Hello from the Netherlands

[Cin]

Hey everyone,
I joined about a month ago so an introduction is overdue.

My soapmaking adventure was set off by a week-long horrible rash after using of all things, a Marius Fabre Savon de Marseille 72% Olive oil soap. I've always loved artisan soaps, and this was upsetting. There are only a few shops around here that sell alternative soap thus my choice is limited. In the end I decided to take action and make my own.

I love experimenting with the whole composition of natural soap... the different oils, qualities, scents, additives... I really have entered a new world and am enjoying every minute of it.

I'd also like to say from my time exploring around the forums, kudos to such a sharing and supportive group, especially the experienced soapers here who openly share their knowledge and wisdom.

And by the way, I have been living in the Netherlands for the past 3+ years. Before that, England for 13 years, and before that, Oregon & Hawaii. Thought i'd throw that in just in case you try to speak advanced Dutch to me.

Cheers all,
Cin

 

[earlene]

Welcome, Cin! So nice to meet you! So were you born in Oregon? Or the Netherlands? Or points not mentioned? Not that it matters in the long run. But I have family in Oregon, although most of us started out elsewhere. We are returning to Hawaii next month, but with my my granddaughter who has never been, and we were in Amsterdam for 3 days last October. We both loved Amsterdam, although I may have liked it even more than my husband. I want to return and see more of the Netherlands.

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forium.

 

[Saponomancer]

Welcome to the forum! You've been all over, gosh. I hope you have a lot of fun with soaping

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome, Cin!


IrishLass

 

[Cin]

Welcome, Cin! So nice to meet you! So were you born in Oregon? Or the Netherlands? Or points not mentioned? Not that it matters in the long run. But I have family in Oregon, although most of us started out elsewhere. We are returning to Hawaii next month, but with my my granddaughter who has never been, and we were in Amsterdam for 3 days last October. We both loved Amsterdam, although I may have liked it even more than my husband. I want to return and see more of the Netherlands.

Thanks Earlene,
I was born in Hawaii and later moved to Oregon where I met my husband who is German. Our kids were born in England, so have the accent, but are now speaking Dutch fluently. We are a mixed bunch!

On your next trip to the Netherlands, come and visit Delft, the birthplace of Vermeer and Delft blue pottery. It's like a mini version of Amsterdam.

I forgot to add my other big reason for making soap, to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in our home and others as well. The articles and photos I see with plastic in the stomachs of whales and dolphins, etc are very disturbing. Same goes for the Great Pacific garbage patch.

 

[Relle]

Welcome Cin .

I volunteer in a group where we make shopping bags out of donated material to reduce the use of plastic ones at the supermarket. They are called Boomerang bags. In Australia the supermarkets now charge for a plastic bag, so people bring their own. Who wants to keep paying for bags anyway, let alone the poor animals in the sea with all that garbage. In Oz, our household garbage gets buried and doesn't go in the ocean, but plastic still finds it's way in the water via the storm water after rain.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

my other big reason for making soap, to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in our home and others as well. The articles and photos I see with plastic in the stomachs of whales and dolphins, etc are very disturbing. Same goes for the Great Pacific garbage patch.

Ditto that! It's agonizing! According to an NPR program on the radio the other day, 500 billion plastic water bottles are trashed every year and there are few recycling plants any more because there's no profit in it. They're starting a movement for people to refill personal water bottles and make the purchased ones obsolete. I hope it takes hold!

 

[Cin]

View attachment 39515
Ditto that! It's agonizing! According to an NPR program on the radio the other day, 500 billion plastic water bottles are trashed every year and there are few recycling plants any more because there's no profit in it. They're starting a movement for people to refill personal water bottles and make the purchased ones obsolete. I hope it takes hold!

I hope so too. It will be a big change for some people. Costco and other big warehouse stores make it very easy and cheap for people to buy bottled water by the case.

Cities also need to provide more public water fountains where people can fill up. That really helps because you don't have to carry a huge water bottle.

 

[Cin]

Welcome Cin .

I volunteer in a group where we make shopping bags out of donated material to reduce the use of plastic ones at the supermarket. They are called Boomerang bags. In Australia the supermarkets now charge for a plastic bag, so people bring their own. Who wants to keep paying for bags anyway, let alone the poor animals in the sea with all that garbage. In Oz, our household garbage gets buried and doesn't go in the ocean, but plastic still finds it's way in the water via the storm water after rain.

Same thing here. Most shops ask if you need a bag and charge for it. I've also started bringing in my own cotton bread bags to the bakery where I buy several loaves a week. The plastic bags were collecting. The only thing I need to do is when I bring them home put the bread (which is in a cloth bag) into a plastic bag, then stick it in the freezer. It keeps it from drying out too fast.

 

[szaza]

Welcome Cin! Nice to have other soapers from the Benelux around on the forum! If you need any country-specific advice (like where to look for certain ingredients or tools) or a course in advanced Dutch don't hesitate to ask[emoji6]

 

[Cin]

Welcome Cin! Nice to have other soapers from the Benelux around on the forum! If you need any country-specific advice (like where to look for certain ingredients or tools) or a course in advanced Dutch don't hesitate to ask[emoji6]

haha Dankjewel Szaza. So far so good with the sourcing. I've managed to order supplies mostly from within NL, though most recently bought some Japan wax (beerenwas) to experiment with from the UK. It was cheaper than DE. Do you source everything from Belgium?

 

[earlene]

In 2016, I took my granddaughter to the National Zoo, where at the time, they had a fabulous display of recycled ocean plastic art. The plastic was removed from oceans around the world and turned into art. The f amount of plastic used for this art was amazing, yet minuscule in the grand scheme of things. Here are a couple of examples of what we saw that day (from a Washed Ashore project:

And it's not even all plastic. Some bullet shells, even! Bullet shells are toxic to ocean life.

 

[szaza]

No I don't think there are Belgian suppliers. I try to get most stuff, like oils and lye, from the (asisn) supermarket. There's a good and cheap supplier in Germany called dragonspice where I get my fancy stuff like EO's and Shea and cocoa butter. They're more aiming towards 'natural' stuff so they only have a few FOs and no micas that I know of, but they do have awesome quality indigo and other plant colorants. Though if you want to try out plant colorants there's also a really great textile shop in Rotterdam that carries a lot of supplies for natural textile dyeing that can also be used in soap (textielfabrique). For more mainstream soaping stuff like FOs and micas I think you're best off in the UK indeed, though there is one Dutch supplier that is affiliated with soapqueen (onlinezeepwinkel.nl)

 

[Saby]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Cities also need to provide more public water fountains where people can fill up. That really helps because you don't have to carry a huge water bottle.

Brilliant! I grew up with public water fountains everywhere... can't help but wonder where they all went. ???

 

[earlene]

Brilliant! I grew up with public water fountains everywhere... can't help but wonder where they all went. ???

I still see them in Parks, and in airports and pretty much every State Capitol building, as well as shopping malls. Although fewer and far between than when I was younger. Or maybe I just get thirsty more often at my age than when I was young. But probably, it's because so many people tend to carry bottled water with them, whereas when we were young, bottled water was not at all common for the average person in the US to carry.

At airports, though, I have noticed a reduction of re-fill stations at water fountains, and I do find that irritating. At the airport where my husband works, I noticed the re-fill station is only behind the security check-point, so the non-traveler cannot re-fill a water bottle with good tasting water. I don't recall if there had been a re-fill station before the security check-point previously or not, but it was annoying not to be able to re-fill my water bottle with decent tasting water.

Although I do see some totally cool drinking fountains for people & pets along the lines of this one in Chicago:
Lincoln July 01, 2014

I thought I had a photo of a gorgeous ornate one that I photographed in our travels, but can't find it at the moment. Probably because I can't recall what city & what year. Anyway I love seeing these types of drinking fountains in my travels.

There are still many of the Hermon Lee Ensign drinking fountains around the country and I saw similar types of fountains in Europe as well. Here's a link to information about the Ensign fountains: http://electronicvalley.org/derby/quiz/pages/wateringtrough.htm

I've been to many of the locations listed and seen some of them, in fact. There's one in Denver, but I never looked for it myself. Maybe if you are ever nearby, you could let me know if it's still there. Or next time I drive through, I could make point of checking for it in the Civic Center District. I love to see these kinds of historic things, especially when they are still accessible and even more if they are still used as intended!

 

[Cin]

No I don't think there are Belgian suppliers. I try to get most stuff, like oils and lye, from the (asisn) supermarket. There's a good and cheap supplier in Germany called dragonspice where I get my fancy stuff like EO's and Shea and cocoa butter. They're more aiming towards 'natural' stuff so they only have a few FOs and no micas that I know of, but they do have awesome quality indigo and other plant colorants. Though if you want to try out plant colorants there's also a really great textile shop in Rotterdam that carries a lot of supplies for natural textile dyeing that can also be used in soap (textielfabrique). For more mainstream soaping stuff like FOs and micas I think you're best off in the UK indeed, though there is one Dutch supplier that is affiliated with soapqueen (onlinezeepwinkel.nl)

Thanks for the tip. I've also bought supplies from:
1. You Wish https://www.youwish.nl/
2. De Oplosmiddelspecialist https://www.deoplosmiddelspecialist.nl/ I get my NaOH here.
3. Natural Heroes https://www.naturalheroes.nl/
4. Butterwise https://www.butterwise.com/ Shea & Cocoa butter
5. Hekserij https://www.hekserij.nl/
6. Berivita https://www.berivita.com/ Special oils & EO's
7. Aromaolie https://www.aromaolie.nl/nl/webwinkel

The one thing that I couldn't find in the Netherlands but did find a Belgian supplier for was Pine Tar. I think it came from Scandinavia. I decided against it after seeing the shipping cost.

 

[szaza]

Thanks for sharing! I hadn't found youwish yet, nice find! Butterwise as well[emoji6] after finding dragonspice I kind of stuck with them because they had everything I needed and very good quality, but I might shop around a bit[emoji6]

 

[Zany_in_CO]

There's one in Denver, but I never looked for it myself. Maybe if you are ever nearby, you could let me know if it's still there.

Easy peasy to find... I can get there on Light Rail!

ETA: While planing my walking route from the Light Rail station to this Ensign horse watering fountain (which is now filled with plants):

I ran into this awesome Pioneer Monument Fountain just a few blocks away (Granted, it's not a drinking fountain, but, hey! Wowser! Who knew?!:

See more really cool shots of this monument by clicking on this Tiny URL and scrolling down to "proceed to this site".

Transcription:

This Tablet is the
Property of the State of Colorado.​

Here was the end of the famous
SMOKY HILL TRAIL
Immigrant and stage road extending
from the Missouri River to Denver.
Traversed by pioneers in 1858.
Surveyed by W. G..Russell in 1860.
Route of Butterfield's Overland
Despatch (sic) and Wells Fargo Express.
The trail took its human toll -
Death by thirst and Indian raids.
~~~~~
Placed by the State Historical Society of Colorado
from the Mrs. J. N. Hall Foundation
and by the City and County of Denver
1936.​