Free Holiday Parking Downtown!

To encourage shoppers to visit downtown during the holidays, the City of Bellingham is launching the Holiday Parking Program, December 12-26. Downtown shoppers can enjoy free parking in metered spaces all day every day.
“We offered free two-hour lunch parking between Thanksgiving and Christmas in past years,” said Clark Williams, Transportation Superintendent with Public Works. “It was confusing for shoppers,” he added. The Downtown Bellingham Partnership proposed longer hours on fewer days.

Although parking is free all day, drivers are asked to park responsibly by observing the time limits posted on the meters.
Shoppers wishing to stay longer are encouraged to park on the ground floor of the Parkade.
For more information, contact the Transportation Superintendent at 778-7700, or click here.

Otion is downtown on the corner of Bay Street and Holly Street. Come see us!

Christmas Jelly Roll

Learn how to make these sweet Christmas Jelly Roll bars by following the Soap Queen video below and just change the colors and scent! For my red, I blended red labcolor, merlot mica and red glitter, used liquid white for the white, and green chrome oxide for the background, all with our bulk clear base. The fragrance blend is Christmas Tree Cybilla and Peppermint 2nd Distillation. Make sure to add liquid glycerin to the roll so it bends and spray rubbing alcohol so everything sticks together.

How to Make Embedded Jelly Roll Soap from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Soapy Celebration

Birthday parties are one of our favorite things we offer at Otion, and we had the pleasure of hosting a party for a great group of nine year-old girls last weekend. Most of them were already experienced soaperstars from using our walk-in Soap Bar before. Everyone made two bars of personalized soap!

There was plenty of time for cake and presents while the soap hardened in the freezer.

In addition to fun shapes, we made what's called a "party loaf." Everyone pours different colors and scents into one big soap and then it's cut up and shared at the end.

Thanks for a great time and enjoy the beautiful soap you made!

Craftiness at Otion

We love this time of year! Lot's of people had snow in Washington and Oregon today except for us in Bellingham, so we made our own. Melissa is our new fabulous staff member at Otion (far left) and she is a paper snowflake-maker extraordinaire. Selena is in the middle with her perfect snowflake and that's me (Kat) on the far right with my square-ish one.

Below is Melissa hanging them on our front window. Yay! Up next, more Christmas displays!

Another Fun Class

Today was a basic cold process class at Otion and it was such a pleasure to teach these fast learners. Everyone made four bars of soap from scratch with colors, fragrances and additives of their choice. Take a look at our day in pictures:




Thanks for coming everyone! Your soap turned out great and I hope you have a fun holiday season sharing your new craft. ~Kat

Super Easy Christmas Swirl Soap

This project took about ten minutes to make ten bars of peppermint swirl soap. Talk about quick and easy Christmas gifts! Of course, there is a little wait time for the loaf to harden in the freezer (45 minutes to an hour), but that gives you time to work on labels or start another body product project (lip balm is also really fun and easy).

What You Need:
1 pound Honey melt-and-pour soap base
1 pound Goat Milk melt-and-pour base
Red LabColor
Red glitter
Green Chrome Oxide
Loaf Mold
Peppermint 2nd Distillation
Rubbing alcohol in spritzer bottle

Cut your soap into cubes and divide the Honey base into two parts (one part will be green, one part will be red with glitter). Melt down the bases and scent with 2 ml Peppermint oil to one pound of base. Add two mini scoops of green chrome oxide to one part of the honey base, and a couple drops of red LabColor and two mini scoops of glitter to the other part of the honey base. Stir well and then alternate pouring the colors and white until the mold is full. Spray rubbing alcohol to get rid of surface bubbles and in between pours so everything sticks together.


Let it harden in the freezer for about 45 minutes to an hour and then cut with a sharp knife or crinkle cutter. You can repeat this method with different types of soap base and different colors and fragrance. The possibilities are endless and each bar is unique.



* Hint * Come in and do this at our walk-in Soap Bar. We have all the supplies, the mess isn't in your kitchen, and it saves you $$

New! Pinot Grigio Fragrance Oil

I love this new fall scent! Pinot Grigio is a perfect blend of floral and fruit. Plus, it isn't overpowering like most wine scents I've smelled. I paired it with our new(ish) Bubble Tray Mold to create these fun party soap bars using the melt-and-pour Shaving base for extra rich lather. The front is detailed by using a dropper and the back is swirled. Add liquid white to make the soap appear more opaque.