I have decided to share with all of you my new venture in soap making. I call it a venture because I don't quite know if the soap will appeal to people at the pottery or my soon to be up and running Etsy shop.
It all started several several years ago when Stephen and I decided to make soap for gifts one Christmas. We made naturally scented soaps such as orange clove, cedar, and lavender oatmeal.
They were a big hit with our friends and family, but the following holiday we never got around to making them again.
Last spring when I was working on plans for the pottery, making soap was on my long list. But with all the work that had to be done around the house, gardens and pottery, the soap making got nixed again.
It wasn't till this past holiday season that I got into the mood to make soap again. I pondered all sorts of scents to experiment with, and decided on two.
Cardamom Lime and Orange Clove would be suited, I thought for the season, and the extra cardamom soaps would be a perfect spring scent to sell at the pottery.
So I got to work by starting with all my ingredients. I hand ground all the spices with my mortar and pestle, and then began to zest all the citrus, and placed them in my bowls.
I then melted the translucent soap base in my huge double boiler that I just use for soap making.
I then added the ingredients one by one, gave it a good stir and poured the boiling mixture into molds to set.
After a day of setting in the molds I cut them to size and placed them between layers of paper to cure.
It was so beautiful to see them laid out all together on the table, they looked like jeweled candies.
The following weekend I gathered up a bunch of my little porcelain bowls and dishes and placed the soaps in them and tied them up with ribbon. They were all ready for gift giving, and the response was the same from friends and family.
I hope when people stop this coming spring to the pottery they will want to get some homemade soap and make this, a not so soapy venture.
What do you think? Want some soap?
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