My Secret Gift Arrived

Yesterday was such a beautiful day: Sunshine and a secret package in a mailbox!

This spring EuropeanStreetTeam's secret swap was organized by Judit. What a big, big job to make pairs and keep on track of all mail related things. She did it so well. And who was my secret swap partner? Nicole of Ultimate Organic Soap in Norway. Look at all these gorgeous soaps she sent me, I feel totally spoiled yet thankful.






What I love about her soaps is the fact she doesn't add any artificial ingredients on them. The scent of these soaps is very delicate and natural, not overwhelming as often happens on industrially made soaps. They are all handmade with care and look like candy to me. I must say Judit knew exactly what I'd like. Thank you Nicole and Judit!

ps. If you like some nice read, have a look at our team's blog. We have a new guest there.

Soap Inspiration

This is something I have wanted to try forever, to make homemade soap. I got a book about handmade soaps a year ago, but didn' t get started until now. I guess the reason to procrastinate this project was that to make cold process soap you need to buy sodium hydroxide aka lye. Even though I have handled lye in my textile design studies I still felt a bit unsecure about it, after all it's a chemical you need to handle with care.

This book "Käsin tehtyä saippuaa" by Saara Kuha is in Finnish and I'm not sure how many of my blog readers read Finnish but if you do, I warmly recommed this one. Of course Internet is full of great sites for help in any language. I used this very basic recipe from Saara's book:

coconut oil 150 g
olive oil 350 g
cold water 150 g
natrium hydroxide (NaOH) 71 g

I added dried mint grown in our garden for a faint scent and interest in soap's look

Now after 2 1/2 weeks I made this batch the soap I have already tried it and it works fine. They recommed to leave the soap to mature at least for 4 weeks so I'm still keeping them in cool, dark and airy place. I can't wait to make lovely packages to give these pieces as presents for friends and family then. There are so many lovely shops on Etsy and elsewhere selling handmade soap so you can easily find beautiful eco-friendly soaps I'm sure. But if you like trying out new things, making a batch of homemade soap can be one project amongst others. Just make sure you read and follow the instructions with care. Have fun!