Sunday, 8 March 2009
soapy stuff again
I've had another lot of tallow and lye filling up my house with fatty smells for the last few days, adding more lye every day as every result seemed too fatty. I haven't any lye left now so hopefully it will be OK this time. The purpose of having another go was to test out a comment I either heard or read, that if you throw in some salt just before the end of the cooking process the soap will be harder. I chucked in a scoop of dishwasher salt (which may have been a mistake 'cos I can't get it to dissolve) and am now waiting to see what happens.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
More on Soap
Well, I have spent the last few weeks experimenting with soap making and rather a smelly job it has been too! I decided to use the slow cooker as I knew I could leave it on for ages without having to constantly supervise the pan, then found my previously prepared ingredients (tallow and lye) and got started. I now wish I had blogged this as I went along but here I am 6 attempts later. Please note that there is a lot of guess work in balancing the ratio of tallow to lye which I think probably gets easier the more you do it (a bit like knowing how to get the ratio of fat to four just right for pastry).
First attempt - boiled up on high for a couple of days and allowed to cool. The outcome was a rather pale beige looking, soapy stuff on which floated a layer of fat. The 'soap' left a greasy residue when I tried to wash my hands with it. My conclusion was that there was too much fat.
Second attempt- Added more lye to the mixture above and continued to cook it for another 24 hours. The outcome was similar to above, however the layer of fat was thinner that before. My conlusion was that I was on the right lines but there was still too much fat.
Third attempt - took the fat off the top and halved the mix in the cooker, then added yet more lye. I wanted to test out the theory that too much tallow in the mix would result in the fat floating on the top and that if there was too much lye the soap would float on top of the lye. After half a day of cooking and then cooling, sure enough the soapy stuff was floating on top of the lye, however it was still more greasy than cleansing and so I decided it needed cooking up again.
Fourth attempt - cooked up the mix above for another day and the whole lot saponified, no fat floating and no lye on the bottom. The greasy factor was less, I felt I was on the way.
Fifth attempt - added yet more lye so that after cooking up for another day plus cooling, the soapy stuff floated on the top of lye. I took this to mean that the soapy stff could not accomodate any more lye. Sure enough this was the first attempt which actually did not leave my hands greasy. There was no fat on top and no lye lurking underneath. It has a very silky feel to it and was just pourable rather than being stiff like lard. As soap was apparantly stored and transported in firkins (small barrels) perhaps this is how it is supposed to be? I didn't want to loose this lot of what I felt I could actually call soap so put it in a plastic pot (not a firkin) and put to one side.
Sixth attempt - having lots of tallow and lye left, I decided to try and replicate my previous success - I put in what I thought was plenty of lye and turned on the cooker - oh no not enough - yet more lye and more cooking has been required. As a warning to others I had an unpleasant and potentially dangerous experience. Having left the slow cooker on all day while I was at work, I came home and stirred the mixture, it frothed up. spilled right over the pan and all over the top and floor and fused the electricity. The difference was that on previous attempts I had stirred the mixture every now and then throughout the day. My theory about this is that a gas is created as the tallow and the lye react with one another and that stirring regulary releases the gas slowly. This attempt is cooling in the slow cooker as I blog. If, in the morning, it remains greasy I know I can just keep on adding lye and cooking to acheive the right mix and saponification.
First attempt - boiled up on high for a couple of days and allowed to cool. The outcome was a rather pale beige looking, soapy stuff on which floated a layer of fat. The 'soap' left a greasy residue when I tried to wash my hands with it. My conclusion was that there was too much fat.
Second attempt- Added more lye to the mixture above and continued to cook it for another 24 hours. The outcome was similar to above, however the layer of fat was thinner that before. My conlusion was that I was on the right lines but there was still too much fat.
Third attempt - took the fat off the top and halved the mix in the cooker, then added yet more lye. I wanted to test out the theory that too much tallow in the mix would result in the fat floating on the top and that if there was too much lye the soap would float on top of the lye. After half a day of cooking and then cooling, sure enough the soapy stuff was floating on top of the lye, however it was still more greasy than cleansing and so I decided it needed cooking up again.
Fourth attempt - cooked up the mix above for another day and the whole lot saponified, no fat floating and no lye on the bottom. The greasy factor was less, I felt I was on the way.
Fifth attempt - added yet more lye so that after cooking up for another day plus cooling, the soapy stuff floated on the top of lye. I took this to mean that the soapy stff could not accomodate any more lye. Sure enough this was the first attempt which actually did not leave my hands greasy. There was no fat on top and no lye lurking underneath. It has a very silky feel to it and was just pourable rather than being stiff like lard. As soap was apparantly stored and transported in firkins (small barrels) perhaps this is how it is supposed to be? I didn't want to loose this lot of what I felt I could actually call soap so put it in a plastic pot (not a firkin) and put to one side.
Sixth attempt - having lots of tallow and lye left, I decided to try and replicate my previous success - I put in what I thought was plenty of lye and turned on the cooker - oh no not enough - yet more lye and more cooking has been required. As a warning to others I had an unpleasant and potentially dangerous experience. Having left the slow cooker on all day while I was at work, I came home and stirred the mixture, it frothed up. spilled right over the pan and all over the top and floor and fused the electricity. The difference was that on previous attempts I had stirred the mixture every now and then throughout the day. My theory about this is that a gas is created as the tallow and the lye react with one another and that stirring regulary releases the gas slowly. This attempt is cooling in the slow cooker as I blog. If, in the morning, it remains greasy I know I can just keep on adding lye and cooking to acheive the right mix and saponification.
The next experiment will be to add some salt near the end of the cooking process as I have been told that this makes the soap harder - watch this space ....
Don't try this at home unless you are happy for your house to smell of fat or you can use a separate outhouse. AND make sure you stirr it regularly.
Incidentally, at the suggestion of a friend, I tried soaking my very grubby floor cloth in diluted lye. It was supposedly used to soak linen and take out stains. Well it worked, and took much of the greyness out of the cloth (and it was very dirty). I can quite see it being effective on less grimey linen that would have been used to wear, for table cloths, for clouts etc.
Friday, 23 January 2009
Soap Making
"So what has this got to do with felt?" some of you may ask. Well, in short, soap provides the alkali environment required for the scales of the wool fibres to open and lock together. Good wife Joan would not have known this technical feature of course, to her the use of soap would just have been information passed on through generations and from one craftsman to another.
A couple of years ago this led me to wonder how soap would have been made. We are aiming for what was called grey soap, white coloured Castille soap was known and imported from Castille but the ordinary folk would not have had access to this and I am sure most housewives would have known how to make their own for laundering and other purposes. To summarise what I have read and subsequent experiments; tallow and lye need to be boiled together until saponification takes place. The tricky bit seems to be establishing the correct balance of fat to lye...
ABOUT LYE
Lye is VERY caustic - be careful not to burn your hands. It is made by running rain water through wood ash. The quality of the lye will depend on; the wood that has been burnt to create the ash; how many times the ash has been used; how much ash is used; how much rain water is used; and probably a whole lot of other factors I don't know about! The lye may be weak (a pale colour like beer) or strong (dark as brown ale) or anything in between. To be useful for soap the lye should be strong enough to float a good egg. You can always put the weak stuff through the ash again! Apparantly lye was also diluted to presoak washing to get out stains and whiten linen.
ABOUT TALLOW
Tallow is made by rendering and cleansing beef fat. First find your fat - a friendly butcher might help. Then fry it until all the fat comes out leaving delicious crunchy bits to nibble on. Beware of making yourself feel sick! Then boil the fat in a pan with water, so that the water takes up the dirt from the fat - leave it to cool so the fat floats on the top and hardens. Lift the fat off the dirty water - it should be a lovely whiteish colour and completely clean - and throw the dirty water away. I suppose you could use lard bought from a shop but you wouldn't get the crunchy bits! I think you can use other fat but the best tallow is, I beleive, made from cattle.
MAKING THE SOAP
this is where the guess work comes in, and the old written recipes are no help at all. They all say boil the tallow and the lye together, but give no idea of amounts or for how long - so it's guess work. I have however read that if you put too much lye the soap will be caustic and burn your hands, and if there is too much tallow- guess what? it will be greasy! Our first successful experiment was at Kentwell Hall, Easter 1568 (2008) when we heated and regularly stirred a good sized lump of tallow with a deal of strong lye, in a cauldron, over a fire for four whole days (not nights as there was noone to tend the fire). This resulted in some grey/brown stuff which cleans things. Not sure I would want to have my hands in it all day or have a bath with it though!
We had some limited success during the following summer and this week I decided to experiment with the slow cooker at home. The great thing about this was that I could leave it unattended, even overnight. The bad thing was that it stank the house out! I definately had the wrong balance of fat to lye as, after 36 hours of bubbling and then being left to cool down a thick layer of fat settled on top. So I stripped that off, put in a bit more lye and heated it up again for another day - hey presto some more dingy looking soapy stuff but as it cooled it became apparant that it was still too fatty. I had a little bit of lye left so added that and heated it up for another 24 hours, still too fatty but no lye left. This time left the pot to cool on a slant so that the fat could drain off and leave the soapy stuff behind.
The main danger of this method was that stirring the hot mixture infrequently as I did, when I did stir the mixture, there was a real danger of it bubbling up over the side of the cooker. I had to proceed with extreme caution and stir very gently at first until the whole mix could be stirred with come vigour. You'll know what I mean if you try it!
Once you have got this far the "soap" should then be cut into blocks and left to "cure", which I think means harden, for a few months. Soap is definately not something you can make in a day!
I am wondering if you can expect fat which does not saponify the first time roundwill do it on future occasions or if I just have not got the ratio of fat to lye right. On reflection the first time round we used a much higher proportion of lye and this time it was vica versa. That my also explain why the first time the soap floated on top of a runny lye-like mixture and this time the soapy stuff sank under a layer of fat. Hopefully will get a better result next time! this is when I wish I had been more scientific and actually measured the ingredients first!
A couple of years ago this led me to wonder how soap would have been made. We are aiming for what was called grey soap, white coloured Castille soap was known and imported from Castille but the ordinary folk would not have had access to this and I am sure most housewives would have known how to make their own for laundering and other purposes. To summarise what I have read and subsequent experiments; tallow and lye need to be boiled together until saponification takes place. The tricky bit seems to be establishing the correct balance of fat to lye...
ABOUT LYE
Lye is VERY caustic - be careful not to burn your hands. It is made by running rain water through wood ash. The quality of the lye will depend on; the wood that has been burnt to create the ash; how many times the ash has been used; how much ash is used; how much rain water is used; and probably a whole lot of other factors I don't know about! The lye may be weak (a pale colour like beer) or strong (dark as brown ale) or anything in between. To be useful for soap the lye should be strong enough to float a good egg. You can always put the weak stuff through the ash again! Apparantly lye was also diluted to presoak washing to get out stains and whiten linen.
ABOUT TALLOW
Tallow is made by rendering and cleansing beef fat. First find your fat - a friendly butcher might help. Then fry it until all the fat comes out leaving delicious crunchy bits to nibble on. Beware of making yourself feel sick! Then boil the fat in a pan with water, so that the water takes up the dirt from the fat - leave it to cool so the fat floats on the top and hardens. Lift the fat off the dirty water - it should be a lovely whiteish colour and completely clean - and throw the dirty water away. I suppose you could use lard bought from a shop but you wouldn't get the crunchy bits! I think you can use other fat but the best tallow is, I beleive, made from cattle.
MAKING THE SOAP
this is where the guess work comes in, and the old written recipes are no help at all. They all say boil the tallow and the lye together, but give no idea of amounts or for how long - so it's guess work. I have however read that if you put too much lye the soap will be caustic and burn your hands, and if there is too much tallow- guess what? it will be greasy! Our first successful experiment was at Kentwell Hall, Easter 1568 (2008) when we heated and regularly stirred a good sized lump of tallow with a deal of strong lye, in a cauldron, over a fire for four whole days (not nights as there was noone to tend the fire). This resulted in some grey/brown stuff which cleans things. Not sure I would want to have my hands in it all day or have a bath with it though!
We had some limited success during the following summer and this week I decided to experiment with the slow cooker at home. The great thing about this was that I could leave it unattended, even overnight. The bad thing was that it stank the house out! I definately had the wrong balance of fat to lye as, after 36 hours of bubbling and then being left to cool down a thick layer of fat settled on top. So I stripped that off, put in a bit more lye and heated it up again for another day - hey presto some more dingy looking soapy stuff but as it cooled it became apparant that it was still too fatty. I had a little bit of lye left so added that and heated it up for another 24 hours, still too fatty but no lye left. This time left the pot to cool on a slant so that the fat could drain off and leave the soapy stuff behind.
The main danger of this method was that stirring the hot mixture infrequently as I did, when I did stir the mixture, there was a real danger of it bubbling up over the side of the cooker. I had to proceed with extreme caution and stir very gently at first until the whole mix could be stirred with come vigour. You'll know what I mean if you try it!
Once you have got this far the "soap" should then be cut into blocks and left to "cure", which I think means harden, for a few months. Soap is definately not something you can make in a day!
I am wondering if you can expect fat which does not saponify the first time roundwill do it on future occasions or if I just have not got the ratio of fat to lye right. On reflection the first time round we used a much higher proportion of lye and this time it was vica versa. That my also explain why the first time the soap floated on top of a runny lye-like mixture and this time the soapy stuff sank under a layer of fat. Hopefully will get a better result next time! this is when I wish I had been more scientific and actually measured the ingredients first!
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
16th Century Hat shapes - web search results
While watching nonsense on TV I decided to have a look for early 16th century hat shapes and came across the following links which you might also find of interest;
- a selection of portraits can be found on the National Portrait Gallery UK web site http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portList.asp?search=ap&subj=90%3BHats+and+head-attire&page=2
- Dawn provides a selection of flat caps, she suggests that they are sewn but I think some of the hats pictured, especially those with the turned up brims, definately could and probably would, have been made from felt. The brims would stay up better. http://www.reddawn.net/costume/hats.htm
- although this hat looks like it was sewn, possibly out of leather? http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=ap&subj=90%3BHats+and+head%2Dattire&rNo=13
- wikepedia also has some interesting info and pictures - here is some general fashion information with sections on head gear for women and men http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1500-1550_in_fashion#Hairstyles_and_headgear and here is a close up portrait showing a barett (looks like a felted beret to me) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Baldung_021.jpg
let me know if you find anything else!
Thursday, 18 December 2008
More on Monmouth (see post on 7th Sept 2008)
been a bit out of sorts of late so
not a lot of blogging (or much else
for that matter) but was mightily
cheered by Melody who, after
reading my plea for a knitter,
has knitted then felted a
monmouth cap, and Jon,
who is sporting the hat in the
photo's and agreed to them
being published here.
Even better Melody has offered
to knit one/some more for us to
have as props to work on next
year! Oh yes, for those of you who
don't already know, next year is
1535 - a big fashion change is on
the cards!
Thank you Melody and Jon (doesn't he look handsome!)
not a lot of blogging (or much else
for that matter) but was mightily
cheered by Melody who, after
reading my plea for a knitter,
has knitted then felted a
monmouth cap, and Jon,
who is sporting the hat in the
photo's and agreed to them
being published here.
Even better Melody has offered
to knit one/some more for us to
have as props to work on next
year! Oh yes, for those of you who
don't already know, next year is
1535 - a big fashion change is on
the cards!
Thank you Melody and Jon (doesn't he look handsome!)
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Beavers
Beavers were nearly hunted to extinction in Europe during the 16th century for their wool which was used in the manufacture of fine hats. Once the Americas were found, beaver skin was so prized that it was imported for the felt hat industry. Especially prized were beaver skins which had been worn, either by native American Indians or by early settlers, as it was found that once worn the fur itself would felt more easily. Those of us who were brought up with cowboy films probably all have an image of Billy Crockett and his beaver hat with the strange tail hanging down the back!
Here is a translation of what Plinius Secundus had to say about beavers in his book "The Historie of the World. Book VIII" written in 1601 http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/pliny8.html#b11
"The Bievers in Pontus gueld themselves, when they see how neere they are driven, and bee in danger of the hunters: as knowing full well, that chased they bee for their genetoires: and these their stones, Physicians call Castoreum. And otherwise, this is a daungerous and terrible beast with his teeth. For verily, hee will bite downe the trees growing by the river sides, as if they were cut with an axe. Looke where he catcheth hold of a man once, he never leaveth nor letteth loose untill hee have knapped the bones in sunder, and heard it cracke againe. Tailed hee is like a fish, otherwise he resembleth the otter. Both those beasts live in the water altogether, and carrie an haire softer than any plume or downe of feathers."
Master Pinchbeck can remember working with Beiver at his fathers workshop in London!
It looks like Beaver were also hunted for their genitals and they would bite them off rather than let the hunter have them! I like Pliny's description of the beast and how strong and ferocious it was deemed to be. They are a great talking point - even though the likely hood of actually getting hold of a beaver skin these days, let alone using it for felting is very slim!
p.s. just checked out "castoreum" and it seems that these are glands used in perfumery and for various remedies, the wearer will be irresistible!
Here is a translation of what Plinius Secundus had to say about beavers in his book "The Historie of the World. Book VIII" written in 1601 http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/pliny8.html#b11
"The Bievers in Pontus gueld themselves, when they see how neere they are driven, and bee in danger of the hunters: as knowing full well, that chased they bee for their genetoires: and these their stones, Physicians call Castoreum. And otherwise, this is a daungerous and terrible beast with his teeth. For verily, hee will bite downe the trees growing by the river sides, as if they were cut with an axe. Looke where he catcheth hold of a man once, he never leaveth nor letteth loose untill hee have knapped the bones in sunder, and heard it cracke againe. Tailed hee is like a fish, otherwise he resembleth the otter. Both those beasts live in the water altogether, and carrie an haire softer than any plume or downe of feathers."
Master Pinchbeck can remember working with Beiver at his fathers workshop in London!
It looks like Beaver were also hunted for their genitals and they would bite them off rather than let the hunter have them! I like Pliny's description of the beast and how strong and ferocious it was deemed to be. They are a great talking point - even though the likely hood of actually getting hold of a beaver skin these days, let alone using it for felting is very slim!
p.s. just checked out "castoreum" and it seems that these are glands used in perfumery and for various remedies, the wearer will be irresistible!
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
woolly wonderings
One of the things which has exercised my mind since setting up felting at Kentwell Hall has been that of wool.
The first year (2006) we just had the wool from the Norfolk Horn sheep that live on the Manor. We found this wool was difficult to work with which set me to wondering why it didn't felt easily; if we could make it easier; and what wool actually would have been used in earlier times.
The Norfolk Horn is a predecessor of the Black faced Suffolk Sheep, I have now found out that felters today generally consider working with this wool to be a wasted energy. With perseverence we have got it to felt albeit the results are springy and prone to pilling. However all things have their purpose and this has given great comfort to a number of feet (insoles) and backsides (seat pads). I also experimented and found that it was more suited to needle felting - not a lot of good for Tudor times but a handy 'mend it' option for when visitors have gone home!
The best sheep wool for felting has the right thickness, the right crimp and the right staple (I think I will do a seperate post about this another time).
Turning my thoughts to how can we make this easier I wondered about water; soap; and the wool.
With experimentation we found that the hotter the water the better - that was some progress.
Would it make a difference if the soap we used we more akin to that used in Tudor times? we made our own soap but found that although its a great talking point, it didn't make a lot of difference to the felting, its just very rough on our hands.
Was soap even used to create the right enviroment to get the wool to felt? don't know about that one yet!
I have heard of carrotting for other felting fibre (rabbit, beaver), is there anything that could be done to make this wool easier to work with. Recently I found mention of felters using short staple wool and felters choping wool to shorter lengths. We have yet to give this serious try.
These days felters seem to favour Merino wool imported from Australia, I didn't think we would be importing wool from Australia in the 16th century so that option seemed to be out and I have been trying to identify other options. There has been mention of 'Estridge Wool'; 'Wool from Pollonia'; 'Spanish Felt Wool' in the OED on line (see 'F' words) and in the information about Monmouth caps there is reference to 'Ryedale Wool'. This year "one who knows much of such things" did say to me that much wool was imported from the Baltic areas? What other sheep would there have been around at the time?
In my modern life I was introduced to Blue Faced Leicester which felts beautifully in no time at all. I don't know if this wool would have been around at the time but we bought some, a beautiful soft brown colour and all ready prepared to use this summer - we had our most successful hat making outcomes yet. I am really proud of the hat I made, I will try and post a picture soon!
Since the summer I have been exploring options from the Baltic and was kindly sent samples of Finnwool and wool from the Gotland sheep by Rod Finland (http://www.rod.4felts.com/ just have a look at his web site for inspirational modern felting!). I have made some small samples and am most impressed with the results. I need to experiment with these a bit further.
I have recently found out that the modern Merino Sheep are descended from Spanish Sheep and am guessing that these were the sheep which provided the fine 'Spanish Felt Wool'. Maybe we can legitimately use Merino after all!
Next I want to try and get hold of the fleece of a Ryedale sheep and find out exactly what is Estridge Wool? - any ideas?
The first year (2006) we just had the wool from the Norfolk Horn sheep that live on the Manor. We found this wool was difficult to work with which set me to wondering why it didn't felt easily; if we could make it easier; and what wool actually would have been used in earlier times.
The Norfolk Horn is a predecessor of the Black faced Suffolk Sheep, I have now found out that felters today generally consider working with this wool to be a wasted energy. With perseverence we have got it to felt albeit the results are springy and prone to pilling. However all things have their purpose and this has given great comfort to a number of feet (insoles) and backsides (seat pads). I also experimented and found that it was more suited to needle felting - not a lot of good for Tudor times but a handy 'mend it' option for when visitors have gone home!
The best sheep wool for felting has the right thickness, the right crimp and the right staple (I think I will do a seperate post about this another time).
Turning my thoughts to how can we make this easier I wondered about water; soap; and the wool.
With experimentation we found that the hotter the water the better - that was some progress.
Would it make a difference if the soap we used we more akin to that used in Tudor times? we made our own soap but found that although its a great talking point, it didn't make a lot of difference to the felting, its just very rough on our hands.
Was soap even used to create the right enviroment to get the wool to felt? don't know about that one yet!
I have heard of carrotting for other felting fibre (rabbit, beaver), is there anything that could be done to make this wool easier to work with. Recently I found mention of felters using short staple wool and felters choping wool to shorter lengths. We have yet to give this serious try.
These days felters seem to favour Merino wool imported from Australia, I didn't think we would be importing wool from Australia in the 16th century so that option seemed to be out and I have been trying to identify other options. There has been mention of 'Estridge Wool'; 'Wool from Pollonia'; 'Spanish Felt Wool' in the OED on line (see 'F' words) and in the information about Monmouth caps there is reference to 'Ryedale Wool'. This year "one who knows much of such things" did say to me that much wool was imported from the Baltic areas? What other sheep would there have been around at the time?
In my modern life I was introduced to Blue Faced Leicester which felts beautifully in no time at all. I don't know if this wool would have been around at the time but we bought some, a beautiful soft brown colour and all ready prepared to use this summer - we had our most successful hat making outcomes yet. I am really proud of the hat I made, I will try and post a picture soon!
Since the summer I have been exploring options from the Baltic and was kindly sent samples of Finnwool and wool from the Gotland sheep by Rod Finland (http://www.rod.4felts.com/ just have a look at his web site for inspirational modern felting!). I have made some small samples and am most impressed with the results. I need to experiment with these a bit further.
I have recently found out that the modern Merino Sheep are descended from Spanish Sheep and am guessing that these were the sheep which provided the fine 'Spanish Felt Wool'. Maybe we can legitimately use Merino after all!
Next I want to try and get hold of the fleece of a Ryedale sheep and find out exactly what is Estridge Wool? - any ideas?
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