Kathleen Walker discovered the fun and fragrant world of soap in the late ’90s. A coworker was making it, she said, and invited Walker and other interested coworkers to learn how it was done. By 2005, she’d mastered the craft and gone out on her own as a soapmistress.
Then, in 2012, when “corporate America ousted me,” she began making and selling soap full time. It’s a micro-small business, she said – she does it all.
Walker crafts her soaps (currently there are several dozen fragrances) on the west side in a renovated brooder house, a remnant of Petaluma’s glory days as The World’s Egg Basket. Soaps are packaged in drawstring bags. She recommends that when the soap is down to slivers, popping it in the bag until it’s completely used up.
“When,” she joked, “has packaging ever worked for you?”
Over the years, Walker’s teamed up with several local businesses, including Petaluma Coffee and Tea, Lagunitas Brewery and Lavender Bee Farm, making special fragrances from their products. In addition to lavender soap (made with lavender and beeswax from the farm), she’s produced a coffee soap and a beer soap.
And in case you are a chocoholic, Walker’s got you covered as well with a chocolate-fragranced soap. In addition to selling products at the Tuesday farmers market, her soaps are available at other locations, including downtown at the Petaluma Seed Bank and the Crane Melon Barn in Penngrove.
One thing Walker enjoys about the market is “putting smiles on people’s faces.” She’s been doing that for almost 10 years, she said.
“The soaps sell themselves,” she acknowledged. “It’s a positive ripple effect.”
The booth is there, rain or shine, hot or cold, because “soap isn’t perishable even if it’s over 100 degrees. I’d melt before it did.”
All Swan Haven soaps are handmade in small batches with olive or coconut oil or sustainable palm oil, and won’t dry out skin. Although Walker’s round bars are the most familiar, she said there are “man bars” in the works – larger soaps for male hands.
Making soap, she explained, is a “hurry up and wait” chemistry project. After it’s made, each bar needs to cure for four weeks. Walker also hand-makes her own bags and labels for the soaps.
It is, she said, “a wonderful business.”
Fragrances include Almond, Coconut Toasty, Hot Chocolate, Into the Woods, Spiced Mahogany, Oatmeal Cookie, Lemongrass (one of Walker’s favorites) and Amber-Cedar. There are unscented bars as well (Bare Bars), plus soaps made with activated charcoal or shredded loofah.
For those concerned about animal welfare, she reassures one shopper who’s contemplating purchasing a bar of Dragon’s Blood, “No dragons were harmed while making the soap.”
For those who can’t make it to the farmers market, Walker holds a monthly open house at her soap shop on Skillman Lane. Dates are listed on her website: swanhavensoap.com.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
Petaluma Profile: Swan Haven Soaps clean up at Farmers Market – Petaluma Argus Courier
