Don't think small; think selective.

Just got a big box of new oils today; now i'm positively dizzy from all the sniffing and testing. Oi.


One thing i've been thinking about lately with the shop direction is how much happier it would make me to have a small, tightly-edited group of scents and items rather than a sprawling list that tries to cover everyone's tastes. I think i've managed that now, and will keep it, rather than succumbing to the temptation to make a batch of absolutely everything that's on hand. If i can't rhapsodize on it, i don't want it in the window.


This does slow down the process. For the next soap, i want something woody and masculine; there are dozens of pre-made scents out there that would doubtless fit the bill, but instead, i've been plugging away at my own blend for about a month now. Hopefully, one of these oils will provide the Elusive Final Ingredient; i'll be damned if i sink to adding patchouli to the mix.

Popular items

Just to start off, a few of the new and more popular items in the shop.





Mexican Hot Chocolate; dark chocolate soap with real cocoa and spice.




Twilight on the Pacific Coast soap, a non-funky seaside scent which i'm awfully proud of.




And the Victorian sampler; guest sizes of any three of our soaps for a low price.


That's just a wee taste, though; head over to the Heart and Dart shop for the full offering.

I've beaten up my unfortunate friends enough.

Time to get down to business.


This blog will mainly be for musings, links and updates to my tiny soap shop, Heart and Dart Teacrafted Soaps, started in November on 2007 after a rather shocking layoff and a very timely suggestion from a friend.


We're just starting our journey: a studio kitchen, one soap pot, one work table, and a soap knife. It ain't much, but we're making it work!


What we do have is tea. Lots and lots of tea.


My husband has been an enthusiast of rare and gourmet teas since he was a teenager, and has long since dragged us down his darkened path. As are result, we're steeped (ha!) in unusual, amazing teas: some from countries you've probably never even heard of, others as familiar as breakfast.


And then it occurred to us: Hey. Tea is great for your skin. It's soothing, softening, mildly astringent, and it smells great, too. Can't waste it all in our teapots!


We're learning as we go, with the love of tea to lead us.

Only a test.

Testing the amazing powers of Blogger.

Hello, world!