Thursday, August 21, 2008
Zenith Supplies for soap, candles, lotions and perfumes
Why did it take me so long to finally get myself into Zenith Supplies here in Seattle? It's only a half a block down from the Ravenna Whole Foods, I have missed out on so many opportunities to go and admire tiny lip balm containers.
In short, Zenith Supplies sells all the things you need to make candles, soap, lotions, balms, perfumes, things for your body, the bath and your home. I went in hoping to find some DPG for making my own reed diffuser scents and not only did they have it but they had a recipe, bottles, reeds, perfumers alcohol and a more than impressive selection of essential and fragrance oils. They have candle and soap molds, jars and bottles of all sizes, lotion bases and bulk oils, salts and dried herbs, more waxes and additives than I knew existed. But most thrillingly they had an excellent selection of small jars for lips balms and solid perfume including the elusive clear plastic compact. They had those old fashioned metal sliding tins, little rollerball containers for scents and teeny pipetts, small atomizers and all sorts of packaging supplies. You can buy just one of anything, which sounds awfully good to me, the girl who still has well over 100 pipettes from my lip balm making experiments. The store is large, clean and orderly and the staff was perfectly happy to answer all my inane questions. It is, as I had been warned by Yelp, a little hippy dippy, expect to find crystals and books on healing arts. I see a solid perfume in my future and maybe, maybe, some serious soapmaking.
For an easy reed diffuser, I stock up on Bath and Body Works body sprays during their semi-annual sales and then buy the reeds separately. So cheap! I stole the idea from my boyfriend's mother.
Zenith looks amazing. It's too bad they require a $50 min order. I'm on the other side of the country...
Comment by Carolyn Ell — August 21, 2008 @ 8:43 am
Carolyn - Brambleberry is very popular and doesn't have minimums, though no sign of the clear compact.
Comment by megan — August 21, 2008 @ 9:05 am
I love Zenith! I go there for all of my massage needs, and as an LMP I get a discount on massage supplies. I only wish they had a more centralized Seattle location.
On a neat side note, Ben who owns Ballard Organics (soap!) used to work there.
Comment by Jackie — August 21, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Jackie - Thanks for the link to Ballard Organics, I hadn't realized they sell bulk ingredients as well.
Comment by megan — August 21, 2008 @ 9:20 am
yeah! real soap making (with lye, not melt and pour) is awesome! I took it up this summer, and I love the soap and will never go back to store bought soap. It is annoying though that other than the kinds of oils you'd find in a grocery store, I have to order most online, as well as any fancy molds. I want to try avocado butter in my soap next. (Luckily I can get lye easily at the hardware store as a cleaning supply.)
Comment by Jen — August 21, 2008 @ 10:17 am
Thanks for the link Megan!
Comment by Carolyn Ell — August 22, 2008 @ 9:05 am
soapmaking is awesome! i used to do it more, but with a toddler around i'm a little nervous about the lye etc... but it's a very easy process, very satisfying, and your precise recipe-following skills are perfect. (it's really a chemical reaction, so there is very little leeway in proportions.) it's very easy to make a lot of nice gifts, and cheap too. do it! :)
Comment by greta — August 22, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
I think this would be a very dangerous place for me given my craft closet is already mostly full. So I will be staying far, far away.
Comment by ambika — August 25, 2008 @ 9:35 am
I go to Zenith for dusting powder supplies. They have the best French Clay
Comment by mel — September 2, 2008 @ 7:11 am