For our pineapple skin extract
1)Cut the pineapple skin into one-inch squares with a sharp knife.
2)Put the pineapple skins in a pot. Add water until the skins are barely covered.
3)Cover the pot with a lid and put it on the stove at medium-high heat. Allow the water to boil for 20 minutes.
4)Remove the pot from the stove. Strain the mixture through a strainer. Discard the skins and put the liquid in a clean container.
5)Cover the container and keep it in the refrigerator.
For our lye
1. Get the ingredients and equipments ready: You would need the following things to try your hand at making lye: two plastic buckets (a small one and a large one ? The small one should fit into the large one in such a way that liquid from the small one drips slowly into the large one); some fresh ash from burning hard wood (you can even burn some hard wood to get this); gallons of rain water and a handful of straw.
Now to the step-by-step process:
2. Make a few holes in the small bucket. Better if the holes are tiny enough to allow only liquid stuff through. Check after you make holes by pouring some water through the bucket.
3. Now set the small bucket inside the large bucket. See to it that there is some space between the base of the small bucket and the large one. This is important as liquid should drip through holes drop by drop and not smudge the bottom of the small bucket.
4. Place the straw you have inside the small bucket and hide the holes with the straw. Lye water, when formed, will seep through the holes only through the straw. This would prevent other hard blocks of wood or ash from collecting directly into the large bucket.
5. Now place the wood ash above