Don't Eat the Soap.....

Deli that is....
Oh if only computers were scratch and sniff then we could all truly enjoy this blog post all the more! Rebecca, of Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen, also affectionately known as SoapDeli, sat down with me to talk about her yummy soapiness.

Just how did Rebecca and SoapDeli get started? She explains, "When I first started out in 2001 the idea was to sell soaps that smelled like delicious favorites from the kitchen. I still do sell food scented soaps, but I've also evolved into non-food based scents as well to meet customer demand. All of my soaps are made using the cold process soapmaking method in small batches to ensure quality control. I use shea butter in all of my soaps and only vegetable based oils. Many of my soaps are vegan though I sell goat milk varieties as well for those who choose a different
lifestyle. I scent all of my soaps with the maximum recommended amount of scent to ensure a great smelling bar from start to finish. All of my soaps have a rich lather that makes them great for shaving. They also work well as facial soaps - my unscented goat milk soap is a favorite
for this - and as shampoo bars."

Her current favorite item is the "Lemon Verbena Salt bar. It's not only 100% natural but it smells divine and my skin loves it too." Rebecca says, "It's formulated for those who tend to have dry skin, like myself as I'm prone to eczema - and has a wonderfully rich, lotion like lather."

Sounds great to me!! Rebecca is not only soap extraordinaire, but also admin, marketer, advertiser, interviewer, co-founder of http://www.byhand.me. Which, Blockhead Radio is a huge fan of! If you haven't checked out byhand.me, we highly suggest you do and while you're there...check out the Blockhead Radio Clubhouse created by yours truly :)

Rebecca gets to work closely with her husband, Adam, who co-founded Byhand.me with her and while he works a full time job, as a computer programmer, "by night he programs for the artisan community http://byhand.me that he created. We're together all the time since he telecommutes for his job and we share an office. He also accompanies me on Saturdays to the market as my "helper." He takes his mac book and gets work done and I get a chance to socialize, shop, take those necessary potty breaks, and buy us lunch." Adam also runs his own online business with his beautiful photography, which you can find at http://infivision.artfire.com and http://infivision.etsy.com. Rebecca and Adam have much to be proud of, along with their busy lives, they also have a 12 year old son, who Rebecca smartly puts to work helping around the house! (This mom agrees with that 110%!)

Rebecca's not new at soapmaking! She explains, "I've been making soap since 2001. I have always suffered from sensitive skin. Mom would always wash my brother's and my clothes twice. Once to get them clean and then again without detergent to get the fragrance out. Luckily unscented detergents are now easy to come by. It was just before I started making soap that I started buying handmade soaps. They made a huge difference in my skin and I never turned back. I figured since I was buying handmade soaps all of the time I may as well start making my own. And the rest just progressed from there.

Selling online was more or less just a hobby for me until January 2008 when I decided to take it seriously. I was also entirely too busy with selling on the city market prior to that to make time for selling online. Things changed in January 2008, though, and I got really organized and prioritized things. Local sales were starting to take a slight downturn then and I didn't - as they say - want to have all of my eggs in one basket. So I started promoting online and by the end of the year I was seeing regular online sales. As it lucked out my online business picked up enough the last quarter of 2008 to make up for the sharp downtown the economy took. While my local sales for the last quarter of 2008 were down 50%, my online sales made up that 50% I was down. Online sales are also what pays the bills the first quarter of every year when I'm unable to sell locally due to the cold."

Besides the online community friends she's found, Rebecca is able to connect with other local artisans at the city market. She says, "There are so many wonderful artists and food producers on my local market and we sometimes bounce ideas off one another as far as when to sell, what to sell, how to expand, etc. Mostly we just like to gossip though!" Nothing wrong with that!!

Rebecca knows her limits though, and knows when life gets too stressful it's time to take a break! (That's when the house cleaning son comes in mighty handy!) She also suffers from agoraphobia and seasonal depression, she shared, and says sometimes it's just hard to get to the local seller's market. I think anyone who can recognize her limitations, and STILL create such awesome work and an ENTIRE online community deserves some kudos!!

So where can you find Rebecca? Glad you asked!
Shop with SoapDeli on Etsy and Artfire!

http://soapdelinews.blogspot.com--Soap Deli News is the official blog for Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen. Get updates on new products, sales and contests. You'll also find soap
recipes, bath and body recipes, and craft projects.
http://shopbyhand.blogspot.com--Shop ByHand is a shopping blog dedicated to handmade products. Discover fun new products by indie artists, artist features, and artist interviews.

All About Handmade: http://soapdeli.byhand.me/blog
http://www.soapdelicatessen.com
http://twitter.com/soapdeli
http://rebeccasfacebook
http://ByHandsfacebook
http://soapdeli.byhand.me
http://www.flickr.com/soapdeli
http://www.plurk.com/soapdeli
http://www.plumdrop.com/members/soapdeli

So, be sure and check out Rebecca and all her soapy goodness!
And don't forget to tune in Monday, April 13th for YOUR chance to win one of Rebecca's awesome soaps!! Read all about it HERE!

Many thanks, Rebecca for sharing!!

~~Amy

From The Blockhead Rod Show to Blockhead Radio

As I sit here early this morning with a long set of Hot Buttered Rum playing, I am almost overwhelmed with what has happened.

First a little history.

I think back to the humble beginnings of 'The Blockhead Rod Show'. Yep that was the name of it way back when. A friend of mine (Gena from the Creative Animal Relief show Mondays 7pm et on BHR, yep we got her and Tammy on BHR now.) knew I was a pro blogger and told me about this Internet radio platform. I tuned into one of her shows, called in, and I was hooked. The next Monday I did my first show. I was so nervous I dropped the phone during the show. You can ask Sew Happy Designs about that, she was there. I settled down after that and really enjoyed doing the shows promoting artisans and trying to help them out in any way I could. It was a good show, but kind of Steinish (yes that is an official BHR term) I knew something was missing. Then one Monday night some flaky chick called in and crashed my show......did it again the following Monday. I figured for the sake of the show I would just put her on as a co host
......welcome Witchy.

From there we grew to 14 live shows a week and maxed out what we could do on that platform. We talked about it and decided we would launch our own station. Hey I can do that no problem. ROFLOL it was fun. After looking around I went the independent route. Really wish somebody would write a book on it.......I just wanna know how we did it. Blockhead Radio is now a live streaming 24/7 Internet radio station exposing artisans to the world with a blend of music from the top indie musicians.

Where are we at now.

16 live show from artisan shows to in the garden and growing. We have several shows in the works and still looking to add more. All the shows center around from being and artisan, to family, to life. It is still a kid friendly station. Hey, we might have slipped but we can control ourselves.

Last week we officially partnered up with Artfire.com. This wasn't a spur of the minute decision and not one we did for money. I am so impressed with what John and Tony had put together for the artisan. They really do put the artisan first. Artfire has a new site launching here soon, http://handmadenews.org and there is a button that launches the player. That was awesome. Now we can reach more artisans and more buyers.

Witchy, Huck, and I have been hanging out at a new site over the past couple weeks. http://byhand.me Yes mama, I know you told me about it, but I was still in the process of figuring out which wire went where. Thankfully an artisan in the Artfire chatterbox told Witchy about it and we were hooked. Infivison and Soapdeli have put together an outstanding site for artisans. So Blockheads being Blockheads we went on air telling everybody about this site. That's what we do. Over the weekend they added a really cool banner link to Blockhead Radio on their site. Thanks to both of you.

I got up this morning to 3 emails that really brought it home for me. Sometimes I get so busy coding, getting shows together, and promoting I forget about the impact we are having.

The first was from Soapdeli.

"Take a look at http://byhand.me and tell me if you see anything different." I went to the site with my first cup of coffee in hand. Right there on top is a button (really cool looking I have to add) to launch the player. That almost put me on the floor. I had to ask myself.......'are we really that good?'

The second email was from an artisan.

"I am a new listener to Blockhead Radio and haven't ventured into chat yet. I haven't made a sale yet but have now got inspiration again." All I could say was come on into chat, Witchy is the only one who bites and I've got all her shot records and they are up to date.

The third one was from a listener and I get quite a few that go along the same lines every week.

"Dude your station rocks. I heard about it in a forum and tuned in one morning. You and witchy had me laughing so hard that I had tears rolling out of my eyes. I love the music. I can't believe these bands are indie. I never knew about this handmade thing and started checking out some of the links. It is so cool. Thanks for the music and rock on." Dude, got my bic out held high during most of the songs too. Glad you love the music....we got more indie musicians getting ready to join us.

So are we really that good? I don't know, but we sure have fun doing it. We put something together here that hasn't been done before. Every day I work at improving the stations quality and making it easier for people to listen in. As Mike Burnes said, "You've started a revolution in the radio and music industry". Oops. The majority of internet stations work under a commercial site. Not us. Hey we may have hiccups every now and then but that's half the fun...not really,
it drives me nuts.

The best thing to have come from this venture are all the new friends I have made.

I want to thank our listeners, stalkers, and friends. We do this for you. (and beer money) Really, it has been through your support that BHR has become what it is.

Have a Great Day and ROCK ON DUDE,
Blockhead

Our Clubhouse on ByHand.Me!!

Everyone is invited to our little clubhouse on www.byhand.me!!

Blockhead Radio Clubhouse

ByHand is not a selling venue, but an artisan directory where people can connect and share ideas, thoughts, etc. Sort of like myspace for handmade! :)

Come on down to our clubhouse!! Boys ARE allowed!! We promise not to bite.......

unless you want us to....