daegu workshop

Posted on | February 1, 2010 | 10 Comments

hello to the fantastic soapmakers in daegu! i miss you already!

what a lovely, friendly, clean, city…and what welcoming, generous, beautiful soapmakers!
i had a fabulous time in daegu and met so many charming people….i cannot wait to come back and visit again.
i had a lot of fun at the workshop and i hope the attendees did too.
they are all avid soapmakers and there were lots of good ideas floating back and forth.

day one, i asked the group if they used wooden moulds lined with plastic, like we do.
no no….they all have the most fabulous silicon moulds! all made in korea! really, the best quality silicon i have ever seen and i have been looking for a long time.
so, naturally, i am reconsidering my mould options and may give silicon another go (after my all-round horrendous, not to mention excruciatingly expensive, foray with hawthorne bay moulds in australia, i was put off silicon for ever. or until i saw this strong, dense, pliable, korean silicon).
one of the big suppliers of raw materials and cosmetic formulation education in daegu was kind enough to permit me to tour his premises after the workshop, so i could see the moulds.
they have many many kinds AND they make their own.
there was all kinds of soap imaginable, and a very tidy and clean and HUGE supply room.
they have a large classroom area also and i think they have a lot of fun.
mr yu very kindly gifted me with a 3 kilo mould and mr young kim is waiting for my exact mould measurements so he can obtain a quote for me.

we talked about beer soap on day one and someone asked if i could make soap with makgeolli, which is a very traditional korean drink: fermented rice wine, flavoured subtly with pine needles, and has a slight fizz.
the answer of course was YES, but i would need someone to boil the makgeolli and get the alcohol and fizz out of it.
i considered a very korean soap….maybe some pine essential oil, some rice flour, some nori, and the makgeolli.

on day two, i was presented with a bottle of pine needle powder (this is ingested, to treat asthma) and is a khaki green colour.
i mixed it with a little chromium green and water and set it aside.
also, some brown rice powder, with a very fine exfoliation.
some very soft red clay, from korea…..very similar to the french red that i use often.
and lastly, a small bottle of makgeolli, reduced down to make what i was calling “makgeolli essential oil”!
i made a basic soap and drew off two parts to swirl.
in the main part, i put some titanium dixoide (to whiten slightly), the brown rice powder and the makgeolli.
i mixed my pine needle mixture into one part and got a lovely soft, natural green colour.
i mixed korean red clay into the other part. and then i poured on drizzles of colour.
the essential oil blend was made by my host and i don’t have notes on it…but it was lovely.
i have photos of the soap in the mould and with any luck, someone will post a photo of the cut soap to the workshop flickr group i am setting up.

i’ve been soaping with top quality, arometherapy grade oils all week….including luscious rose, sourced directly from bulgarian distillers. such an extravagant treat to work with! the scents rising from the hot soap pot were simply dreamy. i was a blissed-out soapmaker!

the daegu soapmakers were a merry and generous crowd and i was showered with many beautiful and thoughtful gifts.
such kindness….i was undone. what truly lovely people!
and many people showed me photos of their beautiful cats! i was charmed!

right at the end, a local soapmaker offered to give a demo of some of her techniques.
two moulds were set up, and lots of mixing proceeded.
did you know that it is very relaxing to watch soapmaking?
i enjoyed it very much.
she was a very energetic presenter and she talked non stop…she apologised for having no english, but the language of soap is truly international and i could see perfectly what she was doing.
she had some great tricks for swirls and layers and special effects requiring a steady hand and nerves of steel!
she only had small paper cups to work with and it was a spur of the moment demo with no preparation, but she did an amazing job and i just loved watching it.

thank you to everyone in daegu who made my visit such a positive experience.
you were all wonderful and i very much hope to visit you again in april.

Comments

hi, i'm patti flynn

subscribe

search