With that I am planning activities to augment or homeschooling and keep us active and curious for the next few months.
My first line of business is a business.I have long enjoyed soap-making as a hobby and sold some when we had our farmers market booth. I have always wanted to incorporate the kids in to process of making, branding,and selling our home made soap(for those of you new to my blog I am a mother of 6)with my youngest age 4 I feel they are all old enough to help.
So the first step in my effort began a few days ago when we made the home made paper with which we will wrap our soaps.
Paper making is a fun and educational experience incorporating recycling and nature craft.
We used brown paper wrapping,old cotton and linen napkins, and our leggy lemon balm and mint plants to make the pulp.
Outlined is the process we used-
Materials-used paper, a mold,a blender, a container for the pulp and old towels blankets or sheets
any used paper will do,junk mail,tissue paper,napkins or brown paper bags
to make about 3 8-10 sheets you will need about 10 ish sheets of used paper or 1 brown paper bag
optional- plant fibers including 100% cotton or linen rags, leaves flower petals, or herbs
To make a mold you need a frame (an old wooden picture frame works well or an embroidery hoop for circular sheers) to which you've attached a screen to.
The first step to make paper is to make a pulp out of your chosen materials. You must chop plant materials very finely,and tear paper and rags into tiny pieces. If the pieces are too large they will get stuck in the blades of the blender.
After the materials are prepared ,put them into the blender with half their volume of water. Process them an high until the pulp is a smooth muddy consistency. No big chunks should remain.
When all the material has been made into pulp dump it into your container.
Next you put your mold into the pulp and gently slosh it side to side, Pull it up and allow the water to drain off.
The next part requires a bit of patience and practice.
Carefully put your paper sheet face down on your towel or blanket,press the water out gently with your hands or a sponge and lift off the mold.
Allow to dry in the sun for a few hours and voila you have beautiful hand made paper, worthy to wrap soap, make home made cards or crafts with.
Tomorrow we will make soap and hopefully in two weeks we will debut " Little Elves Soap" to the flea market along with other up-cycled goods.
Until then we will enjoy the beautiful June weather and dream of fun activities to come.
