SC - Urgent plea for help

[kat]

>Hi Tobi,
>I got this message on the SCA-Cook's list. Do you have a book (or is
>this a class handout)? If a whole book exists, is there more medieval
>soapmaking in it? Can I use plastic measuring spoons for the Lye? Will
>the soap just "shake out" of the moulds? Can I use aluminium or plastic
>moulds?
>I was planning on trying soap making this year and have been looking <for
>information. If you want to reply to the SCA-Cooks list, their address
>is sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG
>Thanks for any help,
>Crystal of the Westermark
>(Crystal A. Isaac)
>Karen Lyons-McGann (Anne) dvkld.dev at mhs.unc.edu wrote:
>
Wow, be careful what you write, you never know what is going to happen to
it.   I wrote that article 10 years ago!  To answer your questions:

Not a book, just a pamphlet, go to www.geocities.com/athens/forum/1487 and
follow the links to Beckenhall (the craft side of our pages).  You will
find the whole article.  I'll be posting more on there, but if your
interested in French milled soap, take the basic recipe (no spices or
scents) and let it cure.  Grate it with a food grater and measure 1 part
water to 2 parts soap and melt in cooking pan over low heat.  Stir slowly
so as not to make a lather.  When all the soap melts, mould into forms
(candy forms, egg holders, be creative).  Cool for half an hour and pop out
of moulds.  Let sit for 2 weeks, It makes a great soap, with good detail in
the mould.  You can also add essence oils, rose water, spices and the like
just before you take it off the heat.  Experiment, have fun!  Try a half
cup of oat meal and milk instead of water, or cornmeal and witchhazel (talk
about a skin cleanser!), Aloe and Lanolin, all things from the drug store.
Add three parts water to 1 soap and you get liquid soap.  The best thing of
these is that there is only what you put in.  I have a nurse friend who is
allergic to most soaps, but has no problem with these.

Next question:  NO ALUMINIUM!  NO WAY NO HOW!  It's very messy, take my
experience, just don't do it. Plastic if fine, not medieval, but very
useful.

Next:  In the basic soap recipe, the soap will not shake out of the mould,
it needs persuasion,  in the French milled stage, they pop out like
chocolates. ( I once made a cinnamon soap using Christmas candy moulds and
had someone mistake them for chocolates on the counter.   He thought he was
snitching a chocolate, big surprise.  Almost as good as the lady who found
some juice in the back of the fridge, and discovered that dye liquors in
alum base, are not all that good.  My house is not normally hazardous.)

Yes, Elina of Beckenham is an SCA name.  Was Trimaris, now West.  This
internet thing is amazing, gives credence that there are no more than seven
degrees of separation around the world.

Elina


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