Support our Fund on Etsy Project to Make DejaVino Candles a Reality!

For a long time now my sister and I have wanted to expand The Pig and the Peacock and add new products to our line. However, between our real jobs, keeping up with wholesale orders and organizing charity events with Etsy Dallas, it leaves us little time to make anything new.

We have been wanting to launch a new item to our shop called DejaVino Recycled Wine Bottle Candles. We make DejaVino candles by upcycling wine bottles. First we hand cut the wine bottles, then sand them down by hand too. We then etch quotes or images into the bottles using etching creme before hand-pouring them with 100% soy wax.

Prototypes of our DejaVino Recycled Wine Bottle Candles. Production candles will be sandblasted for a more impactful etch

We got the idea to make these candles by watching the bartenders at my boyfriends restaurant (Cafe Izmir) toss dozens of wine bottles in the trash every night. We just thought that there had to be something we could do to give those bottle new life, hence the name DejaVino. We have actually now provided Cafe Izmir with custom DejaVino candles with their logo etched on to them!

Currently what stands in our way of making this new line of candles is two things:

1. Scalability of soap making production.
• Our soaps are made in small batches which make it time consuming to produce large quantities to keep up with orders
2. Scalability of DejaVino production.
• As mentioned above every step of making DejaVino candles is done by hand. While they will still be 100% handmade, there is a big difference between hand sanding, and utilizing a belt sander. There is also a big difference in time and quality in using etching creme vs using a sandblaster.

How will this Fund on Etsy project help us?

1. Scalability of soap making production.
• We will be able to have custom soap molds made that are 100% larger than the current ones we have. Doubling our capacity will give us back valuable time to create new items like the DejaVino candles.
2. Scalability of DejaVino production.
• Since our arm feels like it is going to fall off after sanding 5 bottles, it is really important to get some tools. Roughly half of the funds raised will go towards a membership to Dallas Makerspace. There they have all the tools we need to streamline production of DejaVino candles, such as belt sanders and sandblasting cabinets.
• The sandblasting cabinet is key to our production as it creates a much sharper, cleaner, deeper etch in the bottles that can not be achieved with the etching creme. It is also a lot faster too, which means we can etch more on any given day.

We are really excited about this opportunity to grow and hope that you will help support us by backing this project! We are also so honored that Etsy has chosen us to be one of the shops to be part of their Fund on Etsy launch!

How can you back this project? It's easy. Follow this link to our DejaVino Recycled Wine Bottle Fund on Etsy page and choose your reward level! We have a large selection of rewards from $5-$500, with a lot of goodies at every level!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

While it is all good and well that we are finally getting boat loads of rain here in TX, we are becoming a little waterlogged.

Yeah, those trees back there...that is where the river is supposed to be...

This rain has also just been havoc on our soaps. Why? Because some of our soaps have a high glycerin content, and glycerin LOVES moisture. So much so that it will suck it right out of the air. This is actually a pretty awesome characteristic, because it will do that for your skin to, keeping it soft and moisturized. But what it does on the soap is form condensation on it.

A couple of Coal Soaps with condensation from the humidity

You can see in the picture above, that condensation from the humidity is making our Coal Soaps look a little more like diamonds! If only it were that easy to make diamonds! Once the humidity goes down the condensation will dry and the soap will look matte.

If you happen to have handmade soaps, and see this happening in you soap dish, fear not...your soap is just fine and the ingredients in it are just doing what they do best!.

Are There Chemicals In This? What is a Chemical?

This blog post is a continuation of the topic we discussed last week, Is It All Natural? We hear are asked and hear comments from time to time, and see articles online about how there are all these nasty chemicals in everything you buy (which I am sure they do because sensationalization is what sells, but that's a post for another day).

Image via Mahivory

So do we have chemicals in our soap? Yes. Absolutely. Almost everything we make contains Dihydrogen Monoxide. Scary huh? Oh, wait...that's just water (H2O)! And that leads us to the question of the hour...What is a chemical? The short answer is everything. Chemicals are the building blocks of everything in the world we know, as long as it contains matter.

Since one of the things my sister and I love so much about Pig and Peacock is the combination of chemistry, cooking and creativity, I must admit, this question kind of irks the chemist in me.

We should not fear chemicals, without them we wouldn't have air to breathe, water to drink, or diamonds. We'd be lacking some vital nutrients that allow our bodies, worse yet, we would cease to exist.

So the real question you should be asking instead of "Is that a chemical?", or "Are chemicals dangerous?" is this:
Is the chemical you are using, safe to be used in it's specific application?
This means that we are using the correct amount of water, the correct amount of oils and the correct amount of applicable preservatives to protect you from some of those really nasty "natural" things that can grow if you do not use the right amount to make a product safe.

I recently read a fantastic article that clarifies why you shouldn't be worried about chemical per se, but the safe and appropriate use of them. I think this excerpt sums it up pretty well:

"On April 10, a group of health and environmental groups launched a national campaign asking ten major retailers to phase out “potentially” toxic products.  Aren't all products “potentially” toxic? A chemical’s toxicity depends on its concentration in a product and route of exposure, not simply its presence. Most chemicals can be toxic at high enough levels, including such common items as salt, aspirin or vitamins. Should it really be retailers’ job to pull items from their shelves when numerous regulatory agencies around the world, including several in the US, oversee chemical safety and have the authority to remove products when the evidence justifies it?"


We are always careful to make sure all of our ingredients (whether their name sounds chemically or not) are used with precise measurements and made to be safe for anyone and everyone to use.

It was really important to us to post these two articles, not to ruffle feathers, but to inform shoppers and separate pseudo-science from the fact.

Read the entire article, The Presence of a Chemical is Not the Same as the Presence of Risk here.

Some chemical names of everyday substances:
Magnesium Sulfate - Epsom Salts
Glycerol -  Glycerin
Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate - Baking Soda
Sucrose - Sugar
Ascorbic Acid - Vitamin C
Transcinnameldehyde - Cinnamon
Theobromine - Chocolate

And the following are the official INCI names (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) of other commonly found bath and body ingredients that may sound chemically but really aren't:
Butyrospermum Parkii - Shea Butter
Tocopheryol - Vitamin E
Melaleuca Alternifolia - Tea Tree Oil
Simmondsia Chinesis - Jojoba Oil

Is it All Natural?

One of the most common questions we get is "Is it all natural?"

We love natural ingredients like essential oils, shea butter, soy wax, and many more. But it sometimes concerns us that people believe that natural always means safe and good for you.

Not all natural things are good for you. You know, things like bacteria, mold, and sharks. Even though these are all natural, you don't want them in your beauty products. Bacteria and mold can irritate your skin or cause infections. (We don't want to give sharks a bad rep here, but they can cause irritation and infection too, usually at the site where they bite you...)

The most common, non-natural ingredient we use is the preservative Phenonip. All water based products, like lotions and body butters, should have a preservative to inhibit microbial growth. A little non-natural additive to keep unhealthy natural growth out of your skin care regimen isn't a bad thing.

Some people say vitamin E and citric acid are natural preservatives. Vitamin E and citric acid have some benefits and they can extend the shelf life of oils in bath and body products, but they are not preservatives.

There are lot of beauty product myths out there. If you are concerned about an ingredient in your soap, lotion, or other bath and body product, do some research or ask some questions before you dismiss a product because it's not all natural or use a product because it is.

In defense of bacteria, mold, and sharks, they all play important roles in our ecosystem, just not in your beauty routine.

Crafts for Crayons and Girls Inc.

We are really excited and proud to be working towards what we hope will become an annual event to benefit Girls Incorporated of Metropolitan Dallas which will help girls and young women to be strong, smart and bold. I wanted to share on a more personal level why this is so important to me and my sister.

Two months ago Verizon came out with an ad called Inspire Her Mind that featured the life of a young girl whose parents slowly socialize her to not be interested in science-it stated a startling fact (at least for me): 66% of 4th grade girls like math and science, but only 18% of college engineering students are female. It ends with the question "Isn't it time we told her she's pretty brilliant too"? 

This struck a nerve with me (and my sister, the other half of Pig and Peacock). Our father, the engineer, ingrained it into our beings to be interested in math and science, to have a strong curiosity for how the world works and to learn about it. We even had to learn how to work on our own cars! I know that math and science isn't everyone's cup 'o tea, but the disparity between those two percentages bothered me, so I started looking into STEM mentoring which led me to Girls Inc. which offers mentoring to girls in math, science and tech.

Then, a month later, Always, came out with a campaign and video called #LikeAGirl asking grown men and women to run and fight "like a girl". Then they asked little girls to do the same, and asked the question "When did doing something 'like a girl' become an insult"?

The response from the little girl at 1:15 is what did me in. When she realizes that like a girl is not a good thing, but an insult. Tears. Seriously. It was at that moment that I knew I had to do more that think about doing something and take action. The more I read about Girls Inc. and their mission to empower young girls to be strong, self-confident, and successful the more I felt the need to do something for this organization.

While my sister and I joke that our family was dysfunctional (whose wasn't?) I really appreciate all that our parents did for us. Our father taught us that we should be the smartest kids in the class, that a 99 meant we were capable of making a 100. I appreciate that our mom taught us that to hit like a girl meant we should win the fight (she's real fiesty!) and that if we applied ourselves that there was nothing that could stop us. I realize now more than ever that we are truly lucky to have been raised by them, even if there was a lot of tough love. To thank my parents, I will share that encouragement with others who need it most.

The Crafts for Crayons event with Etsy Dallas seemed like the perfect place to start. While we do have some very talented guys on our team, most of the team members are women who run their own micro/small businesses. We are also all about helping lift each other up and elevating our community. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for us, as a team, to get involved and help by collecting school, craft and art supplies.

We hope that you will join us on Aug 30th at NorthPark Mall from 1-5pm to help support a great cause and share in the opportunity to make a difference!

The 1st Annual Crafts for Crayons School Supply Drive

We are so excited to announce the 1st annual Crafts for Crayons school supply drive at NorthPark Center on August 30 from 1:00 to 5:00!

Did you know:

• 1 in 3 children in Dallas cannot afford basic school supplies
• Across the country teachers spend $500 each year out of their own pockets to buy school supplies for their students
• Back-to-school time is very stressful for many families who cannot afford school supplies
• You can help

Donate school and art supplies (or cash) and do some cool crafts with us and others from the Etsy Dallas team. All donations go to Girls Incorporated of Metropolitan Dallas. You can make the difference in a child's school year.

We'll be between Nordstrom and Macy's in the NorthCourt. See you there!

How-To Prepare for a Craft Show (like a pro) Part 2.1

Now that we've covered product, layout, displays, and signage, it's time to get down to business. Literally. After you have made items to sell and put price tags on them you need to start preparing yourself to sell your handmade goods. It is really important to be well prepared for transacting business-if you are not well organized, customers might get frustrated, you may end up with a few people waiting to pay, and you will undoubtedly become frazzled, which is no fun.

From the guest post we wrote on the Etsy Dallas blog:

Prep for Doing Business

One or two weeks before the show, gather everything you need to do business and ring up transactions. Pens, calculators, invoice/receipt books, and shopping bags are must haves. Make a bank run to get change - think about your price points and plan your change based on that. If you take credit card payments via square or any other device or app, make sure they are in working order and that you remember passwords for apps. Another thing we do is create a cheat sheet of all of out items pricing with tax. At the bottom we have every price point from $1-$100 with tax added for a quick reference guide.

In addition to the bare minimum of receipt books, etc. you want to make sure that anything you plan to use to package or wrap items you have on hand as well (tissue paper, twine, gift boxes). Thinking back to your booth layout, make sure that all of these items along with shopping bags are laid out in a way that will make it fast and efficient to wrap or package items. Make knitted scarves and plan to drop them in shopping bags? Easy peasy. Make ceramic dishes and need to wrap them individually and them box them up? Plan to make some space for that and keep all materials handy. Plastic Rubbermaid drawers under a table can make for a quick wrapping station. If you make jewelry, you will want to be sure to have small boxes or pouches to protect purchases. It is also a really good idea to have boxes handy during the holiday season if people ask for them. I know it is an extra expense, but it is also part of the handmade shopping experience to have items nicely packaged. Uline is a great resource for packaging supplies.

Most craft show vendors have adopted the Square and other credit card payment methods, but it is always good to be prepared to take payments the old fashioned way (card imprint and paper receipt). Just because you have a square and the phone app doesn't mean you are guaranteed good cell signals or wifi. We have totally been to places that were the dead zone for cell phones, and with 50+ vendors trying to tap into the free wifi, forget it...nothing was working. This is when that receipt book will be extra handy, make an imprint either rubbing the card with a pen under the carbon copies (anyone who has ever worked in retail knows the drill) or write it down. Be SURE to destroy the card numbers asap after you are able to run the payment, and black out the # on the guests receipt for safety too. This is also where cash will come in handy, if your are not sure you have enough, bring more-you can always redeposit it into the bank after the show. Even if all of your items are under $10, be prepared to make change for someone who pays with a $100 bill. You know that person (can you tell we used to work retail!?) the one who comes first thing in the morning straight from the bank with a crisp hundred and you have to make $92 in change and they wipe out all your $20's...? Be prepared for that person :)

Be sure to check out the rest of this series on the blog!

How-To Prepare for a Craft Show Part 1.1: Make Enough Product

How-To Prepare for a Craft Show Part 1.2: Lay Out Your Booth Space and Displays
How-To Prepare for a Craft Show Part 1.3: Create Signage