Sunday, April 1, 2012

Saponification Sunday...Cow-a-Bunga Milk Soap



So week two of Amy Wardens Challenge to all us goofy soap makers was to make milk soap.
http://www.greatcakessoapworks.com/handmade-soap-blog/  Now you would think that with 14 milking cows on the farm I would've made tons of milk soap but truth is I have only made a few.

They did not go well.

Impatience, once again, the culprit. I hurry in too many things in my life and thusly I miss out on the enjoyment of the process. After watching Amy's video about what went wrong with her soaps, I decided to take my time and really PLAN. Thank you Amy for showing us your not-so-perfects. Anyone can show the beautiful end results but it takes someone special to share their OOPS!

So, I froze some of our raw organic milk, meaning it has never been pasteurized or homogenized. Then I mushed it up and measured it into a plastic jug.


It was about this time that the girls got wind of what I was doing with their milk. They sent a representative to investigate



Then, brilliance hit. Why stick to the plan ? Plans are for mature soapers and I am still on the immature side. So I decided to go hog wild for this soap, making it farmtastic ! I added lard to my recipe from our Red Wattle hogs and then hit the chicken coop for a donation from the free range gang. After that back to the kitchen for some honey.

Not just any honey but Buckwheat honey, full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. So, I had all my farmy stuff.


Looking again at the honey I realized it was indeed thick. So added a little hot water. Then I mixed all my oils, and added just 1/3 of the water called for to my lye making it a thick gel. Then and only then did I add the lye gel to the slushy milk which was waiting in a ice bath.

You see, I do read all your other blogs !
It stayed cold and white. Happy this midlife farmwife was.


From there I added the lye /water/raw cows milk (total milk was 10 oz for a 2 pound soap bath). It stayed nice and creamy. Then came the mixed up egg.



Followed by the watered down Buckwheat honey. 2 full Tablespoons Soap did get a tad darker but not much.


It all came to trace quickly and I thusly poured quickly into my high tech diaper wipe mold.



Did you catch that? Yup, in my haste to go slow, I forgot to add any color or scent. Oh well. Fortunately I have a fair amount of soap customers who really LIKE unscented soaps. Of course I will tell them this soap was made just for them. Hear that MBJ ? This soap was made just for you. And it will coming your way soon!

So, thanks to all the great info from all the millions of soapers taking Amy's challenge, I was lucky with this bar. I had a great time using FOUR of our farms products. Raw Cows Milk, Free Range Egg, Pastured Red Wattle Lard and Raw Buckwheat Honey. Now I'm all ready for next weeks challenge. Bring it Amy!



P.S. My wonderful husband, Keith, seeing my little soap business grow and grow, made me a REAL soap mold out of leftover wood. Check out that heavy bottom. Perfect for slamming. I am one blessed wife.






26 comments:

  1. It looks beautiful...I can't wait.

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  2. What a gorgeous colour your soap is! Have you tried it yet Donna? I am imagining a beautiful, lush and creamy lather going on....

    Your new camera is definitely showcasing your natural photo taking ability ~ I love your soapy pic staged on the hay (with interested onlooker), and something tells me that hubby could easily add another line to your already burgeoning soap business ~ mould master craftsman :)

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  3. Now we'll have to make another trip.

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  4. It looks beautiful, and so full of good things! I have a question on the eggs - does it ever curdle from the heating up during gel phase? I would think about trying that for mine someday - I was in the challenge also but it was the first time ever for milk soaps for me, so I was so hesitant to add anything except fragrances. Yours sounds so lovely and your husband is very good at making molds!

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  5. Woo hoo!! I love a good success story! Such fabulous soap - and you really planned it well. :) Congrats on the "official" soap mold! You are really moving up in the soaping world now!

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  6. Beautiful! Good job Mrs. Farmwife!

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  7. Take away the text, and I'd presume your post was about fudge making; it all looks so very edible.

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  8. Oooooh! Ok, so will this still be on the shelves say, on the third week of April?? ;)

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  9. MBJ...It is as we say here..."in the mail"

    Topcat. What nice things you've sadi about my pic taking. My daughter likes to fool with cameras too so am learning from her. One day I must do something with the 10,000 photos on my pc!

    Mary Ann. Thank you

    Doug. You better

    Kathy, nope, no curdling. The egg is at room temp and the oil-lye mix is about 80 degrees. It really was a fun soap to make

    Amy. We never expected this soap business to take off the way it has and making just 7 bars at a time in my diaper wipe mold was not working well. Now he is making me a really nice cutter!

    Crazy, Cro and Zan..THANK YOU, THANK YOU and absolutely Yes as I making another batch tonight. Of course it won't be cured by April 21 but still some will go home with you for later use!

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  10. Perfectly beautiful soap with perfectly beautiful ingredients my friend. My kind of soap! Love it and sure wish I had a bar of that.<3<3

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  11. Wow! I am so impressed. Can't imagine doing anything so imaginative. Very well done and what a great supportive thing for your husband to come up with for you...

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  12. Tierre...from you, That means quite a bit. You are one of those soap artists I strive towards

    The broad...I am sure you have created many wonderful things in your life. Just the name of your blog for example!

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  13. Well done Donna, this soap looks great! I've always wanted to try using egg in soap. Nice mould too! x

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  14. nice to have a handy (enabling) hubby! love that look from the cow! :)

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  15. Inner earth...YOUR soaps have the smooth colors I envy, One day...

    Tex girl. I am most blessed to have a guy who knows his way around power tools and has the patience of 20 saints to boot! I think I changed the mold dimensions 6 times

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  16. Donna, that's wonderful! Now, I need to figure out the ordering process.

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  17. Susan, just email me at opies99@gmail.com and I'll make ordering very simple :)

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  18. Wow, I bet you kitchen smell beautiful! It looks wonderful too.
    I wish I lived closer so I could try some. Homemake is always best in my books :-)

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  19. Your Cow-a-Bunga farm soaps look great, Donna! Love the color, and it sounds like you've got some wonderful ingredients. And how nice of your hubby to build you a soap mold! The mold looks great - I like the handy fold-out sides.

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  20. Donna, as usual your soap is beautiful! Nice soap mold too!

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  21. All I've ever made was plain soap. I guess I'm kind of a simplton. LOL But with all the soap I've made over the years, I've never used milk. It's still on my to do. Now you have me wondering if you need to freeze your milk before making soap. I can see I need to do some studying.

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  22. I was Googling egg soap and ran across your blog. Mine is in the mold as we speak. Just wanted you to know I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through your posts...read through about a year's worth. Love your sense of humor.

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  23. The keyboard gremlin got me while I was signing off. Not C, should be Cheryl.

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  24. I've only just found your blog, thanks to you:) so I popped over for a visit and just wanted to say I love, love, love your blog. I can't say that I've actually had a laugh out of a blog before, but when I got to the representative coming to investigate I sure had the giggles up. Love your writing style! you have a wonderful gift for it and looks like soap making too:) it looks so wonderfully creamy and sounds sooooo good. You sure do deserve that mold, your hubby did a fantastic job on it too, mine made mine as well many moons ago and I didn't look back once I got it. Thank you for a great read, I'll be back:)

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