Robinella's Craft Corner

or Soap Making - Part III

I peek a lot. I'm sure that doesn't help the process, but I can't help myself. I just have to peek. On day four, I gently woke the soap mold and boy did it get heavy. It that possible? Would the hardened mix weigh more than the liquid mix? Probably not, but it definitely felt solid which was a good sign.

I removed the soap from the mold by pulling on the freezer paper.



Then I removed the paper from the sides which wasn't easy. I ended up slicing the ends off. How you cut this is up to you. I happen to have a very nice chef's knife that was the perfect length and the soap is not super hard yet so pretty easy to cut through. The texture or pliableness (is that a word) reminds me of clay.

You can use a ruler or eyeball it like me and cut into even sized bars. This batch made 36 bars.



Here they are all lined up on the cooling racks.



See why getting your paper all smoothed out might be necessary?



That's okay. I'm keeping him. Some soapers use potato peelers and other utensils to smooth the edges or make them more uniform and "perfect" but as I say time and time again, handmade isn't "perfect". It's the little character flaws that make a handmade gift, handmade. I like to think of these imperfections as charming. These bars will need 3-4 weeks to set-up completely.

And how about those scraps I cut off. Remember those.



My mother always taught me not to be wasteful. I let my boys help make those scraps into soap balls. Ever notice how your kid's soaps always end up looking like this anyway. Why not start out that shape.



Let's see how this handmade soap looks next to my all-time favorite organic bar of soap.



Pretty darn spiffy, I think. If you want to give these as gifts, just wrap them in a handmade wrapper. Get creative with this. If you start your soap making this weekend, they'll be ready just in time for the holidays.

~R

**We aren't fond of colorings and dyes, but you can add these at the same time you add your essentials oils.

Next Friday, I'm making recycled aluminum ornaments. So funky, yet earth friendly!