Author: Matthew of Summerdale
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Quicklime vs hydrated lime for making lye water
For my entry to Atlantia’s Royal Scientist at KASF 2025, I conducted an experiment investigating if hydrated lime could be used for making lye water rather than the quicklime that medieval recipes called for. Medieval recipes call for adding water to ash and quicklime to produce lye water. But adding water to quicklime produces hydrated…
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Best of Dun Carraig Entry
For Dun Carraig’s Saturnalia in December 2024, one of the A&S competitions was the “Best of Dun Carraig” challenge.
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Measuring lye water strength by floating an egg
My display for Atlantian KASF 2024 was on using eggs as a way to measure the strength of lye water.
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Soap to make a Laurel Cry
For Dun Carraig’s Baronial Birthday and Investiture in December 2023, there as an A&S contest titled “Make a Laurel Cry”.
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Adding salt to make soap harder
his was my first experiment with medieval soap, that I displayed at Fall 2023 Atlantian Coronation. I took a class on saponification (the soap making chemical process) at Atlantia’s Summer 2023 university and got interested in soap making.