Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Time to make soap!

Well, it's that time again.
Time to make soap.
I've been making soap for about 12 years now
and always have fun doing it.
I've tried many different recipes
and shared my love for this old craft many times.
This day I shared it with my friend Karen.
Remember her?  She's my tree hugging friend.
As you can see,
she is having fun stirring the soap mix and
 acting silly for the photo!  LOL

Karen learned how to make a basic batch of handcrafted soap,
using several kinds of oils and lye.
She made it especially hers by adding coffee grounds and cinnamon essential oil.
Here it is still in the mold,
after sitting overnight wrapped up in blankets.

Now it is hard enough to cut into bars like mine.

My batch is Patchouly/Lavender.
The batch made 17 bars of almost 4 oz. each.
After 3 weeks of curing,
they will be ready for their labels.
_______

I was going to keep making more batches,
but then my 12 inch long glass thermometer I use for soap making, BROKE!
OH NO!
 No more soap making today!

 I just went online to
Majestic Mountain Sage at
and ordered another one, a metal one this time.
That old thermometer lasted a long time.
I also ordered some essential oils,
one new one being 'sweetgrass' EO.
Oh yes, I also ordered some
French Green Clay
to make soap with.
This soap is called
Savon de Marseille.
In France it has been used for generations
to clean everything from
linens to babies' skin.
The soap got its name because the city of Marseille,
on the southern coast of France,
was one of the most important
soap-making centers of the Mediterranean.
French green clay is a natural clay hidden deep beneath the earth's surface.
It's very good for the skin.
I am excited about making this soap!

So try an old craft,
learn something new,
have fun and....

Savor the Day!
Yvonne


5 comments:

Kris said...

Yay for soap! Love hearing about your experiments with this. Makes me want to go shopping for some....alas I am not interested in being a soap maker.... So, big thanks to people like you!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

These both look good - and as always I learned something from your post.

Unknown said...

It was an earlier soap post of yours that made me say, "hey, I want to do that!" Thank you for the inspiration! It's not easy, but it's not hard either. And it is ever so SPECIAL!

Lorraine said...

love this photo looks like great fun and the coffee soap sounds fun. My friend Pat makes soap using this method too and I have some lovely oatmeal and lavender off her but its so pretty that its still in the wrapper

Halle said...

I have a friend who is going to teach me to make soap. I'm going to have to remind her on Thursday when I see her. :)