Homemade Laundry Soaps

I made laundry soap recently and have a tutorial and recipes for powdered and liquid laundry soaps.

I have to say making the batch of liquid laundry soap was quite an adventure!

Above I have the supplies used to make laundry soap:

1 gallon Distilled Water

Homemade Lard Soap

Borax & Washing Soda

I grated my one pound block of homemade laundry soap using a cheese grater and weighed out 2.5 ounces, then measured out 1/2 cup of Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.  

While I was grating my soap I had 4 cups of Distilled Water on the stove coming to a boil.  When it started to boil I added it to the grated homemade soap and stirred till it was dissolved, then I added the 1/2 cup Washing Soda and stirred till it was dissolved, then added the 1/2 cup Borax and stirred till it was dissolved.     

I actually doubled the recipe for the liquid soap so it made three quarts of liquid laundry soap.  I set it aside to cool and went to work on the powdered laundry soap which actually uses the same ingredients and measurements but excludes the distilled water.

If you use the blender to mix the dry ingredients it makes a nice fine powder.  I did have to stop the blender and take the glass pitcher part off and turn it upside down a few times to help mix it.  A food processor would work well too I'm sure.  Maybe next time!

Here's the powdered laundry soap.

It's hard to see in my picture above but I noticed that my liquid laundry soap behind the blender was starting to separate.  Not a real big deal...  I figured I could shake it up before using it.  But when I put my silicon spatula in the jar to stir it up I had a solidifying white mass above the water, hmmm.

That got me to thinking I have the blender out so why not pour a jar out into the blender and see what happens...

Now I have liquid laundry soap the consistency of Cool Whip!  I wasn't sure what to do next with it so I let it cool and watched to see if it separated.  Ahhh Nope...  I suppose that's a good sign but wondered how it was going to work in the clothes washer.    

The next morning I had the idea to dilute the liquid laundry soap using a 1 to 1 ratio and mix it together with my stick blender.  

So I measured out 2 cups of laundry soap fluff to 2 cups of distilled water and mixed it with my stick blender.  Ok, that's about the right consistency now!  

After diluting all the laundry soap I poured most of it in an upcycled one gallon  vinegar container and the remainder in the empty gallon water bottle.  After letting it rest for about an hour I noticed it was separating.  I've been keeping an eye on it and trying to shake it up to mix it together again and it's working now.  I labeled my liquid laundry soaps "shake before using".  

The next time I make this I will adjust the recipe and experiment a little more.

The best part about this laundry soap experiment was I figured out the cost for my batch of liquid and powder laundry soap.  For $4.06 I have 1 1/2 gallons of liquid laundry soap and 3 pounds 5 ounces of powdered laundry soap.  Even though I had to put in some extra time to get the consistency right I think it was worth it!

Here are the recipes for you:

Powdered Laundry Soap

2.5 oz grated Lard soap

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

Mix together in the blender or food processor for a good consistency.  

Use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry.

Liquid Laundry Soap

(the revised recipe)

2.5 oz. grated  Lard Soap

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

7 cups boiling water (distilled)

Pour boiling water in bowl mix in Lard soap till dissolved, mix in 1/2 cup Washing Soda till dissolved, mix in 1/2 cup Borax till dissolved.  I'd let it sit till it's cool before pouring into containers to see if it separates.  If it starts to separate you could try mixing it in the blender...  I haven't needed a second batch yet so I'm not sure if my recipe revision is going to work.  Use 1/3 to 1/2 cup per load of laundry.  

The original recipe came from Cathy at Soaping 101 on You Tube.  I made laundry soap about 9 months ago from a different recipe for under $20.00 that you can find here.  I was happy with it, it worked well and lasted 8 months.  This recipe looked fun because I was actually "making" one of the components that goes into it, the soap.

If you'd rather not make your own Lard Soap for this recipe I have several bars for sale in my Sudz n' Hunni Soaps web store ready and waiting to help with your laundry needs!

I hope you enjoyed my adventure in making homemade laundry soap!

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Clever Chicks

Frugally Sustainable

Gingerly Made

Adorned From Above

I Gotta Create

K n' K Designs Eagle

My card today is for Flag Day!  This cute digital image is from K n' K Designs, I "googled" her but didn't find her so I'm not sure if she's still in business.

This digital stamp set was part of a fund raiser in 2011 to help pay for postage for Operation Write Home's busy holiday season that year.

Happy Flag Day!

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Cuddly Buddly Love Birds

I have a fun card using a Cuddly Buddly digital image today for our Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps Midweek Throwdown challenge, themed "Birds".  I colored the love birds with Copic markers R22, R24, R27, Y13, Y15, Y17, B12, B14, R81, R83, R85, cut it out with a Spellbinders circle then matted it with a Spellbinders pinking circle die.  After that I cut two more Spellbinders circles, layered them and added them.  

Cardstock colors are Via Vellum Basic Black, Astro Brights Galaxy Gold, Turquoise, Stampin' Up! Pixie Pink and Copic X Press It.  I used two Papertrey Ink dies, double ended banners and a ric rac die for the edge of the turquoise panel.  "Tweetheart" is computer generated, I needed something for my double ended banner.  I also used two new to me Darice embossing folders.  

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Challenges:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Birds

Handcrafted Natural Carrot Facial Soap

I've been working on new recipes for making cold process soaps, this Natural Carrot Facial Soap came out beautifully and feels great on my face. 

This particular recipe is a blend of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Castor Oil, Almond Oil, Avocado Oil, Camellia Oil and Emu Oil all chosen for their reported skin nourishing properties.

There's even a touch of Tussah Silk for it's ability to increase lather and it's luxurious feel. 

I chose these four essential oils because:

Carrot seed (Daucas carota) essential oil is said to  be best known for its skin-healing abilities,  
it's also said to be useful for eczema, psoriasis, skin ulcers, skin infections and in healthy skin to restore tone and to moisturize.  It has a carrot like fragrance too.

I chose Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora) for it's reported  antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, anti bacterial and skin nourishing properties.

Sandalwood (Santalum album) is said to have moisturizing and antiseptic qualities as well as anti-inflammatory, astringent properties.

Lemon (Citrus limon) because it's said to be Antibacterial, Anti-fungal, Antiseptic, Astringent and detoxifying.   

I've been washing my face with this new soap for about a week now and I really like it!

If you'd like to try it too I have it for sale in my new Sudz n' Hunni Soaps web store.  A little side note about my new store...  I launched it early by accident so there are only a few items for sale so far.  As the handcrafted soaps I've been making are cured and ready I will be adding them to my store so there should be something new each week for awhile!

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Clever Chicks

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Gingerly Made

Adorned From Above

I Gotta Create

Wordless Wednesday

Green Living Thursdays

Copic Marker Tutorial

I took some time today to play with a Copic marker technique I like to use.  I watched a video that inspired me on how to do a bleaching technique with Copic Blending Solution, stamps, markers, air brush, etc.

The card above is my finished product, the Spellbinders Labels 14 is where I used this technique.  Instead of pulling out my air brush I used BG13 & BG15 markers.  I was in a hurry, I needed to clean up and fix dinner for my family.  It's a little streaked but I like the overall effect.

Here's a picture of the right way to do the technique.  Air brush with your markers BG13, BG18, BG72 onto a sheet of card stock.  Spritz your stamp with Copic Colorless Blender and stamp on the air brushed card stock.  I held my stamp down longer than I would have if I were using ink.  Be sure to clean off your stamp after each time you use it for a clean impression.  

One of the reasons I brought out my air brush system today is I was working on finishing my card and couldn't find a matching button to go on the tag I'd made.  Do you ever have that happen?  I used a small piece of foam tape to hold my button down to the paper I air brush on and sprayed it with several coats of BG13 and let it dry.  This works so much nicer than using a marker to color the button and dries much quicker too.  Another thing I tried today was using the BG13 marker to outline the edge of the Spellbinders tag, I went over it several times to make it darker.  I like the way it looks and think I'll try to remember to do this more often.

The stamps I used are actually rubber and acrylic stamps.  The dragon fly is by Stampendous, the flourish is by Kaiser Craft & the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.  The dragon fly is colored with Copic markers BG13, BG15, BG18, BG23, V15, V17, T5, T3.  My layout was to accommodate the largest Spellbinders Labels 14 die, I also used a Spellbinders Oval and tag die.  The white panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and I added straight lines in the center with my Scor-Pal.  

I hope you enjoyed my mini tutorial and are maybe inspired to try this Copic technique yourself.

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Digital Delights by Louby Loo Little Dumpling & Stork

I have a Digital Delights by Louby Loo card to share today!

I used the digital stamp Little Dumpling & Stork, sentiment set Baby Sentiments & digital paper pack "Sweetheart".

Supply List:

ALL DDSTAMPS USED:  Little Dumpling & Stork, Sweetheart digital paper pack, Baby Sentiments

CS AND PAPERS:  Via Vellum Basic Black, Stampin’ Up! Rose Red, Copic X Press It, Mohawk Color Copy Bright White 110 lb
INK:  HP OfficeJet 6000, HP LaserJet
MARKERS (if any):  R85, R83, R81, E000, E00, E01, B000, Y15, Y13, Y11, YR04, E34, T0, T1
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS:  Cheery Lynn Designs French Flair die, Papertrey Ink ric rac die

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Lilyboo Designs Hogwash

My card today is for our Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps Midweek Throwdown challenge, we have a "Water" theme this week.

I used my Lilyboo Hogwash digital image.  This cutie is colored with Copic markers V12, V15, V17, BG01, BG000, B60, E50, R20, R30, R32, C00, C0, C1, C2, C6, W0, W1, YG01, YG03, YG13, YG17, YG93.  My layout is Operation Write Home's Sketch #116 from last Sunday and the papers I used are Stampin' Up! Almost Amethyst, Eggplant Envy, Sorbet Blue Ice, Via Vellum Basic Black and Copic X Press It.

This was a really fun card to make following a OWH sketch, I like how Julie has the measurements written on the Operation Write Home sketches for us so I don't need to print them out and measure anything.  I only added one extra element to the sketch with the Spellbinders tag for my computer generated sentiment, I couldn't help myself  (:   

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Challenges:

Operation Write Home - Water

Created With Love Challenges - Anything Goes

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Tammy's Scrappin' Corner - Anything Goes + Texture