[Ansteorra] soap making supplies (was: need source for real lyesoap)

[Jonne Murphy]

Stephanie,
I have some homemade soap made with lye and olive oil (castile) that I
made last year. It's starting to dry out. You're welcome to a couple of
bars (they're small) if you want some. Tell me where to send them'
Joanna
davenjo at davlin.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: ansteorra-bounces+davenjo=davlin.net at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:ansteorra-bounces+davenjo=davlin.net at lists.ansteorra.org] On
Behalf Of Stephanie Suesan Smith
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 5:46 PM
To: Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc.
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] soap making supplies (was: need source for real
lyesoap)

I was not very specific in my request.  The information is fascinating.
I
need one bar of old fashioned lye soap because the elderly mother of a
friend remembers it wistfully, and has requested a bar to keep as and
smell
once in a while.  She says the new stuff just doesn't smell right.  He
has
not been able to locate any and I thought I would try here.  Thank you
to
those who replied.  That is, though, why I really just want a source for
the
made soap.  It's not my mother that wants it, or my laurel (not that I
have
one of those) <g>

Lady Stephanie Lilburn

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 5:32 PM, Coblaith Muimnech
<Coblaith at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> Michael Fenwick wrote:
>
>> Probably the best way to get some lye soap with certainty that it is
the
>> real, old-fashioned thing, is to make it yourself: lye plus fat,
using a
>> slight surplus of fat to make sure that all the lye reacts. There are
>> recipes out on the web, searchable through Google.
>>
>
> Stephanie commented:
>
>> . . .the problem is you need fire, ashes, lye, a large kettle, and
all day
>> to make it.
>>
>
> Thomas Smith answered:
>
>> Not unless you are doing this as an Arts and Sciences project and
trying
>> to be super authentic.  You can go to the store and get a can of Red
Devil
>> Lye - its usually right next to the Draino and other drain cleaning
>> products.
>>
>
> Red Devil Lye hasn't been manufactured for about 5 years <
> http://candleandsoap.about.com/b/2005/09/19/its-not-a-lye.htm>.
Somebody,
> somewhere probably has a stash, but I wouldn't count on being able to
find
> it at your local grocery store any more.
>
> However, there are multiple online sources for sodium hydroxide (which
is
> the alkali typically used in modern soapmaking and that most commonly
sold
> today as "lye"), potassium hydroxide (which is the alkali typically
used in
> medieval soapmaking and is often sold as "potash"), and potassium
carbonate
> (which is an alkali sometimes used in medieval soapmaking and is often
sold
> as "pearlash").  Many of them are specialist soap-makers' supply
shops, and
> could provide other materials and tools one would need to make a batch
of
> soap.
>
> Incidentally, the online Medieval English Dictionary entry on "sope" <
> http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED41595>
includes
> quotes from some documents that might be of interest to anyone
researching
> the topic.  For instance, from an early-15th-century English
translation of
> Guy de Chauliac's _Cyrurgie_ comes, "Sope forsothe is double: sope of
> Sarracenes, þe whiche is softe, and þe Frensche sope, þat is harde.
The
> Sarracenes sope is made of two parties of lye and the þridde parte of
oyle
> dolyf. Þe Frensche sope is made of þe two partyes of lye and of oon
parte of
> schepes talowh."  ("Lye", in this case, probably means "potassium
> hydroxide".  It was the usual choice for soap making before 1791, when
> Nicolas Leblanc invented a process that made the commercial production
of
> sodium hydroxide viable.)  If you could get your hands on a copy of
that
> translation (a transcription of which was published by the Early
English
> Texts Society in 1971), you might find more details on how soap was
made
> and/or used in the 14th century (when the _Cyrurgie_ was written).
>
>
> Coblaith Muimnech
> <mailto:Coblaith at sbcglobal.net>
> <http://coblaith.net>
>
>
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