What the F*&$? Cleaning up one of the Biggest Oil Spills in Handbrewed Soap History

Have you ever had your worst fear come to life?  I always think of that scene in the movie, "Witches of Eastwick," where the character played by Cher wakes up to find herself in a bed of snakes. Though it wasn't snakes, I woke to every soap maker's nightmare: An oil spill the size of the Exxon-Valdez (ratio equivalent of course!)

This picture doesn't give the spill justice.

The oil covered 90% of my 12 X 16 foot studio.  It went under the shelves, soaked into boxes that were on the floor, and soaked into the wood of most of my cabinets.   It was all my fault.  I used new oil heaters that were a little different than my previous ones.  My old ones were in Fahrenheit.  These new ones were in Celsius.  Slight detail.  I'm not going to harp on how pissed at myself I was. As they say, "There's no need to cry over spilt oil!" I had to concentrate on the clean up.  Surprisingly enough, an oil clean up in a soap studio is very similar to an oil spill say.... in the ocean!

Step 1:  Contain the oil with towels so that it doesn't spread any further.

Step 2: Leave the oil alone until it hardens. 

Step 3: Scrape up the oil from the floor using a trowel and put into a bucket to dispose of it properly.

Step 4: Use HOT soapy water to wash the floor.

Step 5: Once the floor is dry, use your favorite grease remover cleaner to wash the floors again.

Step 6: Repeat step 4.

Four hours later, my floors were pretty good at this point.  As for everything else, I either had to dispose of or wash in hot soapy water.

Lesson learned. Make sure you know what temperature you are working with!  I hope this story helps if this nightmare ever happens to you!!!