Soapy Saturday

As all parents of school-going children would know, Teachers' Day is just round the corner. I decided to go handmade this year, and was all set to bake some cookies with Noey when I came across a soap making workshop for kids that was being organised by Sharon of Oak Tree Baby. I thought it might be interesting, and since it met my handmade criteria, I decided, on a whim, to sign him up for it.

The workshop was held at Soap Ministry, located in the basement in Orchard Central. We found it without much trouble, thanks in part to the cute and colourful array of soaps that you can find outside.

Looking at these - and many more - got me excited!

Noey started off selecting his molds for the day.

All ready to start! As you can see, we picked way too many molds, but ended up only using the blue one and the owl.

We then settled down to listen to the trainer explain the qualities of the handmade soap they were about to make at the workshop, which were all natural, organic, and of course, good for the skin.

Noey looking rather small at the table. Next to him is his new friend Jay, a fellow 4-year old.

The workshop participants were offered the choice of 3 soap bases - organic goat's milk, premium baobab, or centella asiatica. I was hoping that Noey would choose the centella asiatica, which translates into the cooler looking transparent soaps, but he chose to go with the goat's milk. Well, it was his choice! After that, it was time to get down to work!

Cutting up the soap base into smaller pieces for melting.

The pots full of pieces of soap base melting in boiling water.

Some of the other ingredients. Noey was very enamoured of the squeeze bottles, one of which contained glycerin, and the other, vitamin E. The spray bottle contained ethanol, mainly for disinfecting purposes. 

After measuring out the glycerine and vitamin E, it was time to add the colour! Noey chose green. Not surprising, seeing as it is his favourite colour.

And after the colour, it was time to add the scent. After taking a sniff of a range of essential oils, Noey chose sweet orange. 

No pics of the next steps, which were to mix in the melted soap base, stir, and then pour the soap into the molds. Noey managed to do some of it himself - see: messy bits.

After the soap had been poured into molds, all that was left was to wait for them to harden. I was surprised to learn that they would harden at room temperature. Just after a few minutes, we could see them acquire a jelly like texture and consistency. The soaps were then stuck in the fridge to speed up the hardening process, though we were advised to avoid this unless necessary.

Then it was the moment of truth. How did Noey's soaps turn out? They were very cute!

Excited little boy with his tray of green soap.

Close-up. I just loved the detailing on the owl! (I had already wrapped it in plastic  when I took this photo, in case you were wondering.) Noey couldn't keep his fingers away!

Everyone was very happy with their soaps, judging from the happy oos and ahhs around us as the soaps were pushed out from their molds.

The final step was wrapping the soaps up individually in plastic and packing them to bring home.
It was a lot of fun and Noey really enjoyed himself. In fact, after the workshop, he asked me if he could go back next week. I think he thought it was a regular activity, like art class. Haha. I don't know about bringing him back, but I did think that I wouldn't mind going back on my own to do the intermediate course and learn more techniques for soap making. Some pretty soaps would make good Christmas gifts, don't you think?

For now, at least Noey's got some Teachers' Day gifts settled.