Well I had plenty of good clean fun making soap with my friends the other night.  I think I learned more about what NOT to do, than what to do however.

It didn't take a lot of supplies. First I bought a $2.50 soap mold. Then I spent about $9 to get Olive Oil Glycerin cubes which were supposed to help suspend things in the soap better.  After that, I just got things from around the house to fragrance, texture and decorate the soap.

That might have been where I went astray.  Maybe I added too much of some things or just didn't mix them in at just the right time.

My first batch I scented with eucalyptus essential oil, added some basil for color since I couldn't find any real eucalyptus, and tossed in a little emu oil for healthy skin and some sand for texture.  That batch was probably the best.  The sand added a cool look and is kind of like having pumice in your soap for dry heels, elbows and the such.  But it does wash away pretty quickly.  And mine all settled on one side. Looked cool, but the sand gets in the tub!

After that I switched to using tea tree oil (for it's antiseptic properties), and coconut oil (moisturizing).  I also used the basil for decoration and even put a little barley in there for texture.  I didn't have any oatmeal.  I wouldn't reccommend the barley.  It was too big and chunky.

The last batch I actually tried to add epsom salt to the mix of tea tree and coconut oil.  Maybe I just put in too much epsom or too much coconut, but that batch never did harden.  It's just kind of globby.

So that was our fantastic Soaper Bowl Sunday.  It was loads of fun and I'll definitely do it again.  I learned a lot.  I learned that I am NOT The Soap Maven!