by Franco Tarsitano
When you first meet Laura Zielinski you see a vivacious, petite, curvy, young looking woman of forty. During the interview, her beautiful blue eyes just captured me in very intelligent and flirtatious conversation. Particularly when you get her talking about her civil war re-enactments, complete with Southern drawl and her soap product line Dragonfly Soap Works. A graduate of Minnesota State University at Mankato she earned degrees in Plant Science and Environmental Services. Hired by a regional company as a Senior Development Chemist, that designs and develops touch free hygiene products, she is currently the Quality Systems Manager. She keeps a work schedule that would make any Southern belle droop, but we managed to get this interview especially for ExposeKenosha.
When did you start doing civil war re-enactments?
I was introduced to Civil War re-enactments six years ago through my friend Perry Brusenbach who portrays a Civil War doctor.
Did it begin as a promotion for the soap, or were you doing re-enactments prior to that?
I started selling soap at Civil War re-enactments 4 years ago. My soap-making hobby had gone awry which meant that I had more soap then friends and family could possibly use before my burning desire to create caused me to formulate more fragrances and I recognized that there were very few 19 th century products available that 21st century participants could use and enjoy. Therefore, the logical next step was to become a sutler, (a civilian provisioner to an army post often with a shop on the post). I have done more than 20 events as a sutler and numerous more assisting my friend Doc Perry and just for the fun of it. Now I will forever be known as “the soap lady”…lol… (Southern drawl) You are the silliest man…
Has anyone ever asked you to give them a bath?
(Teasingly) Are you asking?
I have put soap in their mouths…you dirty, dirty, man. LOL…it has been done…LOL…
You teach soap making as well, right.
I taught when I was in college and loved it so I decided to seek out opportunities to teach again after I move back to Kenosha from Minnesota. I began teaching the art of making soaps and spa products about four years ago at
Lemon Street Gallery: the art of making soaps and spa products as well as drop spinning and fiber processing.
What does your solo exhibit provide?
My solo exhibit introduces the art that I create, and is meant to broaden people’s minds as to what constitutes “art”. To me, art is simply personal expression.
Why do you consider soap making an art?
In today’s society, so many people have forgotten about the old world arts. Personally, I have always been fascinated by what many folks tend to look as a mundane and old world. I have always had a great admiration for the peoples of times past who took what was a necessity and turned it into art. Things like weaving, and spinning, leather making and metal smithing, soap making and perfuming just to name a few.
Soap making is a wonderful blend of science and art. The behind the soap making process is rather straightforward. The art of soap making is in the personal expressing that you achieve through it. The oils and the proportions add to make the soap impart different qualities to the soap. The effects that you can achieve are endless. On top of the personal expression that is possible through the basic formulation, adding color and especially fragrance, opens up a completely new realm of possibilities to express ones own personality.
One of the things that I love most about working in this medium is that I am able to delight a much-neglected sense, the senses of smell. Because of the added dimension my art has, smell, I am able to open peoples thoughts and memories in a way that visual and tactile art cannot. After all, a sense of smell triggers the human memory more readily than any other sense.
What do you consider “good living,” and how it affects our physical condition, particularly our skin?
To me, “good living” is living a life that is true to ones self. We all make mistakes, we all stumble, and fall but it is how we handle these negative times in life that is a measure of who we are.
How does one keep a secret formula a secret?
My lips are sealed. Keeping my formulas a secret is easy since I am both the formulator and maker of all of my products. The difficulty of keeping the secrets will come when my little cottage business grows to the point that I need to hire employees.
Can you really attribute your product to keeping your skin looking younger?
Yes. Although, I am blessed with wonderful genetics, just look at my parents and my 95-year-old grandma. I do depend on my products to help leverage the youthful genetics that I have been blessed with. I decided to make my own soap because I have suffered from desperately dry skin since I was a teenager. When I moved to Minnesota, the dryness was even worse due to the environment. After trying products that are more commercial and not finding relief from the dryness, I decided that with research and experimentation I would be able to make a better product than I could purchase. I was correct!
What makes your product so different?
Someone who suffers from difficult skin formulates my products to be kind to difficult skin. All of my soaps and home spa products are formulated to be gentle and nurturing to the skin.
How easy is it for people to make their own soap?
Making soap is not terrible difficult to learn. I always urge people to take a class on soap making if they do not have a chemistry background. The reason for this is the lye. If not handled correctly, lye can be a dangerous chemical and since it is chemically impossible to make soap without lye I feel that it is of the utmost importance that people learn how to respect it.
Can they do this in one of your classes?
After taking my beginning soap making class at Lemon Street Gallery, my students can formulate and make their own soap. I am often amazed at how many amazing types of soaps my students make after just one two-hour class.
In your exhibit, you showed courage by having a shot of your face blown up to show the wrinkles and aging of life…what were you trying to relate to the viewer?
I titled that photo is “A life well lived”. The main point that I was trying to get across is that there is nothing wrong with the lines and wrinkles that we all develop over time. They are the roadmaps of who we are and the lives that we have lived. Good or bad, the effects stay with us. No matter how hard we try, we cannot be or look twenty forever. Personally, I do not know why people want to. I have earned every wrinkle I have and I am rather proud of them.
Laura Zielinski you have been “Exposed”.
Laura’s Solo Show “INDULGE” will be running up to October 28 at the Lemon Street Gallery
Dragonfly Soap Works
Artisan Soaps & Home Spa Products
Where you’ll discover how to “feel good in your skin again. . .”©
P.O. Box 580166
Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158
Telephone: (262) 914-9347
E-mail: Dragonflysoap@hotmail.com
Franco Tarsitano is the General Manager of Lemon Street Gallery & Artspace, Inc.
1 comment so far ↓
Great interview! I can certainly attest to the quality of Laura’s products. I never thought I’d be the kind of person who says, “I’ll never use store-bought soap again!” (You know the type; lips pursed, eyes rolling under perfectly tweezed brows…lol.) But, it’s been 2 years, and I still haven’t used store soap even for washing muddy hands.
Laura’s comments are right-on regarding the importance of taking a class before attempting to make soap on your own. I’ve taken the class 3 times, mostly because Laura’s discussion of the history of soapmaking is so interesting and she has such great stories, but also because I can see where, like her, I’d be wanting to try all these different combinations of oils and scents…oh, gosh, I do not need another “hobby!”
Keep doing what you’re doing, Laura, cuz the rest of us are going to keep on getting dirty!
Leave a Comment