I attended a soap making workshop at my friend’s fabulous Leslieville shop, Nathalie-Roze and Co. It was taught by the lovely and talented soap goddess Amanda, of Simply. We made organic soap while sipping tea and nibbling scones with clotted cream. It was a marvelous combination of tasty treats and crafting.

Being somewhat klutzy, I was a little alarmed when I learned that we would be in close proximity to lye, since it is used in cold-press soap making. I had visions of spilling lye over myself, my skin melting away before I had even finished my first scone. Perhaps we all had the same vision, as everyone seemed to be standing well back when our intrepid instructor stirred her pot of caustic ingredients.

Luckily no flesh was lost and we all came away with custom blended soaps. I opted to scent mine with patchouli essential oil.  Patchouli is one of those scents that people either love (sexy earthy heady delight) or hate (stinky sweaty assault). I have always been a fan, but unfortunately I was a little heavy handed that day. 

Three days later I am left with wistful memories of the other attendee’s soaps, lightly scented with lemongrass and rosemary, while everything around me still smells like a hippy den.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Crafts, Toronto Dates . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.