If you follow me for a while, you might have known me when I decided to sell my own knits. I had that hobby when I was a teenager and I really wanted to get back to it. So, in 2019 I started my small business called “Handmade by Romain”, with my own website to sell my creations.
But the truth is that knitting can take quite some time, and the price of the material can be pretty high. I realized that I needed to charge a pretty high amount for everything I was selling if I wanted to break even (or increase my capacity to produce items faster, which was not possible for me!). Knitting for me or for my friends is ok, but somehow make it as a business was a totally different feeling. I gradually lost interest seeing the time I needed to spend for very little results.
Just after I started this, COVID appeared in our lives. While we were isolated, I was spending a lot of time searching for ideas on Pinterest or Youtube. And that’s when I came accross the Royalty Soaps channel, made by Katie Carson, a young entrepreneur from Texas with an amazing passion for soap. A real contagious passion, since I quickly became addicted to her videos. Just seeing her making soap was making me eager to try it myself, but I wasn’t really sure because of the cost of the material needed to start, not knowing if I would like it or not. (Picture from https://www.duchessofsuds.com/about)
And then I discovered a specific playlist from Royalty Soaps, dedicated to people like me that wanted to start making soap. Videos on the ingredients, recipes, and safety precautions… all of this with a free guide to be able to choose the cheapest options to buy material and be able to make the first recipe. This was exactly in december 2021, after almost two years watching soap making videos and tutorials, I finally decided to try it myself.
And this is when I realized how much I loved making soap. It’s exactly the balance that I like: the science, the precision to execute the recipe, and the freedom you can have to make a design. So I created my first batch, and it was a real success. After a few other batches, I decided to use my own website, which became ercé a few months after.
At that point, I wanted to go further in the technique, find new recipes. Thanks to Katie from Royalty Soaps, I heard about Bramble Berry, an institution in terms of soap making. I don’t even know where to start to describe the amount of content available (for free!). The Youtube channel is full of recipes, tutorials, and the website also sells anything you need to start making your own projects (soaps, candles, bath bombs…).
The owner, Anne-Marie Faiola, is a businesswoman with such a passion for soap making, she knows her stuff, and more importantly she knows how to explain things. If you want to try to make soap yourself, then check her website and Youtube channel, you won’t be disappointed! She also published a few books that are one of the best I could buy.
Now I continue to create, and also to discover other hobbies related to self-care and well-being: bath bombs, scented candles… Anything that can make you feel good, relaxed, but also that can show you that you can do your part for the ecology: local businesses that handmade products, in small batches, using less chemicals or plastic. At my level, it’s important for me to know that I can maybe make a small difference on a day-to-day basis.
I hope this article gave you a bit more context about ercé and how this journey started! It’s a little preview, that maybe will make you want to try our products, or even start your first batch of handmade soap!