Traditional Nabulsi soap making factory - GIF plus video

[Jon]

Traditional soap making factory, in Nablus, West Bank. Hurts my back just to watch.

Nabulsi soapmaking started in the 10th century, and had grown into a large industry by the 14th century. The manufacturing process does not look like it has changed much over the past 600+ years, although you can now buy this same soap on Amazon (see below).



Full video:

And I believe that this same olive-oil based Nablus soap, possibly even from this same factory (I think there are only two remaining in that region), is available on Amazon.com, right here. $8 a bar is a bit rich for my blood, but - cool GIF of traditionally manufactured product, which is also available on Amazon Prime - the internet is working correctly.

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabulsi_soap

[Toolmaker51]

While $8 bucks is pricey for soap in general, fact it's not domestic certainly is a factor of cost. But I appreciate Jon's comment of "the internet is working correctly". The gif and video are good representations of 'how it's made' as in the cable TV program. From ladling the mixture, troweling an entire floor to hand-wrapping the product for shipment. Notice the wrappers are barcoded for retail - a sure sign they are aware of market penetration.
I'd enjoy "How it's Made" far more, when (if) the full cycle of a product was represented on occasion; such as tooling involved in building a packaging line. The elimination of less apparent factors in manufacturing fits my conspiracy theorist observation that vocational training fell away from public schools intended to pave the way for a service economy.

[Jon]

I think some of the GIFs might actually be made from How It's Made videos. However, many of them are also constructed from non-English videos from machine manufacturers, or, in this case, just from a video that someone made to document this factory.

I'd like them to show the tooling more frequently too. Sometimes I wonder if the companies are careful about letting out too many details, while still wanting the virality of a GIF or video featuring their product. For people who like building homemade tools, I do think it's helpful to regularly observe a wide variety of machinery and tools in action, especially rare or esoteric machines or construction processes to which we may otherwise never gain exposure.