CRAY CRAY!!!! ;)

People who do that have too much time on their hands IMO. Send them to my house! I have real work to be done!!!

Vinegar will ruin the alkalinity of any automatic dishwasher detergent... or laundry powder.

People would do better... to use Water, however... that would activate the cleaning agents (such as Sodium Percarbonate, which would die off after six hours) or (Enzymes... which would activate, and then die off while being "molded")... Just Meh.

This is not something we can just do at home. It requires special use of Molds, and and special heat, and... solutions. It'd be fun as hell to replicate them perfectly ;)

What about a natural powder..enzyme and percarbonate free?

Its really just to add a touch of cuteness

Roc.lol..believe me I have tons to do here and I do it..but sometimes its just fun to do something fun, a craft of sorts..lol.

@mamapinky0, without looking at the box, I couldn't give a definite answer. But... I think it'd work better :-)

I think lightly moistening the powder with cool water is unlikely to destroy most of the enzymes. They are just proteins, and aren't likely to be that fragile since they survive the processing into powdered detergent in the first place. (The enzymes in liquid detergent are stable in solution long term after all) The sodium percarbonate may be a different story, so it would be best to avoid a detergent with a high concentration of that.

The bigger problem may be getting the tablets to stick together well. Powdered detergents probably contain anti caking agents to prevent clumping that could interfere with this. You could add something as a binding agent but I'm not sure what would work best.

One thing to try for fun would be to mix a few drops of liquid detergent in with some powder and try molding that.

One more thought - isn't straight washing soda sometimes used as a booster for liquid detergent? You could mix in some essential oils and make cute little scented washing soda tablets.

(I watched an episode of a mystery show recently where someone using eucalyptus scented washing soda on their laundry was actually A CLUE ;), and I remember thinking that sounded really nice)

I would use alcohol in a mist bottle, The alcohol would evaporate and not activate stuff.

mamap - I get it. Your own science experiment. I should talk. I ironed for an hour last night.

I make baking soda disks to put in closets and gym bags. Baking soda, hot water essential oils. It hardens into a rock. Seems like powdered detergent might do the same. Fish cow's idea to mix a bit of liquid with powder detergent should work. Wetting the detergent a bit with purified water won't hurt anything either. If it doesn't stay together use it for your next load of laundry :).

Roc, ironing is theraputic, for me it releaves stress, unless I'm in a rush because I have to iron something when I'm in the middle of a million other things. I usually iron Amiees sheets around noon everyday, right after I get her out of the shower, but I never got around to it till after dinner..I've realized I'm wasting time doing this, so today I'm going to iron 4 sets at once, I know this will save me a lot of time on a daily basis. My favorate time to iron is after the boys get to bed and I chase hubs to his room to watch TV..but ya the homemade laundry tabs are kinda a project, and I wanted to add a touch of my own to this basket for my aunt and we all know how I love to play around with detergent lol

Fish, I like the idea of using a bit of liquid detergent to the powder to see if it will hold it together, I will look at my powders today and choose one and ill use a Free and Clear liquid, I'm only going to make a very small amount to test this, I will have to use a ice cube tray for testing as I haven't bought a mold yet. Than if they hold together I'll let them sit a few day and put them to the test lol.

I also like the idea of the scented washing soda tabs, so if the detergent doesn't work ill try that..heck maybe ill do that anyway. Lavender scented washing soda tablets lol...thank you Fish.

Sandy, NICE I like the scented baking soda disks idea, I'm going to make some of these also Lavender to put in Amiees linen closet Thank you fun idea!!

Ok, I just mixed up a batch for the ice cube tray, I used Sears powder that I had several months ago threw into the food processor with a scent booster crystals in citrus scent, ( smells so nice) and I drizzled some All Free and Clear liquid over it, wearing disposable gloves I worked it together, (kinda like making a meatloaf) than I pressed some into the tray, each compartment after pressing took more than 1/8'th cup...now its sitting under the range hood light to dry...but I am thinking using a bit of ice cold distilled water will make them dry faster, I'm not sure the liquid detergent will even dry, I have a feeling they may come out with the consistancy of Vaska Tablets, staying together but easy to break, which would be great. I will probably let them dry all day before removing them. So ill post back about that later lol..

I popped one out, it came out easily and appears dry, but the inside may not be...than I held it about 2 feet above the kitchen counter and dropped it, I did this 3 times and other than a few grains falling off it didn't break..than I did the same with a Vaska Tab, it also just left a few grains from impact but didn't break. These do have the same feel as the Vaska Tabs. Now I will wait until later tonight and do a load of something stained to test out if the enzymes survived. I figured I'd make a dozen or so into a cute flower mold and attach a note that they are for light duty laundry. After all they are made with Sears detergent and no STPP to boost the cleaning, so they would be good for light to moderate loads but not what one would want for heavy duty loads.

I looked these up and they recommend spraying the detergent with vinegar as stated above. Then place in your molds (they were using silicone flower molds) and letting them dry for 12 hrs before removing. It says just mist detergent lightly to the point it will hold together when mashed together. Also told how to make dishwasher detergent tabs also.

Yours look good Pink, turned out of tray well.

Sparky, those ones you seen misted with vinegar were they made with the homemade soap /detergent recipe or with real detergent?

They had used a home made detergent but did say that you can use any dry powder detergent for this--so I guess any brand you want to try. You could even add Oxi or whatever to it I guess to use for whites. Those flower ones I saw had blue specks in them. Might have been oxi or the downy/purex perfume crystals crushed up?or both. The main thing will be how they work on the clothes, should do fine though.

The OxyClean or Sodium Percarbonate, will activate as soon as it gets wet, and then the Hydrogen Peroxide will die off after six hours.

Which would make the whole point of adding it, a waste if it gets wet.

The Rubbing Alcohol may be worth playing with, but definitely not Vinegar.

I'm glad that it worked! Always fun to experiment.

The ones I saw have both oxi and the downy crystals in them. She had put them in a jar for show. They may have blown up later who knows.

Go to One good thing by jillee.com/homeade laundry detergent tablets

Shows the pic of them in the flower mold, out of the mold and talks about ingredients.

mama- I have seen these and thought to try it, now I believe I will! Hope the boys get their meds and get to feeling better! sparky-I like that website!

Yay, I'm glad they stuck together :) I had no idea if it would work or just make sludge.

Vinegar is a weak acid, and a light misting is probably not going to drop the pH enough to mess things up.

I love onegoodthingbyjillee . She's what I will be once kids are older and I have more time :).

Fish, yes they held together, but whether they still have cleaning power is yet to be seen lol. I imagine if the enzymes died that they will still clean non stained, non tragic loads. Thank you for the suggestion on using liquid detergent as a sort of glue, it worked well. And I'm thinking had I used water once it dried it may have sll crumbled.

Jean, your gonna make them? So cool, sometimes I just have to do a little experiment, others watch TV to relax, I never watch TV, ever so I find little things that I enjoy to relax.lol. if you decide to make some, have fun lol.

OnegoodthingbySandythescientist!!!

Amiees diy detergent tablet