Spring classes for 2022 are coming to a close and with that so is my soap-making journey (for now). Over the past two months, I have been given the opportunity to create a new skill for myself and I think I have done just that. Here is a chart comparing my tech and soap-making skills prior to my learning project and at the end of my learning project.
Becoming a Soap-erstar Soap Maker: Week One
This week I looked at the logistics of soap making and how to create a basic bar. I was not confident that I would be able to successfully create something but was excited to try. My blog was alright but pretty short. Although, it did act as an excellent page to refer back to keep myself on track.
This post contained information regarding…
- My plan for the upcoming weeks
- The types of soap I would attempt to create
- Research into soap creating
- Materials that I purchased
This week I created my first bar of soap, Sweet Strawberry. This soap is a beginner’s level of soap and helped me learn the basics of soap making. It acted as a great starting point for my project because it showed that some areas I was doing well on but others needed improvement.
This post contained information regarding…
- Sweet Strawberry soap recipe
- The research tools I used to create the bar (Two articles)
- Materials I used
- Improvements I would make
Green Apple Blossom: Week Three
This week I created my Green Apple Blossom Soap. This soap was easily my best-smelling soap and I also created a time-lapse video of myself working on this soap. It also taught me how to do the marbled soap technique.
This post contained information regarding…
- Green Apple Blossom soap recipe
- The research tools I used to create this bar ( Article and Youtube Video)
- Materials I used
- Improvements and changes I would make
Vanilla Bean Coffee Soap and a Deep Dive into Popplet: Week Four
This week I created my Vanilla Bean Coffee Soap which jumped ahead in my soap-creating schedule. This is because when doing my research I found the soap I had planned to create was not environmentally friendly. If you want to read more on why I found this soap not environmentally friendly read my week four post. This soap taught me how to create a soap scrub and is defiantly my most aesthetically pleasing soap.
This post contained information regarding…
- Vanilla Bean Coffee soap recipe
- The research tools I used to create this bar ( Two blog posts )
- Information regarding glitter litter
- Materials I used
- Improvements and Changes I would make
This week I created my Lilac Dreams Soap which was a floral soap, using real lilac flowers. This soap was challenging because it used natural materials which can be unpredictable such as changes in color, float or sink, not setting properly, etc.
This post contained information regarding…
- Lilac Dreams soap recipe
- The research tools I used to create this bar ( Three Youtube videos )
- Materials I used
- Improvements and Changes I would make
The final soap I created was a blood orange soap that used an orange scent and a ruffled designed top. A ruffled designed top is a hard top to create and I defiantly did not master this. Take two maybe in the future!
This post contained information regarding…
- Blood Orange soap recipe
- The research tools I used to create this bar (Tik Tok and an Article)
- Materials I used
- Overall Improvements I made from week 1 to week 6
3 Takeaways I Received from Learning to Create Soap
1) Creating soap is based a lot on science. Throughout creating my soap I noticed that a few things changed the speed at which your soap hardens. For example, adding too much color met that your soap would harden very quickly, or adding shea butter made the soap soft and oily.
2) The type of soap you use has an impact on our waterways. For example using soap in natural environments, such as bathing in a lake, increases the likelihood of algae blooms which can then overpopulate waterways and endanger animals. When creating soap (or buying soap), you must keep in mind the ingredients you are adding to the water to decrease the harmful effects some soap can have. Read more about this here.
3) The creation of soap is fairly expensive at the beginning but pays off in the end. When buying the materials for the soap it was a large bill but over time I can see how this can pay off because you won’t be having to buy soap anymore. That being said, it is important to keep in mind that some hobbies are more expensive than others. Soap-making would be a great activity for a classroom but the materials are expensive.
Here is a chart of all the resources I used to accomplish this project
For now, soap-making and I are on a temporary break but I am hoping to get back into it sooner rather than later. EDTC offered me this unique experience and I am very grateful I had the opportunity to learn a new skill all while working towards my degree!
Sincerely,
a tired soap maker
Paige's Pages 
Hey Paige! I really appreciated your takeaways from your experience with soap making. I have never tried it but would like to, and your feedback makes it seem like while it is hard work, it is very rewarding which is great! I had never thought about soapmaking as a craft or activity that could be incorporated into the classroom, especially since a lot of creating the soap is based on science, however, it would be a very costly activity. All of your soaps from the last few weeks look amazing and your posts were very detailed and packed full of resources. Great job and good luck with all your soap making in the future!
LikeLike
Hi Paige! Congrats on finishing your learning project! I really like how you’ve broken down your learning in this post. I also like your 3 takeaways – it seems to me that soap making could be a cool science experiment to do with students to teach about the reactions from different combinations of ingredients and to connect to STSE principles through ensuring the soap we use isn’t harming the earth. Good luck with your future soap-making endeavours!
LikeLike