There was a gathering at Kathy and David Browne’s house on the 19th 20th and 21st of April. On Saturday {which was the 20th} we made felt.

We first took wool and brushed it with either a comb ...

... or the carters to get out all of the knots and
dirt and stuff and so it would be all fluffed up.

When we got enough we put the wool spread out on a screen.

We put natural grated soap on top of the wool and ...

... poured hot water on top.

We rolled up the wool and ...

... then rolled it back and forth to agitate it.

Then we unrolled it and put more soap and hot water on it. We did the same thing over and over until the wool was made into felt.

We also made felt pouches with wool that had been dyed {not by us}. Mary Baxter supplied the colourful wool. To make the pouches we got a little rock and wrapped different color wool around it until it was the size of a baseball. Then we dunked it in hot water and put grated soap on top. Then we rolled it back and forth in our hands to agitate it. We dunked it in the hot water again then put more soap on. We did that repeatedly until it was felt.

We had to leave the felt pouches for a week before they were dry enough to be cut open and have the rock taken out.

On Sunday... We Made Soap.

All we had to do was heat the fat and the lye {in separate pots} until they reached a certain temperature. The fat was rendered down from six pounds of lard and six pounds of beef tallow to make six pounds of clarified fat {beforehand}. We brought the fat to a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit and the lye to 83 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then, we removed them from the heat and mixed them together. We stirred the mixture continuously until it reached the consistency of sour cream and its surface could support a drop of mixture for a moment.

The reason we didn’t have to leach the lye from ashes on the weekend is because Kim Saunders did it at her own house beforehand. She did this by getting two half barrels and placing one on top of the other. The first barrel had a small crack in the bottom corner of it and it went on top of the other one. First, she put hay in the bottom to line the top barrel and prevent the ashes from seeping out with the lye. Next, hard wood ashes were put in to fill the barrel. A well was made in the ashes, to which warmed rain water was poured. She refilled the well with water every half hour of so until the lye seeped through. Lye is the potash leached from ashes. It took approx. two days to leach the lye from the ashes. The water seeped through the ashes and went out the little crack in the barrel into the barrel underneath. She collected a lot doing this but we used only 2.5 pints to make our soap.

We poured the soap into individual containers for each person. They in turn, added what they liked; we had pure vanilla extract and oatmeal, while some added nothing.

It has been a good four months and our soap still isn’t very hard. We were told that it would be a soft soap anyway. We had a great time and learned a lot.

Report written by Felicia Saunders. Photos taken by David Browne.

 

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What's a gathering without a little fun!
The girls are shown here striking their "Secret Agent/Angels" poses.