Soaping
This is how I've been spending my time lately. Researching all the ways to make soap, making the soap, waiting for the soap to finish. This is a seriously addicting hobby but you do get something useful out of the deal. I have had all the equipment and oils to make soap fpr a while now but it was so sweltering that I didn't have the courage to make any. The weather has finally calmed down and colled off a bit so Scott and I decided to try our hand on Tuesday. Everything went swimmingly. Scott chose his favorite scent out of the ever increasing bottles of fragrance oils, another addictiing part of this whole project. He chose a very green, manly scent that smells like a handsome man fresh from the shower. Very nice.
Scott even made me a mold for this little venture. The mold is a little rough-hewn (and a little leaky due to the poor lining job by me) but he made it in like twenty minutes with scrap wood we had around. It works well for small batches that yield about one pound of soap.
After I sliced the soap into bars, I let them dry until the following afternoon. I then trimmed the edges with my Thrifting Thursday find- this little metal veggie peeler. It cost me a quarter and it was my only purchase yesterday. We have another one just like it but it always goes missing because we can't seem to agree on which drawer it belongs in. I don't particularly like the peelers with the large handles, they are just too unwieldy. So I was a little excited when I found this. Silly, but that's me I suppose.
I couldn't possibly be satisfied with one batch of soap this week, though. I wanted some soap I could use in the kitchen, not just clean sudsy man soap. I was often thinking about a mint fragrance oil I had so I decided to give it a go.
This batch went perfectly and only took about a half an hour to make. It was a larger batch, about two pounds, so I decided to pour it into these two enamel pans my momma had gotten me. After being wrapped up and insulated, it had gotten to the point where it needed to be uncovered and cooled down a bit. I swear, I just bent down to set the cardboard box that had been covering the whole mess on the floor and when I turned around Tibbs was already fast a-napping next to the warm pans. Just like a cat to take credit where no credit is due- like he toiled away making this soap and now needed a nap for his efforts.
Today I unmolded the pan with less soap in it, being more set up than the other one, and I am so excited for this batch. I added some chopped up lemon balm at the end and it looks so pretty. Not to mention it smells incredible, especially since I have a hard time with the smell of peppermint. It literally makes me sick. But this mint is more like spearmint, brighter and sweeter rather than icy, if that makes sense, and I do like the smell of spearmint. Now just another three to four weeks and these soaps will be fully cured. I can hardly wait!
On a slight tangent, I must say thank you to bigbucketgirl for nominating me for the 'Nice Matters Award '. It is such a good feeling to be noticed by others, especially for being nice! Thank you very much!
