A few days ago I came across some really fabulous soap making recipes and decided that this was something that I wanted to make for our family to use instead of buying commercial soaps. There are many reasons why I want to start using and making my own soap - you can read about a few of them here (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/soapmaking/108940).
I thought I'd start off with a really easy recipe and work my up to making a cold pressed soap next time around. The recipe I used today was from here - http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2007/07/rebatching-soap.html
I made a few mistakes along the way, but feel very confident that my next batch will be more successful. Next time I'll have all the ingredients ready to go before I start, have the tray pre-greased and I won't be burning the soap! Mmm, yes, those little specks you see in the soap aren't some pretty extra ingredient, they are infact little bits of burnt milk!
I chose not to add any colour or essential oil to this batch but I did realise that my scrapbooking stamps are perfect for pressing into the top of the stamp when it comes out of the mould. Overall I'm quite excited about this new project and have many more plans to start making my own washing powders, cleaning products etc.. in the future.
Also, before I go - have you all watched The Story of Stuff? http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html A must see. I saw it for the first time a few months ago when the lovely Jude sent me through the link and it's been playing on my mind ever since.
I'm behind on email again - will catch up soon :)
