Lather, of Course

I'm standing up and taking my bow. I've finally gotten my act together and am working on that elusive batch of body wash. I've been threatening to make it for at least a week now, but there was always an obstacle in my way. I removed all obstacles and it's now on the stove cooking for three hours. Making liquid soap is far different from making bar soap. It takes the better part of two days (not counting bottling and labeling) to finish a batch of liquid soap, whereas, it only takes a couple of hours from start to finish, to make a batch of 40 bars of soap. All of it is luxuriously moisturizing, but I am most proud of my liquid soap line. This batch of Herbal Body Wash is the result of additional research, and I've added pure lanolin to the mix of oils, which should result in a very special product. I'll keep you posted.

The mixing process is done with a squirrel mixer attached to my drill motor. You should see me standing over the top of this large pot cooking on the stove top. I stand on a step stool so that I'm looking down into the pot. The mixing process alone takes at least 40 minutes, so being comfortable (and patient) is key. This lather occurred while I was cleaning my squirrel mixer, after the soap paste came together and the pot was moved into an even larger pot of water that acts as a double-boiler. I had so much fun cleaning the mixing 'blade' - I filled the sink with water, plugged in the drill motor and ran the mixer at top speed to clean off the soap paste. The sticky, taffy-like paste is tough to dilute and remove from the blades, but it made for lots and lots of blippable bubbles.

After the soap paste cooks in the double boiler for at least three hours, it is diluted with 30% water, which takes all night. I usually pour in the dilution water, get it to a boil, then turn it off and leave it covered all night. The first thing I do when I wake up the next day is dash into the kitchen to check on it. It's very exciting to see and test the finished product.

Unless you're a soapmaker, I guess you wouldn't understand.

BIG bubbles are always better. (If you look closely you can see lots of tiny reflections of the trees outside the window above my sink.)