Does anyone here make their soap?

In the old days what was lye made from? Basically it's derived from ashes, soggy ashes. It's a very corrosive substance WET ashes, it can damage your hands so it's best to be careful. Here's an article that talks about making one's own soap: http://www.pureandnaturalsoaps.com/homemade-lye-soap.html And about old fashioned soap specifically: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-lye-soap.htm It is expensive to do things the modern way, slightly less so to just buy the soap yourself. But it costs you nothing to put your left overs to good use. I know all this, because I lived on a farm for most of my life, and Mom did occasionally make her own soap. I personally have never tried making it, but I might put it on my to-do list, along with tea-making and micro-farming =) How much you make depends on what recipe you're following, of course. And the ingredients aren't hard to find if you make them yourself, because they're pretty standard things.