Once upon a rainy day, a mum of two small children bought a 'melt and pour' soap making kit as a fun indoor activity.... and that's how College Green started!
We loved making our first soaps, which involved melting a block of clear soap in the microwave, stirring in essential oils and colours before pouring it into silicone moulds to set.
So that's how you make soap, I thought. Yet after some soap making research, discovered another soap making method, which created soap from scratch: the `cold process' method.
Very simply, cold process soap making mixes oil with a solution of caustic soda dissolved in water (lye). When the oil and lye are combined a chemical reaction occurs and the mixture then hardens into soap.
In reality it's much more complicated - involving a carefully curated blend of oils and butters (each of which lends a different property to the finished soap), the precise weighing of ingredients, the addition of essential oils, and if sold, a safety certificate prepared by a certified cosmetic chemist. And insurance.
Not long after I had nailed down my ideal blend I was invited to start selling College Green soaps by Clare Honeyfield, who needed a new soap seller for the Made in Stroud shop as one of its regular suppliers had moved out of the district.
And that's how it all began!
The soaps are still in small batches by hand, using spring water from my local church yard. I now make the two most popular soaps - Coffee Scrub Soap with peppermint and rosemary, and Lavender and Patchouli.
Not long after I started making soaps they were featured in the Telegraph's guide to what to take home after 48 hours in the Cotswolds!
I gradually added more products to the College Green range - first aromatherapy bath soaks, then candles and reed diffusers, and gift sets, as well as offering a sustainable gift wrapping option and gift cards so people can choose their own favourites.
You can find me on the fourth Saturday of every month at Stroud Farmers' Market, and online.
