Introducing Nidelva Soapmakers & Crafts blog

French green clay added to an olive oil soap turns a
soap into a deep-cleaning facial mask.

(above)Soap with silk proteins dissolved in it
makes an amazing difference to the texture
of the suds. (below) Salt scrub ready for
summer with the smell of jasmine.  

Welcome!

to all things soapmaking and crafts that catch my eye.


I live near the beautiful medieval Norwegian city of Trondheim, so there may be the occasional post or link in Norwegian, but essentially, this blog will be in English.


This year, I joined forces with the creative and inspiring group at Pryd in the historical Bakklandet area of Trondheim.  www.prydbutikken.blogg.no

It isn't my intention to make this blog one big advertisement for my products, but, as it happens, I am rather passionate about and proud of them.  Soapmaking has become something of an obsession with me, especially on the organic chemistry side of things.  I can literally go on and on about long-chain fatty acids and saponifiable fats and gel phase vs non-gel phase soap..... *see... I knew your eyes would glaze over...*  For those of you interested in the chemistry behind the soap, there will be plenty of that here and if I can work it out, I may even get a Q & A system up and running connected to this blog.  All that being said, you should hear a bit about who I am and what I do and what has led me to write this blog that will be bursting with crafts and all-things soap.


My name is Carol Benoit and for the past 5 years or so I have made natural body care products.  I keep things very simple and pure, making things from scratch and avoiding recipes that call for preservatives or colourings.  I combine my interest in science with making the best soap and body care products I can and making them lovely with fragrances and packaging.


As well as soap, I make salt scrubs, shea butter creams and solid lotion bars.  During the dry, cold winters here in Norway, our skin requires some TLC with loads of moisturisers and all my products are made without petroleum products or parabens.  The salt scrubs were formulated with a special store in mind here in Trondheim, but, sadly, it no longer exists.  She sold hundreds of my scrubs.  The good news is that they are still available through a new store, Pryd, in Bakklandet here in Trondheim, or you can contact me through this blog or my etsy store if you want to enquire about any of my products.  


I love simple and natural when it comes to the products I clean with and use on my body.  When I moved to Norway, almost 10 years ago now, I could not find epsom salt anywhere.  After many-a-confused phone call, it turned out, not many people had heard of epsom salts here, so I started importing it from England.  I've been spreading the good word about epsom salt soaks for aches and pains.  If you want to read up on epsom salt and its uses, here is a handy link.  http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/beauty/  


Link to my shop at esty:  www.nidelva.etsy.com


So, watch this space for interesting links to thrifty & essentially cool crafts, as well as learning about soapmaking.  I'll share some good formulas for making your own bath and body products and demystify soapmaking and some other crafts that might be sitting in your 'too hard' basket.