My Latest Project

I've been doing a lot of reading and researching and in my "travels" I came upon talk of laundry detergent and stain sticks.  Well I've made laundry detergent before and I usually made it by grating a bar of soap and melting it and adding borax and washing soada.  I usualy make it with Zote Soap. (I love the fragrance of it).  Well I had read about making it by making a batch of 100% lard or 100% coconut oil cold process soap and adding water and borax and washing soda.  I've made a batch trying this method and waiting to see how it turns out.  I also read about stain sticks and reading the rave reviews of several people who have made it as well as tried it and thought that I would give it a whirl.  Well, I must say that I am very pleased with the stain stick.  Not sure who to thank specifically for the recipie but I will say thank you to the members of the Thedishforum.  They are a very helpful, insightful group of people and I have learned so much from them over the years.  The results of my latest project was AWESOME!  I had a night shirt that had a stain from who knows where and I can't remember how long that stain had been there but I can tell you that it has been months and I had tried everything to get that stain out.  Not that anyone would see it as I slept in it but still, I wanted to get it out.  I tried Shout, Spray and Wash, Iron out, soaking it and everything and couldn't get the stain out.  Well..  I made a batch of this wonderful stain stick and didn't even wait for it to really set up before I used it.  I wet the stain, rubbed the stain stick on it and threw it in the wash.  I didn't really have any expectations but figured it couldn't hurt.  Guess what?  It came out!  I couldn't beleive it.  I didn't let it set for a while, I just rubbed and threw in the wash.  Wonderful stuff.  I gave pieces to some friends and family for them to try and waiting to hear what they have to say.  My mom used it and she said that all but one stain came out and that one stain that didn't come out was lighter than it was before and she is going to give it a second treatment to see if it will completely come out.  Here is a pic of the shirt before and after and tell me what you think.

BEFORE

AFTER

The stain stick recipe that I used on this one was 100% lard.  I made two more batches.  One 100% Coconut and one 50/50 Coconut/Lard.