Saponification and You An excellent handicraft to be tucked away in your mind is the process of making soap. As far back as several thousand years humans became mindful that dirt, smells, and cleanliness were related to their possessions and health. Rinsing garments in water and beating them with  whisks of twigs or feathers removed smells and restored color. The more resourceful individuals found, by adding finely powdered spicy seeds or plants to the water, it would render a pleasant odor to the garment. Luckily, before the advent of synthetics, clothing was made from natural materials, such as flax, cotton, silk, or wood fibers that lent themselves to the scents of spices and absorbent to the substances used in coloring.In today's water- impurities are rampant- to the extent that preparation of water for any use requires programed filtration. Early pioneers made soap through trial and error experiments with animal byproducts left over from daily chores and were not to concerned with the actual contents in the water. During the European Renaissance early records indicate that clothing was boiled in water and washed with homemade soap in a large iron kettle. Aristocracy found that soap did not dissolve well in some kinds of water. Water from hard water wells always left rings around tubs and a grey residue within the clothing. Rain water seemed to dissolve the soap which resulted in cleaner and colorful clothing. Rain water stored in cisterns provided a handy way to use the water when  needed. Rinsing the garments in cistern soft water was a must. If smells were a factor perfumes of some sort were added to the rinse water. Most home made soap makers testified that clothes, when washed in homemade soap, smelled cleaner and fresher.Make your own lye! Have soft water, hard wood, animal fat, wooden barrel, and a non-metal collection container. Early American pioneers made lye by burning an abundance of hardwood (oak,or walnut,) until they had a large pile of ashes. They placed several clean brick size stones or rocks close to a drain hole at the bottom of the barrel. Adding a generous layer of straw over the rocks to accumulate halfway up the barrel they filled the remainder of the barrel with ashes and poured in soft water until water seeped out of the drain. At that time the drain hole was plugged and the mixture was allowed to soak a few days--ashes were added if the mixture settled. In three days the plug was pulled and the lye was allowed to drip into a non-metallic collection container. It was common to see "soap people"  enthusiasts hanging around the slaughter houses to collect what they called "toilet soap"( fat layers from butchering) rather than drippings during rendering fat by boiling. Animal fat comes in different shades. When melting and using white fat, it contributes to produce white soap. If fat with any tint of color was used the soap became the same color. Also, it was a race against time to use the fat promptly because fat became rancid rapidly.Saponification There are many variations to making soap of your choice, and some are through trial and error. It's a learning process. Six pounds of fat and three pounds of lye is supposed to make about 9 pounds of soap. Soap making is a chemical process, bringing together under the right conditions, lye, fat, and odoriferous agents. The process may take weeks to accomplish the complete blending of ingredients. Sounds complicated, it is. Why does Ivory soap float?  There's more to it than meets the Lye. Oops, I meant eye.Let's wash our hands of the whole deal and forget it!
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