Savon Savvy

I love this little tin soapbox.  I love the purple colour, and the seven little cherubes frolicking on heavenly clouds, holding a garland of roses.  The box is a reproduction of an antique tin box designed for Gelle Freres' Savon Paradisia, or Paradisia scented soap.  The Gelle brothers' Paris perfumerie and soap factory dates back to 1826.  The Paradisia line was created in 1908.

I have often wondered about the scent of the mystery soap.  The yellow roses suggest the soap is rose scented, and the white flowers appear to be orange blossoms.  I have searched the internet, reading French and even German text, looking for the answer.  Nichts.

What I did discover, is that Gelle Freres - Jean-Baptist and Augustin - inherited the recipes of  Jean-Louis Fargeon, the renowned perfumer to the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette.  Was this one of her favourite fragrances?

A few years ago, I tried my hand at making my own soap.  It was a deeply relaxing passtime.  There is however, a point in the process which needs one's undivided attention, with absolutely no interruptions.  Those who know my life, will roll their eyes!  My soapmaking days ended almost before they began!

People have been making soap for about 4,800 years.  An excavation in Iraq, unearthed an ancient Babylonian clay container and a soaplike substance, from 2800BC.  A recipe for fats boiled with wood ash, has also been found on a Mesopotamian clay tablet, dating to 2200BC.  The Babylonians are believed to have used soap, not for bathing, but for washing wool and cotton prior to weaving.  A soap factory has been found in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy, dating back to 79AD.  The Arabs refined soap, adding aromatic oils to olive oil, and for the first time, adding sodium lye to the recipe.

Which brings me to the Hydrangeas.  Wood ash, which was the alkaline additive in the ancient recipe for soap, will change the colour of your Hydrangeas.  The wood ash "sweetens" the soil.  Soil with a pH of 7 or more, is alkaline.  Hydrangea blossoms will change in colour from blue to pink.

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.