Tuesday 17 February 2015

Home made soap

My children bought me a Kirstie Allsop soap making kit for Christmas, which I made a few weeks ago. It was really easy to do which is always a good thing - sometimes kits don't have good instructions with them. The one thing I would say is that the mould is a little flimsy, so I didn't get the soap mixture packed in as evenly as I would have liked, meaning that the end bars don't look quite so neat. However, I now have 11 bars of soap, all of which smell divine (lemongrass and lavender) and leave your skin feeling really soft and not at all dry. I also know there are no hidden chemicals in there. I would definitely make soap again and perhaps experiment with different aromas. They would have made fantastic teachers gifts, but as mine are all in Secondary now, they don't do gifts.
I have kept two bars for us and wrapped the others to give as gifts. To wrap them, I used handmade paper and ribbon. I looked at making my own paper as I remember doing it at school, but then I found a pack of 10 sheets for £1 in a charity shop. As I'm tearing each sheet in half, I've got more than enough! The ribbon is recycled from other wrapping, so no cost there either.


I think they look quite sweet, don't you? They certainly look artisan with their uneven shapes!

Mr D and I are off to visit his cousin this week, so I'm taking a button heart and a wrapped soap rather than flowers. It would have been 'coals to Newcastle' anyway, as she is a florist!


Ps. Talking of home made. I thought if let you know that I finished my first 'bottle' of home made laundry liquid yesterday. That's not bad seeing as I started using it on January 5 - there are 6 of us, so I do up to 10 washes a week with towels and bedding. I still have another 4 litre bottle to use before I need to make another batch. I have been very pleased with the results so far. I think possibly, over time, that the whites may need a boost, as obviously it doesn't contain any bleaching products like a commercial laundry product would, but other than that I am very satisfied with my 1p a wash, home made liquid! 

9 comments:

  1. The soap looks good, makes a nice gift, I have thought about making soap and laundry liquid, but we all have very sensitive skin , will have to research it a bit more.

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    1. They both have very basic, natural ingredients. They might be fine?

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  2. Thank you for the lovely gift. It looks and smells amazing.

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  3. You can't beat homemade soap can you, and wrapped like that yours makes a lovely gift.

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    1. I can hardly believe how easy it was! I took a look at some artisan, home made soap in a shop yesterday - over £5 per bar!!

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  4. What a fab idea, it looks lovely. I would like to have a go one day

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    1. Having the kit to start me off was helpful, but the ingredients are readily available anywhere and you could just as easily use an ice cream tub as a mould! Kirstie suggested various other ideas for moulds including biscuit cutters etc. I'm definitely going to have another play with it later in the year.

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  5. I'm glad you did this review, I received the same kit as a Christmas gift, it's good to know it's easy as I've never made soap.

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  6. Yes, really easy and quite quick to get the soap made - it then needs to cure for weeks - and nice, clear instructions!

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