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“J just have somuch fun experimenting,” says Anne Du Bois, as she proudly displays her own handcrafted, all natu- ral soap bars on her kitchen table. “T always want to discover and create new things,” she explains, pointing to the latest fruits of her labour: a shave bar made with rosemary, cedarwood and naiouli essential oils, cleverly named “The Slip and Glide,” and a shampoo bar made with hydrating carrot oil called “The Top and Tail.” As the visionary behind the ‘Goats Milk Soap Company’, Anne makes all her soap products the old-fashioned way. She sources her ingredients from local farmers, gathers herbs from her own garden, mixes the ingredients right in her own house in Port Perry and uses a traditional method known as “cold-processing” to produce a high-quality, 100 per cent natural product. The idea of soap-making came to Anne some ten years ago after meeting a woman who created her own using essential oils and natural ingredients. Anne says she immedi- ately felt inspired and decided to try her hands at it. She started concocting special recipes for her family out of her home in Ottawa. And with her husband Scott, son Anne Du Bois of Port Perry makes handcrafted her natural soap bars under the name of “The Goats Mild Soap Company. Sam and daughter Antonia testing all of her creations, Anne began to understand the science and creativity that soap- making required. However, she never thought her hobby would amount to anything more. But after giving some samples to friends and receiving rave reviews, Anne ‘aged to make a busin: ut of her obvious talent. “That was nearly ten years ago,” she says. During which time, Anne and her family moved to Port Perry, which happened to be a more than welcoming location for her craft.” Now the business is growing quite quickly and it’s great because I can work from home and it continues to feed my creativity.” This desire to feed her creativity is one of the reasons Anne has always turned to artistic expression. Her passion for the arts was instilled at a young age and stuck with her throughout her university career. She received her undergraduate degree in Italian Art and History and she travelled to London, England to pursue her Masters and PhD in Italian Medieval History at Oxford University. Please turn to page 40 FOCUS - AUGUST 2010 41