Today I spent this morning in the company of the ever lovely Marla (who always hears about these cool things and arranged this) and four other charming women, to learn the art of organic soap making from Amanda of simply. (who I have rechristened the Soap Goddess). The class was part of a series offered at the gorgeous indie boutique Nathalie-Roze in Leslieville.
It was a highly fruitful investment of three hours and $45. I learned about the art of soapmaking and had a mini crash course on how to source organic and fair trade raw material (I am so impressed at the way Amanda, and many other independent business owners like her, are committed to making sure their profits do not come at someone else's or the planet's expense). At the break we were served tea in charmingly mismatched cups and freshly baked scones from a two tier silver tray, with little pots of jam and clotted cream to the side. You know how much I adore tea!
And then we made our own soap. I was a little scared of the lye but Amanda did the tough stuff, allowing us to focus on choosing essential oils and pigments. From the vast selection offered, I went with a tea tree oil-ylang ylang conbination with a light green tint and a bit of colloidal oatmeal (fancy word for powder) thrown in to help with exfoliation. I will not know for at least two days how it turns out and then I must allow the soap to harden over a few weeks before I use my first bar (I think we have enough for 5 or 6 bars). Thankfully Amanda gave us a ready to use bar to take home, suspecting that we seemed like an instant gratification kind of crowd.
It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning and given that Nathalie-Roze has just released its list of spring workshops, I'm sure I will be there again before too long.
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