Handcrafted Goat Milk Soap Tutorial

Popular techniques in soap making are constantly evolving. When I first started making soap over 20 years ago the goat milk recipes I tried called for dissolving the lye in fresh milk. The result was an awful ammonia smell and brown curdled milk. There had to be a better way, and there was. By adding lye to frozen milk, soapers were able to keep the sugars in the milk from burning and produce a much nicer bar. But frozen milk also has its drawbacks. You have to work so quickly that there can be undissolved lye leftover. Also, there can be problems with uneven saponification as the lye begins to react with the milk fat resulting in speckled soap. Today my 10 year old daughter will demonstrate how to make Artisan Goat Milk Soap with simple, inexpensive ingredients you can find locally.

Easy Soap Recipe

17 ounces Lard
8 ounces Coconut Oil

Melt oils together. Allow to set overnight in a warm place. You don't want them to get too hard to stir.

3.5 ounces Lye
3.5 ounces Distilled Water

Wearing gloves, apron, long sleeves and eye protection pour distilled water into a heat proof non reactive container. Slowly pour lye into the water, stir to dissolve. Set in a safe place out of the reach of pets and children over night.

The next day prepare the soap mold and weigh,
6 ounces of goat milk
1.5 ounces of fragrance
Mica or colorant of choice

Assemble supplies

Pour oils into container

Add goat milk

Add fragrance

Mix well

Add colorant

Add lye/water

Stir until soap reaches 'trace'

Once soap has reached trace pour into mold and cover to insulate overnight

The soap should be ready to cut the next day. We used a soap stamp dusted with mica for a little added charm.

And the Winner of the Goat Milk Laundry Soap is....

There were a total of 94 entries and with a little help from random.org We have our winner. Congratulations to:

 Gina Simpson!!

I really appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to enter. I enjoy reading your comments and getting to know you all a little better. 

I'll have another giveaway sometime after Christmas and I can't wait to show you what it will be. 

~Have a Blessed Holiday Season~

100% Pure Goat Milk Laundry Soap Giveaway

 Finally a chemical free, fragrance free, all natural goat milk laundry soap! Store bought detergent can be irritating to the skin and harmful to the environment. This is a wonderful alternative that leaves your clothes soft and clean

Natural, Handcrafted, Eco Friendly, Low-Sudsing 

100% Pure Goat Milk Laundry Soap

Directions:

1 Tbsp: High Efficiency/Front load Washers

2 Tbsp: Regular Washers

Use an extra Tbsp for heavily soiled laundry

Contains: Goat Milk Soap, Borax, Washing Soda, Baking Soda

For hard water we recommend using 1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle

 32 Loads/1lb

Enter to Win!

I would like to give away a FREE pound of laundry soap with a wooden measuring scoop 

as the first in a series of Holiday Giveaways

There are three ways to enter, choose one or triple your chances by doing all three!

1. Comment on this blog post

2. Comment on my Facebook Page

3. Visit my website goatmilksoapandlotion.com 

and sign the guest book located at the bottom of the About Us page

Old Fashioned Goat Milk Lye Soap

Virtually unchanged throughout the ages, this is soap in it's purest form. The early pioneers of alchemy, mostly women, worked hard collecting rain water, filling leach barrels, and rendering trimmings in order to produce lye soap. Not only was this soap used to clean their families, homes and laundry it was also used to treat poison ivy and chiggers. The practice of adding goat milk to soap appears to be as old as the soap making process itself. Goat milk greatly improves the quality of soap, making a creamier bar with better moisturizing capabilities. If you thought lye soap was too harsh and irritating for your skin, try goat milk lye soap!

Old Fashioned Goat Milk Lye Soap
This recipe is by weight
16 oz lard
2.25 oz lye
6 oz frozen goat milk ice cubes

Equipment
Scale
Stainless Steal or heavy plastic bucket
Large Pyrex measuring cup
Thermometer
Spatula
Stainless steal or silicone whisk
Gloves
Goddles
Apron
Soap mold -your soap mold can be a simple plastic utility box

Lye Safety

Please read the following safety information regarding lye.

Keep children and animals away from lye. Lye is very caustic and can cause serious injury or even death if swallowed and can cause blindness if splashed into the eyes. 

Be very careful not to splash or spill the lye solution. When handling lye wear goggles, rubber gloves and long sleeves and an apron. Please be careful! 

With glove, goggles, long sleeves and apron on you are ready to begin

Weigh all ingredients

Warm Lard to 110F add to soap bucket, set aside

Place goat milk ice cubes into the Pyrex measuring cup

Carefully  add the lye and stir until the goat milk has melted

Carefully pour the lye/milk mixture into the melted lard

Stir with the whisk until the soap begins to thicken like cake batter

Pour soap into the mold, cover and allow to sit undisturbed over night until hardened

Remove soap from mold and cut into bars

Cure for 4-6 weeks

Enjoy!

Activated Charcoal for Healing and Detoxification

I love it when I come across something that has so many uses it transcends to almost every area of my life. Who would have thought activated charcoal could be so important? Since ancient times carbon in the form of activated charcoal has been used for detoxification and healing. For people and animals alike this is a chosen remedy for all manner of ailments.

I first knew I needed to keep activated charcoal on hand in case one of my goats should eat a something poisonous. Charcoal absorbs and binds the toxins. Fortunately I haven't had to use it this way, but you should mix it as a drench with water and be sure to give the goat baking soda and b-complex afterwards to replenish beneficial rumen flora.

It was when I started working with soft mold ripened cheeses which called for ash that I started to get serious about charcoal. These cheeses were originally made with oak charcoal but today many artisans use activated charcoal because it is very pure and readily available. The role of the ash in cheese making is to lower the pH which develops flavor and allows the mold to grow properly. It is also beautiful!

From cheese making the activated charcoal soon found its way into my soap. With its deep black color and detoxifying properties I couldn't resist.

Even though I knew it could be taken internally, It had never crossed my mind to actually use it until my husband was coming down with a stomach flu. All the kids had been sick and he knew he was next. When he asked me if I had something he could take my first thought, burnt toast, brought the charcoal to mind. To my surprise he was willing to gulp down the mysterious black sludge. It worked, that evening he started to feel much better and he never did succumb to the flu. It can also be used for infected wounds, bites or stings topically mixed with just enough water to form a paste.

Soap Colorants: Mica

Micas can be tricky. Not all of them remain stable through saponification and some of them bleed. Also, they seem to come and go. The best mica I've ever used for soap, POP mica, has been discontinued from the manufacturer. Reds and greens seem to change constantly from batch to batch. Here are a few micas that worked out nicely.

This soap is made with neon blue, neon green and neon yellow, 

For a softer shade this is pearl pink,

This is a swirl with neon pink used with a fragrance that turns the soap dark brown,

This one is neon yellow and tangerine POP,