Laundry soap

 

For those that make his or her laundry soap, what do you use do store it in?

I have used a plastic jug-like container.  It was OK, but soap got stuck in the handle since it was hollow.  I have used mostly quart jars with wide mouths.  I was gone for two weeks and I came back to numerous jars mostly empty still on top of the dryer making music every time the dryer went on.  I really can't figure out why the complete amount of soap can't be used and the jars rinced out and put away.  I was able to pick up 3 big gallon pickle jars at an estate sale about a week ago.  I think these will be my new storage containers.  The jars are heavier but they contain much more laundry soap.  

What do you think?

I found another picture of my Mom holding a fresh baked cherry pie in her vintage kitchen!  

Would you like to have Mom's great pie crust recipe?  

Have a great day!

Dawnie

Update on Whipped Laundry Butter

From time to time humans decide to take shortcuts.  Sometimes the shortcuts can work and at times the result is a complete disaster.  I made lots of soap last year.  It was just collecting dust and waiting for me to make laundry soap from it.  I made the soap  from coconut oil, lye (sodium hydroxide), water, and essential oil.  This soap was made without extra fats or colors (zero fat).  I used lavender essential oil for fragrance when making the soap.  I usually grate the soap up and follow the laundry butter recipe.  In our house, we ran out of all laundry butter and had to use store-bought laundry soap.  Due to the extra cost and extra chemicals in store-bought soap, I was in a hurry to make more laundry butter so I wouldn't have to buy more at the grocery store.  I couldn't find my salad shooter so instead of shredding or grating the soap up nicely, I chunked up the soap.  I made a double batch, where I would need 12 ounces of chunks.  I poured 12 cups of boiling water onto the chunks into a large plastic container with a lid.  I placed the lid on the soap and water and left this mixture alone for hours.  When I got a chance to work on the soap again, the water was cold and the soap chunks had melted into the water.  I added 2 cups of washing powder (made from baking soda) and 2 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax to this mixture. 

I blended a few minutes (2-8 min.) with my stick blender and it whipped up and thickened.  I wasn't sure if the whip would go down or not so I was hesitant to pace the soap into containers.  I did it anyway and it stayed nicely whipped.  I have since made 3 more batches and this still works fine.  The amount it makes depends on the amount of air whipped into the mixture.  This last batch made 7.5 quarts.  I am very happy to find that this shortcut worked!  If you try this and it works for you, let me know.  Thanks for viewing this post!  Dawnie

Handmade Laundry Butter or Laundry Cream Soap with Updated Pictures.

(Using a salad shooter is the easiest way to get shredded soap.)

Shred 36 ounces of 0% superfat coconut oil soap. The original laundry butter recipe is at http://custercottage.blogspot.com/2015/03/laundry-butter-recipe.html  and it calls for only 6 ounces of shredded soap.  I prefer to make larger batches.



 
Add 36 cups of boiling water and mix.  (2 gallons and one quart is the same as 36 cups)  I added a lid and allowed the soap to melt into the water.  Now, cool mix a little more.  It can't be boiling, but it can't be too cold or the borax will not mix in well.  The original recipe states that if it is too hot, the soap will form crystals.

 Add 6 cups of Borax to the mixture.  

 

Then add 6 cups of washing soda and mix well.  

 

*If you want to make your own washing soda, place 6 cups of baking soda in a roaster or on a baking pan.  Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Baking soda is much softer than Washing Soda.  Washing Soda feels like it has sand grains.

 

(After adding Borax it is still thin, but not as see through.)

After adding the Borax and Washing Soda, allow the soap to cool and gel for 3-6 hours.  If you try to speed up this process, more crystals may form.  

Note:   Gel does not necessarily mean the whole thing will gel.  Usually the top layer.  Start blending with the stick blender, even if it is thin under a top layer.  It will start to lather up and thicken.

(After the gel, you may find a thick top with a syrup like on the bottom.  I cut a hole with my stick blender to show how it may look.)

Once the soap has cooled and gelled, mix the soap with a stick blender.  Make sure you get everything that may have settled to the bottom of the container.  This makes approx. 10 quarts, or more depending on the amount of air that is whipped in. 

(After mixing.)

Have plenty of jars ready.  I needed 12, but it will also depend on how much air you whip into the soap batter.

 I have found that the soap sets up a little more as it ages.  Some extra water may be required or it will be hard to remove the soap from the container.  Wide mouth jars work best, but I like the look of the narrow jars better.  You may wish to add some fragrance oil or essential oil prior to placing the soap into containers.  This is optional, it will not make your clothing fragrant.  I usually add about a teaspoon or less per jar.  If you are gifting some of this soap, you may wish to add a tad bit of mica to make the soap prettier.  I use 2 tablespoons of laundry soap per load of laundry and this recipe gives you enough to wash 320 loads of laundry. 

I have not had any problems with this recipe.  At times you don't think it will thicken, but give it a little longer and keep stick blending.  Once my soap was a little gritty, but I cleaned just fine.  Now you are done, unless you want to make fabric softener.  

(It may thicken once it sets for a day or so.)

Powdered fabric softener recipe:  

One cup of solar salt, 1/2 cup baking soda, one tablespoon of fragrance oil.  I used baking soda to help with removing odors.   I plan to use 1/2 cup per wash. 

(Morton salt makes solar water softening salt crystals and this tends to be the least expensive way to purchase all natural salt crystals.)

This recipe only gives you enough fabric softener to make 3 loads of laundry.

I hope you find this recipe easy to read and follow.  Try it and let me know how it turns out for you. 

Dawnie 

PS  Don't forget to go to my website at: https://www.slipperywhenwetsoaps.com or my website at: https://www.custercottage.com or my Etsy shop at:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

Fabric Softener

Dear Wonderful Readers,

I have been researching fabric softeners.  I don't want to use vinegar or add the little fragrance beads we usually use because both can smell obnoxious.  I found a couple of places on the internet that said to use Epsom salts, essential oil, and baking soda.  I know salt makes water soft, from experience making soap.  One example of this is at:
http://www.everydayroots.com/homemade-fabric-softener

Another idea came from popsugar.com.  Their suggestion is to add Epsom salts into the laundry for softening it. 
http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Epsom-Salts-Fabric-Softener-31409923

I found another place that suggests ice cream salt or sea salt and essential oil.
http://www.thehippyhomemaker.com/have-the-softest-laundry-ever-by-adding-homemade-softener-crystals-to-your-wash/  

Christina, the author of the hippy homemaker, mixes this salt mixture into her hand made laundry soap.  She said the salt crystals dissolve in her wash.  Someone wrote into her blog and was wondering if she thought water softening crystals would be OK to use since they are cheaper.  Sea salt would be way too expensive.   I researched prices and It looks like a 40# bag of Morton solar salt from the salt mines in Hutchinson, Kansas, can be purchased for around $10.00  in most hardware and some grocery stores.  I actually spent $12.45 for 2 bags at Ace Hardware in Wichita, Kansas. 

The following link will give you several benefits of Epsom Salts.  Epsom Salts is a naturally occurring mineral compound of magnesium and sulfate.

Formula: MgSO₄

https://www.seasalt.com/salt-101/epsom-salt-uses-benefits/

From my experience with ice cream salt or rock salt, it is not always white.  The Morton Solar Salt is white, very few specks of any other color are in the bag.  The following will explain the specks:

http://www.cargill.com/salt/about/faqs/water-conditioning/index.jsp#top

"I'm finding some little black specks in my solar salt. Will it hurt my softener?
No, solar salt is a natural product made by evaporating seawater. It is harvested much like an agricultural crop and consequently may contain minute inclusions such as earth, small pebbles, and other naturally occurring materials."

Salt is sodium chloride or NaCl  When I used saltwater or brine to make soap, it made the water very soft.  Obviously salt makes water soft.  Does it soften the clothes too?  The package says it provides softer clothes and towels.   

In my picture, the plate on the left is the usual crystals we purchase for our family fabric softener.  Very little is needed per wash.  The clothes retain the smell after the laundry has been washed and dried. 

The plate on the right is my new fabric softener.  I used one cup of solar salt, 1/2 cup baking soda, a tablespoon of fragrance oil, and a teaspoon of blue mica.  Remember they used blueing to make clothes look whiter, so out of colors, blue seemed to be the best color to add.  LOL  Without using quite a bit of fragrance, my clothes will not smell fragrant.  That will not hurt my feelings at all.  I have sinus issues and asthma.  Just for fun, I added a tad bit of mica to color the salt crystals.  I also added a tad amount of oatmeal, milk, and honey fragrance oil.  I used baking soda to help with removing odors.  I have 2 dogs, and a son with stinky feet.  I plan to use 1/2 cup per wash.  I tend to wash large loads of laundry so I usually use 2 tablespoons of  laundry butter per load of laundry.  I could fill up a jar with both the laundry butter and the fabric softener mixed together, so it would be easier for me to measure out into the laundry. It would measure out to be 1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup per load, or 5/8 of a cup.

The ingredient label of the fabric softener we use is impossible to find.  When you go into the website, where the label said to go for ingredients (www.purex.com), it asks for your 10 digit numbers.  If the numbers start with_____ or _____ they would be followed with a * or ** then the formula is the old formula.  (The code is hard to read on the bottle since it is black letters on a dark purple background.)  When I clicked on one of the listed codes, nothing happened.  For the new formula, which my bottle is, there is not a link.  I finally gave up finding the ingredients, and I emailed the company for the answer.  We'll see if they respond.  The website does say that "Purex® Crystals is an in-wash fragrance booster, which provides freshness that lasts for weeks."  Do you remember all of the fragrance that comes out of the dryer vent when you dry clothes?  Do we really need all of that fragrance in our clothes??? 

I am sorry that this blog post is so long.  I wanted to provide you with information about salt and Epsom salts.  I also want you to save money and live more green.  I have not, nor do I plan to figure out how many loads of fabric softener could be made from 40 pounds of salt.  Feel free to do so.  LOL  I have tested this formula and I am happy with the results.  I plan to use the new fabric softener and see how it does over time.  Thank you for reading my blog.  Let me know how it works for you.

I mixed the fabric softener and laundry butter.  I added a little extra water to aid with mixing.  I can see someone in the future placing this mixture into small containers and drying it so it would be easier to toss a dried cube into the wash.  The little dab on the plate ans the two front jars is the laundry butter and the fabric softener mixed together. 

  My soap website is about finished.  It is located at:http://www.slipperywhenwetsoaps.com
Take a view around and let me know what you think.  The store is set up and you can make purchases.

My latest hand spun hotpad.  I spun the yarn with very soft wool.  I was not concerned with any lumps and bumps that ended up in the yarn.  After spinning a single yarn, I plied it with red polyester thread.  The last two rows are made with an added soft red wool in the yarn and no thread.  As you see, a tiny spinning wheel is under the loop.  I am trying to add these charms to hand spun items I make.  I don't have patience to make large items.  I do spin fine without lumps and bumps.  I like to save all of the wool that does not comb out well with my flick carder, and use it for the lumpy bumpy yarn.  The only way I can spin a fine yarn is when I comb tufts of wool with the flick carder. 

Future Project

I want to make soap in the above mold.  I bought the items for the last contest at Great Cake Soaps, but I didn't get around to making soap for the contest.   I happened to place the pre-made PVC pipe fittings into this mold which is approx 2-2.25 inches wide.  They fit perfect.  The right fitting in the mold has a funnel placed in it.
Dawnie

UPDATE 

 I have decided that mixing the laundry butter and the fabric softener together is not the best solution for me.  Water tends to pool in the mixture as it sets.  A dry soap and fabric softener will work much better when mixed.

I have been using this softener for a while now and it works great.  My clothes are nice and soft.  One item had static in it, but I tend to dry my clothes and then turn the dryer on again because the clothes set too long and wrinkled.  

Soap, Pigtails, Whipped Clean, New Logo

Coconut oil laundry soap in molds.

Laundry soap mixes and whipped and listed on Etsy.  Stain stick experiment in heart shape.

New Custer Cottage Logo

Pig tails!

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

 

I hope you had a good weekend!  Dawnie

 

Laundry Butter Recipe

http://custercottage.blogspot.com/2016/07/handmade-laundry-butter-or-laundry.html

I received permission to share this recipe with you.

This is from fat farm girl soaps.

It's an animal-free veggie-based variation on the cream soap that our grandmothers made for their own laundry, and it's *super* cheap! My grandmother made hers with tallow/lard soap, and instead of borax she used plain old salt, but this is better. You *can* use plain salt if you have concerns about borax.

Coconut oil soap is super cleansing, and is able to strip dirt right out of fabrics. The cool thing about Laundry Butter is that it's multi-purpose: you can use it as a laundry soap, a stain pre-wash, and it can also be used as a household cleaner for floors, draperies, etc.

Our household of three adults and 2 farm dogs spends about $4 total on laundry soap each year, and this is why.

If you don't buy coconut oil in bulk, to make coconut laundry soap, I recommend that you buy the coconut oil tub shown in the picture. It only costs $6 at Walmart, and will give you right around 3 pounds of soap. You can also use parts of laundry bars as stain sticks by just wetting them and rubbing them directly into stains.

However much soap you decide to make, be certain that you calculate for 0% superfat.

The way I make coconut soap is I scoop my room temp oil into a safety bowl in the sink, I add my lye solution, and I mix my soap past trace to full emulsion. When the soap looks like mayonnaise, use a spatula to pile it into a three pound loaf mold; a small bread loaf pan works for this if you line it with parchment or freezer paper and tape the inside corners to seal them. It will take about an hour for the soap to gel and solidify. I cut mine right away, others choose to wait until the next day.

To make Laundry Butter Cream Soap:

*Grate 6 ounces of 0% SF coconut laundry soap
* In a stainless steel pot with a lid, bring 6 cups of distilled water just to a boil, then take off the heat
* Pour grated soap into hot water and stir to dissolve completely
* *Slowly* sprinkle in 1 cup of borax, and stir until dissolved. *Do* *not* add to boiling water or with the soap when the water is super hot, or it will crystalize and you'll never get the crystals out.
* Stir in 1 cup of washing soda (made by baking 1 cup of baking soda @ 400F for 30 min.) and stir to dissolve. 
* Cover pot with the lid and let the mixture gel at room temperature for 3 to 6 hours until completely cool and set. Don't try to speed up process, or you'll end up with more crystals.
* When mixture is completely cool and gelled, use the stick blender to emulsify, making sure to get the bottom of the pot where some of your borax may have settled. Blend until the soap is the consistency of thick, creamy mayonnaise all the way through and all clumps are gone.
* At this time you can add any EOs that you'd like. Some essential oils survive the washer better than other. Some scents stay better if you use a clothes line rather than a heat dryer. Lemongrass is my best seller.
* Bottle into 2 one quart canning jars, tamping lightly on a folded towel to expel air bubbles. Store at room temp.

This recipe can be easily expanded. I make mine in 6 gallon batches to accommodate five flats of quart-sized jars. From start to finish, I can turn out a full batch in a 6 hour day.

The perks of Laundry Butter are:

Compact size: 1 jar washes approximately 160-175 standard loads in either front loading or top loading. washers. Unlike liquid soaps, you don't need a 5 gallon bucket to store a year's supply, and every jar weighs right around 3 pounds, making it ideal for college students and apartment dwellers.

Naturally phosphate free, making it gentle for the environment.

Less messy than either the powdered or liquid laundry soaps.

Very economical: it's not just multi-purpose, it's also super-concentrated. One Tablespoon washes a standard load of laundry. *And* the jar is recyclable. I give my farmer's market customers $2 off when they bring their jars back.

It's good for people with skin sensitivity. I have severe skin allergies, and this is the one soap that doesn't make me break out in hives.

For the record, if you make this soap to sell in bulk, you can make radical profits. Whilst the cost, not including the jars, is less than a dollar per jar, I sell this soap for $10 a jar, which is comparable and more economical that store-bought detergent, and it cleans just as well.

Refer to:  http://custercottage.blogspot.com/2015/03/new-laundry-soap-containers-and-beard.html

Updated laundry butter recipe with photos:

http://custercottage.blogspot.com/2015/02/laundry-butter.html

http://custercottage.blogspot.com/2016/07/handmade-laundry-butter-or-laundry.html

Please view my web store at: 

http://www.custercottage.com 

And my Etsy shop at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

Thanks for viewing!  Dawnie