A friend makes soap... with heavy machinery!

July 27, 2009

I taught a workshop last week on soap making. I initially thought I might video it but two hours is a long presentation to record and was really too much to ask of my husband with everything else going on in our lives right. This remains one of the times "you just had to be there". I was exhausted from 2 hours of straight talking and question answering all while demonstrating how to make soap and lotion. But it was so much fun and the feedback I've received has been very positive.

My goal was to encourage others that they too can make soap. Anyone can do it really, as long as you have a few kitchen utensils, a scale, thermometer, oils, lye & water. By the end of the evening the women who came were excited about making soap for themselves. Their enthusiastic responses confirmed I accomplished my goal.

My friend Cori was not only enthusiastic but she got right to it. She made her first batch of soap this weekend and she blogged the whole process. First she talks about the melting and mixing (a paddle attachment for a drill - what a clever tool). And next she explains removing soap from the molds with an industrial bearing press?? At least it worked better than the ice cream scoop I had to use to remove my last batch from the circular PVC pipe mold. (I was trying to make a round bar of shaving soap to fit in a shaving mug) Note to self and others: long pieces of PVC pipe are difficult to push soap through.

I always thought that once you measured and mixed your basic ingredients soap making is more of an art than a science. But maybe in some case's, like Cori's (with a barn full of mechanical gear and an engineering husband) and my mishap with the PVC pipe, it's the other way around!