Scary but funny!

[cerelife]

I saw a post on another forum about youtube soapmaking videos by Nancy Today that cracked me up! Had to go check it out...OMG!! Have ya'll seen her videos??

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Nancy Today is a hoot! :crazy: She is a very "outside the box" thinker with tons of creative ideas :idea: She seems like a really nice person, though I can't watch much because her, err, "lack of focus" makes me crazy :Kitten Love:

However, I DO NOT think soapers (especially newbies!) should follow her soaping methods.

I'll address the hygienic conditions first: Do I really need to point this out? Her work area is filthy and cluttered (read:hoarder), her crockpots are covered in old soap, she cuts her soaps outside on a dirty table, her cats are all over the place, there's old food on the kitchen counters...and she sells this soap to the public. Talk about cross contamination! :sick: I admire her ingenuity, and if she was simply making soap for herself, I would probably (try) to overlook all that just for her entertainment value...but since her business "Sedge Meadow Soaps" sells on Etsy and obviously at markets, I can't watch her videos without critiquing her methods and conditions.

She also measures in "cups" and "ounces"...that's a fluid and a weight measurement mix. Now, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and perhaps she has weighed 8 cups of Canola oil and knows its weight for her water/oil ratio...but something tells me she's "winging it"...not the safest if you are selling your soap.

I always wonder if she gets DOS on her soaps...between her recipe and her working conditions? It looks as though she uses a ton of Canola/Veggie Oil, some Castor...but I never see her use lard/tallow/palm/coconut? That's gotta be some soft soap, and I can't imagine it being very shelf stable...but it's still "soap"! Plus, she stick blends the hell outta that soap...I need to pay attention to the brand of stick blender she uses...it's obviously got a strong motor!

She puts herself out there for the world to see, so she's gotta know people are going to have opinions...and mine is:
I'm just thankful I've never received a dinner invitation from her... :lolno:

 

[AngelMomma]

WOW! Boy, you got that right! Scary but funny! I hadn't looked at any of her videos before.......Its like one of those situations where you just keep cringing over and over.....but can't look away!!! Hahaha!

 

[DragonQueenHHP]

haha I ran across one of hers today and almost fainted when she went walking thou the kitchen :?

got to say her soap plunger was cool idea thou

 

[AngelMomma]

Yes the plunger is a good idea........the old food plate on the counter about did me in too :shock: ........I just watched another one. She certainly is very creative. And I like her little wooden soap boxes for storing once its made, cut and labeled.

 

[ikindred]

okay, I just went and watch her videos and I was totally scared too death!! WOW, that place is a hot mess! I did find myself laughing but I was so busy looking at the mess that I could not focus on the soap making. By the way, I have never seem anyone stick blend that long!!

 

[DragonQueenHHP]

Telling you I want that stick blender I kill them like made I think any time I make Castile Paste I have to buy a new one :?

 

[new12soap]

her videos are funny until you realize she really lives that way. she needs medication and adult supervision!

 

[judymoody]

I discovered her when I first began soaping. To me the most terrifying video was the one in which she made a wood soap mold. I thought that she was going to drop the circular saw on her foot! It's hard not to laugh but I find the whole set up a bit sad.

 

[ikindred]

her videos are funny until you realize she really lives that way. she needs medication and adult supervision!

I'm sorry but this is funny!

 

[newbie]

That stick blender is the crustiest thing I've ever seen. She must figure, "It's soap. It has to be clean." How does she not get little chunks of old soap all through her bars?!

 

[Seifenblasen]

Agreed with everything Alchemy&Ashes said! If there is any good that comes out of her videos, I just have to imagine the smell in that place and it helps me stick to my diet! :twisted:

 

[cerelife]

I only watched a couple of her videos and the hygiene thing is what first caught my attention. Aside from all the clutter and general nastiness of her equipment/work area; she was sticking her (ungloved) fingers in the oils to check the temps and then wiping them on her apron!
And as Alchemy said, her approach to measuring ingredients is extremely laid-back...and possibly (wildly) inaccurate?!
Safety issues...oohhh! She mixes her lye/rain-water in an old sangria pitcher and swirls it around at face-level so as not to "breathe in the fumes", and then starts coughing! And while stick-blending the snot out of her raw soap, she slops it over onto the table. And at some point she gets a lye burn on her thumb and puts it in front of the camera so we can see what a lye burn looks like!
But the moment that made me snort diet coke through my nose was when she stuck her mold (a piece of gutter downspout (?) with the end stuck in a plastic cup) between her knees and used both ungloved hands to pour a dangerously full bucket of raw soap into the mold just inches from her face!!!
While I admire her pluck, I am soooo glad I never saw her videos when I was first learning about soapmaking!

 

[Lottee]

Sounds like something i need to see, and take no notice of!

 

[SoapAddict415]

I agree with Cerelife! I'm so glad that I didn't hear about her or learn how to make like she does! She's dangerous!

 

[shelinal]

2 words.....Holy Moly.