Mabel's Product Revamp 2004  

 

         

P a c k a g i n g   

S o l u t i o n s !

 

Soya Lecithin

Letter from the Editor

Bathroom Chemist DVD

Packaging Solutions

Mabel's Labels

Revised Books 2005 

The Queen's Beeswax

Handwriting Analysis

Mabel's New Look for Fall

Letter from the Editor:                        

     This month at Mabel we were privileged to donate autographed copies of our books to The Women's Center in Birmingham, Alabama, affiliated with the Small Business Administration.  Proceeds will go to help women who cannot afford OB/GYN relief and counseling. We were also able to donate  Microgreens to St. Stephens School, Bradenton, FL, for science projects.  To clear up a small matter, Mabel is not for sale.  The Mabel White Company did just purchase Craft Supply World.  

     As far as The Mabel White Company goes, we are really gearing up for a great 2004 holiday season!  So much so that my garbage men say I have the best smelling garbage they have ever picked up.  They actually look forward to it!  I try to stay in product development and writing books, so they do get some neat trash.    Last Christmas, I heard we had many Fed Ex and UPS drivers smelling awfully "pretty" when they got home.  I think we had quite a learning curve on how to lock a good fragrance down.    

     This issue I dominate the newsletter as I am about to take a two week break for health reasons. Leane, Judea, and Lynda, as well as our other support staff across the continent will cover for me.  They have the next issue almost finished and will write in my place.  They have great projects to publish!  Greg, our Chef, is off working at a real Castle, his dream job, and will rejoin us when we introduce Chocolate in early October.  Lynda, in our Mississippi office, just about has the dip mixes ready for foot ball season!  I hope you have a great month!  

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Deborah

Mabel's New Look and Product Revamp for Fall:  Packaging Solutions

00BagsLinedUpWEBLK.jpg (35052 bytes)     We found the coolest stand up pouch bags on the planet!  (Yes, I made those soaps.)  Many customers have been requesting the tin tie bags for a long time.  Preparing for season, I did my research.  I fell in love with every sample I was sent.  I loved not only the clear stand up bags, but the red, gold and blue foil ones!  Not only can products stand up for customers to see, in a most professional setting, but small objects that are hard to label, such as lip balms, Lip Balm Sticks, salves and wax tarts, can be put in these cute stand up pouch bags.  

     This solves many issues including offering more area to place appropriate labels and product descriptions  I have already started using them for myself in just simple gift giving, and in my bathroom as well as the kitchen.  In my bathroom, I dumped my Epsom Salts into a blue foil, one pound bag, and it looks much nicer than the ugly box that the salts come in.  I can also re-use that pouch.  Mabel is also about to introduce a finished line of products, but we could not determine which packaging was best until these bags came along.    Here are different shots of the bags, and some ideas I think they can be used for: (Click thumbnail above for full view.)

The tin tie bags, above, are 1/2 pound bags that are perfect for a bar or two of soap, bath salts, snack mixes, potpourri, or whatever you can come up with.  We also carry these in one pound sizes.  The red foil bags generally come in 1 pound sizes.  All are stand up and all can be heat sealed above the zip lock line if you have any kind of heat sealer.  Many of my friends are using their kitchen freezer sealer system.

The foil bags are just breath-taking!  Shown here are one pound bags that can actually hold a tad more.  We sell a red foil bag that I feel is perfect for powered drink mixes such as hot chocolate, Chai, coffee, vanilla powder and the like.  The Blue foil bag has a clear front, so that would be best used for bath salts,  Herbs de Province, or snack items such as yogurt-dipped pretzels.  Also shown is a one pound bag with a clear front and gold foil back.  We had to put the gold foil in the bag so you could see it.  We also carry this particular bag in a 1/2  pound size.  All these bags are stand up pouches and are zip locked at the top.  You can heat seal them above the zip lock for added tamper protection if you so desire.  
To the right is one of the one pound bags (above) with more than one product inside.  We decided to make a "Bath in a Bag" with our four favorite bath Essential Oils and accompany it with droppers.  We used natural shred to keep everything in place and for decoration.  The aluminum bottles in the bag are now  how we sell most of our Essential, fragrance and flavor oils. The bottles alone make a powerful statement.   They are also offered for sale in our container section.  

Don't sweat the small stuff!! Our of our biggest challenges has always been how to label our small balms and Lip Balm Sticks, as well as to really be able to brag about the ingredients.  Soap too!  The 2 and 4 ounce stand up bags really solve this problem.  They also add the perceived value your product deserves and makes them stand out.  Click here to see our new packaging line.
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Soya Lecithin

Our most recent breakthrough in making lip balm includes an oil-soluble additive known as Soya Lecithin.  Soya Lecithin plays a role in maintaining a healthy nervous system and brain function.  We find the oil is tasteless, but does have a pronounced yellow color. We break these caps and use them as a last minute additive to our lip balm, healing balm, lotion and soap formulas.

When making lip balm, this additive would be matched well with lip balm or jelly flavors such as banana, pineapple, pina colada, tangerine and lemon drops.  We added up to one broken soft gel to each lip balm pot with great success.  In cosmetics it is used as an emulsifying agent, antioxidant and emollient.  It is also great for  brain and muscle function.  Lecithin is a natural reconstitute, helping to dissolve the excess cholesterol in the blood. Lecithin extracted from Soya seeds is high in phosphorus which, together with iron, iodine and calcium is nutrition for the brain. Our Soya Lecithin is made by Sundown, a company highly regarded for their quality and each capsule holds 1200 MG or 19 grams.  It is encapsulated in a gelatin base and also contains glycerin, but is oil soluble.  To order a few caps please click here.

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Handwriting Analysis in Psychology by D.R. Dolen

HandwritingSM.jpg (58329 bytes)This is one book I have been yearning to write for years.   I studied handwriting analysis in criminology as part of my undergraduate degree and found it to be a fairly accurate forensic science.  I studied under true masters and back then, and have read all of the most respected authors in the industry.  From that I was able to see traits that were most agreed on and a few handwriting traits that were disputed by the masters as to meaning.  Click thumbnail for view of cover.

In the last ten years I have seen the web pile up with a ton of self appointed "graphologists" and many of them are very wrong and giving out really inaccurate information as to what could mean what.  I recently checked the web to see if there was any novel theories that had come out since my studies.  I was sad to see a few people have even linked it to palm reading, which is sad. 

My new book, Handwriting Analysis in Psychology, is a good basic book for being more "aware" of the people you are dealing with, when it does count.  It is by no means a "crystal ball" but it sure helped me determine privately which contractors, lawyers, bankers, employees, CPA's, relationships and so on that I wanted working for me.   When you first meet people, they will tell you what they want you to think about them.  This book is a great aide to know if their handwriting is consistent with their verbal communications.  Typically they do not even notice you are looking when you get them in a position to write something down for you.

Handwriting Analysis in Psychology  is also the closest I have come to the Mystery novel everyone still expects me to write.  In this book I get the privilege to discuss my heroes, such as Thomas Edison, General Patton, and Einstein.   My former studies focused on serial killers, so I also got to brush up my skills on Mr. Scott Peterson, (his hand-written posters) as well as my surprising theory that the Ramsey's did not do anything wrong--after reading the ransom note. After recently reading that note, for the first time, it was clear what went down.  I try to stick with crafts and often do not pay attention to the media.   I feel this book is to-the-point, easy to understand and can be grasped within one or two good evenings of reading.  It was not designed to make you a forensic specialist or graphologist, both of which take years of study,  but it will increase  your overall "awareness" and cut to some chases.
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The Queen's Beeswax

This story literally puts the word "Queen" into beekeeping.  Several months ago, I received a three pound block of what looked like gold from the Official Beekeeper of the Queen of England, along with a beautiful note on her stationery.  The note mysteriously disappeared over time, but I thought I should take a photo of this beautiful piece of work before I melt it down.  I wanted to keep it forever, but that is not very practical.  I figure if the beeswax is 10% of my lip balm recipe, I can make 960 one half ounce pots of precious balm.   

In my initial call from this beekeeper, I learned that many beekeepers around the world are giving up on the industry due to infestations and other environmental issues.  I always knew some of the best beeswax comes from Canada, where there is not so much pollution and the bees are free to roam, as well as England.  What I did not know is that there are grades of beeswax, so she sent me the highest  grade to show me the difference.  It is beautiful and has a natural frosty sheen.  It is known as "Chapping Wax," the best grade of beeswax.  You do not hear much about this grade, because it is rare and usually grabbed up pretty quick.  The rest is sold off to commercial industry.  We try to sell the chapping grade when possible.   After I got the wax, I watched Ulee's Gold, a movie starring Peter Fonda (1997),  just to see more about beekeeping.   I hope this gives you some insight to the world of beeswax! 

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The Bathroom Chemist DVD Video is now Available!  Special Offer

Click here for a COOL video preview!  This is the moment we have all been waiting for!  We filmed this instructional video last Christmas but editing went beyond season into this summer.  In this one hour fun-filled DVD, we show exactly how to make the best bath bombs, balms, salts and more!  Rated great for kids too!  We are selling this DVD on the site for $19.95, although it will appear on Amazon for $49.95 which is what we think it is worth.  To buy today for $19.95 and by-pass our minimum purchase, click the buy now button!  The total is $24.95 including shipping via Fed Ex.

 

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Totally Revised Books for 2005

    

The following books have been totally revised to include fragrance oil blending charts, bonus CD ROMS in the back of each book for tools, color charts and much more!  The five books include: The Self Apothecary, Melt and Pour Soaps, The Bathroom Chemist, The Natural Soap Maker and Making Heavily Scented Candles.  The Apothecary and Heavily Scented Candles have the high in demand fragrance oil blending chart.  Our e-books have also been updated accordingly.  If you are in the shopping cart, please note that you want the new 2005 versions in the comment box.  The e-books automatically have the 2005 versions.  Click here to order the new e-book versions!

Little Devil

     Although melt and pour is easy, we at Mabel love Cold/Hot process soap by far.  We just had to get over our fear of the lye.  For years we have been using Red Devil, as well as many other soap makers.  The last few months we were all reporting a white film on our lye portion and fairly disappointing final soap results.  We heard that Red Devil has added lime to their product and this is causing the problem.  So we have been looking for the sodium hydroxide crystals locally and they cannot be found at a regular store.  Flakes are not known to be as good, by the way.  Here is what one reader wrote most recently regarding her experience, which was our experience with Red Devil:

  "I told you I had used the Red Devil and that my batch turned out ok on it too....but I thought it was an older lot cause it had dust all over the bottle.  I tried making some soap with the new Red Devil...and well...it had a white film stuff floating on it and never set up right as you experienced.  I had water pockets, and that just shouldn't have happened.  Of course I used a stick blender and stirred for 40 min before I figured out I didn't have the blade in the blender!   Again....the new Red Devil had a white film floating on top." Wendy, Plano, Texas.

That is Wendy to the right.  She should be making movies, not soap!  She is so cute if we could put her in a bottle and sell her we would!  So far, her soap making notes have been the most interesting thing we have heard coming out of Plano.

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Mabel's Labels

Before Labor Day we hope to have a new line of generic and tasteful labels for our products as well as yours.  We have commissioned April of Northern Essence to run our label department, since she does such a great job.  We also hope to have a line of new soap stamps ready by Labor Day that are tasteful and very unique to the market.  Let me know what you think of our tentative ideas, if any, of the labels below.  There will be more "enhancement" labels. They will be very affordable and worth the added product appeal.  Please feel free to e-mail me at mabelco@tampabay.rr.com for any suggestions.          These are 1 5/8 inches in diameter.  The samples are about 1/4" too wide.

 

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Howdy ya'll-I just wanted to drop a line to say how happy I am with all the extras I received! The Emulsoy went into use immediately and I have been playing with the other items and it is SO therapeutic for me to be able to make these products by hand! I've told everyone that says they love my lotion about your products and your website-it has everything the amateur to expert lotion/soap/craft maker needs! I've been really researching the web and Mabel White is the best I've found...I hope everyone is feeling better and good luck for your health in the future! Blessed Be...
P*L
Rose Knight
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