I am Tabatha, an artisan by nature and the proprietor behind The Charlton Artisanal.   I am a one-woman show - from designing, curating, marketing, customer service, packaging and shipping - it's just me! I am entirely self-taught and self-driven toward perfecting what I put on my skin.  

I am a mom, a wife, and a special education teacher by trade. However, I also have a passion for creating all-natural skincare products that are safe, effective, and beautiful. I started many years ago making an all-natural whipped body butter to treat my toddler's eczema-ridden hands...he is now a giant 17 years young. I didn't want my child ingesting a product that could be harmful to him when he put his hands in his mouth - that led me to formulate a product that was made with all food grade ingredients. 

For years to follow, I experimented with making sugar scrubs, lotions, and soaps to give away as gifts. And, boy, did I looooove experimenting! There were recipes that were flops, but I kept adjusting my formulas until I created a product I was not only happy with, but others were, too. Friends and family became product-testers and their honest feedback was welcomed. 

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus with organ involvement. From someone who ran (5 Ragnars + 1 half marathon!) and did CrossFit regularly, to someone who was crippled with fatigue, muscle spasms, excruciating migraines and sometimes needed assistance standing and walking, I became very scared about what my future might look like. I needed something to occupy my mind and allow me to feel productive while fulfilling my desire to be creative, as well as increase the natural products that we use, thus The Charlton Artisanal was born. 

Over the past four years I started selling to the public via Etsy, vendor fairs, a local farm store, a local spa and a local family-owned shipping store.  I am an approved artisan for Amazon Handmade, but haven't made the leap just yet - and honestly I’m not sure that I want to.  

I love to cook and bake from scratch, DIY, restore furniture, garden, read and knit. But, my creative passion is skincare. I make all natural skincare products while listening to music right in my finished basement—now a stunning soap studio—which I refinished with the help of my father-in-law!

I utilize local ingredients from my own property, local farms and other small businesses. I am not mass-producing skincare products. All of my products are made in small batches so that I can focus on quality and not quantity. I compare my products regularly to other local artisans and my ingredient list offers a superior product. I work with local farmers and homesteaders to supplement my product offerings. My goat milk soaps are made with fresh, raw milk from local backyard goats. My maple products are made with maple from a local sugar shack in Ballston Spa. My beer soap uses the beer from a local brewery, Speckled Pig, and the liquor soaps use liquor from a local distillery, Schenectady Distilling Co. My coffee products are made with a local roaster, Nally Coffee. I dry my own herbs that are grown without sprays or chemicals. I also use raw honey from our own homestead apiary as well as eggs from our own pasture raised hens. It doesn’t end there, as I am always researching new ingredients and local offerings. 

Our skin is the largest organ we have, and it absorbs toxins daily - I didn’t want to add to it by rubbing chemicals onto our bodies, so it is important that I utilize natural and sustainable ingredients, even if that means a product that might melt in the heat or doesn’t have a super-long shelf life. If I don't trust the ingredients for myself or my family, it does not go onto my skin or yours.