Soap Class

Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl

This last Saturday I had the pleasure of showing a group of girls and ladies how to make soap.  We have a group of girls that are learning all sorts of life skills.  They are learning to cook, sew on buttons, repair hems, crochet and other things that could help them be more self sufficient adults.

I started by giving them a base of terminology.  This way I didn't have quite as much to go over while we were in the middle of making a batch of soap.  I explained the basic terms and how to get started when making a batch of soap.

I had pre-measured all of the oils so that we wouldn't have to slow down for that.   We started by mixing our lye water and mixing our oils together.  We added the pumpkin to the oils as well as adding a little bit of cinnamon.  I started mixing the lye with the oil mixture showing them how it looked at each step and having them take a step back from the table in between.  After I got to a light trace, I added some fragrance oil.

Our Cupcakes - everyone got to take one home

After we got everything to a medium trace, I started filling cupcake papers with the soap.  We then put all of them in the oven at 170* for about 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, I put all of the cupcakes in the freezer.

After I got enough cupcakes for everybody that came, I wanted to show the girls how to do a swirl.  I reserved about a cup and a half of soap and added enough cinnamon to change the color.  I poured the pumpkin soap into a lined mold then I poured the soap that was colored with cinnamon into the mold on top of the other soap from about a foot and a half height.  Next I used a skewer to swirl the soap in the mold in a figure eight pattern.

 I really wanted the girls to have some soap to take home with them.  The oven made sure that the soap had completed saponification and the freezer helped to firm the soap back up.  I am a firm believer in the hands on approach.  I also think that trying something new is a very important thing for kids to do.


I am linking with the following blogs:
http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com
http://jillshomeremedies.blogspot.com
http://www.create-with-joy.com
http://teachingwhatisgood.com/
http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com
http://alifeinbalance.net
http://thediydreamer.com
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com
http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com
http://www.flusterbuster.com
http://www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com
http://www.bystephanielynn.com
http://blackfoxhomestead.com/
http://www.iamannekehn.blogspot.com

http://obsessiveandcreative.blogspot.com