Monday, February 16, 2009

Etsy Artisan Product Feature: Adelaides and Her Soap Extraordinaire


Link to Adelaides’s Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6129950

My very first purchase on Etsy consisted of two Black Coffee kitchen soaps from Adelaides’s shop. The chance to do housework with bars of soap “made with real brewed coffee, coffee grinds and scented with coffee fragrance oil” sounded like a lot of fun. Especially since I’ve been joking for years about how somebody should invent a line of caffeine-inspired perfumes like chocolate and coffee.

(Sample photo taken by Adelaides of her attractive Jasmine soaps.)



After using the Black Coffee kitchen soap, I can say that it really does make washing the dishes a more special and unique experience verging on a treat. As you might expect from my name “CountryDreaming,” I am not the kind of person who uses a dishwasher … even though my apartment does in fact have one. I prefer hand washing my dishes, so I found using handmade Etsy soap made with natural ingredients really cool.


Adelaides would agree. In her words, “I only use homemade natural products at home too. Vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, salt and old fashioned soap can clean anything. I make my own liquid laundry soap and have a great recipe we use on our wood...let me know if you want the recipes, I'll gladly pass them on. My thoughts are that the more people going back to basics and using non toxic cleaners, the better we will all be. What can I tell you...I'm a tree hugger at heart!”

One thing I should mention is that shipping from Canada to the US does take time (it took me about two weeks to receive the Black Coffee kitchen soap), but that the soap is definitely worth waiting for.

Bottom line, I plan on being a return customer.

4 comments:

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi C.D.---Sounds like you are doing what you can to help the environment.. We do alot ourselves (drive a Prius, don't use clothes dryer much, recycle, etc.)..

About dishwashers, my husband swears that I use more water hand-washing than I would if I loaded the dishwasher and washed once a day... Hmmm--he may be right!!!!

Hugs,
Betsy

Vicki said...

Great feature article, I'm going to go check out her shop!

jalynn01 said...

Very interesting post. I love the way the soap looks. I still hand wash a lot of things, but use the dishwasher too. I hate paper plates so I have a lot of dishes to do.

CountryDreaming said...

Betsy from Tennessee: Regarding your mention of not using a clothes dryer much, my sister was the one who taught me that you can extend the life of your sweaters quite a bit by hanging them on a sweater rack rather than putting them through the wear-n-tear and overheating of the dryer.

About the pros and cons of dishwashers, no matter how true it is that they sterilize the dishes, I personally just like the way the plates come out when I wash them by hand ... they just look and feel cleaner. Then you can consider water use vs. electricity use I suppose. Many different factors and opinions here can come into play.

The Bird Lady: First off, love your name! :-) Enjoy browsing Adelaides's shop. There are days when I wish I could buy one of each of all the different soaps all in one swoop ... Thanks for stopping by the blog.

jalynn01: I also love the soap's appearance as being sculpted and uniquely cut. I'm with you on the paper plates ... they're basically for picnics or the occasional microwave.

And depending on the number of people / dishes, the dishwasher certainly can come in handy. Found that out one weekend while volunteering in a church kitchen and the dishwasher broke. Try doing dishes by hand for several dozen people when it's 95 degrees outside and even hotter in the kitchen! :-)