Springing into the Farmers markets with Granville Island Soap Gallery.

Highdee ho good neighbors!
Spring has sprung here on Granville Island and we are getting ready....already...for the Farmers Markets upcoming around Vancouver and surrounding areas.
We are super pleased to be attending  three markets for the months of May-October.
Coming to a market near you will be all our handmade natural and organic products like our soaps, skin care items, natural wool dryer balls and more!

Check us out at the Lonsdale farmers market as well as the Burnaby Farmers Market...

http://www.artisanmarkets.ca/?_year=2013&_month=5&_cday=1&loc=&date=

Lonsdale especially is really easy to get to from its close proximity to the seabus stop.
We will be leapfrogging our dates with the two staring in May

We will also be at the Langley Farmers market on wednesdays....

http://www.langleycommunityfarmersmarket.com/

this is a really good market and one of the only ones (that I know of) on Wednesdays.

Come see us at Whiterock Farmers market on Sundays
http://www.whiterockfarmersmarket.ca/

this market is well attended and of course...is in sunny Whiterock so go for a stroll...have some fish'n chips and come see us!

we will put up dates at a later time otherwise call the store here on Granville Island at 604-669-3649

cheers and bubbles!
Darren Monette

Moisture Mousse at Granville Island Soap Gallery

Hi everybody!
I must admit I have been remiss in doing the blog
entries especially since our YouTube videos are taking
off and people are checking the blog.
We will be launching our retail oriented website this summer
as it IS time to do so. Usually we do our orders over the phone
when people call the Soap Gallery but a new site will
make things a wee bit easier.
The only problem may be that we do sell a lot of product by weight so I'll
have to figure out that process.
New soaps are being made every day and I sometimes can't keep up with the
making of it. Nice problem right!?!?
Our store on Granville Island is busy as ever so come on by!
You will see us making our most popular Moisture Mousse... A super
hydrating cream for the entire body that is not greasy rather it is
like putting a light layer of moisture right into the skin along with
our "Summer Garden" natural oil fragrance blend which is orange and pomegranate
mostly as well as our French Lavender....divine!! And of course
the Creamy organic Vanilla. We also do a scent free one called "Naked"
today I will be heading in early just to make more!!! Yay.
See you at the store!!!
All the best.
Darren Monette

Me and Dianna Agron

So recently we had the nicest young lady with her friend Sebastian in the store shopping here at the Granville Island Soap Gallery.
Now, we get a lot of celebs shopping here at both The Soap Gallery and our other store Woofles and Meowz recently, such as the likes of Russell Crow............likes beeswax candles......Cloris Leachman......cute as anything......Jennifer Beals......woman just does not age.......and lots more!
So being a super fan of the GLEE show it was nice to see Dianna Agron in the store.
She is every bit as nice as you would think she is and having been cast as the "pretty girl" in the show I believe the casting director did their job.......she is GOR-GEE-OUS!!!
I did not want to stand next to her super handsome shopping date, Sebastian as he has that typical actors physique that renders anyone in close proximity to look like an ogre. "Standing next to you we would look like the number ten" I said feeling a bit Rhubenesque (thats chunky for y'all) so he was nice enough to take our pic ............"quick!! I can only hold in my gut for so long haha"
Look for Sebastian on an upcoming episode of "Once Upon a Time" which is filmed here in Steveston which doubles as Storybrooke, Maine.

Soap classes at The Granville Island Soap Gallery!!

Well, its THAT time of the year again! Soap classes return to the gallery in the fall staring October 15th which is a Saturday.
Staring at 10 am:
Beginner class: this class we learn to scent and colour glycerine based soaps essentially reformatting them to wonderful creations of your own doing. We will do hand tinted Koi fish, lemon candies, donuts with sprinkles.
Intermediate class we learn to do more elaborate items like embeds in cakes, decorating cakes and techniques to make dessert type soaps.
Advanced class students are shown two ways of traditional soap making...cold and hot process using essential oils. This is a old school way of soap making using fats and lye. No students under 16. pls bring a clean 2 litre milk carton to take some product home to cut and dry the next day.
.............all classes are fun , interesting and students take home some of their own work.
Simply call the store at 604-669-3649 to register!!

New Products at the Granville Island Soap Gallery!!

Hi Everyone!
This summer has been super busy with all the great visitors coming to Granville Island as well as the 'soapers' that stop by for a wee chat. I LOVE going over recipe ideas with people from their teens to well into their 80s.
It seems that a lot of people have had an interest in soap making at least once in their lifetime and many have tried with mixed results.
Some great stories come out of it either way!
Sooooo the next step in our great plan is the continuation of our hand made products, especially the soaps and the Moisture Mousse, especially the Moisture Mousse which we cannot.....cannot keep n the store or make fast enough.
I know one of the reasons is that my "mother-in-law" June is forever asking people to try one of the four scents we have in the line and once on the hands or arm people are hooked!
We like to call our Pomegranate and Orange mousse..."whipped cocaine"...one try and you are hooked.
This leads us to expand our line coming at the end of September (I know, later than we expected...hey we've been busy eh!) with:
All organic products consisting of:
 Peppermint foot gel
 Aloe eye gel
 Shampoo
Conditioner
Spray-in detangler.
Bath oil
Bubble Bath
Kids bubbles
Lip balm
Liquid hand wash
Massage bar
...........and more!
We will do these in our favourite scents like "Summer garden", Lavender, French Vanilla and Naked.

the best part is that we will have a recycling program with the bottles so we will reduce the plastic footprint. Only ONE bottle will be out there per person rather than multiples.

anyway...thats it for today....back to making soap!
cheerio,
Darren

Soap in Vancouver...the Good the bad and the ugly!

Lately we have been making soap fast and furiously as the only shop in Vancouver to do so right in the store. Busy little beavers have we been in the "soap making area".
This leads the store to smell like a cornucopia of lemon and chocolate, almond and patchouli and a lot of other food grade essential oils.
This would be the GOOD....or the great. All day long we hear how it smells just so much better than other certain stores that sell soap..........do we really need to name them? No.....ok yes....LUSH!!
You know which one I am talking about. You can smell the synthetic soap ingredients a block away and they have had more than their fair of disputes with their neighbors who somehow did not like the smell of the products wafting into their cafes and retail stores.......this would be the UGLY.
I am actually pretty pissed at Lush for making millions of people shy away from scent!!!
Sometimes people come to our door and shy away for fear that it is smelly.....then they linger and say "oh! this is way better than other stores I have come across".
"yes......we know...." is the response.
So now for the BAD. I can only tell you that if the product in a so called store looks just like the one in the Drug store......it IS!
Once a company gets so big it has to contract it's product base to other companies who then subcontract to someone else there is no quality control. I don't care who the company is. This is how Kathie Lee Gifford found out her products were being made in less than stellar conditions for a while. Kudos to her and her husband Frank though for catching the problem and helping to implement stricter controls for manufacturing.
We will always know what is in our product lines.......cause you are important to us.....thin skinned or thick..we love it all.
Darren

Bulk products at The Granville Island Soap Gallery!!!

Hey fellow bubble lovers!
We have been slammed damn busy these past few weeks but we are taking the time to launch a very exciting new product line(s) here in the Soap Gallery.
It is our bulk line of products!
We have been asked by so many if our SIGNATURE LINE scents can come in any other products than what we presently carry and after long thought we have created an eco friendly and gorgeous lineup.
The concept had to be carefully cogniscient of the packaging dilemma while still creating a nice package.
The result was a "fill a bottle....bring it back...we will recycle it for you and get a deal on your next fill"
This reduces the plastic footprint...you can decide to have a label IF you want and our recycling program is efficient and clean!
We are very excited to also be bringing several products with a focus on the organic and essential oil compositions such as:
Shampoo
Conditioner
Bubble Bath
Bath and massage oil
Body wash
Peppermint foot cream
Body lotion
Body cream
Aloe eye gel
Body scrub
Lip balms
Foot balms
...and more!!
we plan to do these up in our Signature "Creamy French Vanilla", our "Summer Garden" scent and of course scent free!
Our launch is targeted for May 5th.
Come on by to test what we have!
cheers,
Darren Monette

Glycerine soap vs traditional soaps at The Granville Island Soap Gallery

Hey all!
I was asked as I often am about what the difference is between regular soap like a traditionally made soap and glycerin soaps is.
Well, as best as I can explain it and with the help of stealing some text from Wikipedia...
Traditional soaps are a chemical reaction between an acid (oil) and a base or caustic material (lye) whereby the materials combine to create something completely different and without any of the original (well mostly) materials left over. The reaction is called Saponification and soap is created.
When we make soap one of the byproducts is glycerine and.....

Glycerin soaps are soaps that contain glycerin, a component of fat or oil. The soap is recognizably different from other soaps because it is translucent. The clarity of the soap is due to the particular alignment of the soap molecules in this type of soap, which can be induced through the addition of alcohol and sugar. This is usually done for homemade glycerin soaps which are not remeltable.
The process for making glycerin soaps was well known as of 1857 in the Western world. In modern industrial soap-making, the glycerin is then usually separated from the soap to be resold and used in a wide variety of areas such as for personal care products, pharmaceuticals, chemical intermediates, and food processing.....mostly food processing.
Glycerin soap is made by melting and continuously heating soap that has been partially dissolved in a high percentage alcohol solution until the mixture reaches a clear, jelly-like consistency. The alcohol is added to a slow cooked hot-processed soap and then simmered with a sugar solution until the soap is clear or translucent, and then the simmered soap is chilled in a freezer. With home- and hand-made soaps that still contain glycerin left over from saponification the grating, melting and cooking can proceed without the addition of anything into the mixture, though sugar or more glycerin is sometimes added. Glycerin soap can also be produced without remelting soap through directly cooking raw home-made soap.
Modern clear glycerin soaps bases are produced by combining various glycerol and polyols with soap and other surfactants in a manner similar to traditional glycerin soap making methods. These modern clear soaps have the benefit of being easily re-meltable and are often sold in bulk to customers for melt-and-pour soap crafting.

For my store I have made up for me a pure vegan glycerine soap to my standards and formula. This soap is a very gentle, purely cleansing products that holds the essential oils cleanly and clearly......a super nice product.

Natural soaps and a small footprint!....to boot!

We were chatting with a few people on a busy day here and someone remarked that they thought the store was really pretty and that idea was echoed by a few others.
I was and am extremely flattered as I explained that everything within the store has a "green" focus in that I re-purposed, reused, and recycled almost everything within the store. I used "eco" friendly, no emission paint and if I had to buy something it was second hand with the exception of two Ikea lamps that hang in the store.
It was almost like a game finding free stuff and reusing furniture and fixtures that would fit into a unified theme without looking like a flea market within itself. I even made the sign hanging outside out of an old door and some creative use of foam molding and some paint and dollar store letters......all second hand!
I am very proud of the way the store turned out and offer some advice to others who may be looking to start a retail establishment in that you can go high end and spend a lot on the interiors and yes, it will look great, or you can go creatively funky and save a bundle!
Unless the design is really mismatched and unusable the customers would never notice the difference and they would only focus on your products.
Only nerds like me go into a store and remark on the quality or cost fixtures as I have been in the business...and did I mention I can be nerdy?!?
Thanks again to our nice customers who complimented the look of the Granville Island Soap Gallery....I very much appreciate it!!

Intermediate soap class!

Our Intermediate soap class is upcoming tomorrow on Saturday.
We are looking forward to the class as we are doing up some fun "cake" style soaps with gorgeous decorating techniques.
Check back with us if you miss this one by calling the store at 604-669-3649 to see when the next one is happening.

New artist at the Granville Island Soap Gallery

We are super happy to have Marlyn Macdonald join us in the gallery with her gorgeous paintings

Marlyn was born in England and moved to Eastern Canada where she studied at the Ontario College of Art before moving to the coast. Strongly influenced by Nolde, Van Gogh and Matisse, Marlyn creates works which are both contemporary and abstract. Lush surfaces invite the viewer to approach her painting; layers are built up and removed using a palette knife.

Marlyn’s love of flowers enhances her interpretation. Using strong colour coupled with expression and movement, Marlyn’s paintings of floral still life typically elicit a joyous response from the viewer & are collected throughout Canada. 

 

Marlyn and I used to work together at a Jewelry store where I was designing and selling sparkly things as was she and she had a few paintings up in the store there that were often admired.

We will be doing a revolving stock of her work as it will go fast with the tourist season fast approaching. Please stop by to see her work and I will put up a few examples of it here on the blog.

Cheerio!

Darren

Born this way

Recently I was chatting a few customers who were very interested in the designs of our soaps and they commented on the artistic nature of our items. The conversation turned very flattering to me as they asked "how did you cone up with all these cool designs?"
to which I replied "to quote Lady Gaga I guess I was just born this way"
I couldn't help but have some fun quoting one of my favourite artists as it is a compliment that I can't take any credit for really... I like what I make and use all the products. I try to have a sense of humour about the designs and styles and that is something that yes, I research, but more to the fact I guess we really ate born with whatever sense of whimsy and humour we have. Blame my groovy parents... They're a bit wacky too.
Come on by the store to see what new and exciting things we have upcoming. These days we are working towards all our wedding and bridal favours for the upcoming season. The new and hot trend is takeaway soaps for your guests instead of the stale almonds or cake... Although... Mmmmmmm caaaaaaake!!! I like that too!
See.... Just born that way.

Soap Granville Island

Soap making classes are now being registered for our upcoming dates which happen on Saturdays. We have alot of fun making some great soaps so call the store at 604-669-3649 to see what spaces are available and come join us for a laugh and learn to make sone cool stuff.

Vancouver's best Soap shop!!!

Recently we had the good fortune to have a wonderful guy named Andre do a short documentary on the shop and publish it on youtube.
Thanks for that Andre, you are a superstar and it looks great!
If you are interested in seeing what Andre has put together just click on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg3RU_dQjJs

cheerio!
Darren

Soap Classes at the Granville Island Soap Gallery

Hi all!!
our first soap class went super well as did our intermediate class with a few of the participants taking both of them.
The ladies learned to make, in the first class...chocolate donut soaps (a huge hit as Christmas for us)
lemon drop candy soaps (as yummy as they sound) and Koi fish soaps which were unusually pretty in how each student made different ones and they all turned out beautifully!

The second class was more for the decoration aspect in that we made cakes that actually looked real...but of course they were soap. Guilt free Cherry Cheesecake anyone?...how about Chocolate Pudding Bundt cake or maybe Orange Creamsicle cake....or Peppermint/Eucalyptus cake....delish!!!
We taught how different layering techniques and decorating styles that really made the "cakes" look good enough to eat and the ladies were all funny and creative, making interesting and gorgeous items to keep and give away.
Kudos and thanks for all those that took the two classes.
Right now we will be taking signups for our advanced class which will be the traditional soap making class with old school techniques...........learning about the how and why behind the chemistry will be important and necessary to impart proper soap making abilities..........should be fun!!!