Gallery of Virginia Art and Gifts LLC

Bringing you our state's best nature artists plus VA's finest gourmet products and wines

Lydia Webb - Soapmaker

Roanoke County Virginia soapmaker Lydia Webb came by the art of soapmaking through her experience with the National Park Service. At their Booker T. Washington site, she was a costume interpreter demonstrating the centuries old formula of stirring lye soap for visiting tourists. Sometimes the process would last the entire day. Lydia subsequently began creating her own signature soap line in 2001. She works with natural essential oils, shea butter, and goats milk. Her designs span the gamut from classic Victorian hearts, cupids, and angels to silk dogwood and maple leaves dropped into glycerin molds. The Gallery also carries her unscented facial soaps, men's shaving soap, whimsical children's designs, and line of home fragrance products. Lydia Webb has demonstrated her soapmaking skills before groups and has taught soapmaking classes at A.C. Moore in southwest Roanoke. In 2005, she was the invited lecturer for the Roanoke Valley Herbal Society (aromatherapy and herbs in soap production) and created new Victorian soaps for the Corset Corner, a lovely boutique in downtown Lynchburg.

Also of Note

Lydia has maintained an active interest in Virginia historical preservation and has volunteered her time as a costume interpreter for the Booker T. Washington National Monument reenacting the role of Mrs. Fannie Cundiff Burroughs. Fannie was the wife of Christopher Frank Burroughs, son of the plantation owner where Booker T. Washington was born. At one time, the plantation was a part of Bedford, but is now located in Hardy, VA (Franklin County). Lydia Aldridge-Webb can also be seen in two fictional/historical Virginia videographies: "The Great Sacrifice of Jefferson Davis" and "Avenel, the Motion Picture", both directed and produced by George Wills of Bedford, Virginia.

Lydia Webb - Soapmaker

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Trivia

Did you know that 10 year old Ben Franklin worked in his father's soap-and-candle shop pouring candles and soaps?