Using Silk Tussah in soap

[Benjamin]

Hi Ben :wave:

It turned out quite nice. I think the proteins in the wool/hair brings a wonderful feel to the soap whether it's silk, poodle or wool. It does seem each is a little different but all of them are wonderful.

Thanks Lindy! With four cats and a Portuguese Water Dog I definitely have to give this a try. I also think my wife might try to have me committed when I tell her about this. This is going to be a hoot!

Out of curiosity how much hair do you use per pound of oils? The beast is almost ready for her spring cut, so I'll have a whole dogs worth of hair!

I so can't wait
---Ben

 

[cmzaha]

I use silk cocoons and just put the entire cocoon in the hot lye. I would not say it is cheaper, but then I have not boiled and unraveled the silk to compare the amount to tussah. In many cultures the pupae is eaten after the coocon is boiled for harvesting the silk. At the point the cocoons are harvested for silk they is not a live moth inside it is still in the pupae stage. I have had many hatch when I was raising silk worms (silk larve) to feed my chameleons, oh how they loved those big fat juicy larve, and they do ruin the cocoon when they emerge, so for the silk industry they cannot allow them to emerge, which is why they are harvested as soon as the cocoon is complete. Silk worms have been raised for thousands of years in order to provide silk. I cannot imagine the devastation they would cause if they were allowed to be completely wild and not controlled by farming them. I know how much the those guys can eat, and you can practically watch them grow in front of you. They have voracious appetites

 

[Lindy]

About the size of a small cotton ball. From your first knuckle on your thumb to the tip for a 6 lb batch.

 

[MzMolly65]

Do I want to help save the rainforests by not using palm? Yes! Do I want to take away the only job opportunity some poor familie has to feed their children, by growing palm? No! Yes, no, yes, no... hmm.

I completely agree. It's such a catch 22 and the opinions vary greatly depending on who you ask.

Based on our own existence we might think child labour is horrific .. they might think it's the only way for the kids or the family to survive. Chaining a kid to a weaving loom is absolutely horrific without a doubt .. but a kid working on the family farm???

Based on a vegans perspective, harvesting silk while the pupae are inside might be considered cruel or wrong but if the pupae are kept as food for a family .. ?? or if the money earned from farming silk pays for a home, groceries, clothes or sends kids to school ??

 

[Lindy]

It is all about perspective. We can't judge what we don't understand or haven't experienced.

 

[Tienne]

That's so true. I recall reading a thread online years ago somewhere where people were discussing odd foods people ate such as rats, insects and the eyes of animals they'd caught and such and a lot of the comments were "ewww!" and "yuck" and so on and then someone from Africa chimed in and said that being able to say eww to any food source truly was a First World problem and that people in some countries weren't so lucky and they didn't have the luxury of being able to say eww to any food source. They were lucky to have any food at all. That really put a perspective on things.

 

[MzMolly65]

then someone from Africa chimed in and said that being able to say eww to any food source truly was a First World problem and that people in some countries weren't so lucky and they didn't have the luxury of being able to say eww to any food source.

Sooo darn true and also sad. I was watching a documentary where some children in India are born and raised on a garbage heap and the only food they ever get is gathered from that same heap. It's so heart breaking and makes me stop and think before I clean out the fridge.

I suffered some personal hardship a few years back and spent several months living on nothing but boiled macaroni with a tiny bit of margarine on it. Even now I think some people on this planet would consider that no hardship at all.

Just to have food in my home at all is a blessing.

Back to the whole silk thing .. I have silk Mawatas in my knitting stash. I'm guessing I can use them in the same way being described here? Take a small piece and dissolve it in my lye water? I also have some that I coloured with food colouring and Kool-aid .. those ones had to be soaked in citric acid before the colour would hold. They've since been rinsed out fairly well and the only colour left is what's bonded to the silk's molecules? Should be ok in soap right???

 

[Lindy]

I don't know about the coloured pieces but the other should be fine.

 

[Candybee]

I remember a post long ago on another forum about a soaper who used cut up pieces of an old silk garment in her soap. She would just cut off a piece and throw it in her lye water to dissolve. I imagine that it had some dye in it.

About using dog hair and sheep wool.. now that got me to wondering if human hair could dissolve in lye. I suppose it does as it has been used for decades to clean out stopped sinks. Would the proteins from human hair add anything to the soap I wonder?

 

[houseofwool]

And now I am curious because I shed like crazy...

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

The Admirable Lady is cutting my hair tonight, so I might well keep some back for playing with. Imagine that for label appeal - "Contains real pieces of The Efficacious Gentleman!"

 

[Lindy]

I can't see why not.

 

[MzMolly65]

my cat has a lot to contribute to this thread (and my house in general)

I might have to try some cat hair in my soap, What's the benefit of the added protein?

 

[Seawolfe]

my cat has a lot to contribute to this thread (and my house in general)

I might have to try some cat hair in my soap, What's the benefit of the added protein?

Great (or insane) minds think alike. I have a fluffy grey cat that would be happy to donate his undercoat on this vernal equinox. Truly cruelty free fur, from the delicate underbelly, the softest spot of spoiled kittehs, fed lovingly on treats and bites of a small terrier...

 

[grayceworks]

I told my kitties the idea... ummm...

 

[Dennis]

ManKatt has assumed the donation posture - he just doesn't know it. :evil:

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Fuzzy kitties! How can you guys resist?

 

[Kleine Teufel]

Lindy, glad to hear of another weirdo! I was grooming out a friend's angora rabbit before breeding and it hit me... if I can make silk soap, why not angora? It worked well, and she gave me a bag of the shorter and knottier fiber that I had groomed out.

 

[MzMolly65]

Oh Dennis .. ManKatt has a lovely little mouse-tash! Very dignified .. despite the Bert Reynolds pose!

Cyrus on the other hand .. could not be bothered rousing for the occasion. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[Benjamin]

I mentioned dog hair soap to a friend and he said the only problem might be when you soap up your belly your leg might start to shake.