Teach Soap

So...to be honest...I am still in the "experiment and see what I like best stage" of life Soap IS new to me of course...but I LOVE it already...and I want to get some experimenting in before it's time to focus on other things on the farm - the seasonality of life for us here means certain times of the year I am ENGULFED and OVER RUN with things and other times I find my hands idle...now is idle time and thus the prime time to practice soaping

I have been researching this whipped soap thing now....I LOVE the idea behind it, the method as it were...and I am curious....

Does anyone use milk? How does it turn out for you if you do? Any special warnings that go along with it?
(I am hoping that since it is like the ULTRA COLD version of CP soap that it makes things easier on the milk and produces a whiter lighter bar...not that color is a huge thing to me at this stage...but I'm taking a gamble and guessing on it as so....)

How long exactly does it take to be able to unmold it? I am seeing on some places a few hours...others over night it seems????
(I want to be able to FULLY be focused on my soap with the proper amount of time set aside for it...if it's a few hours I would want to start early in the am...if it's overnight I would want to wait until after I feed and milk before I begin)

It SOUNDS like I have to be paying more attention to this one in the beginning at least...then patient enough to leave it be far longer than the other methods...I THINK I can manage the patient part...MAYBE...

Yeah I know...milk again with me...but it's a farmer thing...see the pigs below...I have lard for DAYS and that is obvious and EASY to incorporate into soap...yes I make it myself from the leaf fat when we process hogs...they don't stay that cute!


So why NOT try my hand at utilizing some of this milk eh? Just gotta find creative ways to do so (Seriously...I can only make so much cheese and cajeta and yogurt before I am out of room to put these things...it amazes me every year how much of it we go through)...

ANyways, I have lard to spare for sure, milk to spare for DOUBLE sure...and curiosity that wants to be turned loose along with a heaping dose of creativity...thoughts ya'll? Input? I LOVE me some input!

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

Well, milk will whip so I would think you could. But! I would not have you start with that. It is best to get the basics down at first.... I followed Nizzy's recipe and will next try to change it up a little to my own liking. Someday I would probably get around to trying milk but not for another few batches.

As for the unmolding.... there seems to be a trick to getting this soap out. I used individual molds so I did not have to cut the soap. I was able to unmold over 24 hours later, but found if I put those molds in the freezer first the soap came out cleaner.

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I agree. Get a standard batch down first, then start experimenting. Here is more info from my friend Nizzy on whipped soap. http://nizzymoulds.com/Whipped/index.htm

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I went through that site a MILLION times today...just kept looking and reading and thinking...that's what made me ask tonight....

I was thinking about individual molds too...kinda like EVERYTHING looks like a mold now thinking about it! I SWEAR I was at Wally World today and kept thinking...hmmm...what could I do with THIS shape???? All I see in the world are SHAPES FOR SOAP LOL...I went through the same phase with cheese molds...seeing cheese in EVERYTHING that could possibly hold it until I found some that worked for me! Anyways, point is I would need to first order molds...I have my eye on some, no final decisions made yet on WHAT I am gonna get, but a few I like at different places like brambleberry...

I was also wondering if I could use the cream whipped up and then added after the lye ...just a small amount...or perhaps even BUTTER as one of the oils I whip in...just a thought...would of course run it all through a soap calculator...but goat milk butter would be an option too....

Dunno...just kinda thinking and planning ahead....I still of course have to order some molds and all...but I like to be prepared for when the time comes...when you live in the boonies it takes a while for you to gather supplies as you wait for shipments to arrive And while you wait you start thinking of questions...

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

The molds I used were silicone... those are my favorite. I do not know about the whipped cream or butter. Why not get a note book and write down all of the experiments you want to do, then put them in order of complexity. That way you can start with a basic idea and build from there. The one thing that took me the longest to aquire was a mixer for it. You should not use the mixer that is used for a food source. I am very grateful that a friend and co-worker came to my rescue and bought me one at an estate sale.

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

How did you know about my Top Secret Notebook???? Just teasing...but I really do have a little composition book for most EVERYTHING around here (my husband calls them my "homesteading bibles" because EVERYTHING is in a book somewhere...and I started a soap one a while back All it has to date are 2 batches and TONS of thoughts...not much really good stuff...but thoughts for sure! Ideas, websites, that kinda thing...just been planning on making more plans really...

I have 2 or 3 sets of EVERYTHING in the kitchen - my mother in law had to be placed in a nursing facility a long while back now and we ended up with a TON of really nice kitchen stuff she had just bought, long story short...if you have it in the kitchen, I have at least one myself! That woman had more kitchen tools than anyone I know EVER!

Basically, except for oils and scents, I have been gearing up for a LONG time in a sense...just needed to reach that point in time where I COULD invest the time into it...no baby goats or chicks in the house, no processing needing to be done outside...just time between feeding and milking to MAKE SOAP!

Now I just have to ask all the "silly newbie" questions to double check myself for a LONG time to come...I feel better if I ask questions...probably most of them silly questions, but important to me that I ask for sure!

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

OH! What I started to mention earlier was I DID see one mention of goat milk on the nizzy site....not MUCH of one...but one just the same....

I guess I was kinda wondering if I would find more thoughts on it here...anything to NOT do with it is always a plus...like one lady already told me years ago "Don't set it in the oven and forget it is in there...then days later turn it on to preheat it to bake"...THAT was a pretty good story...she was a cool lady...kinda miss her some days....

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

My whipped soaps are made with goat's milk, as are all my soaps. But I've also been doing it a little longer...

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I think it's excitement coming through...sorry...I actually in person don't yell but talk very vividly with my hands - got a little bit of the sign language skills (a whole lot actually - I had a deaf cousin growing up we spent a lot of time with) which I use mostly when I am super super duper psyched about things...confuses the heck outta my husband as he has no sign language...so when I type, I have found that instead of signing as I get all excited, I use my hands to hit the caps and shift keys and unless someone else notices, I just don't see it...sorry again...I really just need to voice/express my thoughts in words and hand motions...and the excitement of this whole soap thing has me in a major happy fun woohoo had a bright idea tizzy...I will still my hands...and backspace a bit now that someone else notices it...sorry...I am only.happy excited confused, jazzed up even..

So, anyways, you were saying you use it like any other soap eh? Hmmmmm...one more good point...I do wonder though how goat milk butter would affect it now that I ponder that thought outside of my head too...hhhmmmm.....

I will keep thinking...planning and such and until then gear up for a batch of just plain old cold process soap in the morning for the heck of it (and because I really like soap )

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!