Lard soap and Crisco soap are LOW BUBBLING soaps, which make them especially good for laundry and scrubbing yicky stuff around the house. Additionally, they are CHEAP AS ALL GET-OUT to make. They’re the only soaps I’ve found that can beat Ivory on price.
1. Melt one pound of lard or veggie shortening in a sauce pan over med-low.
2. While the fat melts, put 6oz of water in a pitcher, sprinkle in 2 oz of lye, and gently swirl to dissolve. (According to this lye calculator, one pound of either requires the same lye and water.)
3. Allow melted fat and lye water to cool for a minute or two–till you can touch the sides of the containers without burning the snot out of yourself.
4. Pour the lye water into the sauce pan and blend with an immersion blender to “trace,” which means till it’s thick enough that you can kind of see where you’ve been and drips stay visible on the surface for a second or two. (This will take a while for the lard.)
4.b. This is the time to put in any scent you like.
5. Pour into mold.
6. Let it sit a day or two, then peel off the can, and slice it for curing.
7. Cure for a few weeks and then grate a bar for this recipe.
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Can you expound on how the ping-pong table seems to be the linchpin of your soapmaking. . .
You make this look so-o-o-o easy. I know I am going to have to get over this, but the thought of working with lye scares me.
So far I have been safe, because I have not found a local source for it.
I just love the way you show and tell your projects!
I have been thinking about soap making and since I see how easy it can be, I may just give it a try soon.
Thanks
Pam
I’m so glad it looked easy, ladies. I’ve found so many of the online tutorial to be SO complicated.
And anajz, lye isn’t as bad as it sounds. I mean it’s BAD, but it’s not like rat poison. It’s real easy to clean up and neutralize.
I love your homemaking skills and ingenuity with the pringles can.
Weird question: can I use rendered bacon fat, or am I bound for a clean, but bacon scented home?
Sure you can use rendered bacon fat. That’s how your grandma did it. And it won’t smell like much of anything after it cures.
But, you have to prepare the fat so that you don’t have a bunch of yuck in it.
Kathy Miller explains here how to wash the fat, to remove rancidity and whatnot.
Then, you’re ready to go!
It is not just anywhere that you can get a recipe for homemade soap that warns you not to touch it or burn the snot out of your hand. Gotta love a down-t0-earth gal like yourself. Real women so ROCK! Love your site…
Yes, ma’am!!
How can you make your soap into pretty designs with speckles and stuff in them? i’m new to this. haha
You would need to pour it into a mould, instead of a pringles can. And put in your additives (sparkles et al) right after trace. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OHKR7E?ie=UTF8&tag=lithouinthesu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001OHKR7E
I was so tickled pink to find your posts simplifying the art of soapmaking (something I’ve wanted to do for a long time) that I printed the instructions on the spot and made my first batch of Crisco soap the next day, with laundry specifically in mind. Let the bars cure for over a month and just yesterday I cubed them and tossed them into the food processor, added some washing soda and wee little bit of what remained from my original batch of “homemade” laundry soap (Ivory Snow***, Calgon and washing soda–aka Oxy Clean). Today, however, was the real test: my first load of laundry–which I do by hand or with a plunger type thing–using the new soap! The result was very disappointing, unfortunately. Maybe I used too much, but the water looked and felt…well…greasy. I did think the bars themselves had a peculiar texture; not quite greasy but bordering on it. Anyway, with my method of washing I have to let the clothes soak, but after looking at it and debating with myself for five minutes I decided not to risk it. I expected low suds, but not something that looked like the Exxon Valdez had just sailed through. Any ideas on what the problem might be?
***RE: Ivory Snow… I was happy with my aforementioned “homemade” mix until I discovered that Proctor & Gamble (makers of Ivory Snow) allegedly test on animals.; cruelty I can’t knowingly support by purchasing their products.
HUH! Weird. There shouldn’t be any fat left. It should all be saponified. Did you see oil on the water? If you had too much base in there, it feels slippery too.
Can you give your Lye source? I called Hubbard’s Hardware on Summer and he said it was taken off the shelves because it’s used in dope making. Who knew!!
I found the Lye Guy online, but I think he ships from way up North.
@Ashley-I recently used snowdriftfarm.com