Dreamy

Awhile back, I read this story. And I was thinking about it again today, or the last couple of days, because I recently acquired a book about Soap-making at a local antique/consignment mall (so small, so new, so local that they don't have a website, not even a social media page...but if you come and visit me, I will take you there).

This book, actually. It was just under three dollars. Score.

After reading through this book, I really wish that I had the space to make some soap! It seems like the perfect pairing of science and creativity...as well as frugality.  I think I will do a little more research though, and wait a while before I start my soap hobby.  For one, I am back at school and need to devote my brain to homework. Two, our kitchen is small-ish, and I feel that I would need more space to work on/let my soap sit for the necessary length of time. Three, after reading the reviews for this book, I  think I will have to get another more up to date book on soap-making. For one, I'm not necessarily into making highly scented bars of soap that look like various shapes (shells, flowers, etc), I'm more into fragrance-free (or naturally scented) rectangles of soap. And for two, there are some dangerous errors in my edition of the book that I would not have known about, had it not been for the warnings on amazon.  For example, in the book it says to pour water into lye. In actuality, that would cause an explosion. Luckily someone caught these, and other errors before I experimented with making my own soap.

Here are the other corrections, in case you ran out and bought this book before finishing reading this blog post:

From the Publisher

CORRECTIONS to The Complete Soapmaker, by Norma ConeyNote to the reader: the changes on page 34 are particularly important and should be noted for reasons of safety.

On page 34, step 5 should read:

5. Make sure that the pitcher with water in it is resting on a protected surface. Carefully and slowly pour the lye into the water. Use your wooden spoon to lessen any splashing of the lye solution caused by chunks of lye dropping into the pitcher. Don’t make the mistake of adding the water to the lye.

On page 34, the first sentence of step 6 should read:

6. After you’ve added all the lye to the water, stir the solution gently with a wooden spoon until you’re sure that all the lye has dissolved.

On page 50, the first sentence of step 6 should read:

6. Continue to stir periodically until the soap has reached a pudding-like consistency.

On page 50, the first sentence of step 7 should read:

7. When the soap has reached a pudding-like consistency, remove it from the heat and stir it gently as it cools. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Anyway, error-full book or not, go back and read the etsy article, in the link above. How can you not be inspired?!