Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sittin' On A Porch Brand Homemade Soap



On Monday I went over to Kathleen's house and we made soap.
Now I had never made soap before. I mean...why?
They sell that shit everywhere.
I have, in the last few years, learned that there is a huge difference in say, a bar of Dove soap and a bar of French milled olive-oil, lavender soap and I have spoiled myself by buying and using the good stuff and have been gifted with even better stuff. And I have used and loved Dr. Bronner's soap since the early 1970's when all he made was Peppermint because it felt so good to wash my face and body with all that lovely tingliness although really, it did not work as well for shampoo or toothpaste and believe me, I tried. But just reading the label made me feel fairly holy.

All One, indeed!
So when Kathleen brought up soap-making I was not as excited as I could have been. But she was positively about-to-burst excited by the prospect and had bought essential oils and herbs and lye and fats and was ready, ready, ready and she'd been making and selling soap for many years and since I adore Kathleen and since it would mean I'd get to spend the day with her and learn something new, I agreed to join her and help out.
Kathleen is something of a scientist as well as something of a witch and I trust her implicitly and she measured out the lye and the water and carefully combined them and she let me measure out the fats. Coconut oil, shealoe oil, shortening, olive oil, sunflower oil, palm oil, I-don't-even-remember-oils and Vitamin E which acts to help preserve the soap's freshness. And those went into a big pan on the stove and were slowly heated until everything was melted and then she put the mixer to them and added the lye-water and the process of sopanification began. Really. That's a word.
And after about forty minutes of mixing the mixture got creamy and dreamy and rich looking. I wanted to eat it. When she started adding the lemon verbena and mint and lavender and jasmine and rose, I really wanted to eat it. She ground up oatmeal to go in the lavender mixture to make a face soap and she added ground mint to the peppermint/spearmint mixture to make a wake-you-up! soap and she poured the lemon verbena with lemon peel mixture over cut pieces of loofa that she had grown and cleaned and bleached herself to make scrubbing soap.
Whoa!
And then she set the trays of various mixtures in her guest room and covered them up with her grandmother's quilt and that was that.
Until yesterday when she brought the trays over to my house to cut and that's when I learned why making soap is such a good thing.
You can't imagine how my house smells.
And you can't imagine the way this soap with all its fats and oils lathers and bubbles and is creamy and soft and sweet on the skin.
If I had to compare the experience to something, I would say it's not unlike having your first slice of homemade, just-out-of-the-oven bread after a lifetime of eating nothing but what comes in a package at the grocery store. With real butter and honey on it.
After we cut the soap and washed our hands (a lot) we had a martini and started making plans for soaps and balms for our new pregnant lady. And her baby. I got a visual image of Lily washing her newborn in the purest, uncolored, unadulterated soap with maybe just a hint of lavender in it, and how it would feel to both the baby and the mama, that creamy soap smoothing over that creamy skin in the warm water, the white against the pink, the sweet against the sweeter.
And how Lily will rinse the bubbles off her baby and wrap him or her up in a fluffy towel and kiss her (sorry, I can't help but think it's a girl and I'm usually wrong about these things) belly and dress her and then nurse her, wondering and marveling at the tender, sweet-smelling skin of her fresh-washed baby.
Oh. Soap. Homemade soap.
Thank-you, Kathleen, for teaching me this new thing. For opening my eyes to this beautiful art.
I think my life is changed forever and I will be a better and cleaner person for it.
I said it before, I'll say it again- taking orders here for pure and perfect Sittin' On A Porch Brand Homemade Soap.

22 comments:

  1. Ok, let me place my order for a bar of whatever you have most of. If I have a choice I will take a scrubby face bar and a rose bar... and maybe a wake me up bar. I've been having a lot of trouble waking up and dragging my ars out into the cold the last week or so.

    I'll take whatever you got, and I LOVE home make soaps and candles, so if you ever want to teach another person or need a helper, please do call on me.
    PS Loving that balm too!
    Thanks,
    PF

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  2. Oh yes, I would love some of that love-made soap, so bad. God, that stuff sounds like heaven. I am so amazed that Kathleen added her home-grown loofa to the soap. That's just so cool. And that peppermint soap sounds oh-so-refreshing! I think you two should host a soap making party for me to come to in a few months. It sounds so wonderful and magical.

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  3. Happy Birthday, Petit Fleur! And your wish may be granted sooner than you think...

    HoneyLuna- That is a fabulous idea. I'll check with K.

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  4. That is really so cool. I love the idea of home-made soap, and the way you describe it sounds postively devine.

    Also, I had no clue that you could grow loofa. Learn something everyday.

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  5. I found that I love the idea of such creative endeavors, however the execution of such tends to bog me down after the first creative episode.

    I wish you luck on the soap making. Once you discover the cleanest, simplest and most-expedient way of making it, would you share that with the rest of us?

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  6. Peppermint anything would be wonderful. What a fun project you took on! :)

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  7. I told you your house would smell amazing, didn't I? Blows your mind, huh?

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  8. Ms Moon

    Who took that picture of you?

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  9. Oh, I'd take a boat load of anything with lemon in it, but especially something that could help this horrid winter crackly skin I get every year. I use gallons of lotion, to no avail.

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  10. I would love to place an order :)

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  11. I'll take some of that wake-you-up soap!

    Sounds like fun.

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  12. I take it from hotels. It's made from used fry oil usually.

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  13. Lady Lemon- yes, you grow loofa. But then you have to clean it and deseed it and bleach it before it's the lovely thing you use in the shower. Luckily, Kathleen did all of that.

    Marsha- I don't think there is a simple way to make soap but it is a clean process. Except for all that fat. Hmmmm....

    Nicol- I never would have if Kathleen hadn't prodded me.

    DTG- you were totally correct. However, today I have the combination of soap and venison jerky dehyrdating together and that's...odd.

    Mr. P- why, I just set that camera on a stump, set the timer and there you have it!

    Rachel- You need our soap AND our salve.

    Ms. Riot and Ginger- If we get really productive, I'll set up a way to order some. Really.

    Magnum- and do you smell of fried chicken fingers and fish filets or do you prefer the tater fragrance?

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  14. Cool beans. Glad you had a good time making some awesome soap and hope you get some orders. Any recommendations for the soap to use when your skin gets dry in the winter? I was also reminded of "Fight Club" reading your post because of all the soap making that Tyler Durden did.

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  15. I want some wake you up soap! :)

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  16. The lavender and oatmeal for me. If you're seriously selling it, let me know how much and where to send the $$$. And one of the lemon and loofah, because it sounds mysterious.

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  17. Oh man, that sounds heavenly. Especially the lingering scent in your house. What fun!

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  18. I would like a pope soap on a rope please. And maybe he could smell like honey or oranges or almonds because that would be heavenly.

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  19. You make cleanliness sound positively heavenly! I would love to order any of those soaps.

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  20. Hmmm. Kathleen and I better get busy and come up with some labels.
    And speaking of the artwork- Ms. Maybelle- Kathleen loves the idea of the pope on the rope and thinks that the scent should be incense and myrrh.

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  21. Please know that someday I will be soliciting you to join in a business I am dreaming up. It may involve soap, mermaids, and other loveliness. Just thought I should let you in on my wild-eyed and idealistic intentions.
    :)

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.