Until around 1916, making soap at home was commonplace. Using wood or plant ashes and leftover animal fats, families produced their own soap for cleaning their clothes and themselves. During World War ...

“I started messing around with soap after I got my wife a crafting magazine and thought, ‘Hey, we can make soap!’” Jeremy Lugo told me as he donned a pair of black latex gloves in preparation for a ...

Soap-makers love to tell the story of how ancient Romans first “discovered” soap by burning animal sacrifices on Mount Sapo, and how the creeks at the bottom of that mythological mountain were the ...

SCOTT -- The first thing one learns when making soap is that there is a lot of stirring involved. And trickling. And waiting. And hoping not to blow anything up. But, boy, does it smell good. An eager ...

Lye soap is made by boiling a mixture of lye (sodium hydroxide) and animal fats. Lye could be purchased, but most Arkansans seem to have made their own from wood ashes. Almost all the sources specify ...

Our Arkansas ancestors did the same thing, but generations of Arkansas women also used wood ashes to make lye soap. So far, my wife has refused to revive that tradition. Making soap is an ancient ...

At first blush, the counter before me has all the makings of a cooking class: kitchen scale, olive oil, Hershey’s cocoa mix, 6-pound tub of Crisco. But the latex gloves and safety goggles suggest I ...