Homemade Lavender Honey Lemon Soap

Kelly Reed and I spent a relaxing weekend in Stanley last week and it was wonderful to try our hands at projects that we have never attempted before.  We have both always wanted to make homemade soap and this was the perfect opportunity for us to try.  I found a lovely recipe for Lavender Honey Lemon Soap by Sarah Johnson in the Summer 2015 issue of Willow and Sage - Homemade Bath & Body by Stampington and Company.  Willow and Sage could easily become one of my new favorite magazines. 

With all of the fresh Lavender that Francine had provided to me over the summer I knew this was the perfect recipe to try.  I purchased all the items we needed from Amazon and a local grocery store.  Kelly and I both prepped the ingridents and then Kelly worked on the melting and pouring.  We discovered that there is a slight learning curve with the melting (how hot to get it) and pouring (how quickly you need to place it into the molds before it hardens) but overall it was a really fun project to try for our first soap making adventure.  The combination of the lemon and lavender is wonderfully fragrant which made it very pleasant to blend together.  We allowed our soap to firm up overnight as it had a rubbery feel to it as it was hardening.  In the morning the soap was perfect and it just popped right out of the silicone molds.  We dressed up our soap bars with ribbon, hand stamped mini tags and a sprig of artificial lavender.  We also tested some scraps in the shower and the soap lathers up nicely and has a fantastic feel and fragrance.  I would highly recommend this recipe as the ease of working with the "melt-and-pour" base made this a great first soap making experience.  Now that I have the molds I am looking forward to making more homemade soap in the future and trying new scent combinations.

Notes:

•  Measure your ingredients beforehand for easy adding once the soap is melted.
• Goats milk melt-and-pour soap base, silicone molds, essential oils etc. can all be purchased on Amazon.
• The glycerine in the goat's milk soap base acts as a preservative and keeps the lemon rind from molding.
• This recipe yields about 6-8 bars in a 3.8 oz. bar mold.  We doubled the recipe but made each batch separately.

Lavender Honey Lemon Soap

2 lbs. goats milk melt & pour soap base
1 lemon rind, zested
3 tablespoons dried lavender buds
2 tablespoons honey
15 drops lavender essential oil
6 drops lemon essential oil
grater
jar/bowl for melting soap base
silicone mild

Chop soap into smaller pieces so it melts faster.  Place in a bowl, and melt in microwave or a double boiler.  Watch the soap carefully so it doesn't burn.  If using a microwave, heat in 30 second intervals, stirring frequently.

Wrap the lemon zest in a paper towel and press out any excess fluid; this prevents it from clumping together in the soap.  Once soap is melted, add essential oils, and mix thoroughly.  Add lavender buds, lemon zest, and honey, and mix.

Before the soap cools too much, place the mold on a flat surface, mix the soap thoroughly one more time, and pour mixture into the mold.  While the soap is still warm sprinkle extra lavender buds on the tops for aesthetics.

Let the soap cool for three or more hours, until bars are completely solid.  You might want to let them sit overnight just to be sure.

Carefully pop out each bar from the mold.  Wrap or package the soap however you like.