or how to go from “Oh that’s cute, I made 4 soaps in mini flower molds” to “oh my, I made 7 kg of soaps in a month”?
I told you, I went very quickly from “Do It Yourself” to “I soap I soap”. My man jokes to me, “But you can do business with all that!” The soaps given to the family for Christmas had their little effect.
My sister sends me links to artisanal soap makers in an email with a stupid title, but which has a little effect: "Soapmaker". She found lots of links, including that of AromaNature, Maîtres Artisans.
All this is very nice but I tell myself that you don't open a soap factory like that, by snapping your fingers. And if it turns out, I'm doing anything, in my corner, playing the apprentice chemist?
I tell myself that I need to train a little anyway. So I contacted the Master Craftsmen at AromaNature, and I went to follow their training on cold saponification techniques. And yes, to become a soap maker, you have to soap! There is no certifying diploma. We are in craftsmanship, the values linked to the repetition of a gesture, the ethics of beauty from good (oh but wait! I like all that!).
The internship is great! I'm learning about final year chemistry, I have a history lesson on soap (it reminds me of university!) and above all, we make soaps. It smells of orange, cocoa, I breathe in shea butter and olive oil with full lungs!
And I listen, I learn, I note and I realize that no, I wasn't doing anything but yes, I learned lots of things and I still have tons to learn.
The dream !
Back from my internship, I improve my environment: real drying boxes, organic and ethical oils, I sew myself a charlotte in Wax fabric. I kick the cats and the man out of the house, I create recipes, I do my calculations the old-fashioned way, with the calculator. I check the calculators.
And boom ! 7kg! Ah, it goes quickly when you're having fun :-)
“Okay, now you’re going to have to use up these soaps, don’t you think?
And you're going to do it again and again?
We could honestly think about opening a soap factory, would you like that?"...
And this is how, in front of a plate of pasta, my man sows the seed.
