Getting Rebatched - How God Makes Us Better

Our pastor said yesterday that we're like clay pots that get broken before being put back together in order to be useable. Being a soapmaker and not a potter, I can't help but think in terms of soap, so instead I think that we get rebatched.

First, my reason for not completely agreeing with the broken pot analogy... Broken pots can be mended and glued back together. However, while they're perfectly functional, they still have these vulnerable parts where the cracks are. Glue's not quite as hard as clay that's been kiln-fired, leaving the pot vulnerable to leaks.

When I make soap - or when anyone makes homemade soap, for that matter - there's always the risk that something will go wrong. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen, and a few weeks ago, it happened to me for the first time. I'd made some CPHP soap in cucumber aloe and was attempting to mould it in a plastic tray of guest-sized soaps. Done perfectly, I'd have ended up with 15 1.25-ounce bars of soap that smelled fresh and clean but that also had the nourishing properties of the aloe vera juice I'd put into it. They didn't turn out perfect. The soap itself was fine. It smelled good, the lather was fabulous when I cleaned out the crock pot and it was perfectly functional. However, it wouldn't come out of the mould. I tried. My husband tried. We even let it sit for a few days, thinking it'd shrink up some with its cure and it'd pop right out, but to no avail. The bars ended up rough and ugly. So, I decided, since this was, after all, an experimental batch, to further experiment and rebatch them.

If you're a bar of soap, rebatching is HARD. First, I grated the soap with our cheese grater (sacrificing a fingernail and a bit of a knuckle in the process). Then I put it in a bowl with a bit of warm water and milk for a few hours to let it draw some of the moisture back into it. So, at this point, the soap's been grated or broken and is being rehydrated. Then I stuck it in the oven for a couple of hours so it'd melt. Finally, on a whim, I added a bit of ultramarine green to it for a dash of color. The soap got "broken," changed and heated up before it went back into the mould for several hours in the hopes it'd be pretty and functional at the end.

God does the same thing to us. When we've screwed up, God breaks us, adds things to our lives and makes things pretty hot around us, all to make us into something better. Even when we haven't messed up, even when we're doing all that we should and are walking closely with Him, God still might "rebatch" us to make us into something even better. It's through our own trials, whether we bring them on ourselves or not, that make us better able to serve and help those around us.

The soap did turn out pretty in the end. The top is rough because the soap was thick - as it should be - when I put it in there. However, the soap still smells wonderful and is a lovely green. I'm thinking about sending it to a business a friend owns called The Purple Box to go out to her customers in sample packs.

Website Launch for Sara's Soaps 'n Such

It's with great joy and no little fanfare that I announce the launching of my new website. It was almost there last week, but I spent two full days tweaking it, improving on it and adding even more amazing new products to it. Please check it out, but even better, order something! The site is http://www.sarassoapsnsuch.com/. It was a labor of love; in fact, a friend of mine compares it to actually being in labor and giving birth. I have to disagree; the website was much harder and took about as long.

So, what's new? Well, you've heard me talking about my homemade soaps ; now you get to check them out. The ingredients are pure; the majority are naturally scented with essential oils, though I do offer scent-free and color-free soaps for those who are sensitive. Quantities are limited on the Ooh La La-vender soaps, but more will be ready in about a week-and-a-half. On the curing rack I also have Ylang Ylang, which will be ready Monday, 30 June, and Blue Ridge Breeze, which will be ready this Friday.

I've also put my bath teas on the website. Each one is a unique blend of flowers, herbs, botanicals and other natural ingredients designed to serve different purposes. My favorite is Ooh La La-vender. Its combination of goat's milk and lavender buds makes for a purely indulgent, very relaxing treat. My daughter, who's so sweet the mosquitos and ants just love nibbling on her, likes Itchin' & Scritchin' Tub Tea. This one is simply a blend of chamomile and oatmeal. Its light scent smells rather like apple-y pineapple, and the ingredients help descrease the size of the bites and provides relief from the itching.

There is even more new stuff in the works, such as lotion bars and an all natural itch-relief balm.

Be well.

On Becoming

One of the best soaps I make from scratch is my Ooh La La-vender, a goat's milk soap with a purple swirl and a delicious lavender scent. Goat's milk is wildly popular right now for its skin-nourishing properties, and lavender essential oil is always a much sought after aromatherapy scent. While lavender in lotions and MP soaps tends to stay pretty herbaceous/floral, in CP it develops more, resulting in a spicy, herbaceous scent with just the slightest hint of floral underneath. Both men and women have liked it with the men commenting that it's a good lavender, simply because it doesn't smell girly.

While Ooh La La-vender develops into this sensuous soap, able to transport the user to a state of aromatherapy-induced mellowness, the raw soap is anything but sensuous or mellow. In fact, it stinks! Imagine caustic scalded milk that sort of burns your airways when you smell it. That's what this soap smells like as it's in process. The addition of the lavender scent does nothing but layer on an initially strong lavender smell on top of the caustic scalded milk smell. The soap is becoming.

I think we're like that, too. We don't start out "finished," any more than soap does. It takes work - experiences, decisions, beliefs, community - to complete the "becoming" process. Actually, unlike with soap, we as people never finish. Yet, in our process of becoming, sometimes we stink. Sometimes we may be somewhat caustic. Hopefully we're often willing to be raw. We have to interact with people far different from us, just as lye interacts with oils and butters, in order to achieve optimal results. Our hope is that, upon completing this process, or perhaps even during it, other people can use us to enrich their lives, just as a good bar of soap will enrich ours.

The Homemade Soap Addiction Continues

I've moved from handcrafting MP soaps to also making CP soaps, and now I've drifted over into CPHP (crock pot hot process) soaps. All three of these soapmaking methods are enjoyable. With MP, I get to play with awesome designs and really creative designer soaps. With CP (cold process), I have the ultimate say on exactly what goes into my soaps and how much. I get to lovingly tend to the freshly-poured soap, insulating it, keeping it safe, then waiting more-or-less patiently as it sets up. Then I get to cut it, revealing each slice and in the weeks it takes the soaps to cure and harden, our entire downstairs smells wondrously of the curing soaps.

Once I got comfortable with CP, I decided on a whim to experiment with CPHP. Hot process is actually where soap began. Settlers didn't have weeks to wait for soap to cure. Just imagine a woman standing over a black iron kettle stirring soap with a long wooden spoon over an open flame. That's the root of HP. HP is like CP, only I use heat to speed through the gel phase, so when the soap is ready to pour into the mould, it's actually fully saponified soap. Several hours later when it's completely hardened and ready to unmould, it's ready to use. In short, HP is ready to use immediately, but it takes a week of curing and hardening before it's ready to sell.

HP is fun, because I have the ingredient control of CP, but the more instant gratification of MP. HP doesn't set up pretty, though. It's very glumpy when it's still loose, so the top doesn't look very smooth like with CP. That's OK to me, though. As a fellow soaper said in an online forum we're both on, the rough top just makes it look more homemade. My first batch was Aloe and Tea Tree. The batch I'm working on as I type this is going to be Lemon Verbena. I'm experimenting with an infusion of dandilion flowers as my colorant. As far as I know, it's never been done before. The challenge is finding enough of them to infuse, as well as finding some that haven't been chemically treated. Roadsides are good for this, though I understand that some city and county police officers aren't always so understanding of crafters harvesting wildflowers (read: weeds) on the side of the road, though I didn't have any trouble the day I harvested mine. Once I get this batch done, I'll take some pictures to post.

Goat's Milk and Lavender Soap and My New Mould

I'm happy to say that my second batch of cold process soap came out (and I mean really came out) much better than my first. My husband built this soap mould for me. It's not very big - 107.something cubic inches, which holds about 4 pounds or so of soap. At this point, however, that's all I want to make in a batch.

Beginning soapmakers are supposed to keep it simple - lye, easily obtained oils, water and maybe scent. We're not supposed to be jazzing up our combinations of oils, using liquids other than water or trying to achieve fancy patterns and effects. I got a little crazy with this batch. First, I opted for goat's milk in place of the water. I had it nice and slushy, and it still turned orange. Then I combined my oils, including shea butter and cocoa butter for super hardness and superior moisturizing. I got to trace in no time!

My new ultramarine violet powder colorant was burning a hole in the colorant shelf, so I had to use it somehow, someway. I pulled a little soap out, colored it, then went to work on the swirls. Fast forward a bit until we're at the next day. The soap has set up completely and is ready to come out of the mould. I cut it into bars, and the swirls impressed me deeply. The majority of the soap is still sort of orangish yellow from the lye/goat's milk mixture. The soap still will clean well, though.