Laramie Soap Co. Collaboration

Erin and Sara visited the owner of Laramie Soap Co. (LSC), Haylee, on 9/17/19 to discuss potential collaboration ideas. We settled on making a soap bar that mimics a model of the cellular membrane, specifically the lipid bilayer, with an emphasis on the presence of sterols. Each component will be a different color.

Haylee will be sending us a quote for the materials, but has offered to donate the proceeds from the soap bars back to us. A general question is: how many of the bars do we want to make? They normally are made in batches of 18-20.

After the meeting on 9/27, we've decided to order one batch of soap from LSC. We will pay for the materials up front. Erin Bentley followed up with Haylee on ordering.

Invoice for the soap has been paid-11/21

They had some problems with the soap molds and had to order some new ones since the soap was breaking. Newest batch should be started sometime the week of Jan 20th

First batch is completed!

Next steps are going to include drafting a card that goes with the soap bars explaining what each of the pieces/sections of the soap represents (Membrane proteins, lipid bilayer, sterols), linking this back to the bestiary (potentially could just include a business card with the packaging, discussing price they'll be sold for, donation of the funds, etc. with Haylee. Erin reached out to her on 2/27 about meeting up.

• Erin Bentley will talk with Haylee to design packaging

Haylee is in the process of printing the labels, Erin has written up a little blurb to be printed on cards that will accompany the soap and explain what each component is. Once these labels are printed, Erin will go and pick up.

• Erin Bentley will update the Microbeastiary Blog page with pictures of the product, explanations, cost, where to find it, etc.