Thursday, July 12, 2012

La Pasera - The Soap Opera - The first batch

The stage is set. The props in place, costumes on, camera ready, lighting OK despite being a dull day...Action.

Scene 1

Enter Luis stage left wearing black rubber gloves, a black apron and protective glasses (plus his normal clothes - phew!) Ian decides to stay close by, watching from a distance, camera in hand and making mental notes. Was this a recipe for disaster or was Luis heading for the shower...?

The oils, almond, coconut and olive decide to take a warm bain marie whilst lye (a rather caustic character) and distilled water are carefully measured.


Things begin to warm up and it's all action from now on.

Scene 2

The action moved outside as things started to get tricky and dangerous. It started to drizzle but that didn't put anyone off. All the ingredients were gathered and Luis got tooled up with a rather snazzy spatula and a stainless steel blender. Lemon Grass oil makes an appearance and waited patiently on the side until it was her turn to join in. Lye decided to take a drink to get things warmed up.


Things are stirring, lye and water are introduced to coconut, olive and almond. Vitamin E turned up but waited patiently to be introduced. The soap plot begins to thicken as the blender gets to work - there is no escape now.


Luis manoeuvres his spatula into position and with blenders help, a distinct visible trace is left for all to see. As a last ditched effort to get noticed, Lemon Grass and Vit E enters the mix. One final stir and it's nearly over. Luis decides it's time to turf the mix out into a pre-prepared mould. They should be fine in there as it's fully lined and grease proof.


Scene 3

It's been a quiet night, the mix was kept safe in a cupboard away from The Terror Twins, Wentworth and Gawber. They are renowned for inquisitive ways and there was always a possibility they would sniff it out and get their paws burnt. Gawber kept a close eye on things...


The next day

Lunch was a short affair as Luis was eager to sort out the mix once and for all. He grabbed a sharp knife from the kitchen drawer and took the mould from the cupboard. The mix decided to come out without much of a fight to our delight, but it wasn't over. The deed had to be done. Luis plunged his knife into the bar and cut it into six pieces, it was over. Well almost...


There is always a possibility that such a volatile mix might turn out too soft or crumble but there is a cure. 4-6 weeks in a cool dry secure unit. That'll sort them once and for all, toughen and harden them up. Luis sighed with relief, it had been easier than he thought. Meanwhile, on a shelf not too far away bergamot can be spotted hiding in the shadows...

Will Luis' bubble burst, will he ditch the dirt, why is bergamot hovering in the wings? Let's hope Luis doesn't get into a lather and that he feels cleansed by the experience - only time will tell.

Bookmark now for Episode 2 Coming soon.

La Pasera - Suds Law

With special thanks to Coco at My Galician Garden for her inspirational soap making and gifts of soap.

7 comments:

  1. That looks luscious-it will be good to know how that is after curing

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  2. Thanks GZ - we will report back - first time we have tried to make it so excited to try the results.

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  3. I´m so proud! It looks lovely! I use one of those wine boxes too - the one for 3 bottles, so I can make a small, medium or large batch.

    Everyone recommends http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp for recipe calculations. It´ll take a bit to figure out, but then you´re all set. I have a folder of recipes printed with notes on how it went.

    The sky´s the limit now. Congratulations!

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  4. Thanks Coco - it is something we have always wanted to do but until we tried your lovely soap, it was low down on the list. Thanks again.

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  5. The soap cured extremely well and it is great to use. Thanks all.

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  6. Anonymous11:17 am

    looking good!

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  7. Entertaining and informative...thank you !

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