New Apron For The Soap Class!

Well...

Of course I needed a new bib apron for the soap class!

Couldn't be seen in the old one.

It's 2 years old at least!

Way too many times wiping/drying my hands on it.

(yes, I did wash it occasionally)



This should do nicely!!

Anyway... On to the class!

The first time, I let a lady come and watch me,

gave a little advice, and that was that.

My daughters about had a cow!!!

MOM,

they said,

"you've done all the research, spent the time testing,

worked through all the bugs,

why are you giving your knowledge away for free"?

And you know what?

They were right!

So now I charge.

I talked to a mother and daughter at my last show who were interested

in learning and willing to pay,

I always knew, eventually, someone would come along. 

So I was ready with  my price and what they would receive.

~~~

hands on class

3- different soap recipes

1- 10 bar soap mold

10 bars of soap, any scent

essential oil info

oil, sap value chart

carrier oil info

mask

resources

and info on how to develop their own recipes

you bring, 1 towel and an apron

I developed and tested, 3 recipes/formulas using everyday market ingredients.

(Not everyone wants to go online and purchase specialty ingredients).

Next up was to compile a notebook with all the necessary info.

I bought really cute binders, made a table of contents, dividers

and filled it with info.

A soapers manual so to speak!



Cute notebook



BTW, I made the dividers and table
myself, using postcard stock and
DIY tabs.



I made 3 notebooks, 1 for each of us.
My hubby, Steve, made the molds.

I wish I could say everything went according to plan,

but alas, it didn't!

I forgot to print their recipes,

I had mine in my notebook,

but their recipe section had nothing.

OOPSIE....

The recipes were on the downed computer,

crap!

OK,

I have my copies, the other desktop has a scanner,

I know how to use it,

 sort of.

(This is turning out to be the Keystone Cops)!!!

I was so proud of myself, I figured it out!

They choose a recipe.

Now we're on to the actual weighing of ingredients,

choosing essential oils etc.

So far so good.

Lye is mixed, oils are being heated.

Now let me remind you,

 I'm working with 2 ladies, 2 measuring cups of  lye and 2 pots of oil!

Thermometers are thurming,

oils are heating, and they are asking!

They're suppose to be watching their thermometers!

My husband warned me,

one of the burners seems to be hotter than the others.

He just didn't say which.

Mom is watching hers,

just doesn't mention that the oil is registering

over 200 degrees, I just happened to look!

Oh crap, again!!
Daughters' is doing OK.

We had discussed this scenario, I was ready for it,

just didn't want it to happen on my watch.

I pulled the blue ice out from the freezer and set the pot on it.

Checked the lye temp.

Oh man, the lye is cooling way down but the oil isn't.

What to do, what to do?

I grabbed another soap pot from the rack,

cold pot has got to be better than a hot pot, right?

Right!

We're good.

Now to combine the oil and lye.

We did good here, only they were a little hesitent to really stir it up.

We were using a stick blender and a rubber spatula.
Circle 8's I was saying.

Hum, let me show you.

 We did manage.

We passed trace a bit for traveling purposes and everything turned out OK

All in all, they were great students and

forgave me my OOPSIES.

 It was fortunate that we did have a few problems.

I've been making soap for quite awhile now but it seems, 

everything has a learning curve,

and I don't know it all.

Go figure!

 Till next time, happy soaping.

Bonjour

Soap, Lots Of Soap!

Well....

When I'm out doing my soap shows,

I always get a few people asking about soap classes.

Sure I say, I teach,

then I give them the rundown.

For this price you will receive, this, this, that, that, etc.

Plan on spending this amount of time.

Most people think they want to learn, but generally they really don't.

It takes time and effort, it can be messy and costly.

It takes forethought, organization and research.

Lots and lots of research!

For me at least.

I did a lot of research,

downloading info on carrier oil properties,

learning about essential oils, botanical additions etc.

And the formula testing,

right amount of lather, long lasting, hard bar, moisturizing, gentleness....

I have a 3" notebook, full of info,

all neatly arranged in alphabetized categories, separated by labeled, index dividers.

My soap recipe/formula book is divided into sections also,

fruits, floral, spices and each section is also alphabetized.

Each scent has it's own recipe page and I keep detailed notes

every time I make a batch.

Super soap trolly

What can I say?

I'm extreme.

My daughters call it O.C.D.

I say, it's not a dis-order, it's order!!!

Should be called OCO instead.

Anyway

I make about 24 different soaps and they need a place to cure.

I tried a shelving unit and that was ok but I knew I needed something more. Like this!!

I found this bread rack at Canton First Monday Trade Days

For $35.00. I had researched these online, cheapest was about

$200.00.

I knew I wanted one, just didn't want to spend so much.

$35.00, I was willing to do!

Makes a handy, dandy soap drying rack don't you think? I can wheel it where ever I need it to be, there's plenty of shelves, and it can hold about 28, 20 bar batches of soap. Super!

                        The reason I'm telling you all of this is because,

I actually did get to teach a class.

But, it's late, so that story will have to wait.

Till next time,

Bonjour