Vendor Spotlight and Giveaway: Moon Root Soaps

I don't think a handmade event is complete without beautiful, fragrant hand-crafted bath and body products, and we are thrilled to be welcoming Moon Root Soaps to our vendor line-up. We'll let Christelle, the woman behind the soap, tell you a bit about herself and her products; it is fascinating!

"I make organic, handmade soap in beautiful Eugene, Oregon. I started my soap business 2 years ago. Crafting has always been in my nature, as I grew up at Arts and Craft Shows where my mom sold her pressed flower art. I LOVE creating. I love selling my soap at natural food stores in town and at the local Farmers Market. I use the highest quality ingredients (95% organic!), and scent using only 100% pure essential oils. It is important to me to use ingredients that are good for our bodies, and good for our planet. Sustainability is important to me. I deliver my soap by bicycle whenever possible, and re-use as much packaging material as I can.

"There's a lot of handmade soap out there, and I try to make my soaps as unique as possible. I dry my own herbs from my garden and add them to the soap. I try to have interesting flavors--like my Carrot Cake soap or Orange Cocoa Swirl. For my Carrot Cake Soap, I juice organic carrots myself, which gives the soap a vibrant orange color. Other favorites are lavender mint, almond ginger, patchouli lemongrass, and coffee. I've been doing a lot of experimenting lately with roots, since my business is named Moon Root. An alkanet root soap and a burdock root soap will be coming soon! I also making wonderfully moisturizing body butters, aromatic mists, and massage oils.

"I strive to live simply, and love homesteading. Luckily for me, many of the things I am passionate about can be incorporated into my business. I, like many other people I'm coming to realize, just LOVE sheep, wool, spinning, and knitting. I've started felting my soap which is AMAZING! If you've never tried felted soap, you definitely should. The wool acts as a washrag, so you can just scrub away in the shower and the soap comes out through it. Wool is anti-fungal, so it never gets moldy or funky in the shower. I would love to add sheep to my homestead. I just started dying wool for my felted soaps. I love to garden, and have planned a dye garden of flowers so that I can naturally dye the wool I use for felting the soap. I only use natural dyes, and so far have felted soaps dyed with madder (a rust color), osage (a golden color), and indigo (blue). I am also looking to add goats to my flock of animals so that I can use their milk for goats milk soap.

"As for my interests, I'm constanty cooking, gardening, playing with wool (spinning, dying, knitting), making soap, brewing beer, hiking with the dogs, or painting. Thanks for reading!"

the Moon Root Soaps website

the Moon Root Soaps Etsy shop

Moon Root Soaps on Facebook

To enter to win a $5 gift certificate to Moon Root Soaps at the Bliss Handmade Spring 2011 Boutique, simply leave a comment on this post, and be sure to enter all of the vendor giveaways for our Spring Boutique (click HERE to see all of the giveaways on one page).