Our New Cell Phone Sized Solar Powered Aquarian Bath Webserver Runs on 5 Watts

The new Aquarian Bath web store was recently upgraded and given a new home on one of these palm-sized machines which are built with the power efficient processors designed for smart phones. The open source Cubieboard ARM based integrated computer serves as the bare metal for a Debian Linux based web, database, and email server. Drawing just 3 Watts 5 Watts under load, it is one of the most power efficient computing platforms available, allowing us to run our new website on solar power, courtesy of industry leader SolarNetOne.  We upgraded our server since this article was published last week to include an extra hard drive which draws 2 Watts in order to keep up with holiday traffic, therefore the server draws 5 Watts instead of 3 Watts.

In comparison, the average video card in a gaming computer draws about 100 Watts by itself. Another 150 Watts is required for the main computer. 250 Watts is also about the average power consumption for a typical server. An average compact fluorescent light bulb draws 13 Watts, more than 2 times the power of our new e-commerce website.  

With this new hardware upgrade, we also updated the shopping cart, reorganized and categorized many of our items and sections. We hope you find it easier to navigate. You can now shop by the following main sections Soap (and Shampoo), Natural Skin Care, Herbal Products, Gift Ideas, Flaxseed Pillows and Reduce Plastic. 

For example, this Gingerbread and Star Anise 2013  holiday soap set can be found in the soap, Gift ideas, and Reduce plastic section.  Thanks for reading and please check out our new site.  

New Soaps in Stock!

Daytona Beach Scrubby Sand Soap  This is a hard hand soap for super dirty hands.

We have lots of new soaps in stock.  Some have been on the site for a couple of weeks and others are new today.  This is the first time we've shown them off here on the blog.  I hope you'll find one you like.  Find all our soap on the main Aquarian Bath website.

Orange Clove Soap with red Moroccan Clay.  Hand or Body Soap

Root Beer Soap lightly scented with a pure essential oil blend.  Nice body soap!

Jasmine Rose Soap.  Must have for floral fans.  Get ready to swoon.

Orange Patchouli Hand Soap Made with a high concentration of Coconut oil,
 this  is a long lasting, strong lathering bar of soap.  Naturally colored, of
course, with red Moroccan Clay and Organic Cocoa Powder

Aquarian Bath Customer Review on Youtube

Patchouli soap with a sprig of patchouli from my garden.  

Big thanks to my customer Jennifer who used all her Etsy Gift Card funds on my shop and made this super video about my shop and products.  It was so nice of her.  I really appreciate it, and wanted to share it with everyone.

My patchouli soap is her husband's favorite and my Jasmine perfume is one of her favorites.

Voyage - A Nautical Etsy Front Page Collection

My Dead Sea Mud Shampoo bar is currently on the front page of Etsy in Europe in this beautiful nautical and beachy collection. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

'Voyage' by barbaraszepesiszucs

Vintage Wooden Row ... rouilly $200.00	Swallow Envelope Ne... SilentRoses $24.00	Kiss Me Sailor Boy ... maclancy $6.50	Dead Sea Mud Shampo... AquarianBath $6.50
Anchor necklace - b... missbabacilu $28.00	SALE 15% Black Coll... LikeFreja $28.00	Vintage navy blue t... TheRetroBotteg... $45.00	Sea side photograph... OverTheRainbow... $30.00
Pin Up Nautical Pol... iconoclasp $36.00	CIJ 20% OFF Butterf... LaurasJeweller... $6.00	Crochet Peter Pan C... polixeni19 $14.00	CIJ 10% Off OOAK Na... Ollegoria $115.00
Vintage Sailboat An... idiopix $13.95	Navy Blue and White... ProjectCottage $145.00	Creamy White Coral ... paperwords11 $10.00	Sea House - 8x10 Fi... sintwister $25.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

I love this Aquarius painting by the curator of the treasury also. Be sure to check out all the great maternity and bird art in her shop. There are many colorful paintings to admire.

4 New Shampoo Bars by Aquarian Bath and How to Use a Shampoo Bar

Coffee Butter Shampoo Bar Vegan Jojoba Formula

I am pleased to announce 4 new shampoo bars from Aquarian Bath made with a slightly modified formula which includes Pesticide Free Golden Jojoba. The formula is nearly the same as my original vegan Aloe Shampoo Bar, but it has Golden Jojoba included instead of Aloe. The difference in feel for your hair is slightly more smoothing, softening, and straightening. The Aloe Shampoo bars tend to give my hair more volume and bounce. Don't worry, I will continue making my Aloe Shampoo Bars for those who love that formula.

My coffee shampoo bar is sure to be a hit. It was made with my new vegan jojoba formulation slightly modified to include highly aromatic coffee butter and a strong coffee brew rather than standard water. These coffee shampoo bars have a light coffee scent.

If you have been waiting for an unscented shampoo bar or have been wanted to try a smaller sized shampoo bar to start, you can now try my Henna infused Shampoo Bar rounds. I have a small number of these bars in stock at the moment. I haven't decided if I will stick with rounds or make regular rectangles with the next batch. What do you think? Do you like round soaps?

Henna Shampoo Bar Vegan Jojoba Formulation

My next shampoo bar isn't vegan but it is the same formula with the addition of Tea Tree and Eucalyptus essential oil together with silk protein and honey. The silk gives the an even greater smoothing quality to the shampoo bar. This bar smells wonderfully herbaceous and refreshing.

Silk-N-Honey Tea Tree Eucalyptus Shampoo Bar with Jojoba

Lastly I have created a fun shampoo bar for the Beer lovers with Guinness Extra Stout. This shampoo bar is unscented. This bar was made with the same vegan jojoba formula, but it contains slightly less free oil compared to the other vegan jojoba shampoo bars. So this might be a good choice for you if you hair tends to normal with a slight tendency towards oiliness.

Extra Stout Vegan Jojoba Shampoo Bar made with North American Guinness Extra Stout. This bar is slightly less conditioning compared to my other vegan jojoba shampoo bars

How does one wash with a shampoo bar?

I wrote previously about transitioning to shampoo bars and a simple treatment to give your hair a fresh start, but what about the basics? Washing with a shampoo bar is pretty simple. First you wet your hair thoroughly, the rub the shampoo bar in a few a patches in your hair. Then work up the lather with your hands. Make sure the lather is worked in through all of your hair and down to your scalp in order give your hair a complete cleaning. Then rinse your hair with fresh water making sure to get out all the shampoo. Rinsing your hair with bath tub water that already has soap mixed in with it will not give you a clean rinse. I wash with my shampoo bars every 2 to 3 days, or more often if I have been getting dirty in the garden or have been working out strenuously.

Winter Blog Hop with Aquariann

My Etsytwitter fairy artist friend Aquariann is hosting a winter blog hop. Check it out by following the link to her blog.

I've been hunkered down here since Sunday trying to get over a winter cold. Thankfully I'm just about there. While my list of products that I'm running out of grows I've been resting and watching movies. I just found yesterday that the full Mists of Avalon series was on youtube, so that was fun to watch.



While I was sick and resting I also came up with a last minute gift idea in my Etsy shop. Can you believe there is still time? I made u-print Aquarian Bath gift certificates for my Bath and Body shop. They are in $20, $30 and $50 (for 45) denominations. Each gift certificate is personalized same day with the the giver and receivers name and a numbered code to use at redemption.



Hope you have a great Christmas and don't have too many last minute errands to run!

Florida has a lot to offer!

The Florida Etsy Street team just keeps getting better and better! Check out these two treasuries from two of our members.

The first is entitled "Summer inspires" by jewelry artist Seaphemera.  I love that she included my Black Charcoal Clarifying Soap in a summer collection, because this is just the soap that I like to use in hot sticky Florida summer weather. The charcoal and bentonite clay in this soap help make it very cleansing.

My favorite item from the treasury is this abstract mosiac mirror from Memories In Mosiacs.

OhBabydotcom is the curator of this "My Purple Passion" treasury.

Included in this treasury is my Black Licorice Tooth Powder in the treasury, which is a big favorite. I just made up a batch of tooth powder samples to send out free with the next 10 orders from my shop.  I love the awesome clamshell necklace that was included in this treasury.

You can check out more items from the Florida Etsy Street Team and meet our members at EtsyFest.com.

I Need Some Coffee!

I really had to laugh the other day when I woke up and found my Kitchen Coffee Soap in this great treasury by Florida artist, Maria Soto Robbins.  The title of the the treasury is "I Need Some Coffee."  Well, my sentiments exactly, but I'm not going to get any for quite some time I suppose.  Silly me, I thought I could have a cup of coffee or two on occasion.  However, a not so happy, not so napping breast-fed baby recently convinced me otherwise.  So I have a brand new bag of a yummy chicory-coffee blend that is stashed in the refrigerator now.  I will have to be satisfied with my coffee soaps or maybe I can try decaf or just admire these wonderful Etsy Treasury East Selections.

And look what I found when I woke up this morning! Another awesome coffee colored treasury! This one is by Deirdre of Blackbird Photography.  Click to check out all the items.

Three Beautiful Treasury East Collections

I'm very thankful to have some of my items featured in a few beautiful treasuries recently. I thought I would take the opportunity to share them with you and beautify my blog at the same time.

First this Treasury is by Keri of the Garden Vibe. This is one of my favorite treasuries of all time, entitled 'The Depths of the Ocean.' My last bar of Vegan Ocean Waves Sea Salt Soap is included in the treasury.

Next this is a brand new 'Bath Time' treasury by Red Line Art. Tracey has included my Rose Geranium Conditioning Hair Rinse and Lavender and Flax neck pillow in this collection.

The next collection was made by LeoandJunie. She has a great eye for coordination and this collection is entitle 'Gray Skies.' My Ocean Waves Sea Salt Soap is also featured in this treasury.

The curators and I would love for you to visit the treasuries on etsy and check out all the great items and leave your comments. Enjoy.

Memorial Day Weekend Sale 20% Off Storewide

Hope you all have some fun plans for this weekend. Anything exciting? I'm still in bed recovering with the new baby, but my in laws are taking my six year old for a drive south on my birthday this Saturday.

For the weekend I will be offering a 20% off discount on all products in my etsy shop starting tomorrow Friday the 28th through Monday May 31st. To take advantage of this sale you can check out as usual through Etsy and request a revised paypal invoice, or you can check out, pay by paypal and I will refund you 20% off your products. All orders placed through the weekend will be shipped out on Tuesday June 1st.

Thanks for shopping and have a great weekend.

Something for Dad:
Dark Stout Soap


Best Sellers on Sale:

Black Licorice Tooth Powder



Carrot Top Shampoo Bar











Patchouli Natural Perfume for him or her