Satisfying one’s curiosity begets opportunity; acting upon opportunity opens doors of enlightenment and motivation, which results in creating something truly novel and useful, ultimately uniting a community. This is what happened.

It all started in 1996 with encountering “essential oils” in an article I was reading to pass the time. So intrigued, I took to the information superhighway, where, essentially, I had read a bit about essential oils in soapmaking, and was inspired by the first internet soaplist. By the end of the year I started up my soap business (Petal Pusher Botanical Soap Company), and began to sell my soap.

I wanted more information and sought it, but there was nothing out there that guided independent soapmakers. Thus, The Saponifier was born in July of 1998 to fulfill a niche in the market. The Saponifier is all about sharing the knowledge and experiences of soap makers, toiletry makers, candle makers, chemists and suppliers; topics range from marketing to formulating, organizing to designing, business sense to wholesaling and everything else in-between.

The title was rebranded to Making Soap, Cosmetics & Candles (Jan 2016) as our readership has increased to also comprise those who make all manner of cosmetics and candles as well as soap.