Fulling a Wool Scarf from CuriousWeaver curiousweaver.id.au/
I found a reference in The Art of Soap-Making by Alexander Watt (1918) which describes “fulling soaps”. Being unsure of what, exactly, “fulling” really was, I wasn’t sure if the soap described would be suitable for washing woolens as well.
Turns out not, but I did make some interesting discoveries along the way. And I learned how to wash and care for my wool sweaters and shirts … it wasn’t anything like what I had been told!
Back around the turn of the (last) century, synthetic fragrances were just making their debuts. Soapmaking manuals and books for the time still gave recipes for scent blending based on essential oils.
My Manual of Toilet Soap-Making by Dr. C. Deite lists a number of scent blends for what were “traditional” toilet soaps at the time.
Imagine New York City and the island of Manhattan in the 1840’s. The city was rapidly expanding with an influx of immigrants from all over the world. Industry was expanding with the rise of the Industrial Revolution. The northern part of the island, was still providing the city with dairy products and meat. Sewage disposal was non-existent and garbage was tossed into the street or river. Horses provided all the transportation, and there were over 15,000 horse carcasses to dispose of per year. And then there were the remains from the slaughterhouses.
What in the world, you ask, does this have to do with soap? The answer is … tallow.
Also residing and working mostly on the north end of the island were the soap boilers. Those people who took the animal remains and rendered them into fats and oils to make soap. Not a pretty job, but necessary and important to the city.
Then, in 1849, it started to change.
It seems that what goes around, comes around - even with soap. What was once a distasteful chore of country housewives or the task of garbage entrepreneurs has now become the new eco-friendly activity of chefs. According to a recent article at Food and Wine there’s a new line of soaps made from the byproducts of turning restaurant kitchen grease into biofuel.
Winter Spruce Soap - www.thesoapsmith.biz
Making cold process soap is a combination of art and science.
Making swirled soap is particularly tricky. It’s quite a skill to get the colors to swirl in together and still keep them distinct. Every swirled bar is different - not only different from soapmaker to soapmaker, but different from batch to batch and every bar within a batch will be unique.
Aphid infestation on hybrid tea rose
Anne W. Gideon, Bugwood.org
We think of soap as being used for cleaning purposes, but soap has also been used for centuries as an all-purpose pesticide against a number of different common garden pests, including aphids, spider mites, bugs of all sorts, Japanese Beetles, cockroaches, moles, deer and rabbits.
A study carried out in Turkey in 2000 which tested the effects of using natural pesticides on the yield and quality of cucumbers grown under greenhouse conditions showed that there were no significant differences between the yield and fruit properties when natural (soap-based) pesticides or conventional pesticides were used.
The recipes are simple, can be made at home and adapted for for specific uses.
Soap made by Marie Gale
As with most people, making soap wasn’t something I planned to do. I didn’t have a driving urge to become a soapmaker. In fact, up until about 12 years ago, I never really thought about where soap came from. True, I didn’t like using “traditional, store-bought” soap, but it never occurred to me that there were other options.
Then, in the late 1990’s I had major changes in my life. Most of them weren’t very pleasant, and all of them resulted in the necessity to regroup, restructure and reorganize. Sparing the gruesome details, at the end of it all I was living on our family ranch in a 90-year-old house wondering what I was going to do for the rest of my life.
Alexander Majors
Pony Express Founder (1860)
Soapmaker (1887)
Of all the soapmakers I know, not one started out young in life saying,”When I grow up, I’m going to be a soapmaker.” While some have said they “always had an interest”, most were in other careers when they discovered (and got hooked on) soapmaking. Pre-soapmaking careers include accountant, journalist, engineer, chemist, housewife, teacher, internet guru, IT professional, computer programmer, farmers, goat-herd owners - and even founder of the Pony Express.
It’s interesting how the American public is so fascinated with and influenced by the trials and tribulations of fictitious families. The success of all soap operas (daytime and prime time), as well as shows like LOST, is all about getting people vested in a form of imaginary voyeurism. And it started with … soap.
Earlier this month, CBS announced they are canceling Proctor & Gamble’s soap opera, Guiding Light. The last episode will air September 18th.
The first episode of Guiding Light aired on NBC radio on January 25, 1937, making it the longest running soap opera. It was sponsored by Proctor & Gamble hence the “soap” opera moniker. However, it wasn’t the first soap marketing by P & G that concentrated on the continuing saga of a ficticious family.
Ever wondered what a soap bubble looks like close up … VERY close up … like 50x magnification? Absolutely, amazingly beautiful!
Soap Bubble in a Petri Dish, taken at 50x magnification
Photographer: Viktor Sykora
Mr. Sykora won Image of Distinction in the 2008 annual Nikon Small World photomicrography competition. And rightly so!
