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About Us

Our soap-making facility is located on our family ranch, somewhat off the beaten track. We're 7 miles out a dirt road from the nearest Post Office, 25 miles round-trip (an hour) to the grocery store and 100 miles round-trip to Wal-Mart or a movie theater! However, thanks to the internet, UPS, telephone and the Post Office we can always be in touch with our customers and friends.

Chandler's Soaps came into being in 1998 when I escaped from the big city and moved to my family's ranch in southwest Oregon. While reading up on old homesteading practices, the whole idea of making soap from scratch really struck a chord with me. The clincher was when I discovered that old-time soap makers were called "Soap Chandlers" ... and here I was Marie Chandler Gale, living on our Chandler family ranch. It was destiny calling, so I answered!

Our first batch of natural soap was cooked in a big canning pot in our kitchen, while having coffee with friends. It took a long time and was hard stirring there for a while but to me it was fascinating. To see the water, lye and oil magically turn into smooth and creamy soap seemed miraculous. Even now, after having made thousands and thousands of bars of soap, I still am somewhat amazed at the seemingly magic of the chemical process of making natural soap.

It wasn't long after making our first batches of natural soap that we discovered there were many more natural skin care products we could make. For a while we were making all sorts of different products--until it got to a point where we found we were trying to keep way too many products in stock. After some serious soul searching I determined that the best thing for us to do would be to simplify--to concentrate on what we do really well, which is our soap and a few additional products. Our creams, especially, are loved by many people for their rich and deep moisturizing properties.

One of the things I'm really proud of with our business is that we can create these marvelous products and have a negligible impact on the environment. Our environmental footprint is almost zero, and our environmental sustainability is very high.

In early 2004 we opened a brick-and-mortar store in Myrtle Point, Oregon. It's on the main street (Spruce St.) and carries all our natural soaps and bath & body products as well as bath accessories and other items.

In the spring of 2004, I became the President of the Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild, Inc, a non-profit trade association representing handcrafted soapmakers. I was re-elected in 2005 and then again in 2007. My term limits will expire in June, 2009.

For more information on me, see www.mariegale.com where I keep an on-going blog.