Always wear bright blue, rubber gloves!

I thought today would be spent making all sorts of holiday goodies. It was..just not the kind of goodies that could be eaten!  Elizabeth set out to teach me a new craft..the art of soap-making!  I was so eager to learn this as I have been wanting to make herbal soaps for quite some time now.  She had taught herself and had good results with her very first batch of soap!  To scent her soap, she had used some of the dried lavender I had given her several months ago.  The method she uses is called "cold process soap" which sounded like something I might master at some given point (with a lot of instruction and guidance!)  She said it was so simple and most enjoyable!  Yep..sounded good to me!  I am always game to learn something new and what better teacher could I have.  Elizabeth and I can work together without ever a hitch arising!  We seem to have an understanding between us that can stand the test of time,intense work and close quarters! (I think it is a mother/daughter thing!)  So we set to work!
 

The first thing she told me is that to make this soap.."you have to suit up!"  Hmmm..ok, so I am not one that works well "suited up"!  She talked to me while she strapped on her goggles and stretched on her bright blue, rubber gloves.  A little trepidation crept in and I began to wonder just what I was thinking!  "Another piece of equipment you need is a mask."  Alrighty now, I supposed I needed to rent one of those "hazmat suits".  You know..the white coveralls and masks that folks don when dealing with hazardous materials?  Yep, this was not too far from that!  She took out a small scale and proceeded to measure lye into a cup. In my mind's eye, I pictured my kitchen being slowly eaten away by the lye that we undoubtedly would spill.  By tomorrow, there would be a big, gaping hole where my little kitchen once stood!  Lye is some powerful stuff..hence the "suiting up"!  The more we worked, the more we began to look like mad scientists!  It was great!

After mixing the lye and water, she stirred it with a long wooden spoon.  Mistake!  Just for your information, it might not be a wise move to use a wooden spoon!  The lye water turned as brown as stale coffee!  And well, that wooden spoon was beyond help!  We ventured further.  She told me how I needed to let the lye water cool and how to measure the oils.  (For anyone making soap..coconut oil is a solid!  At any temperature below seventy-six degrees, the oil turns to a solid!  During the winter months, the Little Bayou House is lucky to get as high as sixty-five degrees.  Needless to say, I had to chip the oil from the jar.  It was quite solid.  We finally got all of the oils in the big soap pot and then added the cooled lye water.  She proceeded to tell me the finer points of soap making.  The stuff needed to be blended together until it was making trace (or some fine word like that!).  It seems that term merely is applied to when the lye and oils are mixed enough that they will not separate.  Sounds good to me.  Anyway, as usual when trying to show someone something, the first batch did not do well at all!  It did not trace..it sort of coagulated with large lumps of yellowish soap and lots of brownish grey goop and lots more brown, coffee colored watery ick! The smell of ammonia began to fill the kitchen!  Egads!  We were going to be asphyxiated!  I rushed to open the door!  She was highly apologetic..I was giggly!  I promised her that I would discard the gunk so we could began again.  I did but not before receiving the only injury of the day!  I had forgone the rubber gloves!  oooops! To neutralize the lye, you use vinegar..obviously I did not use enough!  Several places on the hands received splashes of lava-hot lye water!  Hmmm...DON'T DO THAT....EVER!  It hurt..bad!  A vinegar hand bath stopped the burning of the lye!  We started anew and happily this batch turned out well.  The soap acted exactly as it was supposed to and the molds were filled.  Now we just have to wait a few days for it to cure before unmolding and cutting our bars!  She brought some of her first batch down with her from Columbus and I must say that I am highly impressed with the results!  I have the smartest daughter in the world!