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Handmade from the heart
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:08 AM EST
Argus-Press Photo/Cheryll Warren CAROLYN Koenig measures lavender essential oil for soap bars made to support the Outreach program at Christ Episcopal Church in Owosso Monday.
The blessings just go on and on.
Christ Episcopal Church, located in Owosso's Fayette Square at 120 Goodhue St., has had an Outreach program for more than a decade, offering food and clothing to those in need who come to the church for help.
About two years ago, parishioners Anne Wiseman and her husband Michael suggested the church look into making soaps to support the Outreach program. Anne had received a soap-making kit from the couple's son for Christmas, and the Wisemans thought that good things should be shared.
The result has been Fayette Square Handmade Soap, an effort reaching through two Christmas seasons. Soaps handmade in the church kitchen are sold from booths during Corunna's Christmas at the Courthouse and at the Curwood crafts festival, as well as from the church office.
Soap is made on an occasional basis throughout the year. On Monday, volunteers at the church began another production session, the first since before Christmas. Soap bars, which take more than a month to cure and prepare, will be ready for Valentine's Day gifts and can be purchased at the Church office after Feb. 8.
A recent soap-making session began, as they all do, with the blessing of the water used. Rev. Heather Barta, priest at Christ Episcopal, performs the blessing before the day's project begins.
Lye and water are combined, creating a chemical reaction which releases heat and raises the temperature of the lye and water.
“That mixture takes time to cool,” said Sandy Brimacombe while heating palm, coconut and olive oils in a pan on the stove nearby.
“When both mixtures are close in temperature, we combine them.”
Both mixtures are tended until each reaches approximately 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
“We combine the oils and the lye, put them in a bucket and stir until the mixture traces,” she said.
Tracing is a term used to describe a consistency which allows for a slight raise or ‘trace' of the mixture as the surface is disturbed.
“Then we add the essential oils and any color that we use,” continued Brimacombe.
The mixture is poured into a wooden box, which is wrapped in towels to keep in the warmth while the product cures overnight.
On Monday, the lye and water mixture cooled faster than the palm, coconut and olive oils heated. Gary Schooley, in charge of combining the lye and water, placed that combination in a microwave for a few seconds at a time to bring it back close to a temperature matching the oils.
Thermometers slid in and out of the lye and water mixtures and in and out of the heating oils to assure that the two mixtures were reaching the same temperature before being combined.
The following day, workers cut the bars of soap, stamp them with the figure of a dove, and lay out on a surface of absorbent paper to cure for the next month. Bars of soap are to be rotated every day or two to allow for proper aeration.
On Monday, lavender and almond essential oils were used for fragrance. The bars will be ready for waiting customers early in February, after being carefully wrapped and tied with attractive bows. During the Christmas season, bayberry soaps are also made, in addition to lavender and almond.
A process called saponification changes the ingredients into the gentle and fragrant soap bars during the month-long curing process. The major part of this process occurs within the first 18 to 24 hours, as the mixture cools.
“This is quite the little process,” said Carolyn Koenig, as she wrapped the boxes of soap to cool. “I find it extremely enjoyable, and it helps raise money for our Outreach program. That makes it doubly enjoyable.”
The Outreach program is open Thursdays from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Starting in February, the Outreach program, located in the church building, will also be open the last Wednesday of every month from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Food, purchased from the Red Cross food bank in Lansing, and clothes donated from the community are available for those who come in need.
And the blessed little bars of fragrant soap, named after Fayette Square where they are made, keep blessing all who come through the doors of Christ Episcopal.