Hi fellow soapers. This might seem odd to be introducing myself after being on the forum for a while, but better late, than never!:-D
My name is Rustie and I am a soaping addict. I began soaping about 10 or 12 years ago with my now former inlaws. My MIL and SIL's and other girls in my Ex's family all made soap and had been doing it for years. It was a HUGE family. My EX had 30 FIRST cousins! So we got together often. The men took over the back yard and the women took over the kitchen. They had some awesome recipes and that's all we worked with. I didn't know of any soaping forums back then. This was something I did with my family. We would have competitions amongst ourselves although we were all working with basically the same recipes, it became about how creative we could get.
FAST FORWARD: DIVORCE. My life went into turmoil. I left all my soaping equipment behind. Soaping was not a priority at that moment. I lost a husband, but kept in touch with my soaping girls! I still love them emensely!
They gave me permission to continue using the family recipes in whatever capacity I wanted. Several years have passed and my life has worked itself out. So I started buying back some equipment. My inlaws even donated a few things. God love them. Life seemed right again. Soaping was different because I had never really done it alone before. But I loved it. It became like therapy to me. No radio, no noise. Just me and my creativity. I started experimenting a bit with the recipes and filling my curing shelves up.
Then one day I had a question that I thought I could find online. WOW! I had no idea there was so much soap stuff online! LOL I thought soaping was something that just my family did! LMBO. Boy was I wrong! Anyhooo...I ended up in this forum. After surfing around, I realized just how green I was. I never, ever questioned one of the recipes I used. They were tried and true. But now I realize that there are so many more possibilities out there!
Thank you to all of you who freely share your knowledge and experiences! And thank you to the admins who keep this site running. You all don't know it, but you've become my new soaping 'family'. :smile:
My name is Rustie and I am a soaping addict. I began soaping about 10 or 12 years ago with my now former inlaws. My MIL and SIL's and other girls in my Ex's family all made soap and had been doing it for years. It was a HUGE family. My EX had 30 FIRST cousins! So we got together often. The men took over the back yard and the women took over the kitchen. They had some awesome recipes and that's all we worked with. I didn't know of any soaping forums back then. This was something I did with my family. We would have competitions amongst ourselves although we were all working with basically the same recipes, it became about how creative we could get.
FAST FORWARD: DIVORCE. My life went into turmoil. I left all my soaping equipment behind. Soaping was not a priority at that moment. I lost a husband, but kept in touch with my soaping girls! I still love them emensely!
They gave me permission to continue using the family recipes in whatever capacity I wanted. Several years have passed and my life has worked itself out. So I started buying back some equipment. My inlaws even donated a few things. God love them. Life seemed right again. Soaping was different because I had never really done it alone before. But I loved it. It became like therapy to me. No radio, no noise. Just me and my creativity. I started experimenting a bit with the recipes and filling my curing shelves up.
Then one day I had a question that I thought I could find online. WOW! I had no idea there was so much soap stuff online! LOL I thought soaping was something that just my family did! LMBO. Boy was I wrong! Anyhooo...I ended up in this forum. After surfing around, I realized just how green I was. I never, ever questioned one of the recipes I used. They were tried and true. But now I realize that there are so many more possibilities out there!
Thank you to all of you who freely share your knowledge and experiences! And thank you to the admins who keep this site running. You all don't know it, but you've become my new soaping 'family'. :smile:
