When my friend
Kerry emailed me about a soap class a few years ago, I was excited. I thought it would be neat. It seemed like something cool to learn how to do, but I wasn't sure, given my lack of interest in cosmetic things, if it would be something I would love. The idea of making my own cheese seemed a bit more my speed. The class was lots of fun and the soap turned out to be the best soap I had ever used. My sensitive skin loved it. My additive loathing self loved it.
So, Kerry and I made plans to make some more. Last year we got together and made a whole bunch of soap for gifts and ourselves. We ended up with a bunch of soap for gifts and personal use. I'll admit to being a bit stingy with it, it's good stuff!
I still hadn't made any soap by myself. We were getting low on soap and I didn't want to use the store bought stuff again. It makes my skin feel funny. The only solution was to bit the bullet and make it all by myself. There is a surprising amount of stuff you need to make soap. There are different oils, pots, blenders, additives if you like, and of course, the dreaded lye. I got it all and even decided to get the fancy wooden mold.
It turned out to be even more fun when I got to pick out scents and additives. My daughter and I picked out some neat scents and I was off. We even got the supplies to make other nifty things like lip balm. There are several batches curing in the kitchen right now. The smell in my house is amazing.
The only problem now is that I'm running out of racks to put all the soap on!
7 comments:
Great job! I'll be soap making tomorrow myself.
How fun! Congrats on tackling this yourself! Enjoy your goodies!
Becky, that's great! Do you do cold process, or something else?
Daisy, thanks. I'm really enjoying it.
I've been wanting to try it, but just too chicken to do it. How long would it take from start to finish and cleaning up the pots and pans?? Before curing, of course..and how long do you cure?
Karen, I would say that it takes me about 30 minutes to make a batch of soap at the very most. The other day it took me 20 from start to finish. I'm getting used to it now. My soap cures for at least 4 weeks, but I prefer 6-8. It gets harder as it cures, so it lasts longer.
I've looked locally for a class, but haven't located one. Would you ever consider selling or swapping a couple of bars so I could try it out and then perhaps talking me along through the process?? I have some sensitive skin people in the family, but thinking that I could split up a bar or two so they could all have a try at it and then I'd know we had a winner. Where do you buy supplies?
Totally swooning over your soap mold! I am ashamed to say that I use milk cartons...and now that I don't buy milk any more I'm not sure what I'll do! I'm almost out of soap - and yours looks DIVINE!
xo, Annette
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