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Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive August 2004: Does anyone make homemade soap?
Just wondering because I may give it a try?
I am a dork..I thought it said soup & typed my Cheese Potato Soup recipe. Thank goodness I caught it before I posted.
LOL Emily, I thought thats what it said too!
Nothing is more beautiful than a beautiful hand crafted bar of soap. You can make any sizes, shapes and colors. Home made soap is very simple to make, and it is also very fun. If you have children and would like to do a simple craft, without the lye, you can make home made soap by melting down a bar of ivory soap. Grate it with a cheese grater and put it in a pan, and melt it down, add scent and pour it into a bowl. You can add a drop of vanilla, and some chopped almonds, to make a vanilla almond bar of soap, and looks beautiful in a gift basket etc. Lye based soap is complicated to make, and should not be made around or near children, since lye is very dangerous and can burn easily. Ingredients: 1 can (12 oz or 340 grams) Lewis Red Devil 100% lye 21 1/2 oz (605 gms) ice cold or part frozen distilled water 5 lbs, 7 1/3 oz (2.48 kg) lard or all vegetable shortening. Equipment: 1 ea, 1-2 quart Pyrex or oven ware bowl 1 ea, 4-6 quart plastic bowl or stainless or cast iron pot 1 ea, plastic, wooden or stainless big spoon 1 ea, shallow cardboard box lined with plastic trash bag Rubber gloves Canning pot (for water bath if you use plastic reaction bowl) Instructions: Prepare the lye water by freezing 1/2 of the water into ice cubes. Put the ice cubes and the rest of the water into the 1 to 2 quart bowl. Using the stirring spoon (known to soap makers as the "crutch"), pour lye slowly into the ice and water, stirring until the lye is all dissolved. Take great care with the lye, it is very caustic and will burn the skin and eyes! Any splatters must be washed off immediately with lots of water! Cover the solution to keep out air and allow to cool (or warm up ) to about 85 degrees F. Melt the fat in the 4-6 quart bowl or pot. Don't use aluminum or galvanized bowls! Plastic ware can be heated in the water bath. When the fat is melted, cool it down to 95 degrees F. Prepare the box with its plastic trash bag lining, so the fresh liquid soap can't leak out. When all is ready, begin to stir the liquid fat in a clockwise direction while pouring the lye water into it in a thin steam (pencil size or thinner) until it is all added. Crutch (stir) the mix vigorously, using S pattern or use a hand blender alternating with a circular pattern until the mix begins to cool and thicken. At this point do NOT stop or the mix may separate! First the soap will be murky, then creamy, then like heavy cream and finally, like hot cooked pudding and will show traces when you dribble a stream from the crutch onto the surface. This process can take from 10 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the temperature, weather and purity of your ingredients. Stir vigorously but patiently! With hand blender stir time is cut to 1/10 of the regular time. When your "trace" does not sink back into the surface, the soap is ready to pour into the lined box. Wear rubber gloves and treat the raw soap like you treated the lye water. Wash off all splatters immediately. Have 10% vinegar and water and a sponge to neutralize splatters. After 3-5 hours the soap may be cut into bars with a table knife, NOT a sharp knife. Allow the soap to cure in the box for about a week before breaking it up and handling it, and another month before using it. The old farm ladies carefully "tasted" the fresh soap with the tip of their tongues for the sharp bite of unreacted lye. The soap from this recipe makes a bath and facial soap, and if you want old fashioned "Grandmas Lye Soap," use less fat; about 5 lbs 5 oz instead of the original amount called for in the recipe. Allow this soap to mature in open air for six months. Should you wish to color your soap you may stir in about 20 gms childrens powder tempura paint when the mix reaches the heavy cream stage. Perfumed soap may be made by adding 60 gms (about 2 oz) of essential oil or perfume just before the soap is thick enough to pour. To re-form the bar into a new shape, place some bars into a ziplock bag and warm them up by immersing the closed bag of soap in hot (120 degF ) water for 30 minutes. The soap should be soft enough to cut, make into balls or even press into molds. It sets when it has cooled and rested for an hour or so. After you are all finished you will have a beautiful bar of hand made soap. Also, for children, melt down glycerine soap, and repour into a mold and add jewlery, a flower etc for a decoration, and you will have an elegant bar of home made soap.
Wow, thanks Bea!
I don't make homemade soap, but there is a store in Downtown Sheboygan where I can buy it and I do!
LOL, I thought it said soup too!!
I think I'll jot down your Ivory soap recipe Bea. That might make a good Christmas gift project for my children to make for their teachers.
lol...I thought it said "soup" as well.
I used to work in a hotel cleaning guest rooms. When we took out the used soap that guests leave behind, we would save them, and someone from a local charity would come by and pick them up. They melted them down and made new bars to give to homeless people, etc.
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