Tim left a job with a soap company, and found that soap making satisfied a creative urge that other artistic pursuits hadn’t. His husband, Joey, encouraged him to make it into a business, and now they own Sleepy Hollow Handmade together. Meet Tim!
How long have you been making soap, and how did you get started?
I started making soap in the Fall of 2019. I first became interested in soap making after having left a job working retail. As it was, I needed to find a hobby and with the encouragement of my husband (and now co-owner of the business), Joey, I decided to start researching and learning how to make soap.
Growing up, I always loved art class, but I was never very good at any art. I loved that soap making tapped into that creative interest that I hadn’t really pursued into adulthood. In many ways, soap making also reminds me of cooking and baking. I’ve always loved spending time in the kitchen, and making a batch of soap is very similar to following my favorite recipe. Soap making truly seemed like the perfect creative outlet and hobby for me, and it’s definitely an obsession that has only deepened over time.
How long have you been selling your products?
I definitely got into soap making at the right time. I’d already been testing out different recipes and sharing my creations with friends and family the first holiday after I started making soap. Once the pandemic hit, I had so much extra time at home and a lot of my free time was spent making, learning about, and obsessing over soap! I made so many batches over the Spring and into the Summer of 2020, and we quickly started stockpiling my soaps.
During that time, I also started sharing a lot of my creations on social media, and even before the business came into existence, I started developing a small following of people who liked what I was doing. Soon, people started asking if they could purchase my soaps. While it wasn’t originally my plan to turn soap making into a business, with the encouragement of my husband Joey yet again, and after a lot of back-and-forth on my part, we decided to open the business in July of 2020.
What do you love most about making bath and body products?
Honestly, it goes back to the fact that, for me, soap making really is just about having fun! I said it before, but it’s such a creative outlet for me. Not only that, but it’s a total stress reliever. I usually only ever make soap on the weekends (I do still have a full-time job, after all), but all week long all I ever think about and look forward to is my next opportunity to make a batch of soap.
I also get a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that there are so many people out there who enjoy our soaps. It blows my mind that people come back time and again to shop with us and check out our new creations every month! It’s amazing and humbling to know that people love the things that we make.
What inspires you to create?
I’m inspired by a lot of things! Sometimes there is a fragrance oil that I’m dying to work with. Other times, our designs are driven by the season or an upcoming holiday. And then there are times that I just want to play with specific colors or make a particular design. We also launch a new collection of soaps almost every month, and often our designs for each collection are inspired by what goes best with the theme for that month.
For instance, this month we are launching our Pride collection which features five soaps inspired by the queer community. Among the collection are our best selling rainbow soap, Pride & Joy, which we offer year round, as well as True Colors (the trans pride flag), Bi-Scentual (inspired by the bisexual flag), Venus (a soap that matches the lesbian flag), and Pastel Pride (a new pastel rainbow striped soap). This collection was so fun to create because, not only does it reflect the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community, but it’s also just so bright and fabulous!
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to get started?
I think my biggest piece of advice to anyone starting out would be to just be patient. Starting out, it seems like so many people want to do everything all at once. I know this, because that was also me in the early days of my soap making journey. It really is important to just take your time, learn the ins and outs of soap making, and not rush. I spent a lot of time researching soap making before even attempting to make my first batch, and I think it has served me well along the way. I think soap makers should really know and understand their recipes, and part of that is just learned through time and experience, and with a heck of a lot of patience!
Who’s another maker you admire? What do you love about their work?
Since the beginning of my soap making journey, I have always admired the work of Amber with Am Happy Soap. I love her style, use of color, overall aesthetic, and generally appreciate her approach to soap making. To this day I am a huge fan and still love seeing her creations and watching her make soap! I don’t often order soap from other makers — remember… we run a soap business, so we kind of have a lot of it on hand — but Amber is one of the few that me and Joey will treat ourselves to every so often.
I also owe so many thanks to Teri with Tree Marie Soapworks. When I was first learning the craft, her YouTube tutorials were an incredible resource when trying to figure out a new technique. To this day, I still use a lot of the tips and tricks I learned from watching her videos. She is also just another incredibly talented soap maker, and I love listening to her talk through a technique — her voice is so soothing!
Have you experienced a failure? How did you work through it, and what did you learn?
Yes, I’ve had a lot of things go wrong! Sometimes it was salvageable and sometimes it was just garbage. Even though failure sucks, I do still think I have learned a lot through dealing with the unexpected. Each failure has helped me to be better prepared to handle the next one.
What plans do you have for your business moving forward?
Right now, Sleepy Hollow Handmade remains a passion project that continues to be fun and it has, so far, grown in sustainable ways. While we would love to one day have a physical location, both Joey and I still have full-time jobs and we’re just not ready to make that leap. We love what we get to do through Sleepy Hollow Handmade and we’re excited to see where it goes — wherever that may be!
What are your 4 must-have Bramble Berry products? Why are they your favorite?
Hands down, my favorite and absolute must-have product is the Neroli and Shea Blossom Fragrance Oil. It’s seriously one of my favorite fragrances! I use it to make our bestselling summer soap, Beachy, and our customers legit cannot get enough of it.
My most useful tool that I own is my Bramble Berry multi-bar cutter It makes cutting a loaf such a breeze and I love the little “twang” sound it makes when you slice into a loaf.
Another product I have loved are the SCI foaming noodles! Last Summer, I learned how to make solid shampoo bars and the little noodles are just the best when it comes to bubbles.
We also cannot say enough about the eco-friendly and compostable packaging that Bramble Berry introduced last year. We specifically love the kraft paperboard tube, which worked really well when we recently started making deodorant.
What’s your favorite Bramble Berry project, or what’s the first project you tried?
I really liked the Lotion Bar Kit! I always wanted to try making a solid lotion bar, but didn’t quite know where to start. The kit made it super easy and I’m excited to start offering those to customers this Fall.
Joey, who is not an experienced soap maker recently got to try making his first batch of soap using the Wild Rose Soap Kit. It made the entire process super easy, and he really appreciated that it came with everything he needed to tackle it on his own!
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