1st Soaping Adventure of 2009 and some lessons...

So Monday I decided to take a "sick" day to stay home and make some soap (hopefully no one from work is reading this). I had a well thought out plan to have breakfast with Mister, make some soap, meet a friend for lunch at 12:30 and then head to Target for some supplies, leaving a long lazy afternoon to do whatever. Of course, as many soapers can attest, things do not always go according to plans.

While Mister put my mold together, I got started - mixing my lye and water, measuring my oils and melting, preparing my additives and scent. As far as time goes I kinda forgot to factor in the that a larger batch takes a bit more time - half way through I realized I would be late for lunch. Called my friend to reschedule. Back to the soap. Finally it is time to mix the batch. Now its time for splitting the batch. I usually just eyeball this part but this time I actually measured it out with the scale - which is when the first minor calamity occurred. Because I was in a bit of a rush, I poured too quickly and raw soap spilled over my scale and onto the table....WOOPS!! At this point I thought - ooh I should have Mister take pictures. Great idea! So now he is involved in taking pictures of me in our poorly lit small ass kitchen while I continue my soaping. As you see, we got some sweet photos of me in my giant sweatshirt/sweat-pant combo looking extremely attractive. Finally its time to add the fun stuff - I add my ground lavender buds and essential oils to my lavender batch (isn't it pretty!?!?!). Stir it up and then add my colorant (a little more orange than I was expecting), poppy-seeds and essentials oils. I stir some more hoping that my batch will thicken quickly since I am beyond late for lunch and am impatient to put these babies in the mold. Finally, I decide that they are thick enough and I pour the citrus in the mold - beautiful, no issues what-so-ever. OK, now time for the lavender, I start pouring, everything seems OK - then Mister points out that raw soap is leaking out of my mold....OH CRAP! So I scramble to hold the towel to keep the soap from going onto the floor while simultaneously trying to scoop what I can back into the mold (I hate wasting any soap). Eventually, I think that the soap has thickened enough to stop leaking and I continue pouring the soap into the mold - wrong move. The soap starts leaking again more quickly - before I can grab the towel to stop it, it has poured onto my shoe and on the floor....Son of a B*?!@*.

Eventually, the soap thickened and I was able to cover my mold and head out to lunch, but my whole "plan" for my day was shot.
Looking back at Monday (and some other soap days) I realize that I need to learn a little patience while soap making and I need to try not to do "everything" in one day. I am always so excited about coming up with combinations and the final product that sometimes I forget to slow down and deal with whats happening in the moment. My goal for next time is to focus on the process, and not rush things because things usually don't go according to the plan. I am also going to try to not put so much pressure on myself to get everything done according to a schedule cause life just doesn't work that way.

Also, I wont be letting Mister put my molds together ; ).

P.S. I am hoping to have my soaps available on etsy in February, so stay tuned!!!