More soaps in a recipe

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I have heard you now require soap to be properly bathed.

Soaps cost more than perfumes to make because of the need for lye. Their scent @apply also lasts for a much shorter time. Given their new "requirement" for cleanliness, could we get more soaps per recipe?

[chronodbu]

Might not be a bad idea to look at the cost of lye and maybe tweak it? It doesn't sound right that they cost more than perfumes and colognes, since those are more of a luxury item. While soap would be a luxury item in the era too, I think it would be less of one than the former?

[Taunya]

And/or lye could become craftable. It's quite easy to make, requiring wood ashes and rainwater.

[Niamh]

Sounded weird to me too, so I peeked into it:

Soap costs a minimum of 6 silver to make (butter-based soap being the cheapest, commoner's soap in second place at 7 silver).

Perfume costs a minimum of 20 silver to make (fruit perfume being the cheapest, rose perfume in second place at 27 if you make your own rose oil, otherwise 73 silver).

The more rare ingredients skew things higher for both, but I haven't found a perfume that isn't at least 2x more in costs to produce than any soap. We're all good on that front.

Lye is 5 silver to buy, which is pretty low already. Might be cool to be able to craft it, though. Which craft would it fit into, you think?

[Taunya]

Could be a chandlery or unskilled recipe perhaps?

Suggested ingredients:
3x charcoal, or 3x scraps of wood (burned to ashes in the thread)
a pile of hay (lines the bottom of the cask, prevents the ash from clogging the drain holes)

Suggested tools:
a small fire-starting tool of black flint and sharp steel
a collection of casks in varied sizes
a set of ceramic bottles

Here's a wikihow for ideas on the process: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Lye

Edit: Ohhh, or the fires from the cookfire recipe could create ash when it burns out to use for making lye.