Decided to quit lurking.

[JustBeachy]

Hello people. I'm Joel and I'm in South Texas. I started making soap with my grandmother years ago, the old fashion way, a long time ago. Then I got back into it about 15 years ago and made quite a bit of soap. Life seemed to get in the way and I quit my soaping for years. A little while back I was thinking, hmmm I'm divorced, so no honey do lists. Kids are older, not as taxing on my time ( I raised 3 teenagers as a single dad). Maybe I could just dabble in some soap again! Ha, dabble. As it was in the past, soaping is just way too addictive. :grin: But I'm having fun, making soap, experimenting with creams/lotions and hair products.

I've been perusing this forum for a while now, hiding in the shadows, refreshing my memory on soaping and gleaning new info along the way. Seems to be a good bunch of people. Thanks for having me, but as you see in my signature, I'm torn whether or not I can actually claim membership. They did accept me. haha

 

[tigersister]

Hi, Joel. Welcome, this is a very helpful and informative group.

 

[DWinMadison]

Hi Joel. I'm Daryl. Great to have you out of the shadows. There's great information and followship waiting here. Welcome.

 

[Seawolfe]

Hi and welcome

 

[CaraBou]

Great story. Wish I had soaped with my grandma! As it was, she made me clothes, which made me cry...

-Cara

 

[summerflyy]

Hi Joe ! Welcome to the forum ! It's a great place to be and soaping is really addictive !

 

[Susie]

Hey and welcome!

 

[shunt2011]

Hey Joel and welcome!

 

[judymoody]

Hi and welcome. It's always nice to welcome a new-to-us soaper!

 

[LBussy]

Welcome Joel! We need more men here. I love the ladies but I feel outnumbered (and outgunned) sometimes.

 

[JustBeachy]

Great story. Wish I had soaped with my grandma! As it was, she made me clothes, which made me cry...

-Cara

Yeah, grandma's are a great part of life. I still have her recipe for lard soap around here somewhere. Of course it's written in Czech, so.....

 

[JustBeachy]

Thanks for all the welcomes. I have enjoyed this site and have gotten some great info from it. Some things I would have never thought of, some reinforcement of old ideas, and plenty of new twists. I'm sure I'll enjoy being on the forum.

And LBussy, I was wondering how many guys were around. But then again, being surrounded by ladies is rarely a bad thing. haha

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome Joel!

As soaping forums go, we actually have lots of guys on board here compared to others, and more and more keep joining our ranks, which I think is great!

IrishLass

 

[JustBeachy]

Welcome Joel!

As soaping forums go, we actually have lots of guys on board here compared to others, and more and more keep joining our ranks, which I think is great!

IrishLass

Thanks IrishLass. I just had to tell you, I've noticed some pretty good signatures, but I love yours. Brings a smile to my face every time I read it.

 

[Jstar]

Welcome to the continuing addiction...remember..you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave :twisted:

 

[JustBeachy]

Welcome to the continuing addiction...remember..you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave :twisted:

haha, that ought to be a song. Oh wait....

Thanks for the welcome.

 

[Susie]

Yeah, grandma's are a great part of life. I still have her recipe for lard soap around here somewhere. Of course it's written in Czech, so.....

translate.google.com

No excuses

 

[JustBeachy]

translate.google.com

No excuses

I found a better route. Mom.com.

My mom is still alive and kicking, and she's still pretty good at Czech. I sent her a picture of the recipe and she translated it back for me. Which was amazing because i could barely read grandmas writing in English. haha Anyways, it turns out this one was her laundry soap recipe. It translated to this parenthesis are me.

Soap for clothes

3 cans Lye. ( I guess grandma used the same cans, cause she didn't bother with a measurement.)
15 lbs good hog lard. ( Not sure that meant from a good hog, or well rendered)
10 quarts water ( more on this later)

Boil for one hour in my medium black pot over fire. When time is up, let the pot cool down, saw it into bars. Get ready to wash clothes.

My mom thinks she has some of the other recipes still around that she hasn't given me. I get all the recipes, including food, because my one sister can't boil water. She's going to see if she can find any of the other soap recipes for me.

On the water. We always get so particular about our ingredients, like "only distilled water". Grandma used her well water for everything, including soap. It was a small farm near La Grange, Texas. The water was horrible. Like drinking liquid sulfur. Even the ice cubes made our Cokes taste like sulfur. hahaha. Yet somehow, she managed to get by and make some good soaps.

 

[IrishLass]

What an awesome treasure to have passed down to you! Sweet!

IrishLass

 

[CaraBou]

The old recipes are great reminders that we sometimes take life too seriously. Keep digging them up, we can still smell the flowers growing in the dirt.