Black Tree Soap Company

This is the part of the story where you find out that my husband, Dave, makes awesome hand-crafted soaps!  On one of our earliest trips to Orcas Island, he got hooked on some handmade soaps he found in one of the great shops there.  He works very hard at his day job as a computer tech, and was in desperate need of a fun hobby, so a couple of years ago, he decided to try his hand at making some himself.

The first attempts were… interesting… (right, Dave? I still have a bar of the original batch in the shop sink downstairs!)  He experimented over and over with different formulas for the basic mixture, adjusting this and that, and having his friends and family try them out.  Over time, he has gotten REALLY. GOOD.

So good, that he just started selling them on Etsy last month.  Behold:

I helped with packaging — each one has a label with the logo letterpress-printed in black ink on Hahnemuhle Bugra paper.  The soap’s scent is hand-lettered by me in opaque white gouache.  I’m glad I’m doing this for him — it is  a good excuse to practice my own calligraphic style every once in awhile!  I’m calling it “Casual Copperplate” because it’s basically just my own relaxed writing while using some of the rules of that traditional hand.

The soaps are all-natural, vegan-friendly, and the scents are incredible — my favorite ones are anything with mint (I think they are perfect for helping you wake up in the morning).  He’s got some tea-tree mint and orange-mint coming out soon, and I can’t wait to try them out as soon as they are done curing.  He also makes plenty of decidedly “manly” soaps.  Don’t ask him to make anything with chocolate.  He’s leaving that to Jessica Simpson.

They make a great gift — check it out!

–Tara