Corner Brook singer extends her creativity to making soap
“For me the joy is in the making of if it. The more I can do that the happier I am.” Allison Crowe
When she’s not making music, Allison Crowe is making soap.
Crowe a singer, musician, composer, arranger, audio engineer, producer and music teacher originally from British Columbia has called Corner Brook home for 15 years.
Her Fluttering Soap Co. started two years ago when Crowe came down with a really bad cold.
“I was laid up on the couch for two to three weeks.”
Stressed out, the ever-busy Crowe started to look for ways to relax.
“And I got really into watching soap-making videos.”
She laughs when she says she can get a bit obsessive with things after she started to think she wanted to learn how to make soap.
“And it just kind of went from there a little bit,” she said.
“There was something about just the mixing of it, watching it be mixed and emulsified that’s really satisfying. And then all the different colours and swirls, different patterns and stuff you can do.
Crowe is a lover of bath products. “The idea of being able to make my own stuff like that is really appealing to me. You know what you’re putting in it and you can sort of experiment with that a little bit.”
As a little kid she loved doing science experiments, but said she wasn’t a great student.
“I wasn’t great at paying attention just in general, but I’m someone when I’m able to do something on my own I can focus a lot better.”
Soap making fit perfectly with that and she started watching instructional videos and reading blogs on lye safety.
She made the first soaps for herself, but after sharing some on Facebook early last year, she started getting some interest from people who wanted her soaps.
So, she turned her hobby into a bit of business with the start of the Fluttering Soap Co. The name comes from a collection of prose and poems that Crowe plans to publish.
She said it just made sense, as selling her soaps helped to sustain her love for soap making by being able to order more ingredients.
She uses two different processes to make her soaps.
She enjoys cold process with all it swirly designs, but that one has to cure for four to six weeks before cutting. With the hot process the soap is made in a slow cooker and is ready to use faster.
Her creations have included a variety of scents from apple cider-vinegarsage to bakeapple and she makes eight to 16 bars at a time. Her batches are small, because she’s limited in the amount of moulds she has.
“And each batch is going to be a little different.”
For now, Crowe makes her soaps in her spare time and when she feels inspired.
“And then when I do I kind of go overboard with it,” she said with a laugh.
“For me the joy is in the making of if it. The more I can do that the happier I am.”
Her sales mostly come through word of mouth and by sharing her creations on Facebook. She has a few regular customers and hopes to build on that base in the future.
Her biggest challenge right now is figuring out how to ship her products.
She has sold some of her products at a local pharmacy and plans to put some there again. And she’s considering going out to some markets.
“I just kind of enjoy it for the doing, for the moment. One day it would be cool to get some stuff in more stores.”
Behind the Business is a regular feature that introduces you to local businesspeople. Want to suggest someone that should be featured? Email your idea to diane.crocker@thewesternstar.com.