Soap Making Class

So, I finally did it! I made my own soap. Was it a success? Only time will tell.

We had a nice small class, so there was lots of student/teacher interaction. That was nice. I measured out the lye, water and the fats: vegetable oil, lard, and tallow. We melted the fats, mixed the lye and water and when they were both at 100 degrees, they were mixed together.

Then came the stirring....

and stirring....

and stirring....

and about two hours later I had soap coating the sides. 

This meant that a trace should be soon to follow....

... but after another 45 minutes of stirring, still no trace, so the instructor said it probably wasn't going to.  She suggested quitting and just put it in the mold and see what happens.

She was with us through all the steps and helped us with measuring, etc, so she knew that everyone's should be right. But not all traced. Strange, eh?

She's not sure if it will set up or not, so we shall see after 24-48 hours. If not, I can remelt and try again.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

I must say it was a fascinating process and I will certainly try again. Next time, though, I use an immersion blender!!

Making the Bucket List Smaller

Every year I write a list of things I want to try or do and every year most of those items seem to gravitate to the next year's list. I was going back through my notebook of all my lists, notes on gardening, etc. when I stumbled upon a list for 2006 that had "Want to learn to make soap" at the top. I'm not sure if that's the first year I decided I wanted to try or not, but it is the first year I've found it recorded and it's moved from list to list each year.

I was going through emails and found a local class teaching soap making tomorrow. I called and found it still had an opening, so I've signed up! Tomorrow I will be able to cross off another item off my Bucket List! YAY!!!