Town of West Bend, Wi – Imagine the last of the season’s golden maple leaves waving among the cedars in the view overhead and crunchy leaves and grass cushioning the ground beneath your feet. Take deep breaths of fresh country air as you stop on the wooden bridge to take in the view over the marsh covered with cattails and grasses now faded to shades of brown. Deer and sometimes Sandhill cranes and other critters cross our path or come into view in the distance. If it’s not too cold, the resident swans may be gliding about in the stream as we cross the last bridge and head to the studio. The autumn Century Farmhouse soap making retreat is just a few weeks away and I am already looking forward to the morning hike in the crisp fall air before the day of making ahead.
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People often ask me how difficult it is to learn to make soap and whether working with lye makes the process difficult because it can be dangerous. Have you worked with bleach when you do your laundry? You need to be careful, right? The same applies to working with another strong chemical base – lye – in the making of soap. To take away some of the angst surrounding soap making, all of the materials are pre-measured, and we go through the process step-by-step so you can create your own beautiful soap bars with confidence.
If you’d seriously like to know more about the soap making retreat, click here to read about what your day will be like and all the other details. I hope you can join in the fun!
So, you ask, why all the fuss about making bars of soap when the bottle at the sink pumps out just the right amount with less mess?
Commercial liquid soap is actually a detergent, and detergents can be harsh and drying on the skin because of the alcohols they contain, making your skin more likely to crack and be open to infection, especially in the winter months. When you purchase liquid soap, you are paying for a bottle of mostly water and the synthetic fragrances in it – look for the word “fragrance” – are likely petroleum-based products, not the real thing. Very irritating.
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A bar of soap, especially a beautifully handcrafted soap made with… Click HERE to read the rest of the story by Ann Marie Craig.
