There is no real expectation that I will ever be able to make soap on my own, so I'm not sure the term "class" applies here. D. guides 4 of us through the whole process. She has a variety of colours, scents and add-ins for our soaps. She also pre-measures all the necessary ingredients for the soap base such as: olive oil, vegetable lard, and lye. Not being so good with details, I'm glad D. does all the measuring so that I can concentrate on the all-important mixing and choosing the colour/scents combos. The whole process is quite technical, and there are many places where a distracted person such as myself could go make mistakes. I learned that all soaps contain lye (which is caustic), and that caustic = dangerous (actually, I knew this already) so I really would not want to make a mistake because someone could lose an eye.
4 of us have made soap at D.'s house twice a year since 2009. Every session brings new scents, colours and textures. So far I have made lemon, peppermint, blackberry, tomato-fresh, espresso, cacao, and rosemary scented soaps.
Above is a pic of my very first soap, tucked in its butcher paper while it hardens. Lemon?
This one remains my favourite: peppermint with black rice. I love how the rice sunk to the bottom of the soap and looks like Cookies & Cream chunks. Too bad I stuck my fingers on the top to check for hardness prior to cutting. A lesson learned ... perhaps it is a class after-all.