Making Homemade Soap in Under an Hour
My grandmother grew up on a farm in Boone County, Missouri, and from spending a childhood with her I learned how to be frugal, self-sufficient, and someone who values time and efficiency.
On laundry day, she would whip out a big bar of grayish soap she’d made from an old country recipe and use it for scrubbing dirty clothes. The soap contained lye, grease, ammonia, borax, and water.
It looked like an ash-colored cake; I wouldn’t be surprised if it had some ash in it. That soap was utilitarian to be sure, but nothing you’d ever want use for a bath, although I suppose on occasion it might have been used.
Bath soaps have come a long way since the 1920s frugal creations of farm folks like my grandmother. Today, you can find exquisite artisan soaps–many are imported from France, Italy, and elsewhere–in a variety of colors, shapes, sizes, and scents. Or . . . you could make your own.
At hobby and craft stores, you’ll find soap-making kits that provide the basics for making soap in under an hour. You’ll also need some soap color to give your soap an appealing hue (otherwise, the soap comes out white). Finally, drops of your favorite essential oil will give your soap a sensual fragrance.
Recently, the birthday of a friend inspired me to quickly make a few bars of bath soap to wrap and tuck in my “spa” gift package for her. If you haven’t made soap before, start with a kit for soap making such as the one sold by ArtMinds and found in craft stores.
That particular kit uses a goats milk recipe with a suspension formulation that allows additives to float freely throughout the soap. This is important when you want to add to the soap rose or other flower petals or herbs like basil, lavender, or mint. The finished bar of soap lathers luxuriously and leaves your skin feeling squeaky clean.
Lavender-Scented Soap Using the ArtMinds Kit
Ingredients:
1 Goats Milk Soap Kit with 32 scored cubes
1 package of soap-making color (comes with blue, green, and purple); use purple for lavender soap
Lavender essential oil
Plastic sheet of soap molds
*Wooden spoon
*Pyrex glass measuring bowl or microwavable dish
*Do not reuse soap-making utensils or bowls for food service.
Directions:
Remove 10 cubes of “raw” soap formulation. Melt the cubes in a large glass measuring bowl for 30 seconds; if not completely melted, microwave in 10-second increments.
Add drops of lavender color until the desired hue is achieved. Add ten drops of lavender essential oil. Stir to thoroughly mix ingredients.
Pinch off the tiny florets of a sprig of fresh lavender. Drop into the soap and gently blend them in.
Pour the soap to the top of the mold(s). Let set for 20 minutes before removing the hardened soap. I suggest wrapping each soap individually to give as gifts.
For more resources, check out Marie Browning’s book, Natural Soapmaking (Sterling Publishing, NY) or visit Rebecca’s Soap Delicatessen at http://soapdelinews.com/2015/07/how-to-make-cold-process-soap-from-scratch.html
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If you’re interested in farmette topics and storytelling, check out my Henny Penny Farmette series of mysteries. All three books in the series are available in numerous formats and can be ordered from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and elsewhere online as well as from traditional bookstores everywhere. See more at http://tinyurl.com/ya5vhhpm