Soapmaking Fun

At the end of January Coleman and I, along with a few other families went deep into the Aptos woods and up a mountain to make soap. Another homeschooling mama was gracious enough to invite parents from our homeschooling community to share in soap making for the day. Never having made soap Coleman and I were very eager to learn. The big block we made still sits in our studio awaiting the six weeks required for it to cure. Lye was involved so it was a potentially dangerous procedure, though no one was hurt this day. I am eager to try it again with a little less chaos surrounding the process and an essential oil or two to spruce up the bacon fat aroma.

There were so many wonderful things going on this day. My favorite part was that there were so many people around and the kids were playing together, chickens and dogs were wandering, moms were helping each other and there was general cheer. Coleman met a couple new boys who he really enjoyed spending time with. I was wishing for Max, but he was at school, perhaps this summer...It was all good.

Here's what we used in our soap:
3 cups water
1 1/4 cup lye
12 cups rendered fat (we used bacon fat from a local restaurant)
2 cups goats milk
2 Tbs olive oil
.5 ml cinnamon essential oil (it wasn't really enough, I could have tripled the amount or more)

Because this is a dangerous process, I won't actually go into it. But I can recommend a great site that will give you all the safety tips and directions on how to go about doing this: Soap Queen's four part video on cold process soap making is the perfect beginning step in learning how to make soap. There are a lot of safety precautions you have to take and she goes over all of them. We were way lower tech than the Soap Queen, we just used spoons to stir (I used a wooden one, but you should use a stainless steel one). But we did use gloves, eye protection and face masks to protect our lungs. We also did this outside where the ventilation was good. My next soap is going to have coconut fat in it and aloe...

{this moment}

a friday ritual: a single special moment to savor and share.

Plastic Series: Bioplastic From Your Kitchen

We made plastic today! At least we think we did. It hasn't cured yet - hours later. The instructional YouTube video didn't go into how long it would take to dry out and feel like plastic. Somehow we're confident that it will be plastic in the end. Before it biodegrades.

Here's what you'll need:

Tools:
Hot plate or stovetop
pot
1Tbs measure
1tsp measure
silicone spatula
silicone mat or silicone cutting board
(you can even find textured surfaces to use, or make your own molds with plasticine)


Ingredients:
1Tbs Tapioca Starch (or Corn Starch or Potato Starch)
4Tbs Water
1tsp glycerin (we could only find the liquid suppository kind at the pharmacy today:)
1tsp white vinegar
optional food coloring

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients, in order, into your pot.
2. Stir until completely mixed
3. Turn the heat up to medium
4. (if using food coloring this is when you plop it in)
5. "Stir your head off" until it becomes translucent
6. Pour onto your surface and smooth it out to desired thickness. This step is actually slightly challenging, it's rather goopy and difficult to get a consistent thickness. But it was fun, just the same. It cools off pretty quickly. 

We don't yet know how long it takes to become plastic, it's been about five hours since our first batch and it's certainly getting there, but not quite. We also made molds of minifigs using plasticine, and I can see learning how to make molds for something like this being yet another interesting avenue of learning. I think you could do this experiment with young kids, as long as you feel safe with them at the stove. I think the hardest part is waiting for it to set (it is for me, anyhow). Though I must admit, it was difficult for me to sit back and not help at certain moments, maybe that was the hardest for me. (But maybe the best part for Coleman)

{this moment}

a friday ritual: a single, special moment to savor and share.

inspired by soulemama.com