One Charlotte Island project was soap making.  These photos tell that story.

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DoraMac

Linda and Randal make soap:  photos by Charmaine and me.

 

Setting up the equipment and starting the project which involved lye and heat….

Measuring and heating and adding: coconut oil. Olive oil, vegetable shortening, aloe vera, lanolin, lavender oil, and very carefully, lye. 

Double double toil and trouble add some coloring and watch it bubble!  Actually it didn’t bubble; it just changed color!

 

Charmaine’s photo of me taking photos as Randal and Linda pour the “soap” into a container to harden.

 

Cutting up the block of soap and adding some natural decorations 

We have a bar in our shower and it feels wonderful and makes the whole bathroom smell like lavender.  Both Linda’s mother and Randal’s mom had made soap, so soap making was a childhood memory.  My mother grew up in New York City and I don’t recall her ever mentioning her mother making soap and I know for sure we never saw my mom making soap.  My mother lived at home and worked in business until her marriage so really didn’t even know how to cook food, never mind cook up a batch of soap.  But she did learn to cook and I wish I’d paid more attention. I do most of the daily cooking, but Randal is the real “chef” and only soap maker in our family. 

And speaking of food, the next email is about the “Virginia Ham” project.