nastiest since the general public saw them as cuties collecting for disabled children but the poor ponies were seriously not happy and should not have been forced to stand in a shopping precinct having to put up with humans stroking them. They were clearly unhappy but most folk would not have realised. Nor would I normally but I happened to be right next to them and when they are there for 5 hours it suddenly truly hits home how cruel this was.

Anyway, market a bit disapointing but it was my first there and am doing Friday as well. Today had grievance meeting and it was fun! The face of the MD when he realised the T&G had an electronic copy of the file which they forged saying it was sent to me on december 07 when infact it was created in January 09! It was so funny. His hands shook and his face went red! Anyway the emails since when they have discussed have been really funny. They think they have a secure system and me a hacker! If only I had the knowledge. All I did was search using the name of the person who placed me with the company ( from a recruitment agency) and told the pc to search the entire network including hidden files. I even carried on working whist it did its thing. Then emailed the file in question to my Union rep using their email system! My knees were shaking when I did this, even tho I was sitting down, since MD was pottering around behind me. I found my file without any security breach. Ages ago too before they even decided the outcome of the original grievance meeting since today was actually the appeal. So infact all their employees could access their files if they just guessed the right search word, since they obviously have no security at all! I am expecting them to try and take it further tho. I am sure I have done nothing wrong but whether they believe me or not who knows! I am glad they are furious tho. They have been really nasty to me. No idea if they will pay me yet but they are mad if they dont cos I reckon with the T&G behind me I stand a good chance of winning and not only have they ripped me off they have committed fraud in forging the T&Cs of employment and saying I had them a whole year before they actually gave them to me. Even then they only gave me them cos I raised a grievance! Liars indeed!

Next what have I been up to! Wrapping hundreds of mini bars of soap for the BVF. Wish I had more space infact for storage since getting enough stock together for this is a nightmare. I should not have signed up for it this year at all I reckon. Made loads of bath bombs last week and sold the majority in 2 markets so had to make more today. Made another 69 and some mini ones but that wont get me thru till next wednesday. I have markets Friday, monday and tuesday before I can remake stock so will be making more again tomorrow and also need to make some more soap. Finally got the mini bars for the BVF giveaway out of the drying cupboard so now have to fill it all up again. Have about another 6 kilo of bars to wrap for then. I cut them today so they can finish drying in next few days before wrapping.

Saturday I finally got hold of rip off printers - he arrived at my market stall infact. Assurred me he has emailed me - I checked, no email! Yesterday checked again, and today - no email. The W4nk3r wants to get me again I expect. Last time he gave me a quote over the phone of about £300 for the labels but I never got it in writing and when eventually I got the bill it was £849 so this time I have insisted to get in writing and he has not so far given. The company is INSPIRATIONAL LABELS in Rugby. If anyone reads this I would suggest going elsewhere! Anyway I have yet to get the quote I originally asked for more than 2 weeks ago so I think I now have no choice I have to get a new printers! I have 3 new soaps, all ready to sell ( samples to go to testers yet but they are safety assessed) and I have no labels so cannot see the point of making any more bars till I get it all sorted. I shall just have to make the original bars for the BVF. And find a new printers.

My new lip balms are selling well tho. Sold 2 organic ones at 2 markets and one that is not organic so it is [probably going to be a good one. Lip balms are affordable tho. Have yet to make the body butters or moisturisers but now have the ingredients and the packaging so its all systems go for the whole lot. I will try to do body butters tomorrow and moisturisers will more than likely be next week I think. One project a week and it will just happen without stress.

Branching out into selling BioD is working out well too so maybe this will all work out now. I am considering doing refills for the washing up liquid and have some interest. If I can find some other folk interested I shall take the plunge and buy the kit tho its quite a big outlay to get set up and also I now need a new car since my little darling rusty but reliable ancient fiesta is just too small.

Thats about it I think other than listing everything I am trying to sell which would be boring as hell evevn for me! Oh and struggling with CS2 - its just so different. I cannot find the different tools and need to do another course now to finish my website. I am still plodding along with it tho and hopefully one day I will finally upload a real website.

more nasty chemicals - propylene glycol

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• I did a search for this chemical since its in many organic and natural cosmetica and I am on one with this topic right now. I already knew the chemical structure etc but I didnt know the following altho it doeswnt really surprise me.
  
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• What is Propylene Glycol?
  May cause severe adverse health effects and has been found to cause contact dermatitis, kidney damage and liver abnormalities! Check this out! ... Propylene Glycol (PG, ... PROPYLENE GLYCOL is a colorless, ...
  http://antiagingchoices.com/harmful_ingredients/propylene_glycol.htm

organic rip off cosmetics products!

Well its been a full 10 days and I have not blogged. Expanding my market stall range to sell household eco cleaning stuff now. Bio D and also shampoos and stuff from Faith in Nature. And I have managed to get a supplier for fluoride and sls free toothpaste. It was actually quite difficult when I went into it tho cos its suprising how many companies who call themselves natural use nasty petrochemicals in their products. Even some I had respect for until the last few days.

Also something I am finding that really bothers me is the "green " companies who use chemicals that are derived from say coconut oil so start off natural but then they undergo identical chemical processing to petrochemicals ( sometimes using petrochemicals) and they end up with the same chemical structure as a nasty chemical people avoid and they say its natural. How? To me that isnt natural. I think its a con myself.

How can a chemical that is from coconut ( or any other vegetable oil) be better than a identical chemical made in identical process from petrol. Its still the same chemical. It will still have the same or very similar side effects and health hazards whether it came from crude oil or crude coconut oil. Thats just a fact. Its just people percieve this as different. I know I am using an old arguement here but from the opposing side.

Hopefully this will make sense when I write it down. Scientists used to argue that a nature identical compound was as good as a natural compound. For example perfume oils that were synthetic were said as having the same properties as natural ones - generally people go for the natural ones since most people dont believe this. I cannot see how something that has undergone serious chemical changes can be called natural despite it starting life as coconut oil! It may be vegetable in origin but by the time it has been through several chemical modifications it is no longer coconut oil and no longer natural either.

Thats not to say it is bad ( personally I dont like it) but I do not really see how it can be said to be any better than the petrochemical it is replacing. Its not natural whatever anyone says. I am by training and lab experience an organic chemist so it used to be my job to synthesize and to formulate such chemicals. They are just chemicals at the end of the day whether from crude oil or coconut oil and I for one do not want them on my skin!

Anyway many organic health care product companies are using synthetic surfactants derived from petroleum such as olefin sulfonate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium myreth sulfate, and parabens preservatives.

These are just a few ( without naming and shaming since I am a very small company and they could bring me down!). I just wont sell their products!

Examples I have discovered in the last few days are:

From a well known, and highly regarded amonst the vegan community, organic toiletries manufacturer who I considered stocking their products:

olefin sulfonate - can be derived from petroleum or coconut oil

Cocamidopropyl betaine - derived from coconut using petrochemicals.
(ie made from coconut oil reacted with petrochemicals. Not nice!)

"Cocamidopropyl Betaine is classed as a semi-synthetic: definition: Function: Surfactant/Foaming Agent. Origin: Semisynthetic compound derived from coconut oil obtained from the kernels of palm trees. Restrictions & Adverse Effects: may cause contact allergies in some individuals * Reference: Cosmetics Unmasked, Dr Stephen & Gina Antczak"
source:http://www.theremustbeabetterway.co.uk/acatalog/Cocamidopropyl_Betaine.html

Is this really any better than using SLS? Much as I personally dont like SLS its been around for donkeys years and the side effects are well known. It came into its own during WW2 and has been used in pretty much everything since then. Yes it causes allergic reactions. Buit at least we know exactly what it does even down to penetrating a few mm into the skin it comes in contact with and probably causing cancer! We have yet to learn what these so called new (un) natural compounds do!

Not that I want to use SLS either - dont get me wrong but its unrealistic to go round claiming these new (un)natural chemicals are a better option. As far as I can see they certainly should not be in anything calling itself "organic". That is just misleading to the general public who trust these "ethical" companies.

Many of these companies also use synthetic fragrances and flavours. Another con!

I also accidentally bought some vegan ( again a well known manufacturer) face packs. Unfortunately - me being a pauper! - will have to carry on selling these but unless they turn out to be seriously popular I wont be replacing them. They contain artificial colours, sls, flavours/fragrances etc. Again not nice.

Upside is now hopefully have a great wholesale supplier of veggie/vegan products many of which ARE natural and you can order online. I was a bit worried when I came to pay and the form asked for a VAT number and I am not registered but when I rang them they said it will be fine so hopefully it will be since I urgently need some more stock. I am now considering doing refills for eg. BioD washing up liquid too so have to check out with trading standards if I am allowed to do this! I reckon its a great idea but maybe the rules say you are not allowed.

Incidentally both of these above examples are from manufacturers of whom I have myself bought products and the first one is actually very upmarket.

Anyone wanting futher info please email me and I will let you know the details and what companies but no way can I afford to post this!

Imbolg - Brigid`s day

Today is Imbolg ( or Imbolc) the fire festival of Brigid, the warrior goddess of our ancestors. For me Brigid (who was christianised as St Brigid or Bride and who gives her name to the word bride) is the most interesting of our old gods. Brigid was the warrior aspect of the celtic triple goddess. Our mother.

Inbolg comes midway between the equinox and the solstice. Its the start of spring. The daffs and crocuses are just peeping through the grass in my front garden too so it is true. Not that you would know it was spring where I live since we have had a couple of inches of snow today and it is still snowing. I gave in and went to work in combats and my ancient shiny black docs - which interestingly are currently for sale in Topshop! Mine are circa 1993 tho and a bit or possibly very worn but also very comfy and they do not yet leak despite being old and worn a bit on the left foot from gear changes on my motorcyle ( which went years ago!). I originally bought these docs to wear when I took my landlord to court for illegal eviction thats how I know I bought them in 1993. At the time they seemed very respectable shoes. Strange how times change! Anyway have come to work "casual" which I normally make it a rule not to do. Partly cos it makes it easier to spot me if they know how I dress outside work and I like to try and keep my anonymity but also because I have loads of office type clothing that needs wearing out and not much "play" clothes so I like to keep them for "play". I cannot currently afford any new clothes so the ones I own that I like are a bit precious to me.

I dont have any great moments to blog about today but just felt the urge to write so I had better do that. Especially since I am so slack at getting round to blogging usually. Spoke to the guy who does my safety assessments today and he says my lip balms should be done in time for Brighton Vegan Fayre which is great. Just need to get making them as soon as he says I can. No point till then just incase they do not pass for some reason. Knowing my luck if I did they would fail on something at the last minute. Hopefully I will be able to make enogh money to buy the packaging for them ( ie aluminium lip balm pots) without using my credit card. Cant depend on that tho! I did not do as well this week on the market in Rugby as I did last which was a disapointment. The other traders didnt either tho and were putting it down to the very cold weather. Who knows. They are all telling me to stick with it tho so I shall. The guy who runs the market insists I need more products but until my safety assessment comes thru I wont have any unless I buy something in and so far I have not found anything to sell that will probably sell and no one else is selling! Difficult one. I am considering SLS and parabenz and possibly fluoride free toothpaste but other than that I am drawn towards the fair trade and hippy stuff but M reckons I will just get stuck with loads of gimicky stuff that only people like me want! Maybe hes right! So anyway I dont really want to go getting into debt for rubbish I cannot get rid of. Its all very difficult. I will investigate toothpaste tho and see what I can do cos that could be a good one that will give minimum effort and I can just sell and not need to safety assess or make myself.

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.............................................

inspiring words

I found the most amazing blog today. So Inspiring for someone about to chuck everything in the wind and take the ultimate risk.

http://www.todayisthatday.com/blog/when-one-door-closes-another-door-opens

Or is it really the ultimate risk? Date now is set ( still unofficial but this will be it even lovely other half in agreement) that on 16th March 2009 I will really really become self employed. For better or worse, success or fai------. Not even going to write the word since it aint going to happen.

You make your own fate, make your own future and you are who ever you want to be!

And now I will be me. Possibly for the first time since I went to Uni to get away from long term unemployment and no future. Well I have no future in my dead end job. Friends will say "ah but you always do this" and yes I do. I quit jobs whenever it takes my fancy. I temp, I get "freedom" whatever that really means. In the end tho I still go back to slogging it out for an employer. Alright a different employer but after awhile the new wonderful job goes sour - or maybe I just come to my senses and see what my life really is like and then I start the whole routine again. I hate work, hate my job, apply for loads of new jobs in all different fields etc etc etc. Well this time its going to be different cos I AM IN CONTROL! maybe I will F--l. But I intend to give it my best shot and yey! I will be self employed. My own boss. All my life I dreamed I would do this. Dreamed it could be done but NEVER have I HAD THE COURAGE NEEDED to make it really happen. Strangely I had the courage in 1994 to go and do GCSE maths and a pre-access course and just go for it and apply for Applied Chemistry at uni! Me who left school with nothing and was considered a "thick kid". And when I did it it was a game. I never believed I could do it. My friends encouraged me and it changed my life. Then having achieved this life changing monumental thing I gave up and took rubbish dead end jobs - drifting from one to another for the last 10 years - and believe me when you have been a homeless unemployed for 10 years since you left school and considered yourself the lowest of the low (and thats not even considering what the general folk on the street thought of the likes of me and my street life compatriots!) then this was BIG! Now its time it seems to do it again but this time I wont have a grants system or student loan to help. Its just going to be me, my products and my (hopefully) buying public. I cant wait. Infact has to be said it is 10 years since I finished my degree ( June 1999) so it must be a 10 year thingy or approximate where big decisions just seem to occur and I go for it and take risks. Well maybe. The only risk last time was my fear of failure and everyone I new taking the piss. It mattered tho and it felt important to me to pass and pass well. I will have to try and be aware in 10 years time what I am doing. Maybe I will get to retire then. Who knows. I doubt that tho cos I dont expect to make a million but if I can just survive, pay the mortgage, pay the bills and eat that will be just fine. Anyway this really is going to be it. Giving Notice in to employer of 16th February and believe its 4 weeks. They might even pay me to go earlier - well you have to hope. Dont expect that will really happen. I actually have my Grievance meeting next tuesday so we will see. No idea how that will go but the Union has confirmed if I leave or move jobs they will continue to fight for me whatever so here goes. They owe me £800, they owe me a contract and they will hopefully have to pay up! Either way I have absolutely zero to lose since the T&G will sort it. They will end up paying one way or another even if not to me so thats fine.

Oh - soap. I made 480 mini bars on saturday/sunday ( once they cure of course) so should be fine for the BVF now and have to let Charlie know so he can include it in the advertising. So if you fancy visiting Brackencraft on 21st March at BVF and spending on anything you will get a free mini bar of soap. I shall try to make more this weekend but am waiting on a supplier now. Got Rugby market this saturday so thats good. Now it will begin....................

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???????