It’s slippery, smells good, makes you feel fresh and clean — and it’s handmade right in Ponte Vedra.
The Ponte Vedra Soap Shoppe is a Web based company specializing in soap. You know, that stuff you use in the shower to make you feel clean and smell great.
Mary Vastola, owner of the shoppe, was working in a cubicle — and frustrated — when she discovered the art of soap making years ago.
"I was very creative and was getting frustrated," she said. "At the time I was 40 and I wanted to be doing something different."
Most of the materials needed to make soap are not readily available in stores, so Vastola spent a lot of time searching Web sites for her materials. As a result, she said she noticed a lot of the Web sites weren’t the most user friendly.
"A lot of the sites I was buying my stuff from were cheesy," she said. Vastola decided she could do better, and from that the mold was cast.
Vastola not only makes handmade soaps and gift baskets, her company provides the raw materials for soap makers from the novice level to the most advanced. In addition, she teaches private soap making classes to share her hobby with others who are interested.
She says there are three main types of soap making. The most basic process is the melt and pour method. With this method, the glycerin soap has already been made and the soap maker takes the chunks, liquefies them, adds fragrance and color and pours it into a mold.
"[I]t’s ready to use in an hour," said Vastola.
The second type of soap making is called rebatching. With this process, the handmade soap has already been made and it is grated for the soap maker. Vastola said soapmakers take the grated soap — which has been made through the cold process form of soap making — and finish it.
The soap maker can add fragrance and color and then must allow the soap to cure for four to six weeks.
The last type of soap making, said Vastola, is the oldest type. Using vegetable oils, animal fats, water and lye, she uses a chemical process called saponification.
"People are sometimes a little wary of the chemical process, which is why I give classes," said Vastola. "Handmade soap is as pure as it can be. There are no detergents in the soap and its good for the skin."
In addition to handmade soaps and the raw materials to make them, the Ponte Vedra Soap Shoppe, which opened its virtual doors in 2000, supplies recipes for a variety of toiletry items including shampoos, scrubs and even mineral makeup.
"We use the best ingredients and keep things at a reasonable cost," said Vastola. "If we can’t find a good product [on the market] then we will try to make it."
Her favorite product is a Hawaiian salt and sugar scrub the company released in July 2002.
"It was very summer-y and just a great scrub," she said.
For more information or to purchase soap or raw materials to make soap visit www.pvsoap.com
July 3rd 2009 - 8:28PM