Soap Making, A Blast from the Past

I used to make soap all the time. Not the easy melt and pour variety, cheater soap I call it, but honest to goodness real soap. The kind that requires lots of preparation and somewhat foreign ingredients, like lye. I had never used lye before, not even in high school chemistry. Everyone wrote and talked about it like it was some sort of radioactive substance and that scared me. As a result, it took me several years, well at least months, to work up the courage to make my first batch of soap. I literally spent time staring at the items sitting on a shelf wondering when I was going to make room in my busy life to utilize these items I had invested money in.

I can now say, some 12 years and many batches of soap later, that my worries about the process were in vane. Sure lye is a caustic substance, but like lots of other things we work with in our daily lives you have to be careful with it. If you are, nothing bad will happen. Here's the most important lye mantra that I always say to myself and my students when making a batch of soap.

 ALWAYS POUR THE LYE INTO THE WATER. NEVER POUR THE WATER INTO THE LYE

If you remember this one important thing then everything else will work its way out. The other important thing I learned from once making soap in my garage with a poorly vented dryer running is that a high humidity environment is not a good location for soap making. Water acts like a magnet to lye and is a bizarre thing to see in action.

I am writing this post to let all of you know that this coming Saturday I am teaching a soap making class the crock pot way. This method has actually made soap making a viable activity for me once again as it is quick and easier and less messy than the cold process method I used to use. Both methods have their pluses and minuses but this method, hot process they call it, allows me to make soap again for my own use and I can do it without having to devote a whole day and my entire kitchen to the activity.

So if you have time on Saturday, you should come join us. Bring your crock pot, I have the rest of the stuff we need. You can use your crock pot again, because once you make soap, you just wash it out, because its soap.