Handmade by Survivors

“It’s not just about the product. It’s very much about the person that put their creativity and their heart into the product.” 

Every soap, tin of bath salts, lip balm, and candle is from a survivor’s creativity, care, and journey toward healing. Bekah, a family advocate and the staff member who makes products with survivors, shares this history of Handmade by Survivors.

Product Making History   

Bekah has always loved art, and years ago, she began leading our crafting groups. 

“I really like doing activities that involve self-care, particularly for adults. Adult women don’t often take time to take care of themselves,” she says.  “And in an abusive relationship, are discouraged from taking care of themselves. I really believe in the idea of giving them a safe space to tap into creativity.”   

Early product-making focused on lip balm, homemade lotions, and salve because they’re easy products to make.  

“We would go into the kitchen and grab a microwave and take it into the art room. We bought a little hot plate and we would just do an impromptu craft group and teach ladies how to make things for themselves.”  

Survivor Involvement   

“Throughout the whole process, survivors helped along the way. Every product we’ve made has a story connected to it. It’s not really about the product, it’s about the individual that came up with the product.”   

“We would play word games in our craft group with whatever scent we were using. I would have participants choose an essential oil or a flower or an herb that they were really drawn to,” explains Bekah. “They would share why they were drawn to it. From there we would research and figure out what notes went well together within that scent.”  

Participants created Soothing Serenity, one of our very first soaps, from start to finish. Most recently, the Benevolence cold-process soap also was imagined and formulated by a participant.   

“She happened to pick up an essential oil that I was using for a group activity the following day and fell in love with the scent. We came up with a blend and decided to add an extra soap that we weren’t even planning to do.”  

The Heart of Our Products  

“The whole purpose of what we do is about the journey for the individual working on the product. Our end goal is to give them a safe space to tap into skills that they already have and to give them a safe place to tap into something that might give them some self-care down the road. Something to be proud about.”  

Every Handmade by Survivors purchase is about the person that put their creativity and their heart into the product.  

“I very much went into this with the hope of creating a space for economic justice for women that have not had those opportunities. The women I work with have skills that they just don’t tap into because they haven’t had the encouragement, or the time, or don’t realize they have the skills.”   

Over the years, many ladies have gone on to open their own online shops or make their own products and sell to small businesses.   

Bekah’s Favorite Product  

“I love anything Awaken Joy. I love that peppermint scent. It reminds me of my grandmother, so it just takes me to a happy place.”  

Celebrate love and healthy relationships on Valentine’s Day with Handmade by Survivors products!

A Hope Box makes a special Valentine’s Day gift for a partner, friend, or yourself. Products are packaged in a cute printed box, signed by the survivors that helped make them. It includes a lip balm, bar of soap, tin of bath salts, and a soy wax candle.  

The Hope Box ships free to any address across the nation. 🎉 Let us know if you’d like to include a short note for your special someone. We’ll handwrite your message on a gift card for no additional charge. 

More Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

Send a Lip Balm Sampler to your friends to celebrate them on Valentine’s Day! They’ll love the natural ingredients and sassy names of our lip balms: Don’t tell me to smile, Dissent, Zest for Rights, Concinnt, and Reclaim Calm. 

Encourage your friend or partner to take time for a little self-care during the Valentine’s Day weekend with the gift of a Bath Salt Sampler. Blends of Himalayan pink salt, Epsom salts, and essential oils soothe body and spirit. 

A hand-poured soy wax candle with natural essential oil fragrance always makes a perfect gift. Our Candle Super Sampler includes plenty of candles to share with friends and loved ones on Valentine’s Day. 

Every purchase supports survivors 

Your purchase of Handmade by Survivors products will support victims of intimate partner abuse as they establish safety and heal from the physical and emotional wounds of abuse. 

Making products has a special connection to our mission. The process provides collaborative work and microenterprise experience for survivors, while also generating resources for our organization. 

Our products are Kentucky Proud. 

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Looking for the perfect Handmade by Survivors soap for you or a loved one? Use our decision tree above to help!  

Floral

Blossoming smells like a field of wildflowers. This is a goat milk soap. It’s also available as a collection – soap, bath salt, and candle!  

Clarity smells like a garden stroll. It’s a goat milk soap. Also available as a candle!

Warm

Peace of Mind smells like a chai latte. It’s vegan – made with cocoa and shea butters. Also available as a candle! 

New Perspective smells like a walk in the woods. It’s a goat milk soap. Also available as a candle!

Soothing Serenity smells like a cozy morning. It’s a goat milk soap. 

Calming

Fresh Start smells like a calming lavender field. It’s vegan – made with cocoa and shea butters. Also available as a collection – soap, bath salt, and candle!  

Benevolence smells like a lemon drop. It’s vegan – made with cocoa and shea butters.  

Remembrance smells like fresh baked cookies at tea time. It’s vegan – made with cocoa and shea butters.  

Energizing

Awaken Joy smells like a cozy winter night. It’s vegan – made with cocoa and shea butters. Also available as a collection – soap, bath salt, and candle! 

Boost Your Spear-Its smells like an energizing herb garden. It’s a goat milk soap.  

Sweet Harmony smells like creamsicle. It’s a goat milk soap. Also available as a collection – soap, bath salt, and candle! 

A Super Soap Sampler is also available and includes nine popular varieties! 

Gifts that Give

All our products – soaps, lip balms, bath salts, and candles – are gifts that give. Every purchase provides healing services for survivors of intimate partner abuse in our community. 💜  

You can also purchase products at local retailers like Damselfy Gallery and A Bazaar Universe.

Your purchase of our Handmade by Survivors products will help victims of intimate partner violence as they establish safety, heal from the physical and emotional wounds of abuse, and grow strong as survivors.

“We make soaps, lip balms, bath salts, and candles. Just really wonderful things that people in society already use. But we were able to make them from a heartfelt place.” – Jewell

Making products such as lip balms, salves, and soaps has a special connection to our mission. The process provides microenterprise opportunities for survivors, while also generating resources for our organization.

Our products are Kentucky Proud — and we are so happy to be a social enterprise based in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky — but our products are being enjoyed by people across the nation.

This year we have packaged and shipped Handmade by Survivors products from coast to coast:

• Alabama
• California
• Colorado
• Delaware
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Kansas
• Massachusetts
• Maryland
• North Carolina
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• Nevada
• New York
• Ohio
• Texas
• Virginia

Here in the gorgeous Commonwealth of Kentucky, we have packaged and shipped Handmade by Survivors products to these counties this year:

• Berea
• Burlington
• Covington
• Danville
• Eminence
• Ewing
• Florence
• Fort Mitchell
• Georgetown
• Harrodsburg
• Lexington
• Louisville
• Newport
• Nicholasville
• North Pole
• Paris
• Richmond
• Shelbyville
• Springfield
• Stanford
• Williamsburg

This unique approach to healing has received the national Mary Byron Project Celebrating Solutions Award, Kentucky Nonprofit Network Innovative Nonprofit Award, and the Center for Nonprofit Excellence Pyramid Award for Social Innovation.

Our Handmade by Survivors shop is open online 24/7. Follow the link below to support hope and healing this holiday season. 

Your purchase of our Handmade by Survivors products will help victims of intimate partner violence as they establish safety, heal from the physical and emotional wounds of abuse, and grow strong as survivors.