ftt-Unustcr Farmlnt.Satirday, Murcft 31,1984
Homemade Soap
(Continued from Page B 2)
then puts it into the old soap dishes,
old margarine containers, cream
cheese containers or anything that
is a pliable plastic to allow the
hardened soap to be easily
removed. Apparently all of her
friends assist her in collecting the
containers used in this hobby. She
uses either one dip or two in each
container so the sizes are con
sistent.
The soap njust be aged, Betty
explains. “The longer it is aged the
better it is, but it should be air
dried for at least two weeks.”
Usually it is ready to come out of
the molds in two days and then
Betty puts it on large cardboard
flats to continue the aging process.
“It is really gentle when aged.”
An advantage of lye soap is that
it lasts a long time. Betty pointed
out that if you wet two bars of soap
they will stick together and stay, so
it is easy to use up partially used
cakes of soap.
While Betty sells enough of the
soap to offset her costs, she adds,
“It’s a hobby,” A very good record
keeper, Betty writes down where
all her fat comes from and then
makes sure that the donors get
some of that batch when she uses
it. She attends three flea markets a
year to sell her soap there.
While she enjoys telling about
soap making, she will not
demonstrate it for young people
because of the danger with the lye.
She says children are “very much
interested,” and she often talks
with youth groups. “I tell them to
keep their thoughts and bodies
clean and I give them a cake of
soap to remind them.”
She has taught several people
her method of making soap, but
she says after they find out how
much work it is most do not pursue
the hobby.
Betty adds, “People are so nice -
I couldn’t pursue this hobby
without this tat that they give to
me.”
Rug braiding is another hobby
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which keeps Betty’s hands busy
She keeps her braider attached to
the kitchen table, and often works
on a rug while waiting for the lye
and fat to cool. She uses only
recycled wool, finding it at garage
and rummage sales, and washing
it all before beginning a rug. She
has pounds and pounds of wool cut
into strips and turned under, just
waiting to be braided.
Her rug braiding is a relatively
new hobby. “I took a course in 1966
with my daughter, but I didn’t do
anything with it until 1976,” Betty
recalled. Since then she has made
three dozen rugs, some of which
have won prizes at both the
Manheim and Pennsylvania Farm
Shows. A very orderly scrapbook
includes a picture of each of the
rugs and information on who has it
now, and how long it took to make
it.
Betty says, ‘‘l take it with me
anyplace where I have to sit and
wait.” She presently has orders for
55 braided chair seats and six rugs.
Betty also saves Campbell Soup
can labels for Henderson Set
tlement, Inc. in Kentucky, and
envelopes with stamps which she
takes with her for stamp collectors
when she visits retirement homes.
Secretary of the library board,
Betty spends time seeing that the
library is staffed, and she is
currently serving as president of
Farm Women #2. “Being president
has been very rewarding,” she
says.
A member of the Salem United
Methodist Church in Manhiem,
Betty serves on the membership
committee of United Methodist
women. She makes phone calls or
writes notes to people who are new
to the area and tells them at
tending church is a good way to get
acquainted. She sends “dozens of
cards” on behalf of her committee.
A mother of six, Betty has 14
grandchildren and five great
grandchildren, so has plenty of
cards to send to her own family.
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Betty says' she doesn’t consider
herself organized, but on her table
are cards to be mailed in the
current month, all addressed and
ready to go. She puts the dates
where the stamps will go and
checks the cards each morning to
see which have to be mailed.
Another community activity is
working at the Manheim Historical
Society, where she often demon
strates the art of rug braiding.
Betty also helps at the Manhiem
Farm Show, helping to sell baked
goods after they’re judged.
Betty says some of her interest
in record-keeping may have come
about from her work in an at
torney’s office, a job which she
started when her youngest child
was four. After working part-time
the last few years she retired
completely a year ago, with 19
years of service.
Her retirement is a time of ac
tivity, however. Betty says, “You
find time for what you enjoy doing.
I say that I am often alone but
seldom lonely. It is a joy to have
something to share and something
to give.”
Betty is quick to point out that
she doesn’t have many “organized
volunteer activities,” but she is
making a large commitment to her
community in the activities she
enjoys doing.
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Betty ladels the liquid soap into some of the recycled
containers she uses as molds. She uses one or two dips to
make all bars of soap about equal in weight.
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