Reasons to Give Your Soap Away
It isn't completely clear exactly when the soapmaker will find his or her new hobby getting completely out of hand. Perhaps it's when every horizontal surface area in your home is covered with curing soap. It could be when you go to prepare the guest room for a dear friend and find nowhere for her to sleep, let alone put down her suitcase. Instead of “When's dinner?” perhaps you're hearing your family ask “Is that soap or food?”
Whatever the signal is, eventually it becomes clear that you must start giving your soap away. It can be difficult to be willing to find new homes for your creations. You've planned your soap, created it, tended it, and you may have become very attached to it. However, there are many reasons to give your soap away.
Releasing Your Creativity
Creativity can get bogged down when an artist holds on to too many past projects. Learning to let go can be extremely stimulating. Keeping favorites for reference isn't the same as keeping an untouchable stock of projects. When an artist clears out old projects, the resulting sense of freedom can be quite inspiring.
Donating to Charity
Charity is good for everyone. Your soap is a useful donation to make to shelters. Many soapers regularly donate less-than-perfect but still perfectly useful creations to women and children's shelters, for example. Not everyone realizes that along with food, toiletries including soap are greatly needed. Find a shelter in your area and make a donation of your wonderful handmade soap.
Don't assume that people get tired of getting soap for presents. If you've been giving soap to everyone for the holidays and decide to give something else, they may not be delighted by the change. You don't want your friends and family to say, “I love it, but where's my soap?”
A good way to make soap for donation is to save up soap scraps in semi-disposable food storage containers. When the container is nearly full of scraps, make plain soap to pour over it to fill the mold. You can let this chunked soap cure in the containers and deliver it to the donation location. Put instructions on how to unmold and cut the soap into bars. It is easy to transport and store if you package it this way.
Giving a Gift
Giving gifts of your handmade soap to family and friends is satisfying for all involved. Whether you create a gift suite from start to finish, or you just grab a prettily wrapped bar on the way out the door on the way to a party, a gift of soap will be appreciated. Appreciated at first, these gifts of soap will very likely become requested, even not-so-gently demanded. The avid crafter can combine crafts to create exquisite gifts. The beginning crafter can be inspired to create elegant, simple presentations.
