Who are the humans and why do they want to make all this soap?
We're Virginia, 39 and holding, and Jochen, six years older and more tired, married forever to each other. We made our first batch of soap on a wood cookstove in 1984.
How did I get into soap making?
I didn't listen to my Mother! She always told me not to hitchhike, but there I was, in 1968, standing at the side of the road in a mini skirt. Along came this tall skinny guy in a little blue Porsche. He picked me up and asked me out on a date. On that first date, he asked me to marry him. I said yes. We were married three weeks later. What does this have to do with soap making?
This guy, my husband JB, had a dream. He wanted to quit teaching and be his own boss. So, for years he tried various schemes. He bought an Amway starter kit and never made a sale. He made a few candles and had a stamp made for "Homestead Candles" and then quit the candle biz. He thought up a "dig your own poplars" business because he wanted to make a clearing for a goat barn, but our first customer informed us that the trees we wanted dug up were suckers and had no more future than our business.
We moved back into the city and bought a hardware store which we ran into the ground in two years. I started "The Good Wool Shop" and sold looms, and weaving & spinning supplies. We sold that fledgling business to move out to the country again.
By now you must be wondering about our business acumen.
Without letting reality bother our plans, JB quit his job. I wove colourful hand dyed rugs, JB made spinning and weaving equipment, and steam bent Shaker style boxes and baskets. We sold everything we made. We just couldn't make enough to make a living. So, we decided to work together on a new business.
We wanted to do something no one else was doing and we wanted to make lots of it so that our customers could easily afford to buy lots. And most important, we wanted to feel good about what we made so that we could sell it with honest pride. We thought about chocolates, Christmas ornaments, wreaths, candles, soaps, etc.
I have loved soap since childhood. I spent a great deal of time, water up to my armpits in the sink, playing with wee fragrant animal soaps. It was our family joke. "When asked, what would you like for any occasion, whatever, I always said, "Nice smelling soap." So, without knowing anything except how to use it, we decided to make soap.
We started Virginia's Soap in 1984. Our friends and family thought we had lost our minds. Two years later, after spending all our savings and selling our car to eat, I thought so too. But JB just wouldn't give up. Soap making is addictive! Over twenty years later, we are still selling soaps and we are still proud of the soap we make.
And that's how I got into soap making. Good thing I didn't listen to my Mother!
