Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Lathering Up - New Experiences

soap making

Oh wow, so much fun!
I think Stefan and I have found a combined hobby :)
It combines the cool chemistry experience with all the good whiffs of essential oils being mixed into one big bowl of soapy love!

I have wanted to do this experiment for the longest time and I am most definitely hooked! 

Do we have enough space for all the soaps I plan to be making - probably not.
Will that stop me from making all those soaps - probably not!

Stefan and I made a provisional mold and it worked out fabulously, albeit the bars turned out a bit on the biggish side, but we remedied this by cutting them in two. This batch is only for our pleasure any way so they didn't have to look all too pretty but I still think they turned out quite nicely!


Homemade soap

make soap at home

Don't they look cool?

And the smell....here you try....


Oh sorry, that doesn't work yet - would be great if it did!

Anyway, they have been put into their new resting home for the next 6 weeks to cure.

curing soap

For our first batch we followed the guidelines in Susan Miller Cavitch's book "The Soapmaker's Companion" a great resource if you are looking for a reference/how-to guide.



Keep your eyes pealed for more as this topic will most definitely be continued.....

Have you made soap yet?


MFS_a_728x90, Myfoodstorage
Pin It!

10 comments:

  1. The only soap that I make is with soap base and all I do it melt it, scent it, and mold it. You are REALLY making soap. Kudos to you both. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those look great and the blog was great to read - but, as a friend, might I point out that the title contains a typo? That horrid old thing about "i" before "e". except after "c" - experience looks a little odd, and I fear it hit my editing eye rather fast!

    Good luck with the soap-making. Wish I could smell it - looks like lavender and/or violet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Isobel,
      Thank you for pointing out the error, we both read it before publishing and we didn't even notice it :) I am sure it must have been underlined, I didn't pay attention. I am usually very pedantic with that specific rule (because it is one of the few I really do pay attention to!)

      The soaps are a mix of Lavender and citrus, smells divine.

      Thanks for your visit.
      x

      Delete
  3. I have made soap on a small scale ... I bought the pre-made soap forms, melted in microwave, and added my own fragrance and color. I emptied a bag of peach tea into one thinking it would be nice, but it scratched the *&$& out of my skin. Another I put lavender buds from the garden in ... and they rotted! So I failed, but it was fun :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Spinster Beth,
      Oh dear, at least you had fun :D
      Were your lavender buds really dry? If they have the least amount of water they do turn mouldy :(
      Whilst living back in S.A. I used to make lots of melt and pour soaps and often had experiences like you mention. Once I thought I would add rosehip tea as it has such a gorgeous red hue - yuck, as soon as the tea hit the soap it went a murky off black/ brown colour (either which I could have dealt with but the in-between something or other was not cool!)
      Thanks so much for visiting.
      x

      Delete
  4. Wow, I'm so impressed! they turned out beautifully. Now I'm definitely going to try making some. Thanks for sharing the book link, I think I will be needing some guidance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Emma,
      Thanks so much, it is so much fun, really worth the try!
      If you come back next week, we will try to put together a tutorial of sorts that you can see how we did it :)
      Thanks for the visit.
      x

      Delete
  5. These look great! I've never made soap but keep thinking that I'd like to try it. One of my friends makes a great oatmeal soap which she has given to me as gifts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Daphne,
      Thank you so much, it really is quite easy, but you do need to keep to the safety precautions! Do visit next week for the tutorial, then maybe you will decide to really try it :)
      Thanks for visiting.
      x

      Delete

Thank you so much for leaving a comment, we so appreciate hearing from you.
We will reply to all comments posted :)
x
Natalie and Stefan

Infolinks In Text Ads