Soaping Anyone?

[Marilyn]

No cauldron used!!! I used a 1 gallon rubbermaid pitcher to mix the lye. I was wearing yellow rubber gloves and goggles. I spread out a trash bag on the grass, put the pitcher on the bag, added the lye and stirred it with a long handled stainless steel spoon while holding my head to the side because of the fumes. There was a couple on their back porch across the golf course from me that I know was wondering what in the world I was doing!! I could barely hear them talking and I could see that they were looking my way. I told hubby about them, and he said they probably thought I was mixing something to make drugs. My girls are afraid someone will get suspicious and call the law on me.

Hubby is really sensitive to smells and did not want me smelling up the house. Most people cover their stove and mix the lye under their vent hood, but he wanted no chance of any fumes in the house.

Now that I've done it, it's not nearly so bad. I could do it without the trash bag and goggles. I just wasn't sure what to expect. I'll try to post some pic's when I get it out of the mold and cut. It actually looks pretty good this morning, and smells nice.

[Janet]

We also want pics of you in your goggles and gloves...

[Dobie]

I have a friend who turned her little soap making hobby into a nice little side business. She sells online and at bazaars - it's not enough to quit her day job - but it covers the expenses of making the soap and puts Christmas/birthday money in her pocket.

[DianaB]

There was a relative of my son-in-law that used to make soap and sold it on e-bay. She would use the plastic thingys that hold cookies in the packages for soap molds. They always have a nice design to them. I don't know if she used them over or not. I just found a couple of bars that she made in the bathroom and have been using them. I think that's a really cool hobby. You might check on e-bay for books that have ideas and recipes in them. I know that you can put oatmeal and other stuff in them.

You probably wouldn't want to have the lye around your stove. My sister-in-law and I made hominy one time and the recipe called for lye to remove the outside covering of the corn kernel and then you rinse and rinse and rinse it. Anyway, back to my point, I did get lye on the chrome part of my stove and it discolored it. Please be careful with that stuff!!!