cpjeeves said:
Hi everyone, it's been ages since I last posted but insomnia and procrastination have driven me back here
Ah... insomnia and procrastination, two of my best friends.
cpjeeves said:
I'm also planning on:
-learning how to make soap at home (I'm not sure why I want to do this, but I really do)
I was walking through uni. once, listening to a girl talking about wanting to make soap after seeing the movie Fight Club? It wasn't you, was it?
You can make soap using a cold process, it's just a matter of mixing lye (AKA Draino) and tallow (Cow fat) in the right ratio. You can use animals fats other than tallow too, lard (Pig fat)also works well... the higher the salt content of the fat, the better the soap.
You can also mix in vegetable fats and oils, but use an animal fat as the base.
Hot process soaps turn out much better. The only real difference is you boil the fat in a pressure cooker, then let it cool in the fridge. This seperates the glycerine from the fat. (The glycerine is the brown layer on top.)
Oh, and when you're making the soap, wear gloves whenever you handle the lye... this stuff burns anything that's even slightly wet, including your skin, mouth, nose, eyes, et cetera... it's really nasty stuff.
Luke.