Obsessed With Soaping

Who, me? Obsessed with making handcrafted soap? Yup! Late at night, with earphones in my ear, looking intently at my laptop, my husband used to quiz me, "What are you so interested in? Don't you want to watch the blow-em-to-shreds-war-movie with me?" I would turn the laptop so he could see someone pouring lye water into a large bowl of oil on YouTube. He would get this look on his face like I'd finally slipped off the 'edge'. :)

Now, my husband just accepts it. If I start carrying jugs and buckets of oil into my kitchen, he knows I'm going to be creating another batch of soap soon. I LOVE making soap! Getting boxes of supplies in the mail is like a very special holiday! As I sniff the fragrance oils, I get visions of swirls, layers, decorative tops, special colors, or maybe a new technique I want to try, dancing in my head!

This is something only a dyed-in-the-wool type of soaper can understand! Going online, I find many others who share the same passion and get to see their beautiful creations they've made. I want to share mine as well, but just haven't mastered the video technology to get videos of my work online, yet. I'm still working on that aspect.

Working with your own homemade soap is so joyful and I'm learning the different ways to expand it into my home in other healthful ways. Tonight, I discovered that I'd completely run out of dishwasher detergent. So.... I decided that tonight would be the night I made my own dishwasher soap/hand soap from my bar of Pure and Natural Soap!

Here's how that all turned out ~

First, as 8 C of water heated in my stainless steel pot on the stove, I grated one whole 4.5 oz bar of my Pure and Natural soap, which is a natural soap made only from olive oil, coconut oil, and sodium hydroxide.

Next, I added the soap gratings to the very hot, but not boiling water.

This was optional, but I decided to add 1/2 t tea tree essential oil to the liquid soap since it's so great at germ warfare.

I whisked the mixture together, at first, then used my stick blender. This blender has so spoiled me! I remember the 'old days' when I made handmade soap and stirred and stirred and stirred .....

 

Now, the whole batch just needs to rest for 8-12 hours, stirring ever so often. Tomorrow, I'll put it into individual Mason jars. If you're following along, make sure to give your liquid soap a gentle shake before using it.

On Etsy, I've seen some really cute ways to display your homemade liquid soaps! There are even little aprons you can buy to dress up your soap bottles. Take a peek and enjoy!

Isn't this cute! I love old-fashioned things! You can find that, here.

This lovely little dish soap apron can be found on this Etsy page. Crafters and Soapmakers make our world a much lovelier place! Mass marketing may make items cheaper to buy for the majority of the populace, but they do nothing for making a home uniquely and creatively comfortable. There is so little variation of anything at Walmart. On Etsy or in your own home, if you are creative, can be found very unique and artsy products found no where else on earth. 

Soapmakers find that each batch of soap has it's own personality. It will never again look exactly the same because of all the variants. We really don't want it to. Part of the draw of making or purchasing handcrafted soap is for the uniqueness of the colors, designs, and scents. Its this that has totally drawn me in, loving to turn lose my creativity, making a batch of soap that's not only extremely healthy for what its used for, but its a new artistic delight each and every time its un-molded and sliced!