A simple phrase that those who are family to a "soaper" shiver or sigh heavily when they hear it. It calls to mind a mountain of soap supplies, molds, soaps waiting for re-batching, soap waiting to sell or send as gifts, packing materials kept for reuse, recipes printed and notes all over those pieces of paper and did I mention the books? Oh yes, book after glorious book bought and read and re-read. Highlighted, bookmarked, dogeared, cover creased, oil splotched, smelling like 5 different kinds of essential and/or fragrance oils books. We love them and keep them close at hand when we're learning the trade.
Making soap isn't easy. It can be dangerous no matter the method used to create soap. I'm ridiculously careful so I can make it as slim a chance as possible of anything bad happening. Did I mention I decided to learn this in the middle of the worst Summer in a really long time? In Kentucky? 20 something days over 90 degrees in a row and still going strong! This means my lye can clump in the container from humidity so I'm so hyper careful and don't let anyone handle my lye container except me and no one helps me while I soap until all the lye water solution and oils are in the crockpot. Period. All it takes is one grain of lye landing on a sweaty arm and it starts eating its way in as you panic and scramble to the sink for cold water to flush it with. I take all the precautions I can and that are recommended when using lye I take it very seriously. My hubby happily stirs once it's in the pot so I can sit and stave off the hip pain I still get if I over do it. But the bug has bitten me and there's no denying it.
Just ask my husband who now takes several bars of each kind of soap I make to work because they come to him for soap now even if just to see what's new. *grin* My friends can't wait to see what I make next so they can test it out and I just can't wait to start selling it! I can't wait to sniff the next sample scent my supplier drops in my box with each order! It's like Christmas every month and I have thought about splitting up my orders so I can try out more samples but I think each supplier just sends the same single sample until they're all gone. Which still works out well really. I have enough of one sample to make a decent sized batch of soap. And as a sign that I really need to make another batch of soap my new mold and oils order just arrived! "Oh honey!"
Thank you Lord for making me useful again. Thank you for the lessons I've learned these past 3 years and thank you for the chance to earn extra income even if it won't come near what I receive while on disability for the near future. I believe in accountability so I'm stating here for the world to see that I am tithing 10% of my sales, official or not. And for those of you who care to know that there really is someone out there that knows what doing the right thing is, Yes, I will be reporting every dime I make on a quarterly basis to the disability boards once it stops being a negative.
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