Thursday, August 22, 2013

I wish I'd done this years ago!





Soap making day in my kitchen is an all day affair.  I start around 8 in the morning. I have to pull all of my oils and supplies out and begin setting things up in my kitchen.  I start actually making the soap between 9 and 10  and I'm usually done by 3 or 4 in the afternoon...NOT including clean up.  And believe me there is a lot of cleanup!

When I make soap, I make four batches.  I figure if I have to haul all of this stuff from the laundry room and set it up, I might as well make a bunch of soap.  There is too much time involved in setting up to make just one batch of soap.  Some day that will change.

As I am looking for a smaller piece of property, I am also looking for a home that has space to have a true soap kitchen and room for bigger classes. I hope to be able to have a place for all of my supplies in my soap kitchen and keep them in easy reach.  That way, if I want to make a quick batch of soap or even two, I can do so quickly and easily!

I am always looking for ways to save time since that seems to be my most precious commodity.  The day after soap making I need to cut all of my logs into bars.  This usually takes between 3 to 4 hours. I have to cut each bar by hand and weigh the bar.  I'm not the most even cutter and I don't want to sell anyone a bar that is 3 ounces - those go to the shelf for our personal use.  So, I weigh each bar to make sure that what I sell is the correct weight.

And then I saw this video. I was amazed. My heart beat faster and I got light headed. I may have even swooned. I began saving my money, and pinching every penny. I sold some things. I had to have it...it would save me hours. I was one determined farm girl!

And finally a few weeks ago, it arrived....when I didn't have any soap made.  Hhmmppff.

However, I've made quite a lot since then and I love this little thing....meet my new soap cutter!


This little gem was made by a gentleman for his daughter who is a soap maker.  Then her soap making friends wanted one and voila! Bud Haffner had a business on Etsy! The quality and craftsmanship of this is unsurpassed.  I looked at a lot of soap cutters from metal to wood and believe me nothing compared to this thing of beauty. He's also wonderful to do business with and I highly recommend him - he has a variety of cutters available. (Thank you Bud!)

So here is how it works...I'm cutting one of my yummy fall soaps...Cinnamon Citrus Swirl!

First I raise the bar...


Then I slide my log of soap all the way in until it hits the "stop". 

Next, I pull the bar down until it stops and the wires slice through my soap like butter!
Twelve perfectly even bars in one fell swoop! Did you catch that?  TWELVE!


Then I pick up each bar and place it on a tray so I can carry it to my curing rack
.
No more slicing one bar at a time (unevenly!). No more weighing every.single.bar. It takes three times to cut one whole log of soap...I wouldn't even have 10 bars cut doing it one bar at a time.

Tonight, I cut 4 logs of soap in about 15 min. I just saved myself almost 3 hours.  And every bar is beautiful!

Here I'm cutting a new fall soap - y'all will be naming this one soon!


Here is one of the bars!

My new shaving soap...Yummy!


And one of the bars of pumpkin that I cut.  This soap goes into the mold looking like coffee with lots and lots of cream in it.  It comes out of the mold this pumpkin color with the dark line around it. It's beautiful and smells like pumpkin pie!


So....what will I do with the extra 3 hours a week....come up with a new product for all of y'all!

Coming this fall...something I've never done before!

Blessings!



2 comments:

  1. Good evening.
    May I ask what thickness wire used ( in mm.or inches)

    ReplyDelete
  2. John,
    They are guitar strings...here is the link to the exact string.
    http://www.wwbw.com/Rogue-P22-Bulk-12-Pack-022-Plain-Steel-Electric-Guitar-Strings-120022-i1124006.wwbw

    Hope this helps!

    Cheri

    ReplyDelete

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