When the other half announced his plans to go to Las Vegas for a recent UFC match, I didn’t get mad……
I got soapy!
While scanning my twitter timeline, I came across a tweet from Nathalie (of NR and Co fame) announcing that there had been a cancellation for their soap workshop the following day! I immediately thought….it’s now or never. So glad I jumped in-what an experience!
It’s a small world after all….little did I know that I already knew of Aide body care through Patty, a TBB’er (That’s Toronto Beauty Blogger), but wasn’t aware that she was leading the soap adventure until I saw her business card! That was already a bonus for me!
So Michelle didn’t waste any time. This is soap making after all-and it’s not necessarily a ‘quick’ thing. She had packets made up for each attendee that include step by step instructions, recipes & measurements, preferred ‘combinations’ of oils and other essential ingredients, and a list of websites/stores to visit to purchase soap supplies.
She also placed some of her ‘work’ on the table to show us examples of what could be made! Some of them were quite fancy but all of them smelled delightful!
Now let me tell you honestly….there are quite a few steps to successful cold press soap making-and working with Lye is tricky. You must be very careful. Michelle recommends ‘suiting up’ when working with the Lye and having specific ingredients solely for soap making.
Michelle measures out the lye-this can burn you! Make sure you wear appropriate clothing!
Michelle took us outside
We let the lye cool and then began to mix oils and butters for our bars! This step is very important because the measurements must be incredibly precise. Michelle recommends a good digital scale for the weighing:
We also mixed our essential oils to fragrance our soap-I decided on lemon poppyseed but there were many oils to choose from!
So we mixed our oils and poured our soap into our containers (we used Soy milk containers ~1lb block of soap, probably 5 decent size bars) and covered them. They were sealed up and ready for travel.
We had some great snacks too!
So my big shock of the day came at the end of the workshop where I was told that the soap had to sit for about 4 weeks! Whaaaa? I didn’t know that-I thought it was a slice and go type of thing…not the case. No big whoop though, I am enjoying gazing at it and taking an occasional whiff. Want to see what it looks like?
My lemon poppyseed soap looks good enough to eat!
Phew-what a day! The above are my results after 5 hours….good stuff! Looking forward to using (and gifting my soap!). I enjoyed learning how to make cold press soap AND have the instructions to be able to do it. Since I am moving to a new home, this may be a hobby that I pick up once I am settled.
Fantastic!
Big thanks to Michelle from Aide Body Care and NR and Co for hosting!
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Anyone tried soap-making? What do you think?
14 Comments
Your soap turned out really well – looks like something from LUSH. I’d love to make my own soap (creamy and rose-y smelling – so hard to buy the perfect one)…but I think working with Lye would scare me, what if I measured wrong LOL?
Hi Ella Pretty Blog
Don’t worry, i’m still scared of measuring Lye wrong, I always take extra care and suit up from head to toe.But Boy you have expensive taste! A little Trivia…To make a 1 pound batch of soap (apx 5 bars) you would need $200 worth of Rose Essential Oil (1 oz) Yikes!!
@Ella thank you! It’s so hard to wait for it to be ready!
I saw you tweeting through the event and was so jealous! Your soap totally looks like lemon poppyseed loaf, you should put a warning on it lol!
Hi Julia!
There is another class this month June 24th in Leslieville (Toronto) Not sure where you live but I just wanted to pass that along.. wouldn’t want a girl feeling left out
@Julia I just love the way it came out! I can’t wait to use it! 2 more weeks!
What a great blog post! I’m so glad you were able to take the class! its hard soaping on a empty stomach when making soaps like Lemon Poppyseed. It’s like grocery shopping just before dinner.. Don’t forget to bevel your soap with a potato peeler for a smoother glide in your hand. Can’t wait to hear what you think when you actually get to use it! 2 more weeks!!
@Aide I just loved the class. I can not wait to use the soap! I am going to gift some of it too!
So that was where the magic happened! You did a great job with those – very good scent selection.
@Cherry I love that lemon poppy seed. I used that soap recently to remove all the paint off my hands. The poppy seeds took it right off!