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To be a true soapmaker,
you need only 4 main ingredients for the recipe.
- A Caustic
- A Liquid
- A Fat
- Time
Pretty basic stuff!
Most hand crafters rely
on lye for the caustic. It is absorbed by the liquid and fats
and the aging process causes the blend to break down the primary
ingredients. This is known as 'saponification'. Saponification
renders the lye (caustic) harmless as it turns the fat into glycerin
and soap.
Soap is a fantastic carrier
for perfumes and scents, though the real reason to scent soap
was originally to mask the tallow or lard odors. FAT? Yes, old
time soapmaking was traditionally done when the farmstead hog
was butchered. Fat was rendered into a liquid and ashes from the
wood stoves were added to create the caustic combination that
makes soap. Who thought of this stuff, anyhow? Neanderthal Chemists...
well, no, they wore skins and didn't care too much for agrarian
ways, so I'm told. But some enterprising farmer's wife probably
tossed everything together in a snowbank and come the following
Spring thaw, ouila, she had soap! Luckily, it's now a lot less
haphazard.
Through the process
of experimentation, we've developed a unique soap that seems to
please a wide variety of people. I wanted a slightly gritty texture
to act as an abrasive for rough, damaged skin. I wanted a 'perky'
scent to give everyone that 'Meet The Day' wake-up call. And,
most of all, I wanted to market my wonderful goat milk in the
best possible manner.
On Start
Up - Flylo Farms has had
Oberhasli dairy goats since 1983. After the baby goats are weaned,
we are always desperate to do something with the milk rather than
just toss it out to water the lawn. I researched the idea of a
Grade-A Dairy operation so I could sell the whole milk or processed
cheeses. I quickly reached the conclusion that our location wasn't
optimal for such an enterprise, and my partners were not as enthusiastic
as I was about the prospect of dairying over 50 milk animals.
The next step in this
chain of events was the accidental meeting with my (now) great
friend Bobette Heaton. She and another friend were to go to a
herbal convention and when Bobette couldn't make the schedule,
I 'became' her for that day. Feeling guilty at using her pass
and meeting so many people as 'Bobette', we made a point to go
visit her and give her all my herb notes. I discovered a like-mind
and someone I had been missing in my life.
She is a licensed chemist
and was researching the outlets for her comfrey infused oils.
Bobette has gone on to create a unique school called Yellow Rose
Crossroads School for our area homeschooler children. She is still
my guru and my consultant, but her waking hours are now devoted
to educating children about Organic Gardening, Wetland Preservation,
and hundreds of other topics vital to the ecology. To learn more
about a school for Homeschoolers, please e-mail her at:
Yellow Rose Crossroads School
The Rest is History...
Like the chocolate and
peanut butter ads, the ideas just clicked so perfectly, combining
milk with the comfrey in a soap recipe. This was 1995, and people
were realizing the cottage industry of toiletries was becoming
possible. Not knowing where to go for research, I spent many happy
hours in Tx A&M University's main library, reading about the history
of soapmaking. We came away with a basic knowledge of how it's
done, but no idea of what to expect until we actually gathered
our nerve and stirred our first lye and milk together. After several
failed attempts, we finally made something remotely like a bar
of soap. Voila, on our way to being soap czarinas!! Well, not
quite, but we've modified the recipe several times, and have gone
our separate ways as business partners, but the soap still stands
as a success story.
I still get excited when
I realize I'm at the end of the Springtime kid feeding and start
getting anxious to batch up that first soap. Milk Bath Pasteurized
goat milk is the liquid portion in my soap, and as it's over 90%
of the end product, is listed first. I first pasteurize then chill
the milk until I'm ready to make soap. I've found timing to be
everything in mixing lye with milk. The tricky part is to ensure
the milk doesn't turn into one solid, seething orange curd. I've
learned some tricks to this but my lips are sealed.
When the temperatures
have climbed back down out of the 200' ranges, I start adding
an oil that I've previously infused with raw comfrey leaves. Everything
is blended together until it's soup, er, soap. Just before I pour
into the molds, I add essential oils and the mild (inert) gritty
substance. A small amount of Borax is added to create a bit of
lather.
I realized that cat food
tins and tuna cans make the perfect soap mold. The kind with the
'pop top' will wreck a bar of soap when it's unmolded, but the
6 oz 'old fashioned' cans are perfect. Each bar actually weighs
a little over 6 oz when finished, since I have a heavy pour-hand.
And, besides making a bunch of cats happy, I am doing my part
in recycling something that generally ends up in the landfill.
Molding
the soap - We mold and wait.
Restlessly. Glycerin is a byproduct of soap and it's the first
thing to separate out of the fats. I see an oily pool. Is that
bad? No, we're on our way! Curing allows the soap to set and reabsorb
the glycerins again. I cure for 15 days in the molds then at least
another 15 days on a rack, letting them air dry.
Scent
- The entire time the soap is making and curing and drying and
waiting, the essential oils are perfuming the whole house wonderfully.
I'm currently enamored with Peppermint and find it has distinctly
lively effects on my psyche. I dislike making health claims or
beauty 'benefits', but I also dislike the products the major manufacturers
turn out in the name of 'soap'.
So many people are realizing
their allergies extend to their skin products, that natural soap
has had a niche in the 'hypoallergenic' shelves for quite awhile.
I avoid fragrance oils to scent my soap as they can be a blend
of essential oils and chemicals. Essential oils, though pricier,
actually last longer in use, and are the better buy overall. Aromatherapy
practicioners have realized for many years how much scent affects
our moods and our mental well-being.
Pleasant scents attract
others to ourselves, and the right combinations can enhance almost
all working environments. Walk into an expensive store in any
mall and you'll be greeted by the aroma of well being and open
wallets. I haven't found one yet that subliminally suggests for
me to clean the house, and when I do, I'll bury that secret quickly!
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