And then there was cinnamon...

Project: Handmade Soap
Reference: Martha Stewart’s Craft encyclopedia
Difficulty factor: 6
Cost: approximately $60 (with plenty of supplies left over - the majority of this is initial cost)

We are pretty excited about our first attempt at soap making. All in all it was pretty successful. Being novices at the craft we chose to use Martha Stewart’s directions on soap making. Our intent was to follow the book verbatim to achieve the beautiful soaps pictured in the book. Unfortunately, when we dove in we discovered the directions were not very precise on the portions of ingredients. So Martha, if you are reading these our suggestions would be to add more specific quantities to your recipe. (Yeah right, we wish Martha was reading this!!!)

So the experimenting began. Our favorite formula became 3 white glycerin blocks and 2 clear with a touch of natural honey to achieve a warm oatmeal like color. From there we added blueberry seeds, apricot seeds, and oatmeal to add textures to the different soaps. We also added essential oils, such as honey-almond and lavender.



And then there was cinnamon….. The book displayed a beautiful translucent crimson red cinnamon scented soap. We both fell in love with this look and decided to duplicate it. At first everything was going wonderfully but then we added the cinnamon and the mixture became a sewage brown color, nowhere near red! It did smell wonderful, though. So we forged on and decided to try it again but this time we added a small amount of red and yellow food coloring. This resulted in a pink flesh toned color or as Meghan so genuinely refers to it as, “the color of puke”. Both end products smelled great but neither looked very appealing. We are going to keep working on this one…. We will keep you posted.

Overall the process was pretty simple, it involved microwaving the ingredients stirring in the additives and pouring into greased molds. Once the soaps hardened (overnight) we embellished them with different styles of wrapping. These will make great gifts! And between the styles of molds, additives and presentation the possibilities are endless. This is definitely something we will continue to explore!!! So give it a try and let us know how it goes!

Julie and Meghan