A New Soap Named Gypsy Rose and the Woman Behind the Name

We've been having fun with our new Facebook page, and offered a little contest by asking our followers to help us name a new soap we created.  The soap has an interesting scent with spice, rose, geranium, and patchouli notes. Lots of ideas came in, and our three finalists were Grateful Rose, Bohemian Rose, and Gypsy Rose.

Before we name any of our products, we always do a little due-diligence to find out if the name is already in use, has a connotation we might not be aware of, and that sort of thing.  So, before we chose our winner, I took to the internet.

At first, we were leaning towards Bohemian Rose.  We thought it was a good description of the scent, plus it was the top choice of our Facebook followers.  But then I looked up Gypsy Rose, and found Gypsy Rose Lee.

Gypsy Rose Lee was an actress and author, but she earned legendary status as a burlesque striptease artist.  Her wit, intellectual recitation, and casual striptease style helped her become one of the biggest stars of Minsky's Burlesque.  I asked a friend who is in her 70s if she remembered her, and she said  Gypsy Rose Lee was a household name.  Children weren't informed of her special talents, of course, but everyone knew she was a star.

Here's a very clean You Tube video of Gypsy Rose's routine  including the recitation.  Life Magazine also has an interesting collection of photographs online.

Gypsy Rose raised a child, and had three marriages, each ending in divorce. When asked why she stayed with Burlesque, she said that she was the best paid performer since Cleopatra.  She said the lifestyle allowed her plenty of time to raise her son the way she wanted.



During the Great Depression, Gypsy Rose spoke at various union meetings in support of New York laborers, and her talks were among those that attracted the largest audiences.

Gypsy Rose authored a number of books and later wrote her memoir, which was the inspiration for Gypsy: A Musical Fable.  That musical is considered by many critics to be the greatest American musical, and Rose's character has been described as one of the few truly complex characters in American musicals.

One of the famous songs from the musical is "Everything's Coming Up Roses", a name I chose years ago for our facial line.  I knew it was from a musical, but truthfully didn't know much about the story.  I love the connection! You may recognize another famous song from it, "Let Me Entertain You."

We think Gypsy Rose might have liked our new soap.  It's free spirited but complex, just like her.

I don't know yet if our contest winner had Gypsy Rose Lee in mind, but either way congratulations to Lisa from Virginia Beach, VA!  She is the winner and a $25 Gift Certificate is on its way! Many thanks to everyone who shared their ideas.

Please look for the new Gypsy Rose soap on our webstore within a few days!   (And if you haven't found us on Facebook yet, we invite you to check out our page.  We'd love to see you!)

We're finally on Facebook! Plus a New Hemp Hand Repair

We know we're late to the party, but we are finally on Facebook! Please visit us and consider liking our page. We'd love to show you what we're up to!

I also want to share that our Hemp Hand Repair Cream is now available in two fragrances.
Introducing Rosy Patchouli Hemp Hand Repair.

Just like our original Vetiver and Vanilla formula, Rosy Patchouli contains lots of anti-inflammatory organic hemp seed oil and creamy mango butter to offer soothing relief to dry, chapped, and cracked hands and skin. The new scent is green and earthy with a fresh rose geranium note.  Perfect for summer! See our special introductory offer here.

Enjoy these glorious summer days! Everything is always better outside. :)

Meet the Artist Open Studio + Naked Soap Sale

If you are in the northern Vermont area, please consider joining us at our Studio in St. Albans for Meet the Artist Open Studio Weekend, Friday, June 24 - Sunday, June 26th.

During Open Studio...

...take a peek into our production area, ask questions, and learn how our products are made.

...test your nose and see how many essential oils you can identify.  The best nose of the weekend wins a $30 gift certificate!

...shop all of our products for 20% off, all weekend!

We're also hosting our Fourth Annual Naked Soap Sale that weekend, starting Saturday at 10:00 am.  If you are wondering, our Naked Soap Sale offers soaps in their birthday suits at very low prices.  These soaps are often cosmetic seconds, seasonal over-runs, or fragrance test batch soaps.  All are perfectly good soaps made with our gentle formulas. Supplies are limited.

Meet the Artist is a new event sponsored by the Vermont Hand Crafters celebrating Vermont's community of artists and their creative process. Other artists participating in the area include mixed media artist Meta Strick in Fairfield and potters Cheryl & Steve Grundon in Fletcher.  Make a day of it and visit all three studios! For a complete list of participating artists and a studio map, please visit Vermont Hand Crafters.

Hope to see you!  Please email or call for more information.

Friday, June 24th   10 am - 5 pm
Saturday, June 25th   10 am - 4 pm
Sunday, June 26th  11 am - 3 pm

Chasworth Farm Soap Studio
82 North Main Street
Downtown St. Albans
info@chasworthfarm.com
802.309.3778

Spring Shearing

 

Spring is a busy time on our farm, as we work to transition the animals from their cozy winter quarters to pastures filled with tender new grasses. Long days are spent moving fences and mucking. 

Shearing day is always a big event, and as it nears we keep our fingers crossed for gentle weather as our goats loose their thick winter fleeces. 

Mosby, our flat coat retriever, thought it was great fun to drag some of the shorn fleeces out of the barn and into the grass. (You can see we had some felting issues with our fleeces this year.   Normally the locks fall into individual curls.)

At one point Mosby had the fleece fully wrapped around himself and it looked like he was in a sleeping bag.  He's such a goof!

Millie, one of our original mommas, was just shorn in this photo. At 11 years old, she's a bit worn out from all the activity and was ready for a little nap.  She's a vocal goat and cracks me up with all of the sounds she makes as she yawns!  

Now on to the gardens. Weeds, weeds, everywhere.... but I do think these are just beautiful against our old barn. :) 

Happy Spring!

Marcia

A Little News and a Very Big Celebration Sale!

It has been a wild couple of months, and we are in full production mode in our new studio. Lots of good things are happening! More to come, but here are a couple highlights:

We've added a "sudsy specialist" to our production team. Yay!  I'll make introductions soon!

We're just starting a new partnership with COTS, a non-profit in the Burlington area who does amazing things to prevent homelessness.  We've been donating soap to homeless shelters and domestic abuse shelters since our beginning, but we are really excited about this new adventure.

I promised in an earlier post that I'd share photos of the new space (I will, but I haven't finished taking them yet!) and that we would have a little celebration sale after we moved into the new studio.  I figured we'd run an open house both at the new studio and online, with a nice little sale. Vermont Handcrafters is debuting a new statewide Meet the Artist event that will be happening in late June, so instead we decided to host both events at the same time. (More info on that will come soon!) However, since that won't be happening right away, I thought it would be fun to have a BIG private sale NOW for our blog and newsletter subscribers, and online buyers.  You guys rock and helped us need this larger studio! Thank you.

32% Off our hand and body creams, foot cream, hemp hand repair cream, body butters, shampoos and conditioners, and Vermont Sunflower Oil Soaps.  

We've never had such a big sale!!

Sale runs now through Friday, April 29th at 8:00 PM.  No exceptions.

This is a coupon sale, which means no coupon code, no discount.  The coupon code is 82Main.  There is a box on the bottom left side of the shopping cart page.  Just enter the code there, and click on the "apply coupon" box, and you'll be all set.  


And the rest of the details:
*The discount on the Sunflower Oil soaps will not apply to any already discounted collection (Build Your Own Collection or Vermont Sunflower Oil Soap Collection). Also, we are out of stock on Golden Summer, and will not be taking any rain checks on it.

*Here is a complete list of the products that qualify for the discount:
All scents of our hand and body creams (Almond, Golden Summer, Lavender, Lilac, Natural Cocoa, and Rose), Peppermint Rosemary Foot Cream, Hemp Hand Repair Cream, all scents of Body Butter (Lavender, Lilac, Golden Summer, Natural Cocoa, and Take a Chance), all scents of Shampoo and Conditioner (Lavender, Lemongrass Rosemary, Eucalyptus + Spearmint, Golden Summer, and Unscented), and all VT Sunflower Oil Soaps except for Golden Summer (because it is out of stock-sorry).

*We reserve the right to limit quantities.

All the best,
Marcia

Lucille Has a New Home

Lucille, sans her wig and wrapped for travel.

We have some very exciting news to share:  We've moved!

Yesterday, in light snow and with the assistance of four fellas, Lucille and her cast iron, claw foot tub made the journey a block south to our new studio at 82 N. Main Street in downtown St. Albans.

The new space is about three times larger than our old studio and gives us some much needed elbow room plus space to grow. We'll need a few days to get things sorted out and in their proper place, and then we'll post some photos.

Once we are settled and back in production, we will share a couple celebratory specials for all of our wonderful customers, local or not, who have helped us reach this point. You are amazing! And I am so very grateful.  Thank you.

More to come soon!
Marcia