When I was 21... It was a very good year...

Est Australia

Est Australia- Photograph: Saffrine Nydegger

5dollarfrenchmarket - Etsy

CrowleyManor - Etsy

SwanMountainSoap - Etsy

...because it was the year I discovered the art of soap making.

No I don't mean going to the local arts and craft shop and buying a DIY Melt and Pour Soap kit... No I decided to go back to my ancestral roots and learn traditional methods the Castilians' of Spain have used for centuries. This cold-process method relies on the chemistry between two polar opposite substances - Alkaline and Acid. When mixed together in the right quantities, these two neutralise each other in a process called 'saponification'. Saponification occurs instantly, but the process takes weeks and even months to complete. When it is fully saponified, you are left with a bubbly piece of PH neutral soap... Magic!

According to the history books, a type of soap was used as far back as Babylonian times from mixing the ash and animal fats in water. It is also said that people along the Nile experienced soapy waters due to the fats and oils as well as ash that travelled down stream, due to the rituals of burning the dead along the river. Today, thankfully, many of our soaps are vegetable based and less crude...

AmethystSoap - Etsy

CrowleyManor - Etsy

SwanMountainSoap - Etsy

So keep an eye on my blog to learn how to make gorgeous soaps like these - the traditional way...