By Ng Puiling

Can you smell what I’m smelling?

Not yet? No worries, close your eyes this time. Let’s try this again. Do you smell it now? The luscious mix of lavender, rose geranium, peppermint, lemongrass and… more. It is basically the smell of everything nice and heavenly.

Just imagine it.

Nope, you have not been magically transported to a five-star resort, unfortunately (Sorry for bursting your bubble, though I do wish I have that kind of ability).

You are now approaching a seminar room, and you can vaguely make out the sounds of people chatting excitedly and pots clanging. Wait… pots? Are people cooking in an air-conditioned seminar room? Sounds insane, I know. What on earth could they be concocting though?

What you see makes you stop, right at the doorstep of the room. Because, wow. People are cooking soap! Wait, soap?

Welcome to the Make Your Own Soap workshop conducted by Ms Wai Teng from Soaprise. It smelled so good that it gathered a good 40 alumni, students and their guests on a Saturday morning to join in the fun instead of sleeping in.

In groups of not more than five people, each participant was given some tools to make their own natural soap using the melt and pour process with premade soap bases from vegetable-based oils. Every soap customising process started off with the selection of either white or clear soap bases or melting them in a pot over the stove.

From there on, the fun started. Using any colourants, essential oils and mould they want, participants could come up with creative ways to make their own dream soap.

Some added two colourants to get a unique shade of cerulean blue. Some adopted the layer effect introduced by Wai Teng to create a mesmerising gradient effect. Some paired dried flowers with clear soap base to produce an ethereal-looking soap bar.

“I signed up because I was curious about the process of soap-making. The session turned out interesting and knowledgeable,” said Ms Lilian Tay, Class of 2008, BSc English Language and Communication. Ms Elora Koh, a current student from BSc Facilities and Events Management, added, “I really had fun! It was a great experience making my own soap.”

With such a level of enthusiasm, it was as though everyone was trying to convey their artistic talent through the pieces of soap they were making.

Some actually resembled pretty-looking agar-agar so much that it actually took everything not to make a lunge at them. Ugh, not to mention that heavenly scent. Mmmmm.

At the end of the workshop, everyone left the room with more than a few pieces of soap bars they had made themselves. They also left smelling like they had just gone for a spa session!

So… interested now? Want more handicraft-related workshops to be held in the future? You are more than welcome to drop us suggestions!