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(Me...mixin' soap, ...drawin' faeries, ...kiss'n my pet dragon, ...thinking up magical ideas!)

~ Carol Ochs ~

(it's pronounced "Oaks")

Welcome, Visitors....

Take a child of the forest with mad wizardry skills...add a dollop of highly-accomplished mess-maker, ...sprinkle with herbs, ...spin with yarn, ...sift in Wise Woman ways, ...drizzle-in a passion for the magical and insight into otherworlds, ...and what do you get? Wull...ME, I guess! For this is what I do, and make my living at! My work and hobbies being Old World crafts I offer you in celebration of the natural, magical, perhaps *other* world!  I'm self, or family-taught at all the crafts I create, and hope to share them in a way that helps you connect (or re-connect) with Old Ways, ...Earth, ...and perhaps feelings unseen but felt, magic invisible but known...brought to life in my arts!

Thank you for coming by! 

Below, I've answered questions I am frequently asked. While I greatly appreciate interested inquiries, I have to be realisitc with my time...I remain a one-woman business, so life is quite hectic as I manage both a soap and art business. I hope you don't mind if I refer you to the answers below, looong though this page may be! You are welcome to email me with any other questions, just please know it may take me a day or two to respond. ~Carol :) carolochsarts(at)aol.com

A fair number of folk ask me "So how does one do what you do and make a living at it?"

The recipe is simple. I take ordinary ingredients, add a bit of creative magic, turn them into things that others use & enjoy...art, soap, crocheted & knit comfort wraps!  This amazing thing called a "computer" makes connecting with people world-wide and running a business from home so EASY!  It's an almost holistic magic or gift that virtually anyone can have...you simply pursue what you love doing! Open your eyes and see the possibilities!

As for inspiration, one of the greatest gifts in my life was parents who made the most of weekends, camping, traveling, exploring the great outdoors. For that is where I have always felt most at-home, most in-tune to my senses & inspiraitons, most able to hear my own callings! I've kept my childs-eye, the ability to daydream, see shapes in clouds, sense spirits lurking behind trees, feel magic in rustling leaves, hear the nearly inperceptible reverberation of plants & trees, the ability to pluck ideas from thin-air and turn them into say, a painting. Pure & potent childhood visions have only sharpened for me as I've grown older. I still daydream probably more than not. Still put my nose to the wind on stormy days and feel the call to fly, become totally entranced by the moon, sense fairies in the foliage, feel life force in plants, and I feel quite at-home lost in the woods among tree spirits. I heed a call to recreate these callings ......in soap and art.....

I KNOW! I KNOW! Odd girl. Eccentric. I've heard it all. Am I pro-gressing, re-gressing, or completely bonkers? LOL! I don't know, and honestly never measure myself against others' judgements. Why would I when so many forget to pay attention to their own daydreams or curiosity? I look out my window or over my shoulder & feel magical nudges poking all around me. I think they are there for a reason.....

Many have asked me...

"But why would you make soap when you can go to the store to buy it already-made?"

Or,..."Are you stuck in childhood re: your paintings, unable to grow-up?, ...are you escaping something?"

I guess it's a distant tie to ancient ways or a past life, to be drawn to the simple sense of pure, grown-from-the-Earth ingredients, ...and also to feel an enchanted connection to faeries, mermaids and witches to "get it", too.... :::smiles::: Or, maybe YOU just have never been properly introduced!

I often wonder how many great stories, songs, pieces of art, and inventions are still locked up in peoples' heads, but for the courage to act on them. The appreciation and encouraging words of others, as well as pure accident, that launched my businesses -- people asking me to please offer my creations publicly. Daydreamers, and believers in daydreamers...they bring ideas to life!

When did you start your businesses?

Which business came first, soap or art, is hard to say; as I've been mixing potions, loving baths, scribbling and painting, stitching and looping, with a busy imagination all my life. But the invention of the internet REALLY opened entrepeneurial doors.I started my soap business in 1994, art in 2004....and more recently (2010) offering my handmade fiber arts - shawls, etc.

Is this all you've ever done?

Other occupations include a 12-year career as a surgical assistant in the field of plastic surgery which I LOVED! I had the opportunity to do much traveling in this work, around the USA and South America! But another path lurked, especially upon David & I finding one other! The sky cracked, stars shot, we both instantly knew we'd found our other half, ...we married, started a family! I enjoyed a 10-year career as a childcare provider while raising my own three beautiful children, two boys and a girl, now grown. Wee ones have always been my favorite folk! This can cause one to become quite creative seeking stay-at-home income! It gave me the chance to reconnect with past callings I've always had. Jack of all trades & with a lifelong love of words, I was also a staff writer for a community newspaper, and freelanced as a proofreader/typist of student's papers/theses for a local college. I became a graduate of The Institute of Children's Literature. I also worked as a calligrapher, hired by wedding coordinators and event planners to artistically pen invitations & announcements. Gardening, a love of critters, herbal lore & the history of natural remedy medicine, Old World and Wise Woman Ways, medieval history, mythology, fairyology, Earth spirituality, music and more have all funneled themselves into my current ambitions. To those whom my crafts seem not so odd to...we know each other when we meet. I pursued and happen to be lucky enough to make a living out of the things I daydream about and most like to create! I invite YOU to re-connect to your own curious spot, come out and play!

Thanks for your interest! It is an honor I never get used to or stop appreciating! I always welcome your notes and comments: carolochsarts@aol.com

If you'd like to follow our updates and new products and art, please make avail of our newsletter sign-up and the social networking links on the upper right hand corner of this page and throughout our site!

~Carol

More questions answered at the following link....

About Carol (MORE)

I'm asked almost daily if I conduct tours of my workshop. Not at this time, unfortunately. My liability insurance prevents me from being able to do so. However I appreciate the interest and I am thinking of putting together a YouTube virtual tour soon (when I get some time)! Till then...here are some photos:

Soap Workshop:

Art Studio: