These were the goodies I received from my first ever Michigan Soapmakers Conference, held on Saturday, the 10th of May 2014, at the Alma Library. This was just the second annual event, but they were able to have more attendees than last year. It started out big then it dwindled. They are now trying to get attendance back up again in the coming years. Organizers and speakers are members of the Soapmakers Guild.
Fortunately for me, my mom is here visiting. So I was not alone in a roomful of strangers. We had fun listening and joining in the workshops and even met new friends.
They showed us how to make liquid soap. Although, another fun and easy craft to make. The making of liquid soap involves Borax and some preservatives, ingredients I don't need for cold process soap making and I am not ready to add more ingredients into my soaping arsenal. I still am learning the cold process technique and decided to just wait till I at least make consistently great soap bars or at least find my niche before going to liquid soaps.
We also learned how to do a column swirl which I tried once a few weeks ago and failed. My column was circular, small and short. I will have to try it again soon.
My mom and I did this column swirl and we are pretty happy with the result.
The rest of the teams column swirl.
We also made a small tiger swirl.
Then we lined up and made a mess making bath bomb cupcakes.
The frosting were originally higher than these but we were right by the window and they eventually collapsed.
They also showed us how to make lotion.
It was a fun Saturday learning about soapmaking and meeting new people.
