Just What IS a Soap Box Anyway?

You've heard the old saying about folks "getting up on their soap box" or "getting off their soap box". Yet, I doubt there are few of us out there that have ever actually seen a soap box before.

Soap boxes are boxes, typically made out of wood, that people used to mold soap. They could either be specially made just for that purpose or they could be drawers from dilapitated dressers, ready to be tossed away, but the drawers were saved and refurbished to be used as "soap boxes".

Soap makers today can purchase specially made soap boxes for their craft, made from wood, silicon, plastic, all kinds of things. I have a variety of all different kinds of these things, but I admit that my all time favorite is the box I made soap from when I first started making soap. I didn't have a lot of extra money to burn when I first started making soap (and still don't), and I tried to get all of my equipment together without breaking the bank.

We had just moved into an older home and began to clean out some of the old and refurbish with the new. There were some old cabinets stuffed away in the corner that contained some drawers in them. These drawer were in reasonably good condition, and an idea lightbulb popped into my head. I could use one of these to mold some soaps! I took out the one that contained wooden dividers for smaller sections, plus a larger section in the back and inspected it closely, All it needed was a little clean up, so I cleaned and aired it out. There were still some stains from some unknown source on the bottom from years back, but I knew that my soap was not going to actually become in contact with any of the wood anyway since I use waxed paper to line it. It has worked beautifully and I still use it make my soaps. The picture you see is my old, refurbished "soap box" with my latest creations, Pumpkin Pie Spice soap and Earthy Mint Shaving soap.

Both of these soaps will be available for sale within the next 2 weeks from this blog post. Soap made using the cold process method take over a month to cure before they are ready for sale and I make sure that they are well cured before even considering posting them online.

By the way, I am going to be in several different craft fairs and bazaars in the next 2 months, so my inventory will be dropping rapidly (I hope!) Many items here on Silkfair may be taken off temporarily. Don't worry! New items will come up soon.