| I have to admit that in the many years that I have | | | | made from bottomless barrels that they put over piles |
| been into soap making, I was never interested to learn | | | | of rocks. They also made ash-hoppers. These are |
| about its history. I guess because there is not much | | | | large containers with small holes to serve as drainage. |
| that I can get from it that will help me to improve my | | | | They placed the wood ash inside the hopper and |
| craft. But little did I know that the secret of colonial | | | | poured water on it. |
| soap making is so interesting, such that it will give me | | | | Then, they store the collected ash wood in a piece of |
| insight on how important homemade soaps are, | | | | cheesecloth. As an alternative to this material, they use |
| especially during those times. | | | | tightly knit muslin or hemp bag. The bag of ash wood is |
| According to my research, Encarta encyclopedia | | | | then hanged over a bowl. And then they poured water |
| recorded that soaps are essential to the daily lives of | | | | onto the bag. They leave it for a while until the |
| Roman scribes and Greeks. As early as the 1st | | | | brownish liquid drips to the bowl. This is what they |
| century, colonial soap making is already popular. Soaps | | | | collect and made into a lye solution. |
| were mainly used for cleaning the body and dyeing the | | | | But what is even more interesting is that they don't |
| hair. But not everyone, meaning the commoners, can | | | | automatically use this solution. They had to make sure |
| have access to this luxury. In fact, only the noble class | | | | that this concentration is enough for colonial soap |
| can afford a craftsman to come to their place to | | | | making. So they used a technique that you may |
| make soaps out of their precious olive oil. | | | | consider to be similar to a measuring instrument. What |
| One of the interesting discoveries I have learned about | | | | they did was they boiled the lye solution that they |
| colonial soap making is that they make their lye from | | | | collected from the ash wood using a large cooking pot. |
| scratch. Isn't it interesting to learn that the ingredients | | | | Then they cut a chunk of potato to use as a tester by |
| we use for modern soap making that we can just buy | | | | putting in the heated lye solution. Until the potato floats |
| from the grocery store is being made from scratch. It | | | | they will repeat the process. But once they see that |
| actually inspired me to learn this fact, that no matter | | | | the potato floats, it means it's good for colonial soap |
| how difficult the process, they managed to make their | | | | making. |
| own ingredients. Here is quick look at how they made | | | | I hope that you were likewise inspired to even more |
| their own lye. | | | | improve on your craft. After all, we have all the |
| They used wood ash as main source of this chemical. | | | | ingredients readily available and don't need to labor the |
| What they did was to use makeshift colanders, usually | | | | way our ancestors did. |