Meet Betty Miller of Magic Senses - Featured Artist

Today, let me introduce to you Betty Miller of Magic Senses.  A fellow member of The Artisan Group, Betty's handmade designer vegetable glycerin soaps leaves you feeling soft, fresh, and of course clean.

Betty Miller, Magic Senses

How and when did you discover your love for your craft/art?
I was at a craft fair in the summer of 2005 (newlywed and recently moved to California) and saw the most beautiful soap I had ever seen; I fell in love with it. I found out it was made with glycerin and I bought three bars. I had never seen or tried handmade soap before! Only store bought. This soap smelt so good, I wanted to buy it all! I had one of the bars on my desk for almost 3 months and it made me smile every day. After using the bars, I noticed the impact it had on me and my skin – it was a product that brightened my day, every day! So I decided to give it a try and loved making it!

Do you remember the first piece you ever made?
Yes! It was a pink butterfly soap fragranced with Plumeria oil. I still have it. J

Plumeria

Every Artist has a creative process, can you explain yours?
At Magic Senses, the creative process is a little different with every design but, mainly, this is how it goes:

• we fall madly in love with a fragrance;
• decide what kind of soap we want to make (signature collection, square, novelty, etc);
• brainstorm fun, unique ideas for design and choose color combinations; put them on the drawing board;
• narrow down to 2 or 3 designs that best represent the fragrance and make a test batch for each design;
• ask for honest feedback from customers;
• depending on the feedback, we choose a final design and improve on it, if necessary, till we think it’s perfect.

When people start doing their craft/art, they tend to try a lot of different things before settling down to something that resonates with them. How has your work changed since you began?
That may be true but, in our case, we loved the glycerin soap from the beginning and, to this day, it remains our main product. Along the years, we tried making other bath and body products but we did not excel at them (maybe we didn’t try hard enough), so we stopped making them and focused on the soap. However, there is one exception: our Shea Body Butter. We love making this one!

Two to Tango

What inspires you creatively?
Most of the times, we are inspired by fragrances. There are times, however, when a concept or idea inspires us. For example, our “Believe in You” butterfly soap was initially made to support women in business; it was supposed to be a “limited edition” but was so successful that we made it one of our signature soaps. The idea behind this creation was that being confident will give you wings and sky is the limit!

Can you tell us about some important goals you have achieved with your work?
Our main goal was (and still is) to create an excellent product everyone can use and enjoy… a product that would make people happy and life more fun while taking care of the skin. We improve on our products every year but we think we mainly achieved that.

Another goal was to help charities close to our heart by either donating soap or a percentage of the proceeds from certain soap collections. So far, we’ve helped Dizzy feet Foundation, Casting for Recovery, Women’s Center in Stockton, California and a few others. This is an ongoing goal!

Watermelon

Who are some of your favorite artists/crafters and why?
In the last six years, we met so many creative artisans (too many to list!) that just blew our minds! However, I’d like to mention our friend Beth Reiman from BPRdesigns. She is very talented and I love her handmade fused glass décor items and jewelry!

Any goals for the future you would like to share?
This year’s goal is to take Magic Senses soap to Hollywood! We are working on this right now and I am excited to announce that Magic Senses will be represented by The Artisan Group at the GBK Academy Awards (Oscars) Gift Lounge in February! Our soap will be gifted to 100 celebrities and attending guests! Now that is “raising the bar”! The soap designs to be famous are: Watermelon, Lemon Lavender, Cherry Vanilla, Two to Tango, Seaside, Soft Rain, Cool Rhythm and the Believe in You Butterfly.

Mountain Rain

What do you do in your spare time?
I don’t have any spare time to speak of… but when I do, I take care of my other business, Simo Media, which is a network of niche blogs. I also like to go for some shopping therapy with my husband. J

If you are displaying or selling your craft/art? Where?
All our soap Collections are available online at www.MagicSenses.com. The Dance Soap Collection we exclusively made for “Dizzy Feet Foundation” can be found on their website, also. Our favorite reseller is Pine Tree Road Soap Shop in San Diego.

Feng Shui Wood

If you sell online or at physical store. How many hours per week to you spend in the creative side versus the business side?
Well, it depends on the season… and I’m not sure I’d measure it in hours though… let’s put it this way: we have a full time job working ON the business and another full time job working IN the business. During the Holiday season (September – December), we breathe soap! We work till 4 am processing orders and making more soap! At the end of the day, we are happy knowing that all the beautiful soap we made will go to a wonderful home or will be a surprise gift to a soap lover. And that makes it all worth it!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start out or start a business in their craft/art?
You must absolutely be passionate about your craft and have your mind set on success! Otherwise, it will be just a hobby with a business license. J And another thing: don’t be afraid of healthy competition!

Believe in You

If there is anything else you want to add, please feel free to do so.
First of all, I’d like to thank you for the interview! Second of all, I’d like to encourage your readers who want to break up with their boring soap to visit www.MagicSenses.com and join us on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/MagicSenses) or Twitter (@magicsenses). Thank you so much!

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Thank you Betty!  Be sure to look for Betty's Magic Senses soaps online at

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blog

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