Soap making and bath bombs

It’s been full on these past few weeks with back to back workshops on the weekends. Not that I’m complaining, because this is what I love to do and where I get my energy from. But I thought I’d better explain why it’s been a bit slower than usual with my tutorials and posts. Teaching is such a wonderful experience and I love to share my passion of making soaps and bath bombs with others. Often people come to these courses not really expecting much from themselves, but then they get all excited when they find out that soap making isn’t all that difficult and that they are very capable of creating some pretty amazing soaps themselves. That’s the part I really like: when they realise their own potential and start creating and getting ideas! Check out some of these soaps that students have made:

I started teaching soap making thanks to community education colleges and I’m one of the lucky ones, who managed to keep on teaching, despite government funding getting slashed several years ago. Quite a few schools reduced courses or stopped offering community education altogether. What a loss to our communities. I think the government really underestimated what community education offers to people. It’s not just about getting education. It’s about going out and being with other people, making connections and friends, and trying out new things. It’s a real shame that there are now so few schools that can still afford to have a community education program in place. Currently, I am teaching at Rutherford Community Education and Selwyn Community Education.

In addition, I’ve had the opportunity to start working with Pure Nature and offer soap making workshops through them this year. Imagine my surprise, when the first soap making course was booked out within days! How amazing is that? And to add to the whole awesomeness, the workshop is held at Studio One Toi Tu, which is actually an art studio (and not like the usually kitchens). The paintings and drawings on the walls, and even the paint splattered benches we worked at, all added to the creative vibe of the day. It was a really cool day and I can’t wait to for the next workshop, which I think will be happening in August. Check their website!

I’ve also had the pleasure this weekend to run a bath bomb workshop with some amazing women at a Mum’s Retreat, which was run by Parent to Parent Auckland. They are a not-for-profit organisation for parents who have children with a disability,   providing information, support, networking, workshops, sibling camps and more. The Mum’s Retreat was a wonderful opportunity for these well-deserving mums to have a bit of a break to get away from it all, and it was great to see them have fun and enjoying the bath bomb workshop. If you would like more information or make a donation, please contact Auckland@parent2parent.org.nz or visit their website https://parent2parent.org.nz