The fun of soap making

There's something magical about turning simple oils into a bar of soap that lasts for weeks. It starts in a real kitchen, not a factory.

We measure our olive, coconut, and shea oils by weight, warm them gently, and blend in lye-water until the mixture 'traces' — thickens like warm pudding. Then come the fun parts: essential oils for scent, clays and botanicals for color, and a swirl if we're feeling fancy.

Into the mold it goes, and then the hardest part: waiting. Six weeks of curing on the rack makes a hard, long-lasting, gentle bar. It's slow, a little messy, and completely worth it.