Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Teacher! Teacher!

Does anyone remember that song from .38 Special? Well, I get to play teacher tomorrow night and I'm so excited!! There's a craft club of 5 or 6 women here in Randolph. It's the coolest idea. From what I understand, they get together regularly and do different crafty things. Doesn't that sound like a blast? Anyway, one of the ladies, Sadie, asked me a little while ago if I was interested in teaching them how to make soap. Who wouldn't be?

Initially, I thought they'd want to do a little melt and pour soaping. You know, it's quick, instant gratification. That shows what I know! These girls are hard core! They opted for the CP class, complete with goggles and gloves! Well, we are going to each make a 1 lb batch so my students :) can take home their soap right away and stare at it while it cures.

So today I did my last practice run to make sure that my recipe would behave itself. Can you believe I've never made less than a 4 lb batch of soap? I am so happy with the one pound recipe I used. It's in Alicia Grosso's Everything Soapmaking Book. See here to read about how much I love her! It's simple and manageable. I'm only worried about how to get everyone emulsified.
I have 2 stick blenders, so we'll probably just take turns.

This batch has Brambleberry's Kumquat FO, Wholesale Supplies Plus Yellow Iron Oxide & water soluable titanium dioxide. I topped one with calendula, inspired by Joanna's Bath Bomb photo and the other has cranberry seeds just for fun. The Kumquat was perfect to work with. No acceleration that I could note and the scent (so far) is nice and bright! I think I'm in love!

I'm so excited about class! I'll let you know how it goes!

11 comments:

Carrie Garvin said...

Oh- best of luck! That just sounds like a perfect fit for you...mother of four, teacher of many...

Hugs! Let us know how it went.

Suds to Love said...

I'm cannot wait until my Kumquat soap is cured, it smelled absolutely heavenly in my house for the first few days after I made it. I like to get a bar off the shelf when I'm on that side of the kitchen, just to sniff it! I hope that doesn't make me weird ;-)

Good luck with your class, that's so exciting.

egassner said...

That sounds so cool! Hope all goes well!

Anne-Marie said...

Cool! I'm glad the Kumquat behaved for you.

I so love Alicia. She is a doll! She's teaching at our Soapmaking Weekend Intensive at Otion in July. I can hardly wait!

Heather@Twin Birch said...

Thanks, everyone! I'm doing up hand-outs tonight and making foot scrub. You're comments are such a pick-me-up!

Wouldn't we all love to go to the Otion Soapmaking Weekend Intensive?
How can we get there?

Joanna Schmidt said...

I hope it went well. What a great idea to teach soap making!! You must feel like a pro! Way to go girlie. Yay Heather!

Heather@Twin Birch said...

Thanks, Jo! Far from feeling like a pro, I am nervous! The class is tonight... I'm prepping today.

Honestly, I'm doing it because I was asked. Otherwise, I might have thought that I wasn't ready. Sometimes karma sends a boot to your butt, right? I'm glad for the chance to give it a go. I hope the "students" have fun! ;0

Joanna Schmidt said...

Wish I could be a fly on the wall, H. Sorry thought it was yesterday. Good luck tonight!

Anonymous said...

Oooh, Heather, I wish I could be there with you and that group! I'll bet you're an amazing teacher! Have tons of fun!!! The soaps look good enough to eat. :)

dcyrill said...

Good luck with the class. It will be great because you have fun making soap. The nervousness will go away once you get started.

Suds to Love said...

I just posted a comment in the WRONG post! Can't believe I did that, I must be tired, it can't be the fact that I have to get up in the middle of the night with a puppy, can it?

Anywho, good luck tonight!