I've been dithering about making this website for a couple of years almost exactly.  The domain name I bought two years ago has just been renewed. So here we go, (better late than never?) I have tried though, and been defeated a number of times.  This time there's enough coddling from the hosting company, involving online help in real time, to mean that problems can get solved quickly.

I decided I needed a logo. I didn't know what I wanted except that I knew I didn't want something with bubbles. I've always loved the tree of life motif and all the ways it can be expressed in art.  And I love the colour green. Merri Creek Soaps was born out of a desire to be environmentally sustainable and to honour and value the natural world, so this representation of the tree of life seemed right.                                                

Natural colourants are what I've been thinking about in terms of soap design.  If the colourant itself has useful properties all the better.  Last year at the CERES market a customer told me about something called shungite.  I'd never heard of it before so did some research on it. And it appears to be most amazing. Wiki describes it as 'a black, lustrous, non-crystalline mineraloid of more than 98%weight of carbon'  It has been used in medical treatment since the early 18th century, and has water purifying and anti bacterial properties.  It is also used as a pigment, which is how I intend to use it in soap.

I ordered the shungite from Russia and then trusted to the system.  My package had a tracking number so I could see how it moved around Russia which was rather interesting in itself.  Then, almost three months to the day, my shungite arrived, the blackest, finest powder. And now the fun begins..  I'm planning a shungite and indigo soap, but just have to work out what essential oils will match it.