Purchasing several soap making books and devouring the contents before making another batch, we learned one of the reasons correctly proportioned handmade soap is superior to the store bought stuff: during the chemical reaction between the lye and the fat, glycerin and soap are formed. In the commercial soap factory, the newly formed glycerin is stripped from the soap and sold to the lotion industry (because you are going to need lotion after the commercial soap has stripped out the natural oils in your skin, and dried it up).
It seemed obvious that we wouldn't want to add synthetic coloring and scents to the naturally skin-friendly handmade soap, so Rebecca created her own original soap recipes colored with botanicals and scented with pure essential oils. After we made a few batches, our potter frien Joe Bennion invited us to sell our soaps on sale days at Horseshoe Mountain Pottery in Spring City, Utah.
The response was so encouraging that Clay figured out ways to make the soap production more efficient, using the giant stainless bread mixing bowl and a custom made cutter from our friend Tony. The success of Pioneer Soap Co. allowed Clay to forego the custom construction jobs away from home he had been taking to support us (while working towards making a living as a artist).
Subsequently we added Beeswax Bar Lotion & Lip Balms to our lineup. Both are also made with only food grade ingredients with botanicals for color and pure essential oils for scent.
Finally, having made and used "pine gum salve" for many years, we began selling Miriam Adelia's Pine Gum Salve, because we have found it to be very effective, not only as a replacement for antibiotic ointment, but as an excellent drawing salve also.
We use all of our products in our daily life, and hope you will enjoy them also!
[add pics of soapmaking process....]
