Craft Studio hosts do-it-yourself soap making workshop

By Joe Buzzelli

Published Sept. 25, 2009

Forget Dove and Dial, the theme of Wednesday night at the Craft Studio was do-it-yourself, as they ran a class on how to make soap.

The class was part of the Craft Studio's fall workshops held twice a month. Because the studio likes to keep classes small, they are capped at eight people. Seven signed up for the handmade soap class.

Junior Courtney Chambers instructed the class.

"I'm kind of unusual (as a student instructor)," Chambers said. "But after being here for two years and subbing for other instructors when they decided not to show up, they felt I could take on classes."

Chambers, along with the rest of the work-study students, usually meet at the end of every semester to come up with ideas for classes and workshops.

"First, the work-study students will come up with ideas and research them," Craft Studio Coordinator Kelsey Hammond said. "Then we whittle them down to something we can offer."

Hammond originally came up with the idea of handmade soap after talking to Kristi Mott, a stay-at-home mom who was selling handmade soap at an art festival.

"With all of our classes, we try to do them as do-it-yourself to remind people they don't have to shop at Walmart for everything," Hammond said. "So we thought the soap would be a cool thing to do."

Although it might be cheaper to buy cleaning products from the store, Mott said there are plenty of benefits.

"For one, we soapers don't use machines, but our own two hands," Mott said. "We work in small quantities, use the best ingredients that we can find and put our all into it."

As well as the convenience of not having to shop for basic necessities such as soap, there are also health values for handmade soap, Mott said. She first began making soap when her son's sensitive skin was not reacting well with any of the commercial products.

"By making products that I could control the ingredients in, (my son's) skin issues have improved," Mott said. "It also benefits the rest of the family as well. I take great pride in knowing that I am creating products that are good for the skin, not just mere cleansing products."

Beyond the convenience and health value, Mott also said she makes soap for the pure fun of it. Chambers does as well.

"I'm sure there are some benefits to making your own soap," Chambers said. "But personally I'm just doing it for fun."

Hammond sees the value in hand-making products because "there's more love attached."

She encourages anyone to get involved at the Craft Studio despite art experience or talent.

"We're not going to judge you if you suck," Hammonds said. "A lot of people have fears about art. That's OK. You've been graded for so long, it's nice to just have fun. That's our motto: 'No grades, no pressure. Just good, messy fun.' "