soap making

If you have been following me on Pinterest then you probably saw this post coming...

There is a little cherub in my home who loves to play in water. She would spend all of her days in the bathtub, washing dishes, mopping the floor, washing her hands and/or just pouring water, if I would let her. Along with playing in the water this little cherub of mine loves to use soap. In fact she has so much fun with it that she can use up a whole bar of soap in one day. As you can imagine, with our Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap costing $4.00 a bar, we couldn't carry on this way. Yet, who am I to complain over her wanting to be clean? That's a good thing, right? (Please nod you head yes with me here.)

Thankfully, we found a solution to our soap dilemma thanks to this tutorial. It turns a bar of soap into one gallon of liquid soap. Plus it's so easy to make I could involve both my girls in making it.





We all took turns grating the soap. Then we added it to one gallon of water in a big pot on our stove top along with two tablespoons of liquid glycerin. Side note on the liquid glycerin - the tutorial says you can find it in the band-aid aisle at your local grocery store. Well, that wasn't true - at least not here in Portland, OR. I searched three different grocery stores before finally stopping at Target and asking a pharmacist if and where they had it. They did have it, but it was kept behind the counter. Little did I know that liquid glycerin was used in bomb making - YIKES! You learn something new each day...



We cooked the mixture until all of the soap dissolved and then let it sit over night. When we checked it in the morning it was cloudy and thicker looking, like it should have been, but it was still really runny. I looked over the tutorial again and realized that it called for an 8 oz bar of soap and my Dr. Bronners was 5 oz. So we grated another half of a bar of soap and added that. We let it sit again for 12 hours and then blended it in the food processor. The mixture is still not quite the right consistency but it does it's job well. We'll play with it some more in the future. In the meantime C I mean my cherub can clean her hands, toys and whatever else strikes her fancy until her heart is content.



I almost forgot to mention, once we decided we would be making our own soap we knew we needed dispensers to put it in. My love of vintage canning jars led me to this tutorial. How great is that?! I ended up buying mine off of Etsy but we need one for each sink in the house so I will be making some of my own soon.

And now for something completely different...



C had me giggling hysterically with her birthday card eye peeking antics, so naturally I had to share.



Baby L is on the verge of something big, at least that's what we are thinking. He has been very clingy, and inconsolable all week. He had a fever of 103 for a couple of days but never showed any signs of being sick. The only thing that makes him happy right now is being outdoors with his Daddy. Who knows, maybe he'll take his first steps soon or another tooth will come through. We'll have to wait and see!

soap making