This past Saturday Compulsive Writer held a Saturday Swap at her home. She taught me how to make soap (the real kind - with lye) and I showed her how to make my Kamut Bread recipe. Click on over to her place to see more pics.
Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of us in our long rubber gloves and shop glasses - quite the visual treat, I'm sure. Making soap was both easier and harder than I thought, slightly more dangerous than I realized, and way more fun than I expected.
We weighed each ingredient carefully, mixing the green tea and lye (letting it sit and cool - I had no idea it heated up so much), and then melting the solids. Once each mixture had cooled to 110 degrees we combined them while stirring by hand. Next we blended it with a stick blender (pulsing and letting it rest) until it came to "trace."
Lastly, we mixed in the fragrance oils (lemongrass and eucalyptus), greased the molds, poured the soap, and covered with wax paper. Those ain't yo mama's Pringles!
This morning I peeled the Pringles container off the hardened soap
and sliced it.
Now it just needs to cure for 4 weeks in a cool, dark place while saponification occurs. Making soap is on my 40 before 40 list. I hadn't been making any real progress with my list so thanks, Dalene, for giving me just the boost I needed to get going again. Stop by The Lazy Organizer and see the apron she made for her son as well as more Talk About Tuesday
