On a beautiful sunny Thursday I was sitting on my deck with Cisca from Zeepziederij aan het IJ talking about biodegradable soap and other care products. This was so inspiring that we decided to organize a workshop for making your own soap. For Tiny House residents, future Tiny House residents, or anyone interested in making environmentally and skin-friendly care products. I’m in. Are you joining me?
Living off-grid and having a helophyte filter instead of being connected to the sewerage system, I have to be very careful in choosing the products I use at home. Although it’s always a good idea for the environment, with a helophyte filter you have to be extra careful not to flush toxic chemicals down the drain. So, I only use biodegradable cleaning products and care products. But what does it mean exactly, biodegradable?
As it turns out, it isn’t as clear as it seems. Cisca knows a lot about this though and she writes informative blogs on how they make their artisanal soaps. Zeepziederij aan het IJ wants to offer an alternative by creating honest care products based on traditional manufacturing processes and natural, organic ingredients, but using 21st century knowledge. In selecting their ingredients they take into consideration how the locals in that country are treated (Fair Trade). They would prefer to use only local products, but that’s not always possible, unfortunately. Other than soap, they also make shampoo, body butter and skin oils. Did you know that for making your own detergent it’s better to use coconut soap than Marseille soap? Marseille soap doesn’t always contain organic oils. Zeepziederij aan het IJ uses oils of a higher quality, leaving your laundry cleaner.
Workshop on making soap
So we’re going to make soap! And not just a little soap, enough for six months! At the end of the day you’ll be going home with a big bar of soap, made with beautiful, high quality ingredients that are soft on your skin and the environment.
The workshop will take place on Saturday September 2nd, from 10.00 till 14.00 hours in Amsterdam. Costs: €60, including lunch, coffee, tea and a six-month supply of soap.
You can choose to make one of the following soaps:
Soap with a color and scent of your own choosing (you can choose from about 10 different colors and about 10 different scents)
Or:
Soap with ground oats and a scent of your own choosing. Oats act as a mild exfoliant and sooth the skin, which is very pleasant after gardening or doing jobs around the house.
What does the workshop look like?
First there’s a warm welcome and then we’ll be discussing the theory of soap making, while enjoying a cup of coffee or tea. What is soap, and which oils or fats can be used? What is a fatty acid profile and why is it important in soap? We’ll focus on the recipe for soap and the colors and scents that you can choose from. We’ll close the theory part with safety demands.
After theory comes practice. First you’ll choose a color and scent for your soap. Next the ingredients will be weighed and the soap will be made in duos.
All participants will take their freshly made soap of almost half a kilo home. This needs to ripen for 6 weeks until it is ready for use. You’ll also take home the soap recipe and a summary of the theory.
Register
Only 7 people can participate (well, actually 8, but I’m participating as well), so register quickly by filling out the form:
Which scent will I choose? Marigold? Or lavender? Or mint? Or…or… :)
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