Posted on 08/09/2013 7:28:14 PM PDT by Kartographer
I have been very busy lately making soap, while Hanno has been wrapping it and packaging it up to post all over Australia, the US and UK. Thanks to everyone who placed an order for soap or something I made. It is helping us with our finances and makes us feel good to be earning money selling what we've made with our own hands. I was very pleased to receive the first re-order from someone who bought the soap and wanted more. It makes me feel good knowing that something that helps us live well here can help others too.
Hat tip to GeronL for the link! GeronL also sent this link: http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/tp/basicsoaprecipes.htm
GeronL Thanks !!
(Excerpt) Read more at t.com ...
Preppers’ PING!!
Anxious to read! I’ve been wanting to try soap making. Some old recipes I’ve discovered include instructions like floating a fresh egg in the lye to determine its readiness. I’ve become more fascinated with the history of it than making it lol!
My Mum used to make her own soap..
She used the ashes from the cold range and bits of left over good soap and other stuff..
She used it to scrub her kitchen floor etc..
It was a bit too hard for our skin and clothes ..
Kart, I can’t get either of your links (under heading or at end of excerpt to work) :(
My mother made soap in a big black pot outside. I will never do that, ever.
Sometime in the past year, I bought soap, small size soaps for barter and regular bars of soap. Sometime later, I moved goods from another house I had and there was more soap I bought in the past - I mean lots and lots of regular soap bars, and more and more.
I began prepping around 1998 and forgot I had that much soap. I have enough soap for years. I may have bought that much due to my revulsion of watching soap made when I was a child and mom had a black woman to help her do it in that big black pot.
GeronL’s link works... Yours don’t.
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/tp/basicsoaprecipes.htm
http://down-—to-—earth.blogspot.com/2011/07/simple-soap-four-ingredients.html
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I just checked it for the third time and it worked:
http://down-—to-—earth.blogspot.com/2011/07/simple-soap-four-ingredients.html
Soapcalc.net has a great calculator for just about any kind of fat you’d want to use. And using those calculated recipes, soap is very easy to make in your crock pot.
The Kathy Miller (Millers Homemade Soap Page) site is a great resource for learning about soap making. Another great site is soapcalc which helps you formulate recipes.
I make and sell soap too, my first word of advice is to always wear your goggles and gloves and practice safe soaping.
The other word of advice if you are selling soap is to be careful if you start make medical or cosmetic claims. If you do you are no longer exempt from FDA regulations.
Good info for those who want to try it. I just hope my stash is enough so that I don’t have to try it. I do love plain old lye soap that good ole stink takes me back to my childhood.LOL
It reminds me of granny and the farm. We used to do laundry on Mondays in old wringer washers with thin slices of homemade lye soap in the wash water and bluing in the rinse water.
When I had chigger bites or poision ivy, a good lathering down with a bar of lye soap was the first step in treating it.
As far a stocking the pantry, my major task continues to be harvesting and preserving stuff from the garden. I have shelves along two walls totaling about 30 feet almost full of stuff I have purchased or canned as well as non-food stuff that we use regularly. I am really going to need more space if the garden continues, and I still need room for some more of my homecanned meat specials.
If you use sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide you will not have to float an egg. You will be able to calculate how much of either you need to saponify the oils you use. Making lye from wood ash is a good way to end up with lye heavy soap. The soap will also be very soft compared to the hard bars you get with NAOH. KOH makes liquid soap.
I love soap calc, even now that I have the soapmaker program I use soap calc when formulating recipes.
You can find sodium hydroxide at ACE hardware (if you are not planning on buying in bulk) under the brand name Rooto. Be sure the label reads 100% sodium hydroxide NAOH. Lard is a great fat to use for soaping. Use a combination of lard, olive and coconut for a hard bar with lots of lather.
Oh I will definitely use lye from the hardware store, I just think all the history and my foremothers’ recipes and advice are fascinating! We use Kirk’s now and the cheapest we can get it is $4.99/3 bars through vitacost.com. With just some quick calculations I can make it for about half that price. Do you use separate equipment than what you use for normal food prep?
I do but only because my kitchen ware has seen better days. You can use your regular kitchen stuff. Just be sure it is stainless steel and never, ever aluminum. I also wipe out my soap pot with a cloth before washing it so the raw soap does not go down the drain. Another must have is an immersion blender else you may be stirring forever while you wait for “trace”.
I also strongly suggest you not use pyrex for mixing lye as the formula for the tempering has changed and you can end up with the measuring cup exploding hot lye solution all over you. Many people use a Rubbermaid pitcher. I use a stainless steel long handled pot.
Thanks!
Please, please beginning soap makers if you spill any lye on yourself DO NOT USE VINEGAR!!!!!. Flush with cool running water for at least 10 minutes. If you get lye in your eye (but you won’t cause you will wear your goggles!) flush for 15 minutes under a steady stream of cool water and then get to the ER! Do not drive yourself so call 911 if you are by yourself.
I can not emphasize enough that you respect the KOH or the NAOH it is very corrosive and will cause severe burns. Always keep your lye solution out of reach of children and pets and label it. I’ve read nightmare inducing stories of people drinking the lye solution when they mistook it for plain water.
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