Chapter 1: The Journey

In 1996, on a road not so far away, Sidney Rice left her Northern California Renaissance Faire design job, and was relocating to Southern California. During the long drive, her wagon packed with trunks, she found in the back of a magazine an advertisement for a soap-making book.

“Soap?” she thought, “hmmm….interesting!” Having just left the world of the Renaissance, she immediately went into her mindʼs eye, envisioning old wizened women, with frizzy hair & weathered faces, hunched over swirling large copper pots of bubbling soap, tinctures, and potions, with giant wooden spoons. She saw bundles of dried herbs hanging from staged wagons in the marketplace, and heard sing-song verses, cried out in the street.

Little did she know, she was seeing her future.

“How THEATRICAL could that be?!” she thought, “and…handmade SOAP! How cool is THAT?!” Excited, she immediately took to pen and paper, designing a space for these women to work. By the time she reached her destination, she had a five year plan, two booth designs, and the “bones” for a Renaissance themed collection.

She purchased that little book she found advertised in the back of that magazine, and started making soap in her kitchen. Sidney didnʼt want to simply copy someone elseʼs recipe, because ethics were very important to her, so making a few successful substitutions, she created her own “Soappe” base recipes.

Chapter 2: The Archaeologist

In 1998, while learning as much as she could on her own from books (before the era of internet tutorials), Wilamina sold soappe-of-the-month subscriptions to start her new business. She designed her very first collection on the theme of cultural anthropologists unearthing bathing ritual artifacts, temples, and stowages of oils & botanicals. She envisioned herself the excavator, with her wagon packed with trunks, bursting with exotic finds, and her “bath artifacts” that showcased unique formulations in new markets. Selling at various trunk and roadshows, she designed the Anthropologistʼs Tent, using wooden crates & vintage travel cases, tea-stained shipping tags & gauze, and sandstone & baskets.

Nomenclature Bath Empire had begun.

Chapter 3: The Soapsmith

In 2000, she would be accepted into The Southern California Renaissance Faire, as The Alchemist Tree Soapsmith. Her first collection of olde-world products was designed for both exemplary natural skin care, and for the thematic environment of the Renaissance Faire. She would pioneer a new path for herself as the Alchemist, parking the wagons she had seen in her mindʼs eye in the marketplace, shutters open, ready to sell. At the Phaeton House, Wilaminaʼs horses could drink in the water trough had the boys not been bathing all day long in the hot summer sun. The Alchemist Tree Soapsmithʼs bathers were a crowd pleaser, and The Philosopherʼs Stone Sea-Salt Soappe, would be the star of the show!

Chapter 4: The Collections

In the years to follow, she would go on to design and hand-craft 20 Thematic Bath-ware Collections, creating over 200 vegetarian and vegan cold-processed soappe recipes, each with its own Soappe-story or Soappe-lore.

In each collection, Sidney’s soappes would be paired with other “Washwares”: Powder-Finish Lotions, Bath & Body Oils, Refresher Spritzers, and Bathing Barrel Salts, allowing customers to layer the scent profiles. In addition to these, Essential Cremes, healing Lip Balms, Body Salves & Scrubs, and rejuvenating Hair Elixirs were created. In 2004, Sidney’s soy candle “Wickwares” would make their debut. These would be yet another way for customers to enjoy her various collectionsʼ scent profiles in the home.

Chapter 5: The Birthday

To celebrate her 39th Halloween “Birthday”, Sidney set out to throw a huge party in New Orleans. Being born on Christmas Day, she never had a real birthday party with cake and presents, so she designed and planned her own special celebration.

Back into her mindʼs eye, she envisioned a group of theatrically adorned ladies enjoying tea, with beautifully wrapped presents, delicate petit fours, and her favorite cucumber sandwiches! How wonderful she thought it would be for her friends to be dressed in lovely vintage cocktail dresses, elaborate costuming, and fancy hats she would make for each.

The event took a year to plan.

Guests would stay in a two-story Victorian house near the French Quarter, enjoy a wine tasting reception, peruse “The Crescent” – a travel book Sidney had written, assembled, and included in each guestʼs welcome basket – and as the crescendo, would attend her very first real birthday party tea at the Ritz Carlton. All of which flanked Halloween in New Orleans.

30 guests would be attending, their party names chosen, characters created, and the costume and millinery design had commenced, with a color-palette for each guest for the occasion. Sidneyʼs friends would become Prudence Pumpernickle, Beatrice Broombuckle, Willow Wickerwing, Twila Twine, Helena Hemlock, and so on. And what would Sidney’s name be? Wilamina Wormwood! After of a year of planning, she knew her first real birthday party would be one to remember.

Then…Hurricane Katrina.

Itʼs difficult to truly comprehend what it must have been like trying to survive that tragedy. The loss of all that one holds dear, swept away in the wake of what would be one of the most damaging hurricanes in US history. The horrific conditions for the survivors in the aftermath, the betrayal, all the loss of life, and the landscape scarred forever.

With the worldʼs eyes on the aftermath, Sidneyʼs focus shifted to those who were suffering, and through the pit in her stomach, she waited with bated breath for news of help and recovery, concerned for her fellow man, and a city that held a place in her heart. Days and weeks passed, and it seemed as if there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

When October came and went, another wave of sadness came for Sidney. She knew in comparison to the tragedy of the city and its citizens, her birthday plans were a trivial, frivolous, self-serving thing, but it was a loss she also felt profoundly, a dream that would never come to be. Never in her life before was it shown so acutely that she mattered. Not like that. Friends and family were truly going out of their way for her, and what a tremendous, once-in-a-lifetime gift. It was gone forever. This was unfinished business and she was going to rescue a piece of it, and Katrina wasnʼt going to stop her.

Chapter 6: The Mudlark

On Halloween 2009, at California’s first Steampunk Exhibition, Sidney would continue onwards as Wilamina Wormwood, The Mudlarkian Milliner in her Assemblage Atelier, The House of Wormwood. Encapsulating the aesthetic of the Mudlark, the scavenger that finds purpose in discarded treasures, breathing new life into abandoned bits with joie-de-vivre, it was a joy for her to finally create fantastical, period inspired millinery, to evoke the romance of the past, while appreciating the rough, seedy, underbelly of the world that people in history constantly struggled to endure. There was a beauty in that, a beauty in the distressed, and in her appreciation Wilamina created The House of Wormwood’s unique aesthetic. She would present and sell theatrical hats for all ages, always envisioning each wearer seated at her Halloween Birthday Tea table in their finery, as the spirit of her party survived and thrived.

Over the years, her Mudlarkian Millinery, like her Washwares & Wickwares, would encompass a wide variety of themes. Wilamina would pack up her trunks and wagons and take her unique collections across the country to various Steampunk, Edwardian, and Harry Potter Conventions. Always kindly met with enthusiasm and appreciation, Wilamina’s Mudlarkian Millinery Collections were the first of their kind.

In 2010, Wilamina enthusiastically decides to merge Nomenclature Bath Empire with the Mudlarkian Millinery of The House of Wormwood, designing a cohesive brand. The House of Wormwoodʼs Washwares & Wickwares would feature the best recipes spanning 10 years from Nomenclatureʼs thematic collections. They would be presented alongside her Mudlarkian Millinery, and The House of Wormwoodʼs Assemblage Atelier would open its doors to the world. Within the first year of her Mudlarkian Millinery adventure, several creations were purchased for ABCʼs Castleʼs Steampunk-themed episode, “Punk’d”, and during Halloween 2010 The House of Wormwood became a sponsor of the Vampire Film Festival in New Orleans, coming full circle to the city she loved, presenting creations conceived in the wake of The Crescent Cityʼs tragedy.

Chapter 7: The Rescue

Once on the road, Wilamina was heading out to a new Renaissance Faire to see about selling her Washwares there. While her friend was driving, she spotted a tiny black kitten on the side of the road. They pulled over, and Wilamina came back with five kittens that had been struggling to climb up the cliff, away from the road. Dumped at only three weeks of age, covered in dirt and fleas, these tiny beings were crying out, dehydrated in the hot sun. Wilamina aborted her Faire plans and they head back to Wilaminaʼs house to care for these abandoned little creatures. As she cared for them around the clock, nursing them back from the brink, she would sing:

For over 15 years Wilamina has been coming to the aid of animals in need. Most often on the road, wandering sheep, cows, and pigs, fence-caught goats, lost dogs, and abandoned cats, present themselves, and she will stop and help. If they “wash up on her shores” she wonʼt turn them away. She is very proud to count over 75 beings that have been assisted, in some way. Reunited, rescued, rehabilitated, or re-homed, Wilamina will always be available, but as a “sole-rescuer,” Wilamina is not partnered or funded by any organization. The money needed comes from her business, The House of Wormwood, so in 2015 she decided to merge worlds yet again. Bringing together Soappe and Rescue, she created The Catterie Collection in order to raise funds on their behalf.

Chapter 8: The Compass

Wilamina has always wanted a life that was simple and filled with purpose. She wanted a life that was productive and compassionate. She wanted to use her creative powers for good. From the very first step of her Soappe-making journey, she thought what better way to achieve that goal than to connect with nature, by using nature itself to create things for people to feel good?

And the more she created, her compass steadily pointing the way, the more connected she became to the natural world around her, and the stronger she felt. But little by little, year after year, her compass began to point the way to something else – whatʼs hidden behind the curtain of the world. She discovered just how much is taken from the planet and its inhabitants, with profound consequences, and she came to realize that although joy is important, more so is the need to be responsible…not selfish.

The more she learned about the exotic ingredients she used, the more she learned about how those resources were being depleted, or how much suffering was inflicted, and how large a carbon footprint or waste it made. In the end she knew things needed to change, and she would do her part by becoming the change she wanted to see in the world, and The House of Wormwood would present and promote her mission.

Wilamina would go on to create additional collections of Mudlarkian Millinery, focusing more on consideration for nature. Feathers were discontinued, along with any other animal product. Wool would make way for vegetable fibers promoting vegan alternatives, with more respect for animals and the environment. She would begin to reformulate her Washwares & Wickwares to no longer include animal by-products, she would incorporate more local and homegrown ingredients, and packaging would be redesigned to create less waste.

With each step of simplification, The House of Wormwood takes less from the world, and as the years go by, Wilamina hopes to continue to hone her 28 years of experience to create the best environmentally conscious products for her wonderfully theatrical supporters.

Chapter 9: The Shoppe

The House of Wormwood is not a brick & mortar shop, but a “booth,” featured at various fairs and roadshows. Wilamina enjoys creating thematic environments and detailed displays, each an opportunity to showcase her theatre set-design training. Whether it be an Anthropologist’s Tent, an Alchemistʼs Caravan, or Wormwoodʼs Workhouse, The House of Wormwoodʼs theatrical spaces set the stage for her to tell her stories, and Wilamina loves sharing her inspiration with those who stop by.

She embraces her transformation into the the fuzzy-haired, weathered-faced woman, hunched over large pots of soappe, surrounded by rescued cats, and she works very hard to paint The House of Wormwood an environmentally compassionate shade of green for the future.