Curing Soap

I promised more pictures of the soap Sean and I made HERE... but, then we took a weekend trip to Boston- which will be its own post another day.

For today, I have a few quick photos of the new batches of coconut and olive oil based soap I made last week. I poured these batches into some 6x10 metal pans I purchased at the local Dollar Store. They are the right size to make 8-10 bars from each pan. I like using these smaller pans because I can make one basic batch of soap and then pour the mixed (but pre-trace soap) into separate bowls to combine with different essential oils. The lavender and cucumber melon looked exactly the same, a lovely creamy ivory color. And, they popped out of the pan in one clean piece.

The citrus-mint soap is a sunny yellow color with flecks of organically grown lemon and orange zest and bits of green mint. It is very pretty and smells wonderful. I think this soap is going to be a staple for our kitchen because citrus scents work well to remove unappealing odors.

 I removed all the soaps from the pans and left them over the weekend to dry and cure on a wire rack. I could have cut them up into rough bars Saturday, but it wasn't necessary to do so. I opted to wait until our return.

I measured them and cut them on Sunday night- (after we unpacked our gear and cared for the animals)- while Sean started a fire to bring the house up to a more comfortable temperature from the 40 degrees the thermostat registered. I like to make my bars approximately 2 inches x 3 inches in size. Depending on how thick the bars are, these weigh between 3-4 oz each.

I left the bars to continue curing. I will need to turn the bars every couple of days, so they will dry evenly. In another week, I will shape them with a knife and smooth away the whittle marks with clean water. They will look pretty and ready to use at this point, but it will take 4 more weeks before the sopification process is complete and they will be ready to use.

This picture is of the remnants of the soap I cut away while rough cutting the bars. From these, I will make some sample size pieces to share with Customers and potential Customers.

I save the shavings from whittling the finished bars in separate mason jars. Once the month of curing is finished, I melt these slivers down into water and glycerine to create scented, liquid hand soap. Nothing goes to waste!

I am excited that things are moving along with the soap making aspect of our small farm business. My plan to sell 6 of each of these soaps on my new Etsy store has been jump started with several facebook orders! Little by little... but, progress nonetheless.

I am still tired from our days of travel. The critters are all doing well. The house is standing and warm. Things are coming along fine.

Thanks for stopping in for a vist today, friends. I am glad you did!
Sonja ♥

This post was also shared with: Wild Crafting Wednesdays & Backyard Farming Connection Hop #14

Check out the Blog Hops for wonderful new recipes, pictures, DIY projects and more!

Waste Not~Want Not

 

This is one of my favorite sayings. 

Around here, nothing goes to waste. Not food, not materials, not supplies, nothing.

• 80% of our new chicken coop was built with reclaimed lumber. (You can read about it HERE.)

• Our compost enclosure, our goats' field shelters, and the bunny yard are all constructed from wood salvaged in whole or in part from wood pallets.

• An old parrot cage has been repurposed for use as our chick brooder (works GREAT!)

• Manure from the horse, goats, or chickens gets added to the compost pile or directly to fields which will lay fallow to decompose and enrich the soil before the next planting.

• Tin cans are rinsed and scrapped for money. Glass jars are recycled.

The list goes on and on, but you get the point.

 

Today's project was born out of my having finally finished shaping all the bars of fresh goat's milk soap I made HERE. I still have to cut pretty paper sleeves to wrap the bars in for storage, but I think that will be a project for this afternoon. I ended up with several bars of soap, some sample sized pieces and a whole bunch of soap shavings. "Was there something I could do with these?" I wondered and then, set myself to searching for ideas.

 

I found a post on Lisa's blog Fresh Eggs Daily for DIY Homemade Antibacterial Hand Soap HERE. I did not have all the ingredients, but I thought I would try it anyway substituting what I did have on hand. I liked the look of the hand soap dispenser created from a blue Ball mason jar. 

My Recipe:

4 1/4 cups water
4 oz goat's milk soap shavings
1 tspn liquid glycerin
1 tspn almond oil
1 tspn safflower oil

My Method:

 1. I poured the 4 cups of water into a stainless steel pot, stirred in the soap shavings, and brought the mixture to a gentle boil until all the soap is melted.

2. I removed the pan from the heat and added the glycerin, almond oil and safflower oil. Stir thoroughly.

3. Pour into pint sized mason jars.

4. Let the soap cool overnight. The end result is supposed to be a gel hand soap. Because I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I am not certain what I will end up with, but I was in the mood to experiment a little. As for the antibacterial aspect, mine is not- at least, it is not any more antibacterial than any other hand soap made with borax and lye. It smells heavenly, though and it only took about 20 minutes to make the hand soap from start to finish.

 

I do not have the pump to add to the top of the jars, but I am going to look around to see what I can come up with. I think that rather than buy one of these, I will simply wait until the soft soap I am currently using at the kitchen sink is empty and either refill that container or cannibalize the pump for parts. I like the idea of using the soap directly from the mason jar because I like the country chic feel of the jar. I also think the color of the hand soap in it is a quite pretty butter-cream yellow. And, I will definitely be using it to refill the bathroom handsoap dispenser when that is empty.

How do you reuse or repurpose things at your home?

 

Sonja ♥

 

Also, shared with Wildcrafting Wednesday Hop