So, I'm looking into starting to make some soap. Here are some niftykeen links, so I don't lose them.
- http://www.canis-art.com/soaping.htm
- http://www.halderman.net/cgi-bin/showrecipe.pl?cp
- http://www.the-sage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php
- http://www.pvsoap.com/recipe_castile_soap.htm
- http://www.soapnuts.com/indexcp.html
- http://www.teachsoap.com/smallcp.html
- http://www.cranberrylane.com/soapmaking.htm
- http://www.treehugger.com/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&SearchField=keywords&search=soap
I want to learn to make soap with items I can get cheaply and easily, otherwise it doesn't make sense to make it myself. I'd prefer vegetarian soaps (sans tallow or lard, though those are the most traditional), and don't really feel like ordering palm or coconut oils, but from what I've been reading, unless you want a very drying, no-lather bar, you've got to go with one or the other of those.
Ideally, what I'd like is a good recipe for a small (1# or so) batch of olive oil/beeswax/water/lye -- with green tea mixed in to the water to give a nice skin rejuvenator, and maybe a teaspoon or two of jojoba or almond oil (I have both hanging around from an earlier project) for superfatting. I think there's just such a one in the Cranberry Lane PDF, and I may try that one as my inaugural batch.
Any readers here have any soapmaking experience? Anybody want to come to / host a soapmaking party once I get a few batches under my belt?
Always interested in learning
I can buy a nice big ball of lard for $2 at the Kerrytown market! Please? I want an excuse to buy an enormous ball of lard.
That first link, the one with the sheep and border collies and bunnies, is quite possibly the most hilarious description of soapmaking I have ever seen. Not that I've seen all that many soapmaking tutorials, let alone funny ones, but still ... great link!
I know zippo, zilch, nada about soapmaking aside from the basic principle, so I have nothing useful to add, however.
My mom is a soapmaking fiend. She's been making soap since I was a youngin' back in Rhode Island. For her upcoming batches, I think she's even planning on making the lye herself from the ashes from their wood stove. Totally hardcore.
As for myself...I just use the stuff whenever I can get it from her.