wool wash

In response to the comments from my Clean & Green post the links to recipes for both the cream cleanser and wool wash are under the tab at the top of the page marked “Recipes – Other”. Unfortunately, the wool wash one does not have any photos as they were a victim of my culling photos some time ago 😦 I do need to make some more again before long so I will take some new photos. Also, I have found that the mixture sets quite firmly so I will be experimenting to make it more like a gel or even semi-liquid. I will let you know how I go.

Since we finished restoring the silky oak dressing table we have been searching for a similar unit for The Duke’s clothes. Many that I had seen on Gumtree (online buy/sell site) did not have enough storage space. I was hoping for a silky oak piece but that was not essential.

On the weekend we bought this piece. The thing I really love are the small, deep drawers at the top. They will be perfect for separating socks and underwear.

The seller had owned it for about 20 years and never restored it. We will need to replace the bases of some of the drawers and do a bit of structural refashioning. The piece is not original as the top left-hand drawer does not match the others and the front of the unit looks as though it was once the back of a piece of furniture. Apparently it has come from Coober Pedy (an opal-mining town in the outback of South Australia) and there is clearly a lot of history so I believe it deserves to be restored. It needs a lot of work but we are confident that it will come up nicely. We intend to replace the wooden knobs with metal handles to match the dressing table.

We do not intend to embark on this project at the moment as we are trying to get things ready before we head overseas in a couple of months. So we have covered the piece with a heavy drop-sheet and left it until we have more time.

I use relatively simple, non-toxic cleaners for everything, whether it be dishes, clothes, our bodies or general cleaning. Here is a recipe I found on the internet for washing woollens. I have adapted it slightly but you can also read the original here.

Rather than using soap flakes, I grated Sunlight soap.

I used my food processor with the grater attachment.

Here are the utensils I used.

The ingredients

and

Wool Wash Mixture

2 cups grated soap
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup methylated spirits
10ml eucalyptus oil
1 cup water, extra

Grate the soap into a large bowl and add boiling water. Blend thoroughly.

Add methylated spirits and eucalyptus oil and blend a bit more.

Add 1 cup of cool water and mix again.

Allow to cool a little before pouring the mixture into a suitable wide-necked container. I used an old Napisan container. It does need a wide neck as the mixture is quite firm when it sets so you need an old spoon to scoop it out.

To use the mixture I put about a tablespoon of mixture in a bucket with some hot water and mix until it is dissolved then add add more water until it is tepid and use this for washing woolen knitwear and other handwashing.

**EXTRA FRUGAL TIP**

Make sure you have some items ready to wash before you make up the mixture.

Rinse all of the utensils used in a bucket of warm water and the residue will be sufficient to make a solution of wool wash for your waiting clothes.