As Dave once said, “Goofing off is no fun unless there’s something else I should be doing.” What I should be doing is writing checks, paying bills, stamping envelopes yet here I sit, typing. After the house flood, Mom and Daddy are again sitting in their own chairs, sleeping in their own beds and unpacking boxes galore. The sibs and I are helping but, truth be told, it’s Beloved Sistah who is helping most. One of the times I was there, Mom picked up the above basket and said, “This belonged to Grandmother Bennett and she kept her homemade lye soap in it. Do you want it?”
GASP! DO I WANT IT???
Yes, please. It no longer holds Grandmother’s lye soap but it holds lye soap from a variety of sources. Years ago, I made lye soap and ever since it’s the only soap I’ll use on my face. Dave and his sister used to get the most awful chilblains on their hands but once I convinced Dave to wash with homemade lye soap, his fingers stopped cracking open and bleeding in cold weather.
Grandmother’s basket was, most likely, made in the late 1800’s; perhaps Grandmother made it but there’s no way of knowing now. It’s still as sturdy as the day she put her first batch of soap in it and now holds my collection. When I travel, I buy useful items…lotions, toothpaste, handmade soap (difficult to find but I keep an eye out), clothing (scarves…lots and lots of scarves), shoes, jackets. I’m not keen on junk souvenirs (not even junque <g>) souvenirs which are soon lost or broken.
Last May, while in Scotland I stumbled across the Highland Soap Company and brought home ‘Scottish Honeysuckle & Milk Thistle’ soap.
The soap dish is pink depression glass, a thrift store find for ninety-nine cents and used in the half bath (which gets the most use in this household.) Originally, the dish was probably used for pickles or beets and the soap sliver is the last bit of my thistle soap. The large bar is patchouli from Michele at Toes in the Dirt blog in western Virginia. She farms at Honeysuckle Farm, using milk from her goats to make her lye soap. She has a variety of goods on her site and sells at farmers’ markets so both site and market are worth a visit. I’m a simple soul and am able to wax lyrical regarding soap and this patchouli bar is especially nice. It has a lovely scent, lathers well and is highly recommended! Also recommended is her blog where she gives hugely helpful advice, the most recent being how to start a garden for a newbie. Again, highly recommended!
One note…handmade soap does need to be kept out of water as it will melt. I found those little soap pads and they work well and can be tossed in the washing machine as well.
Located in the next county from me is Cedar Springs Farm & Dairy where Suzanne makes soap using her sheep milk. Her husband made these cute little crates from cedar trees he felled on their farm and it contains sandalwood soap and a brush. Yes, it’s designed for a gentleman but as there’s not such in my life, I’ll use it instead <smile>. Suzanne gives soap making classes and it delighted me to take one where I made six bars of unscented shea butter soap; one bar was given to my sister and I’m still waiting on her comments but, almost daily, I walk by and pick up a bar simply to smell and remember. Suzanne makes charcoal soap (the only lye soap I used on my face) and I’ve an order in for a couple of bars.
For years I’ve recommended handmade soap to folks, especially nice for folks with various skin problems. When properly made, cold process lye soap will not burn or even cause irritation and is the only soap I’ve used on my face for twenty-five years. I don’t know if the law has changed but it used to be the only product that could, legally, be labeled soap was that made with lye, water and fat which is why you see bars labeled “beauty bars”, etc. in stores. They aren’t truly soap. Either animal or plant fat may be used and the lye is sodium hydroxide or Red Devil Lye and water. One reason I stopped making soap was due to the difficulty in finding Red Devil Lye. A haz mat label had to be purchased, all thanks due to folks who were making illegal drugs…boo hiss!! I understand sodium hydroxide is back on the shelf and…oh yeah…let me add making soap to my list of things to do! <g>
What I’ll do instead is offer The Natural Soap Book as a giveaway; I’ve not used this book so no recommendation but it’s one I had on the shelf. If you’re interested in winning this book, leave a comment; from among comments, one will be randomly chosen but you’ll have to provide your own basket as Grandmother’s basket wants to stay with me. Oh! and if you’ve a mind, once you make soap I’m happy to try a bar and review.
Started making my own soaps. My favorite is a milk and joney. Als I msking salvrs. Would love s basket.
oops, Sorry Pamela – the basket is a family heirloom and not part of the package. I bet your milk and honey soap is fabulous!
Oh, my Grandma Pearl made lye soap, and I can smell it just by thinking about it.
Hi Lori, I’m pleased to have re-acquainted you with a beloved memory!
I had made soap in past times, but like you , found difficulty buying lye. Would love to have the book and make you a bar to review. Thanks Debra White
Hi Debra, lye is more easily found in grocery stores now that the druggies have…what? Done away with themselves or gone on to different drugs…? I don’t know but lye can be found more easily now.
The basket is beautiful. I usually keep the handmade soaps (that I get from a friend in Savannah, GA) in cotton crocheted bags that I can hang from hooks at the top of the shower. It keeps them dry, since she (O-Snipuls Bath and Body founder, Brittany) make vegan, all natural products, which come out even softer than lard or tallow based lye soap. I’ve become so enamored with homemade soap that I am trying my hand for the first time today.
so Tharesa, how did you soap making go? The “fat” part of lye soap can be tallow or lard or EVOO, coconut oil…a wide variety which are all natural products as well. I suppose even tallow and lard are “all natural” but not vegan. Nevertheless, I like and enjoy them all!
I loved your basket! The giveaway sounds great. I always thought I would learn to make soap, but could not get the lye here. So I gave up. My older Sissy swears by lye soap, and has used it for years.
Hi Annie – for a long while the druggies made it impossible to find lye but it’s back on the shelf at grocery stores. I swear by lye soap…charcoal for face and throat, scented for hands and usually liquid soap for shower.
That’s a stunning basket! I know you treasure it for it’s sentiment as well as it’s beauty. I never realized that lye soap was gentle on hands. I’ve searched for something for my dry skin and will have to see if Honeysuckle Farm ships theirs. My days when I might try making soap are past so I won’t enter the giveaway but it is nice for you to share this. I do love seeing the old crafts carried on by young people and that seems to be a good thing coming out of this time of being at home. I’m sorry you’ve run out of your soap from Scotland, it sounds lovely! Maybe another trip is called for?
Dewena, I found one more bar of Scottish soap…woohoo!
Oh, I forgot to say, that basket is fantastic! I have one around here that it reminds me of, that came from my grandmother, so perhaps it was from her mother’s era. Do you think it is possible to find such a sturdy and well-made basket anymore?
I do know basket makers but not sure their baskets would last 100+ years. I do know I won’t be around to find out! lol
I’ve got a basket from Dave’s family, late 1800’s, and it’s as sturdy as my basket. They sure knew how to make them!
I love homemade soap, and the people I’ve bought it from used lye to make it, I know. I’d collected a box full of bars that had been gifts over the last fifteen years, I think, while I’d used liquid soap pumps in most of the house to reduce mess from the many little hands.
It was only a month ago when I wasn’t “allowed” to go to the store that I decided to start using a bar of soap in the kitchen. I pulled it out of the box without looking and after I put the square of soap on its dish I looked at the label, and it was Frankincense and Myrrh. This was during Holy Week 🙂
To keep my bars out of the water I set them on piece of cellulose sponge. Usually I just cut a typical sponge in half with scissors and it makes a pad that is a bit smaller, or a lot smaller, than the soap, but the bar usually sits securely on it.
Thank you for a fun post, Sandra. I think I can detect a smell of soap in the air!
Gretchen, methinks there are no coincidences, only God incidences! That bar of Frankincense and Myrrh during Holy Week was God reminding you, “He’s go you in His hands”. /smile/
I don’t have that many little hands visiting so I have hand made soap at each sink resting on a small sponge-like something or other. It’s not perxactly a cellulose sponge but it’s sponge-like and can be tossed in the washing machine ever now and again. The soap dishes include a pink Depression ware pickle holder and a iron stone soap dish.
Beautiful basket! And lots of good info on soap making! Since I’ve won one of your giveaways already you needn’t put my name in the hat for the book giveaway. As interesting as soap making sounds, I probably wouldn’t get around to actually doing it. Don’t want to waste a good book! 🙂 Glad to hear things are returning to normal for your folks.
I have always wanted to learn how to make soap. I did not realize how good lye soap could be for your skin, and soap versus beauty bar. I enjoyed your “waxing poetic.” Also, I have a very old native American basket that was my mother’s……I love baskets!! ; )
The lye is good for cleaning, the fat/oil for moisturizing and water for distribution.
I’m so scientific…haha! I bet your basket is beautiful!
That basket is so attractive, homely and looking as though it has seen many things in its lifetime. No wonder you wanted it!
Barbara, both sides of the family have roots in Appalachia and the few items I’ve received are practical in nature and beautiful in their simplicity. My basket now holds handmade lye soap from varied sources.
Hmm, I wonder if lye soap would help my youngest with her terrible acne issue on her face?
Vicky, it’s certainly worth a try; I know people with severe skin problems and using lye soap has been very helpful and much less expensive than prescription medications.
I would give this to my sister Penny. She has been so good to be my caregiver. I love her so much and know this would make her happy.
Angela, a beloved sister is worth her weight in rubies!
Pick me, pick me! Love ya! Gina 🙂
love you more, Gina!