Op Shops & Soap Making

Saturday I spent an hour going to three of the local op shops in & around Joondalup, North of Perth. I was looking for a stick blender for soap making, but more about that later.

I also wanted a frame to put my mum's family photo in that I showed on my last Tuesday Treasures. No longer will it wallow face down in my desk drawer. Naturally I took no measurements but found something I thought might work. I found this poor abandoned craft work in a 3 dimensional frame for the bargain price of $5.99.

So Friday night I attacked it with a paring knife, cut the box piece off the back, remounted it flat, cleaned glass & frame and as luck would have it, the photo fitted perfectly. Now it's not exactly what I wanted so I will keep an eye out for a more antique frame befitting a 1938 family photograph but it is now safe & able to be be proudly displayed. A bit of new tape on the back & on to the shelf in the lounge where I will see & admire it most days.

My second purchase is a huge BARGAIN! 800 grams of 8 ply wool in it's original balls for $9.50 in a lovely cream colour.

But not just any wool - 800g of 100% wool from the Bendigo Woolen Mills - ahhh bliss!!!

So I didn't end up with a stick blender from the op shops but am very happy with my two purchases. I then stopped at Crazy Clarkes & got a stick blender for $10. So that is the start of my soap making kit.



Last Saturday week I attended a soap making class. I love this style of learning in someones home where you also socialise, eat yummy food and learn a new sustainable option to avoid chemicals & other nasties.

Previously I have done 2 cheese making classes with The Cheesemaker. They no longer run these from home - too popular - but a day out with Pam & Tanya and hands on cheese making is fun no matter where the venue.

So we met at Lee's lovely home and first made a soap using supermarket ingredients, so not expensive or hard to source. Mine looks rather like a banana choc pie don't you think??? The base is coloured with cocoa, the centre with red palm oil & the top with coffee grounds. A few drops of your favourite essential oils & I have soap pie!

We then made a bottle of liquid soap. Mine is a totally addictive lime, coconut & avocado blend that I can't stop sniffing. After a gorgeous lunch we made a batch of olive oil cupcake soaps. I choose to use a peppermint essense for fragrance. The olive oil gave the mix a great lemon colour but then I split my mix in two and used red clay to give my cupcakes pink/red icing.

So I can say there is nothing difficult to soap making at all. No, wait a minute, yes there is! The difficult part is - now I have to wait at least four weeks for the soap to cure otherwise they are soft & will just wash away on use. So the soaps are up high, away from my line of sight (as they look too much like food & get my hopes up) & away from furry toungues that might just like a lick too.

So next Saturday it is back to Lee's place to do her Skincare Class. Lee does not currently have a web site but if you are in Perth & would like details of the course, email me & I will send you her flyers.

Happy stitching
Tracee xx