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Quinn Kelley, 13, of Delhi, holds up one of her homemade soap bars at 4-H Camp Shankitunk in Delhi on Friday. (Star photo by Brit Worgan)

On the Bright Side: Soap to aid teen's college fund

By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau

DELHI _ Quinn Kelley has a plan to pay for her college education, and so far, she is cleaning up.

Quinn, 13, of Delhi, makes decorative bars of handmade glycerin soap that she sells at craft fairs and local stores. Soon, her products will be at the gift shop of the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Fla.

Quinn was inspired to go into business at age 11, when for her birthday she received a book about making soap.

"One day, when I was in my "I want to make money phase,' I opened the book," Quinn said.

Quinn and her mother, Jayne Anne Harris, work together on Chicken Hill Farm Homemade Soap, the name for the venture. They each work on creating the soap, and Harris drives her daughter to shows where she sells her wares.

Using two glycerin bases, as well as colors and fragrances, Quinn creates a wide range of designs and color combinations.

"The cucumber is probably my favorite," Quinn said picking up a transparent bar of green soap. "It was the first kind I made and the scent is really clean and nice. It's one of my best sellers."

Her chicken soap, featuring a raised relief chicken, is her signature soap, inspired by the name of her company, but it is her dolphin soap that has launched her into the national market.

Harris said she ran into an old friend on Facebook who is affiliated with the Dolphin Research Center. The friend placed an order for Quinn's Diving Dolphin soap to sell at the gift shop.

Quinn said she likes to experiment with soap molds, and using unexpected items to shape her creations. She has transparent orange soap with white skulls and crossbones embedded that she makes from ice cube trays.

"Sometimes I really like to experiment," Quinn said. "Each of my soaps is tested on my family _ so I guess you could say my products are family-approved, and there are no animal products or testing on animals."

Quinn's goal is to raise enough money to pay her way through veterinary school, beginning with a stint at the State University College of Technology at Delhi's veterinary technician program and then on to Cornell University. Her goal is to practice veterinary medicine for large animals in the Delhi area.

Quinn will be peddling her soaps at the Deposit Lumberjack Festival on Saturday, when she takes a break from her summer schedule. She was at horse camp a week ago, spent this week at CampShankitunk and will be headed for Maine next week.