Recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas for Aunt Linda’s Soapmaking Class. It was a wonderful experience! May I tell you all about it? 😉
Linda Odom’s classes were featured in Country Living Magazine’s March 2012 issue. She has taught soapmaking to people from all across the United States.
The word you hear most often to describe her? Sweetheart! I couldn’t agree more, and she has the prettiest, sparkling, blue eyes!
You can find her teaching at the Ozark Folk Center Apothecary. This particular class was limited to only two participants. I was thrilled to be one of them! Meet my classmate, Heidi! She’s from the south east corner of Arkansas! It’s funny that we both drove three and a half hours from opposite corners of the state! Heidi is delightful! All three of us have lots in common!
It is really quite remarkable how many projects we accomplished in only two days. Everything we made went home with us! Linda’s experience as a 9th Grade General Science Teacher had her well prepared! Each student received a folder with complete instructions for everything we created. She also included tips on how to use lye soap for things like home made laundry detergent!
All lessons were completely hands on. With Linda’s instruction, we made three batches of lye soap. Three batches! As we measured, stirred and combined, options for alternate ingredients were discussed. The fragrance for our first batch was holiday inspired and held orange essential oil with cinnamon. Our feminine soap fragrance blended lavendar with rosemary and peppermint.
For a masculine touch, our third soap creation was lemon, eucalyptus and tea tree oil. Working with Linda’s collection of essential oils was such a treat!
Look at all those options! We were allowed free rein to mix them! Linda taught us to use cotton swabs to test a blend before actually using it in a project.
While our handmade lye soap was setting, Linda taught us how to make adorable soap bunnies!
Lotion bars were on the agenda, too!
Soap on a rope is a messy good time!
Lastly we made bath salts and spritzers!
The Ozark Folk Center Apothecary smells lovely any day of the week, but with all our hard work using the essential oils, it smelled so fabulous! I wish we had a “Scratch and Sniff” option in blogging! I would love to share that with you!
Completing the last of our projects was somewhat bittersweet. I had spent two days in Crafty Girl Heaven! It was hard to leave, but there really is no place like home!
We teased Linda that she needed to change the name of her class from “Soap Making” to “Everything You Will Ever Need to Clean Anything Making”. (She’s gonna need a bigger business card!)
If you have any questions about how to make hand made lye soap, Aunt Linda’s Soap Making Class is the answer! It is an absolute joy to spend two days with her!
When you visit Ozark Folk Center , please give Linda a hug for me! She’s the sweetheart with the sparkling blue eyes!
😉 -Marci
