Teach Soap

_________________
Haven

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Members of the "Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild" ( I am one.) have an informational brochure that they can hand out if they want to. It explains some soap facts.
I have found it helpful to have on hand at shows to hand out to anyone who was asking questions. I don't chat people up about it - only if they start asking questions.

www.soapguild.org

I will talk about it too if asked. Which brings me to this... my friend wants to make soap, she bought the complete soapmaker by Norma Coney, I have a copy from the lib. right now and was SHOCKED to see on page 34 she is talking about mixing lye with the water, and it says to "pour the water into the lye. / Don't make the mistake of adding the lye to the water". I thoght if you added the water to the lye you could get a BIG mess. I am going to ask her to make a batch with me first.

Joyce

NEVER add water to the lye. This might have been corrected in the newer version.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I've seen that in a book too, so what do you mix with the lye?

You add the lye TO the water.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

You mix it with water -or whatever liquid you are using - but the point here is to add the lye TO the ( cool) liquid NEVER add the liquid to the lye! You will get a big suprise! ( And not a nice one!)

I've heard it explodes. but to a newbie it sounds like semantics. Add the lye a little at a time or all at once?
(this is why i stay with M&P and rebatch!)

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thought I'd chip in on the original question because I was torn on this too. I second the notion of chatting up/educating people who ask about it. Generally (or at least this is what I've noticed) people just want to buy something cute/pretty/pleasant smelling. You can generally tell when someone is actualy interested, or if they are just glamor shopping.

I know I've been to some craft shows where the soaper has been excessively chatty about soap vs. detergent and it always puts me off. But that could just be me.

(I also teach soap classes locally so I could be biased since I always include a segement about that in my classes )

ETA: On the lye note, I have a book from the 1970's called "Soap: Making it and Enjoying it," by Ann Bramson and in that book she tells to ALWAYS add the water TO the lye. Of course she tells you to add the water VERY slowly but... I've always wondered if that works.

_________________
Darkness called... but I was on the phone so I missed it. -- WC III