Soap and Sympathy

I may have mentioned my new hobby? I am learning to make soap. Though any fool, including me, can make lye and fat do the Wild Thing and get something you can wash with, my soaps so far have been..fine. Well: one batch was too soft to use; one unexpectedly turned black (which was kind of cool and spa-y) and one made tiny bars because the ad hoc mold was too big. They suffer from paper crinkles in the sides, insufficient color or fragrance...in general from my lack of experience. When I am dying to make soaps like this:

From The Soap Seduction

and this:

From SVSoaps

and this:

From a now defunct Etsy shop

and this:

From Soapy Sue.com

My soap looks like this:

See what I mean? It's fine, it smells good, it has some nice qualities...but it's not fabulous.

My head is full of fabulousness, and the wait for my skill to catch up - which might be a long one - is maddening. And then it occurred to me: this is what my students feel like. Their heads are full of fabulous ideas for amazing pottery, and for the nonce they have to be satisfied if it just doesn't collapse. Any fabulousness is almost accidental. They want to know, "What am I doing wrong?" and sometimes I can tell them a specific thing - "Hold your hands like this" - but more often the answer is: Nothing. It just takes practice.

Though I think I am patient enough, there's nothing like standing in someone's shoes to really foster understanding. I think it's good for my outlook, as a teacher.

Of course, it doesn't change anything. For them, and for me, fabulous takes time.