Release Date: September 15, 2021
The last Sunday in September is National Soapmaking Day and last year was celebrated by thousands of people in the United States and Canada, according to NationalSoapmakingDay.org. The day was officially registered early in 2020 by 16th-generation soapmaker Kerri Mixon, of San Diego, California, who has celebrated the day since 2017. Mixon explains, “Anyone can make soap. When people learn to make soap, they usually keep making soap; it is an enduring hobby. We all deserve the personal enrichment that comes from participating in National Soapmaking Day.”
Last year, despite the gloom of the coronavirus pandemic, Instagram was overwhelmed with posts using #NationalSoapmakingDay. Photos of people learning to make soap and pictures of colorful artisan soaps endlessly flashed across social media throughout the day. The Soapmaking Studio, in Lemon Grove, California, held a commemorative Soapmaking 101 class taught by master soapmaker Mixon and attended by students both in person and online.
This year, September 26 is a day to celebrate soapmaking. Seek a soapmaking class from a local soapmaker or community college. Ask a soapmaker friend to give a soapmaking demonstration. Watch a how-to video or read a book about soapmaking. Making soap can be an easy endeavor or a difficult challenge. Those interested in creating soap can choose from a pre-made meltable soap base, a kit containing pre-measured ingredients, or individual ingredients to use in a recipe formulated from scratch.
NationalSoapmakingDay.org suggests additional activities for observing the day. Also on the website, the featured soapmaker for National Soapmaking Day 2021, Lynnel Olson, owner of the Oregon Soap Shoppe, in Oregon, Illinois, recounts soapmaking experiences spanning 32 years. Olson remembers an early incident when she “thought the soap was overheating, so I set it out in a snowbank! Every few minutes I'd run outside and give it another spin with my wooden spoon. It finally turned out, but it was not very good.” Olson supports herself by making and selling soap. Her soap shop has been in the same location for 18 years. Clearly, she's got the hang of it. National Soapmaking Day is a day for soapmaking: learning about it, trying it for the first time or perfecting soapmaking skills.
NationalSoapmakingDay.org is a public service collaborative managed by the Natural Soap Directory and the Soapmaking Studio, both founded by Mixon, who has owned Pallas Athene Soap (a vegan artisan soapworks) since 1999.
David Perez or Kerri Mixon
National Soapmaking Day
Soapmaking Studio
7301 Mount Vernon St, Rm 2
Lemon Grove, CA 91945-3122
(619) 668-1435
info@soapmakingstudio.com
1. 
Student Kenia Norales (left) with instructor Kerri Mixon (right).
Image credit: David Perez. Dimensions: width 756 px, height 885 px. Size: 282 KB.
Full-size download: http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release/kenia-norales-and-kerri-mixon.jpg.
2. 
Students in a community college soapmaking class,
taught by Mixon. Image credit: Kerri Mixon. Dimensions: width 1920 px, height 2560 px. Size: 480 KB.
Full-size download: http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release/community-college-soap-class.jpg.
3. 
Student Jean Rowe making soap
in a class at the Soapmaking Studio, in Lemon Grove. Image credit: Kerri Mixon.
Dimensions: width 4288 px, height 3216 px. Size: 3.12 MB.
Full-size download: http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release/soapmaking-studio-soap-class.jpg.
4. 
Blue and peach handmade soap bars.
Image credit: Brett Weiss. Dimensions: width 1280 px, height 960 px. Size: 486 KB.
Full-size download: http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release/handmade-soap-blue.jpg.
5. 
Brilliant neon orange, pink, and yellow handmade soap.
Image credit: Rebecca Hostetter. Dimensions: width 1024 px, height 764 px. Size: 72 KB.
Full-size download: http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release/handmade-soap-orange.jpg.
6. 
Yellow handmade soap,
naturally colored with turmeric and rose clay. Image credit: Kerri Mixon. Dimensions: width 2400 px, height 3000 px. Size: 1.04 MB.
Full-size download: http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release/handmade-soap-yellow.jpg.
7. 
Lynnel Olson,
featured soapmaker for National Soapmaking Day 2021.
Image credit: Lynnel Olson. Dimensions: width 1200 px, height 1462 px. Size: 472 KB.
Full-size download: http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release/soapmaker-lynnel-olson.jpg.
This press release as a printable PDF
http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release.pdf
This press release as an interactive webpage with downloadable images
http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/press-release.php
National Soapmaking Day
http://www.nationalsoapmakingday.org/last-sunday-in-september.php
Natural Soap Directory
http://www.natural-soap-directory.com/
Oregon Soap Shoppe
https://oregonsoapshoppe.com/
Pallas Athene Soap
https://www.pallasathenesoap.com/
Soapmaking Studio
https://www.soapmakingstudio.com/
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2017, 52nd Edition, Basic Books, New York, 2017.
