A couple of peeks

Friday we uncovered the soap we made on Thursday. It's still curing (the chemical reaction between the oils and lye is still going on) so we'll leave it be for a while yet, wrapped to stay an even warm temperature. Not only is this giant bar beautiful, it smells divinely of lavender and sandalwood.

There's lots of time between heating and mixing as this is a precise recipe we're following. So to keep the girls engaged and to prepare for our packaging, we learned how to fold a simple box of Origami papers. We'll be using these small boxes to nest our finished products in. Here are a few early examples that I shared with the girls to give them some ideas....

This box (which I designed to house a gift that's in the mail to someone, shhh, don't tell!)  has a lid with a quilled embellishment.

Here is an example of an undressed salve tin sitting inside a floral box with a paisley lid resting on some of the sample papers.

And here's a tiny bar of soap wrapped for giving. Who wouldn't love a sweet gift like this?
Next week the girls will be making body oil with the white pine they collected last Tuesday when the weather felt like spring. Also an herbal salve, and lip balm. The week after they get to wrap, package, and decorate in whatever way they choose.  More on that later.
Robin and I are having a grand time. Gee, I never had a class like this when I was in high school!