soapmaking-msg - 2/3/08
Soap making. Period and modern techniques.
NOTE: See also the files: soap-msg, Soapmakng-CMA-art, Lye-Soap-art, bathing-msg, Roman-hygiene-msg, Tubd-a-Scrubd-art, Man-d-Mujeres-art, p-hygiene-msg, Perfumes-bib, perfumes-msg.
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NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: ac508 at dayton.wright.EDU (Beverly Roden)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Soapmaking Resource
Date: 22 Mar 1994 06:08:37 -0500
Good Gentles in search of Cleanliness:
Sorry I am that I missed the original thread, but if you wish a resource
person to learn more about soapmaking (and other related herb-crafts such
as hand creams), write to:
Mistress Ilyana/Catherine Oyler - 1467 Hunters Ln, Radcliffe, KY 40160
Mistress Alexis MacAlister Beverly Roden
Mistress of Arts of the Midrealm Mistress of My Two Dogs
From: ag60046004 at aol.com (Ag60046004)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Rosewater
Date: 13 Mar 1997 12:01:35 GMT
Greetings, Rayne!
While I don't have a period recipe for rosewater, I've found a
non-measured recipe for it
in "The Complete Soapmaker", a book by Norma Coney (Sterling Publishing
Co., NY, published 1996). On page 62, it reads as follows:
"Method for Making Rose Water
"To prepare rose water, first gather fresh rose blossoms; do this during
the morning, after the dew [h]as evaporated. Place the petals in a glass,
stainless steel, or enamel saucepan and cover them with distilled water.
Weigh the floating petals down with a heat-resistant glass dish."
"Pleace the pan over low heat and allow the pot to release steam for at
least an hour. You should begin to see drops of rose oil floating on the
surface of the water. Do not allow the water to boil."
"When the water has taken on a rosy hue, feels thick and soft, and shows
evidence of rose oil on its surface, strain the liquid through a tea
strainer, using your fingers to press all the liquid from the petals.
Store in refrigerator. (Note that rose water may be used as a skin toner;
apply to the face with a cotton ball)."
Further on the same page, the author adds, "(Freshly prepared rose water
made from red roses will do a good job of coloring [the] soap, so you may
wish to leave out the extra dye.)"
<snip>
Last note: If you or any other reader of this post is interested in
soapmaking, I *highly*
recommend the book listed near the beginning of this post. Very
practical, thourough, explanatory, and great illustrations & pictures!
Lists of bibliography and suppliers are good, too. The only drawback is
that you get great, inspirational photos, and no scent to accompany the
pictures. :-( Oh, darn: guess I'll just have to experiment... :-)
Hope this information helps!
In Service,
Anneliese Grossmund
Barony of Mag Mor, Kingdom of Calontir
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Tue, 03 Jun 1997 21:48:15 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Cheese recipes
Kerridwen wrote:
> Not quite cooks related, but does anyone have a source for period soap
> recipes?
I know there's a soap recipe in Thomas Dawson's "The Second Part of 'The
Good Huswifes Jewell' "...
G. Tacitus Adamantius
From: nweders at mail.utexas.edu (ND Wederstrandt)
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 08:06:26 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: SC - Soap
Just taking the Good Huswife's Jewel back to the library so I have it with me:
To make good sope.
First you must take half a strike of (asshen?) ashes, and a quart of Lime,
then you must mingle both these together, and then must fill a pan full of
water and seeth them well, so done, you must take four pound of beastes
tallow, and put it into the Lye, and seeth them togther until it be hard.
Clare R. St. John
From: "Sharon L. Harrett" <afn24101 at afn.org>
To: Mark Harris
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 09:41:32 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - soap and cheese info source
I have not yet found a period recipe for basic soap, but there are
two "milled soap" recipes in "Delights for Ladies, Sir Hugh Plat,1609"
chapter on Sweet powders and ointments. It is in Cariadoc's collection.
Ceridwen
From: OElaineO at aol.com
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 10:12:30 -0400 (EDT)
To: markh at risc.sps.mot.com
Subject: craft link
Free recipes and directions for making bar soap located at
http://members.aol.com/oelaineo/soapmaking.html
From: Library Staff <betpulib at ptdprolog.net>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Gifts - any ideas?
Date: 24 Jun 1997 19:14:07 GMT
Organization: Bethany Public Library
> Our little group seems to have run out of ideas for gifts for
> royals (well, we had LOTS of good ideas, but they all seem to
> have occurred to other people has well!).
>
> Any ideas?
From the July/August Issue of Family Life magazine:
Soaps with "surprises" in them (simple enough for a children's craft w/
adult supervision).
(edited for relevance and to save bandwidth)
Ingredients:
1 bar clear, unscented glycerine soap
Beads, seashells, glitter, plastic confetti in shapes, other small
"surprises" and found objects.
Molds or mini loaf pans
Essential oils (lavender, rosemary and thyme are nice)
Directions
1. Put one bar of glycerine soap in a bowl and zap in the microwave for
60 seconds, or melt it in a double boiler (10 to 15 minutes). When done,
pour about 1/4 inch of melted soap into mold or mini bread pan. Let
harden slightly (3-5 minutes).
2. Scatter small toys or other found objects face down on top of the
hardened soap in the mold. Reheat the remaining soap. Add one drop of the
essential oil, and mix with a fork. Pour a second, thicker layer on top,
sealing the prizes inside. Let harden about 30 minutes. When done, have
an adult run a sharp knife around the edges and (may have to run the mold
under hot water to loosen) then let the soap maker smack the pan facedown
against the counter. The soap will pop out. It looks fine like this, but
can also be cut into small, chunky blocks.
Candy molds make the soap go farther and look prettier.
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 21:56:34 +0600
From: james mabrey <braefiddich at sprintmail.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Soap Making Article
Gillian:
I enjoyed your article on soapmaking very much. Well done. A few
things we have found in our soapmaking - If you want to hurry up
removing your soap from the molds, after the 48 hours or so of
hardening, you can put it in the freezer overnight. It pops right out
of the molds. My mother's castilian, which of course is strictly olive
oil for fat, does not have the problem with the oil coming to the top
after pouring in the mold. I'll check with her for details.
We have always placed our additives directly into the initial soap
mixture, just prior to pouring. (essential oils, pumice, herbs, etc.).
I have not noticed any problems in the final products.
If one wants to make a soap with a higher content of goats milk (or
other milk), replace some of the water with a equal amount of milk in
the initial recipe. The temperature is really important here! If it is
too high you will carmelize the milk sugars. it doesn't hurt the
quality of the soap, it just makes it dark. We have had good success
with varying quantities of milk. I guess we could afford
experimentation, as we have a seemingly endless supply of goats milk.
Bronwyn nic Dougal
Calontir
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 22:58:41 -0500
From: "marilyn traber" <mtraber at email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: SC -Lye from ashes
You derive the lye used in soapmaking from the wood ashes from your
fireplace or wood stove.
According to the foxfire series, you make a trough from whatever wood is on
hand, drill a hole in the bottom. Plug the hole in the bottom, fill it with
ashes, top off with water and let stand for a little while. Pull the plug
out and drain the liquid out of the trough through coarse muslin to filter
out the ashes. Let stand for a day or so to settle the remains of the ashes
and use in the normal manner of soapmaking.[IE, heat the fat and lye in
different containers to different temperatures, then add the lye to the fat
in constant dribble while stirring. yipee, lots of fun, can smell terrible
depending on what kind of fat you start out with.]
margali
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 08:05:40 -0600
From: "Phyllis Spurr" <Phyllis.Spurr at tdh.state.tx.us>
Subject: Re: SC -Lye from ashes
> According to the foxfire series, you make a trough from whatever wood is on
> hand, drill a hole in the bottom. Plug the hole in the bottom, fill it with
> ashes, top off with water and let stand for a little while. Pull the plug
> out and drain the liquid out of the trough through coarse muslin to filter
> out the ashes. Let stand for a day or so to settle the remains of the ashes
> and use in the normal manner of soapmaking.[IE, eat the fat and lye in
> different containers to different temperatures, then add the lye to the fat
> in constant dribble while stirring. yipee, lots of fun, can smell terrible
> depending on what kind of fat you start out with.]
> margali
I've also made my own lye, in about the same manner. However, an
easier way to make lye water is to take a coffee can, punch holes in
the bottom, fill with your ashes, place filled coffee can over a
recepticle to catch lye water, pour water into the ashes and let
drain. Do this several times with fresh ashes each time. I usually
add a little table salt to strengthen the lye water and strain
through a cloth to remove ash debris.
I try to always use beef tallow for soap making, just my preference.
I don't normally heat my lye prior to adding to the fat.
Phyllis L. Spurr
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 16:48:33 +0100 (CET)
From: Par Leijonhuvud <pkl at absaroka.obgyn.ks.se>
Subject: Re: SC -Lye from ashes
On Thu, 26 Feb 1998, Phyllis Spurr wrote:
> > You derive the lye used in soapmaking from the wood ashes from your
> > fireplace or wood stove.
> I've also made my own lye, in about the same manner. However, an
> easier way to make lye water is to take a coffee can, punch holes in
> the bottom, fill with your ashes, place filled coffee can over a
> recepticle to catch lye water, pour water into the ashes and let
> drain. Do this several times with fresh ashes each time. I usually
> add a little table salt to strengthen the lye water and strain
> through a cloth to remove ash debris.
I can't recall what pH you need for soapmaking, but for a stronger lye
you can mix ashes with water, and boil the mix (1:2 (V/V, ashes/water)
will typically give pH 11-12, IIRC).
Be careful with strongly alkaline solutions; they are _very_ damaging
to eyes, etc if you mess up. _If_ you do get some in the eyes the
treatment is to rinse with plain water or sterile isotonic saline
(preferred, for obvious reasons) as soon as possible (preferably within
5 seconds...), and keep rinsing until medical attention can be obtained.
There are good reasons why people wear safety goggles in laboratories.
/UlfR
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:11:59 SAST-2
From: "CHRISTINA van Tets" <IVANTETS at botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Subject: SC - lye, fish, pastry, japanese and horehound
<snip>
2. Lye can be too strong. I am told that the correct strength is
when it will float a hardboiled egg but not dissolve a feather.
The people here who demonstrate skills like soapmaking from ash say
that you have to boil the lye and fat together for about an hour.
Bother. Forgot to bring quantities of lye and fat needed. Will mail
them at a later date.
Cairistiona nic Bhraonnaguinn
Christina van Tets
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 08:15:24 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - lye, fish, pastry, japanese and horehound
> 2) I know how to _make_ lye, but does anyone happen to know what it is
> chemically?? (if only I had paid better attention in Organic Chem all
> those years ago...)
>
> Bogdan
It's probably potassium hydroxide (potash). Potassium hydroxide and sodium
hydroxide (caustic soda) are both referred to as lye.
Bear
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 11:50:21 -0500
From: "marilyn traber" <mtraber at email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: SC - lye, fish, pastry, japanese and horehound
>2) I know how to _make_ lye, but does anyone happen to know what it is
>chemically?? (if only I had paid better attention in Organic Chem all
>those years ago...)
>Bogdan
Sodium hydroxide and / or potassium hydroxide.
potassium hydroxide, KOH, caustic potash.
properties: white deliquescent pieces, lumps, pellets, sticks or flakes
having a crystalline fracture. Keep well stoppered- absorbs water and carbon
dioxide from the air. Soluable in water, alcohol, glycerine, slightly
soluable in ether.
derivation: electrolysis of concentrated KOH solution.
<snippage about purification, grades, containers, hazmat warnings and
shipping regulations. i can post those too if needful>
uses:soap manufacture, bleaching, manufacture of oxalic acid, reagent in
analytic chemistry, matches, process engraving, in foods as an alkali,
electrolyte in soreage batteries.
sodium hydroxide-pretty much the same, deriven from electrolyzing table
salt. chemically known as NaOH.
yummy-just what I want in my lutefisk...
margali
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 12:11:48 -0500
From: "marilyn traber" <mtraber at email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: SC - soap
a hard white soap: 6.5 lbs rendered fat, 1 can commercial lye, .5 cup
sugar[to make it lather, thats what it says, don't blame me...]
render the fat, grind it finely then place in a shallow pan and put in a
warm oven[250-300*f] pouring off the liquid fat periodically. the whole
process should take a half an hour. strain the resulting liquid through
cheesecloth to remove any crunchy bits. next place the fat into a pot with
an equal amount of water and bring to a boil. Pour the fat off the top and
discard the sediment.
Next, buy a container of flake lye, there are various brands available.
Use only enamel or stainless steel pots. next, it mentions that you add the
lye to the fat and some recipes are not specific, but there is a temperature
guideline for the people who have not grown up making soap, and therefor
don't do it by rote.
sweet lard 85*f, lye solution at 75*f
half lard, half tallow 110*f, lye soln at 85*f
all tallow 130*f, lye soln at 95*f
now, i know people have mentioned on the list they just pours 'em together
and stirs, but since the article also mentions this chart comes off the
package of lye, how about giving it a try in the interest of safety-chemical
caustics combined with organics can have drastic exothermic reactions...we
dont need to lose members of the list for trying to recreate a medieval
soaper who presumably was trined to make soap by the seat of his pants and
probably knew how to figure the temperatures to do it safely...
dissolve sugar in 1 cup very hot water, add this to 4 cups warm water. now
empty a can of lye slowly into the mixture and stir. the lye will heat up
on contact with the water and cause fumes therefor it should be done
outside or in a well ventilated place. it is also a good precaution to have
on hand a glass of vinegar in water to sip to stop coughing or to wash
drips on the skin.
as the temperatures of both liquids reach those speecfied, pour the fat into
the lye in a thin stream, stirring constantly. when the mixture approximates
the consistancy of honey, pour the liquid soap into a shallow pan or box
that has been lined with a cloth wrung out in cold water. score the soap
when slightly hardened. when set cut into squares/unmold and store.
note- it should cool and harden slowly, it says that you can set it out
under blankets to insulate and retain the heat or since this is a self
sufficiency book, slide it under a woodstove used for heating and that it
should take several days to cure before cutting/unmolding.
[the book says 10 lb potash, 20 lbs grease - Margali 2/28/98]
margali
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 16:05:28 -0500
From: "Karen Lyons-McGann" <dvkld.dev at mhs.unc.edu>
Subject: SC - soap
Hmm, I hadn't been reading lately, but in trying to catch up, I see posts
from Sunday about soap making. I've had these instructions for several
years, though I haven't tried them yet. The quantities look more
manageable for a beginner than the version I'm responding to that wants 6
and a half pounds of rendered fat. And look, doesn't Elina of Beckenham
sound SCA? Evidently she's got a book and everything. How about that?
Anne
- ----------------------------------------------------
SOAP SOAP SOAP SOAP
Since I have posted my request about soap making, I have gotten several
requests to forward the information. I have continued investigating on my
own and here is some info to get those of you started.
Condensed from Soapmaking for the Beginner by Elina of Beckenham
You will need a glass or ceramic mixing bowl of medium size. A wooden
spoon... stainless steel will do in a pinch. Under no circumstances should
aluminum be used for anything in this process. Lye dissolves aluminum. You
need a measuring cup. That's it for hardware.