It’s true, I’ve got it bad.
I love taking baths, using lavishly scented bars of soap thick with bubbly, creamy lather. I’d scour the city looking for little boutiques, sniffing and drooling over French imported, triple-milled ovals or rustic blocks of handmade ablution heaven.
Then, I became obsessed. Obsessed with making my own soap. For a long time, I read books, looked at websites, mulled it over and over in my head. I was entranced with soap making… in theory. Yet I could not make the leap, overcome the mental hurdle of using the one element that strikes fear in the hearts of most anyone, let alone a would be soapmaker: sodium hydroxide. Lye…
It stopped me dead in my tracks for many a year. So I spent my time making my own lotions, perfumes and things like aftershave for my husband. And the thought of making soap on my own sort of faded in to the background.
But it’s on now.
After taking a well-guided class, I am in the throes of the soaping whirlwind. Along with my faithful accomplice (aka my husband), we’re going to the grocery store, lurking in the aisles where the cooking oils live. We drive to every Coscto, Smart & Final and restaurant supply store in the area looking for equipment, pricing oils, standing in front of the spices wondering what we can put in to our soap.
It was a soap making frenzy this past weekend. Twenty-two pounds of soap! I guess we got in the mode because we kept putting it off for so many weeks we went a little nuts. This batch is scented with a Honey Almond EO blend and I added some vanilla bean seeds for visual interest.
I owe a debt of eternal gratitude to the first soaper who came up with the idea to use the Fira storage unit from Ikea for soap molds. I’d read about someone using it at a soaping forum. What genius! In our small place, space is at a premium. The large flat drawers can hold a four pound batch of soap. The smaller drawers can hold two pounds, the perfect shape for logs! My husband, who also loves origami has come up with a quick and easy system for lining them with freezer paper.
I’ll post more in the coming days about the other batches we did this weekend and all sorts of things going on around here in the crafting vortex.
In the mean time, if you happen to see us in the grocery store, staring at a bottle of olive oil with longing, you’ll know why.
We’ve both got it bad and that’s pretty good.
I too, have been bitten by the soapmaking bug. I make hot-process soaps and occasionally hand-milled soaps. Yup, it is something to be carried away with! I have a basket full of soaps. It’s neat that your husband is also interested in soapmaking. Visit my new blog: http://www.adventuresinsoapland.blogspot.com
Happy soaping!
[...] The soap is out of the molds and on the drying racks. We had to unmold and cut them all up within about 24 hours after making the soap. All the soap was really very firm with the water discount. The hubby and I made seven batches of soap this past Saturday and Sunday (June 14 & 15). [...]