This is my grandmother in about the 1930's or 1940's...
I'm sure to make all this soap...had to take more than a day...!!
In the 1990's I tried my hand at soapmaking.
I even rendered down the fat...
the time, smell and work made me soon lose interest in soap making and made me appreciate the work that grandma had to do to make all her soap!!
Well grandma's been gone for over 30 years...but I still have a few bars of her soap...
This is great for rubbing on stains...
When I had my old top loading washing machine...
there were times I would grate some of this soap into my wash.
Reading some blogs I have found some recipes for liquid laundry soap and liquid hand soap...so today I made up a batch of each. I had them both done and cleaned up in less than 2 hours...
First I made the liquid hand soap (can't remember the blog I found this recipe on)
\Gathered my ingredients...
Grated my soap....
Melted it ...
Bottled it...
Next I did the laundry soap..
This recipe came from Mennonite Girls Can Cook
This soap was harder to grate..
It was finer...
Melted it on the stove
Added to the brand new bucket with the other ingredients, filled the bucket with hot tap water
...gave it a stir...
Hubby's not home...so it is still sitting in the kitchen sink...
don't seem to have the muscle to lift it out..
Hopefully it works as well as my grandma's soap did!!
hmmm maybe next batch
I'll try grating grandma's soap...and using it in the recipe:)
i helped my mother make lye soap a few times. that smell is addicting. :)
ReplyDeleteGood job!! Bet it made you feel productive! Making your own soap! I haven't done things like that in a long long time! Hope it works as good as I think it will.
ReplyDeleteHow fantastic that you still have some of your grandma's soap after all of these years! Love it. Good job on all of your soap making.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing how they both work. Love the fact you have a few bars of soap tucked away - what a treasure.
ReplyDeleteI saw this too - very interesting - but kind of time consuming for me right now - cool you did it though. sandie
ReplyDeleteI've started making my own too and cleaning products I love it
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed your Grandma's soap has lasted so long. Must have been a big job. Do you find it's cheaper to make your own soaps after you pay for the basic ingredients? Looks like a fun thing to do.
ReplyDeleteMy mother made lye soap - strong stuff and definitely not for sensitive skin.
ReplyDeleteI've read several blog posts about making laundry soap - everyone was happy with the result and found it very economical. They said it cleaned better, too.
oh this sounds fun. you are so lucky to have that picture!!
ReplyDeleteWhat neat memories and I love that picture. So glad you're ambitious like that;)
ReplyDeletethat is so cool that you still have some of the soap she made!!!! i've made laundry soap before, never the hand soap.
ReplyDeleteoh, that is so cool! great job! thanks for sharing this interesting and informative post!
ReplyDeleteHow cool that you still have some of her soap. I've always wanted to try making soap.
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure you have. I have been collecting all the supplies to make lye soap here which I think will be a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the fact you still have some of your grandma's soap. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteI have a tutorial on my blog in the link section on how to make lye soap if you are interested. :)
Wow, aren't you ambitious, must take after Grandma!! That picture of her is priceless! I'd have it blown up and hanging in my house! Found you via Rural Thursday. Would you care to share your hard work with us for Farm Fresh Friday? We'd love to have you! Have a bubbly weekend!!
ReplyDeleteI remember watching my mom and grandma make lye soap. I actually have my grandma's recipe but I've never made it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up and getting fresh with us!! have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteSaw u on salls farm fresh Friday. Daughter and I just made blender soap. Waiting for it to cure but it was super easy. Nice blog.
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