Soapmaking with Martha

After weeks of thwarted attempts to catch up with Martha and her family who are visiting again from Queensland, we finally succeeded. And after a late start, a perfectly delicious lunch and a pile of scrumptious almond muffins (which- by the way- I seriously need the recipe for) we got down to the business at hand. Soap making. This is the kind involving caustic soda, which I was a little nervous about using, especially after hearing all of the grissley safety precautions, but as there were no burnings, poisonings or explosions it was really a fun experience. The most catastrophic thing that happened during the whole process was entirely my fault as I inadvertently dumped the combined oils into the double boiler I was washing out from when we made the candles. I thought it was my pot of boiled water. Ooops! Thankfully the boiler was empty and the oils still appeared usable. It all seemed to work and gel together in the end. We are still waiting to see the final results, but in the meanwhile I have plans to try to make some soap myself during the school holidays, perhaps when the children are in bed.

After the soap was done we headed out into the big back garden and the kids collected some fresh lemons and oranges from the trees. Thanks for the fruit, the soap making tips and for the pleasure of your company Martha. We will have to do it again the next time you are in town.