A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

And I Made Soap...Lots of Soap







You purchase lye at a grocery store,it is very irritating to the skin and can do severe damage to eyes and throats. Use extreme caution when using lye, aways keeping it away from children. You should use rubber gloves and saftey glasses when using lye. Follow the directions on the back of the lye box on how to handle lye. Red Devil is a popular brand of lye.Although lard is the main ingredient in soap, one can successfully substitute other oils to use in its place. Possible substitutions for lard can be sunflower, canola, or just vegetable oil.(I have found that soap made from oil is greasier than that made of lard.) Lard can be purchased at a grocery store or a butcher shop.
The utensils you use in soapmaking should be saved for soapmaking use only and should not be use thereafter for food purposes. This goes for the kettle you cook the soap in too, although I have used my enamelware canning kettle to can in after using it for soapmaking...I gave it a good scrubbing, of course.You must not use metal pans and utensils,like aluminum,iron,tin,or teflon for soap making. You can use cast iron (as in a kettle, if you are making it outside over a fire)or enamelware,stoneware,wood, glass or plastic.
Always add lye to cold water. Not vise-versa.Remember to stir slowly to avoid splashes. The water will start heating up once the lye is added, due to a chemical reaction.Afterwards, pour the lye solution into the fat, once again stirring slowly.
Chunks in your bar soap is caused by the separation of the lye and the lard. The chunks are the fat. If this happens, melt the mixture and add a cup of water at a time, until the mixture is thick and syrupy again.
I put the soap into rag lined boxes and let the mixture harden.Simply slice the bars with a knife after the soap has cured for a week.I left the soap natural and didn't add scents to it.



Boiled Soap For cooking in a kettle.
32 pounds lard
16 quarts soft water
8 cans lye
Boil 2 hours and then add 1 more gallon of water.Stir and remove fire from kettle and pour into molds.




I cut this recipe in half. It made so many bars of soap. When it was hard I cut it into bars...tiny bars and wrapped with parchment paper that had been decorated and tied with raffia. I made tags..punched a hole in the corner and named it Clyde's Soap. It went over like gang busters. I had baskets of it in different places.Everyone left with a bar of Clyde's Soap. I thought my husband's name sounded old timey and it would help to sell the soap, and I was right. A woman that he worked with was a customer and she bought a bar. She went back to work and told him that she bought a bar of his soap. He didn't know anything about it. Later on I learned that the soap was wonderful for removing grass stains from school team uniforms. I have always wondered how you can put lye into something that you can wash your face with.
Balisha

4 comments:

garden girl said...

Very cool Balisha! When I was at my mom's last week her husband had helped some friends with their computer, and they sent him home with gifts from their garden, chickens from their hens, and some beautiful, fragrant cakes of homemade soap. Made me want to try my hand at soap making too. Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Good morning, Balisha! First of all, let me say how much I love your new template! That header photo really speaks of Autumn. And thanks for your soap recipe -- I've always wanted to try making soap, perhaps to give as gifts. I like the idea of "all natural" -- my skin tends to be very dry in the winter when humidity is low...do you find this soap drying? Thanks for sharing your recipe. :)

Balisha said...

Hello Garden girl and Nancy...
This is a laundry soap. You can find recipes for soaps that you would use on your body on the internet. The soap was gentle and easy on my hands.It had a clean smell.
Balisha

Roses and Lilacs said...

I've been hooked on homemade body soap for a long time. I don't make it myslef, I buy it at the Soap Shoppe in Oregon. It is wonderful for shampooing hair. Much gentler than any commercial shampoo. Someday I will try making my own.
Marnie