Let's just say, I can wash my hands for days after all of this soap making.

My learning process was by no means squeaky clean. To be honest, it was dirty and painful (think splattering hot soap all over your hand!). I learned from my first scalding to respect the soap. I stirred calmly and poured carefully. With those tenets in mind, I filled molds to create tiny embeds that I could let stand alone or drown in more soap to make a bar.

How cute are these little soaps on their own.

This heart embed ended up with a tiny flaw, which was actually later fixed.

The heart soap was one of my greatest accomplishments, but also one of my greatest tests of patience. When you form soap, you have to let each pour cool before you can move on to the next color or pour. In the case of this heart, I had to make the heart, pour a thin layer of white, pour more green and then finish it off with white. And to be safe, I waited about two hours between each one of those steps. Patience.

But once you get down the process and find ways to fill the waiting (snail mail, calligraphy, Netflix — the usual), soap making is pretty fun and calming. These tests of patience helped me slow down and rest, something I need to remember to do.

This cute little bear sits right into my layers of soap.

Even though this was fun, maybe have a plan for all your soap. I have made so much, and I have no idea what we would do with all of it. They could make for good-smelling, clean Christmas presents, or Mother's Day if you are looking for something more current.

I'm partial to the layers. I think they end up looking quite fancy.