Mara Soaps regularly offers workshops to learn how to make your own soaps using the cold saponification technic. We have tried it out.
Marija Kocic has been making handmade soaps for 6 years. Given the success of the presents she was making for her siblings and the pleasure she had while making them, she ended up creating her own brand, Mara Soaps, in 2016. Nowadays, she organizes workshops to teach onlookers like us the secret of soap making.
Marija starts by explaining the process of cold saponification, the method she uses that consists of a chemical reaction between fat and a strong base – lye in the case of solid soap. Equipped with protective goggles, gloves and a mask, you can start the mixtures. The dosages of the three main ingredients (oil, lye and distilled water) must be followed very precisely: each oil possesses a different saponification value, that is to say the necessary quantity of lye to turn the oil into soap. Olive oil and coconut oil are the most commonly employed oils and the ones we used for our creation of the day. Like a little chemist, you let Marija guide you with full respect for the phases and being careful with lye, which is a corrosive product. Then you can choose a dye and an essential oil or an artificial oil to perfume your soap. There is nothing left but to pour your mixture in the molds you have chosen and to come and pick them up on the following day. However you will have to be patient: the soap needs 4 weeks to dry before you can use it.
Forthcoming soap making workshops:
February 5th and 12th
Mara Soaps, Joga, Cole Bay
$55
+1 721-522-5301
Facebook/Instagram: @marasoaps
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