making soap

I love glycerine soap for my face. For years I have been buying it at Bath & Body Works and reveling in the fresh, moisturizing clean it gives me. And suddenly, B&BW has let me down. They no longer sell glycerine soap. Scouring Etsy has done me no good. Yeah, a lot of people make it, but in strange "flavors" and ugly molds. So, I decided to gird up my loins and make my own, thanks to my new favorite book, Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts. The instructions were rediculously simple:
1. Melt desired combination of clear and white glycerine
2. Mix in yummy things to make your soap smell good and exfoliate, if you want
3. Pour into molds and let harden

So, we did it Sunday. I made three types of soap--Poppy-Almond, Cinnamon-Clove and Honey-Oatmeal. It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Soap in the molds, from top: Poppy-Almond (in muffin tin), Cinnamon-Clove and Honey-Oatmeal.
My glycerine came from Michael's. I just chopped off small chunks until I had the desired amount, working in small batches, and melted it. Then I added my scents & exfoliants, poured into the molds and let it harden.

finished Cinnamon-Clove

Honey-Oatmeal

Poppy-Almond

I think Dave was actually disappointed at how easy this turned out to be. It was fast and fun and relaxing. This would be such a great young womens' or Relief Society project because it was cheap and simple. Lather up!