Years ago (2007 to be precise) I was trying to explain to an Internet dog friend how soap was made (a hobby I had recently picked up). She was concerned about the lye that is used in the process, and in trying to think of a way to explain to her that the lye is all consumed in properly made soap, I came up with a dog-related analogy to explain it to her.

Well, she was an artist, and she turned my "soap story" into a series of delightful illustrations which she put onto her website. A very prominent soapmaker's site at the time, Miller Soap, put the link on their page with our shared permission and credit given. At the time I got a kick out of knowing I was helping a lot of aspiring soapmakers understand the process.

Over the years we've lost touch, and the original website is no longer active. However, you'll find the entire illustrated series on any number of soapmaking sites, and few, if any, attempt to give credit. I've even heard of people selling printed out copies.

Not much I can do about it now, and it doesn't bother me all that much except when people try to claim it as their own. But it's out there. So I guess the lesson - oft-repeated - is that once it's out there, it's out there, and there doesn't seem to be a lot anyone can do about it.

Here's a link to an archived copy on the Wayback Machine: