Kerry Stewart’s passion for creating handmade beauty products blossomed into her own business at Tall Oak Trading Company
Story and Photography by Deny Howeth
Before Kerry Stewart began making her own soaps, she would collect them from other local artisans.
“Everywhere I visited, I would search for artisanal soaps and bring them home. I have a collection,” said Stewart, co-owner of Tall Oak Trading Company, based in the Lewes-Millsboro area.
Stewart’s enthusiasm for handmade suds blossomed in 2017, when she drove to Virginia to take a workshop led by Carole Kindel of Old Dominion Soap Company. She was hooked from the first day.
“I recognized her from two years earlier because I bought some of her soap at a market and I knew she was the real deal,” Stewart said.
Since then, making soap has become a venture that relies on herbs harvested from her garden. Calendula, chamomile, parsley, spearmint and sage are used to color the soaps, and beeswax when available, to use in her products. Stewart’s artisanal soaps are scented only by essential oils and are colored with homemade botanical infusions or earth-based clays.
“All my products are plant-based, organic when possible and made with natural essential oils,” she said.
As Tall Oak Trading Company grew, she created a line of soaps to sell next to the cutting boards her husband, Gary Stewart, was selling.
Besides being a wood craftsman, Gary made everything in his wife’s Little Studio in the Woods: a former shed that housed a 1948 tractor, converted into an elegant and rustic workspace thanks to his skills with reclaimed wood and repurposing architectural details. It’s not only a studio for crafting Kerry’s artisanal delights, but also includes a small office, yoga sanctuary sitting area and a sleeping loft. Gary handcrafted the soap molds, seasoning rack and the soap saver for your sink.
Kerry also makes other body care products: mineral bath salts with a base of Dead Sea salt, Himalayan pink salt, sea salt and Epsom salt combined with scents such as Douglas fir, eucalyptus, rosemary and lemon or lavender, blood orange, geranium and sweet marjoram; a lavender sage lotion stick; Calendula chamomile salve; rose or vanilla and cardamom lip balm; cardamom orange body butter; lavender with citrus hand lotion; grapefruit and tea tree deodorant; and beard oil in five scents.
HOME BASE — Kerry and Gary Stewart sit in front of the Little Studio in the Woods built by Gary.
“Subtle scents that are personal and don’t linger are my key,” Kerry said. “You can use it in a yoga studio and not offend anyone.” She starts with basic combinations and modifies it for eclectic blends, making micro batches of only 18-20 items at a time.
It takes time to make a bar of soap. Once the base is made, it has to cool for 24 hours before adding scents. “I make a batch of 18 bars of three scents a day, it cools overnight and then it has four to six weeks of curing before wrapping and selling.” She currently creates 15 scents of soap, and a line of body sprays is in development.
The packaging is designed by her nephew and is recyclable or compostable. The lavender and sage lotion stick is the only product in plastic because it is meant to be used in the shower. “I am an avid environmentalist, so everything is in cardboard, metal or glass, which can be composted or recycled,” Kerry said.
“I love naming my products, and when I do, the French teacher in me comes out. My honey is named Fleurs des Bois and is French for “woodland flowers.” I also make wildflower honey caramels, which are very popular,” Kerry said.
She supplies a few Airbnb rentals with her products, which can also be found at the Inland Bays Garden Center for the Arts in the Garden and Craft Fair, the Rehoboth Beach Holiday Farmers Market and Dewey Sip and Shop.
For more information or online ordering, go to talloaktrading.com. CS