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Laundry soap and an apology

Laundry Soap Shreds
Shredded soap for homemade laundry soap

I admit I’ve been pretty quiet here on the blog lately and felt I owed an apology and explanation.  I haven’t dropped off the face of the planet- promise!  Summer gets pretty crazy around here between soaping, brainstorming with customers for fall gift projects, playing with a new soaping oil, and the youngsters off of school.  Please forgive me for the less frequent postings in these summer months but I’m hoping that we’ll all be happy with the pay off here soon!  We’ve got quite a few varieties working their way off the curing racks and some great ideas for the soaps to be whipped up next.  Yes, Herbert, even another round of beer soap with your name on it!

I’ve been asked a few times about how we make our laundry soap around here so I’m hoping to make someone’s day today.  Ours is pretty simple and you are welcome to whip up some of your own!  I just checked on my soap shreds again so I could snap a picture or two for you and placed them back onto the drying racks.  They should be ready to mix up by tomorrow.

I start by making a plain 100% coconut or lard soap, depending on what I’m looking for in the final mix.  After it has been soaped up and molded for 24 hours, I pop the soap out of the mold and cut it into large bars.  The bars rest for anywhere from 24 hours to three days before I shred them down.  I find the younger the soap, the easier it shreds.  These shreds go back on the rack for one to three days to dry out a bit more.  Once they’re where I want them, they get tossed into the soaping mixer and go for a quick spin.   (I learned from personal experience to keep a separate blender and mixer for soap stuff- soap still doesn’t taste good!)  The soap shreds get washing soda and borax mixed in; that’s it, unless you add a little fragrance when mixing it all together.  Everything gets placed into a bucket that sits on the washing machine.  How easy can you get, right?  It only takes us about a teaspoon to tablespoon to wash up our clothes- even the very muddy ones my kids have brought to me lately.  Do you have a favorite way to make your laundry soap or have you even tried before?  It was kind of intimidating at first, like soapmaking, but it’s a lot of fun!

Happy Washing!

Dorothy

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Texas Pioneer “Kids”

Texas Pioneer Kids CHA Donation
Texas Pioneer Kids CHA Donation- “It’s a Jungle In There” was created with my child for local fundraiser auction. She designed and I followed her orders. Fun times!

I have had a few questions about our “kids” line and decided to add our explanation to our blog to make it easier.  At this current posting time, we do not have a line of products that are designed for kids only.  All of our soaps, unless specifically marked on the package, are safe for all use on ages.  That means that as long as you only use it externally (on your skin only, please don’t eat my soaps) the entire family may use any soaps.  We will occasionally pour some soaps up into fun shapes or themes but we’re not ready yet for a kid’s only line.

What then IS the Texas Pioneer “Kids” label for?  Soaps created with my children for local donations, in short.  The nature of cold process soap making is not child friendly but my kids seem to love helping my mad scientist tendencies.  The soaping bug has bitten them also, I’m afraid.  They get to occasionally design their own soaps from start to finish and those become the “Kids” projects.  They will pick a melt and pour base, scents, colors, additives, and any mold they desire.  We work together on their projects but it is pretty much their soap.  I can only claim supervisor role as I try to make sure everyone follows safety procedures while cooking and the results are safe for use.  There are some fun and interesting results when the kids get in the kitchen!

We try in our family to teach our children to appreciate what they have and to give back to their community.  We have tied this to letting them have a creative expression in their soapmaking and then sharing it with others.  The “Kids” soap line is almost entirely donated to local charitable groups.  We enjoy spending time together in the kitchen, mixing up something fun, and making memories they can pass on to their future kids.  They select a bar or two to keep out of the batch as a keepsake and then the rest are made into gift sets for charitable fundraisers or we deliver the bars to a local charity or worthy organization.  I am working on finding a local nursing home or other ideas of places who might enjoy these.  Do you have any ideas?  I would love to hear them as the kids have summer soaping plans!

I hope this has helped clear the confusion and not created more.  I must now get back to the soap pot.  Another busy week is ahead!

Happy Washing!

Dorothy