I used to post quite actively in r/soapmaking since, well, I’m a soap maker.
My wife and I raised the pigs, rendered the lard, and mixed it with other oils and lye to make soap. You know, soap making.
r/soapmaking was filled with people who bought soap that other people made, melted it, mix in perfume and glitter, poured it into moulds, and sold it. I pointed out that they weren’t actually making soap but were doing arts and crafts with soap that other people make.
They set upon my like a bunch of extremist vegans at a BBQ. I said that there wasn’t anything wrong with doing soap arts and crafts but that it wasn’t really soap making since they didn’t actually make soap.
They called me arrogant for not accepting that not making soap was soap making and banned me. I can’t remember whether it was permanent or temporary but I never went back.
That’s called book binding. A perfectly respectable craft.
So is soap arts and crafts.
I make soap. I turn an animal into something you can wash yourself with. If you buy the soap that I made you’re not making the soap, I did.
I’m considering authoring a book about soap binding.
If you bound it in linen it would make a really good exfoliant scrub.
This guy soaps.