Soap Suds Part I

It is that time of year again...the weather has finally broken and we are having a cool (relatively speaking) breezy day, the bucks are in rut (P.U.,) and we are slowing down the milk production on the girls in anticipation of breeding season (YEA!!!)

This is also the time of year we make soap around these parts.  I try to keep that down to a once a year thing, because i have a feeling if i let it get out of hand it would be an obsession, kinda like the canning.

We make several batches in the fall, cure it out, and by Christmas we have plenty for gift giving, and soap for us and the Krew for the rest of the year.

One of the soaps that we make around here has been discovered to be very beneficial to people with skin issues like eczema and psoriasis.  Keep hearing the same story...folks have tried every OTC product on the market, have used prescription drugs and topicals, home remedies, etc. etc. etc., and then try our "Oatmeal, Milk and Honey" soap, and are cured...or at least get it under control.  Folks that have skin allergies also have great success with the goat milk soap.

We will get down to the recipes in a day or two.  Today we will start with the different types of molds that can be used.

To the best of my knowledge, pretty much anything can be used as a soap mold, as long as it doesn't contain any metal.

Purchased molds are nice, and there are lots of options on the market, today, but they can be fairly pricey, averaging around $6-8 and up each.  I have a few that i use for the "gifties," but for our use i prefer a plain old bar or one of the found molds i will show ya in a minute.

Tray Molds

Tray molds are lovely because you fill one cavity, let it set, and then cut into bars, so they are less time consuming to work with than the single bar molds shown below.

Something to consider when choosing purchased molds, especially if the soap is to be used for giving, is the detail in the bar.  The fluffier molds may be prettier to look at, but have a higher "kill ratio," as i call it...a higher number of bars that have ugly spots or don't come out of the mold nicely.  Sometimes a nice smooth bar can be much more esthetically appealing, and much more consistent (read: cost effective) to produce.

For Example:  the tray mold on the upper right otta be a great mold to use...nice sized bars, not toooo much fluff, but out of the whole tray, ya might get three nice bars.  The lettering and the floral motif in the corners never comes out.  Same thing with the single mold in the lower right.  It is a perfect "guest" sized bar, and a lovely classic design, but is too detailed.  The exception to the rule is the tray mold on the left.  This mold is called "Brocades," and is bullet proof, even though it is a fairly detailed design.

Single Bar Molds

Y'all know i hate waste, so we use and reuse around these parts.  Some of my favorite molds are shown below.  These produce a very user friendly bar of soap, if not a terribly attractive one. 

These two guys are dog food containers.  Susan Dear Susan saved them for me, and now we have a nice big stack that we use to make the bars for our house.  The thing i like best about them is the depression in the middle.  When one bar gets to the point where it is small and starts getting hard to hold on to (remember that i have a space problem in my shower, so chasing down errant soap is not a pretty sight, and will make for creative cursing and a cranky mama in the mornings) i get out a fresh bar, get them both wet, and kinda smush the old bar into the depression in the new soap.  No waste.  Puts an end to slivers sliding down the drain and sail soap.

Same with the food storage container on the left, although this bar is a tad too wide to get a good grip on until ya wear it down a touch.  Upper right had mixed fruit in it, and makes a nice round bar with a touch of flair.

Jellies cups make a perfect little guest bar.  It is about an inch by two inches, and has a nice smooth shape and finish.  We get these treats at the local asian market...okay, at 45 miles away it is not exactly local, how about if i said "nearest?"  We have eaten these things for years, tho not this brand.  The original ones were called Jellies, and the name has stuck.  They are a fruit flavored gelatin with a little chunk of tropical fruit and a bit of juice...a sweet little slurp, a chaw and it slides on down.  Yummy.  Ya otta try to find them.  Got a stack of these, too, and am very fond of using them for soap.

And now we come to my new best friend....Silicone!!!  I found silicone cupcake cups on a clearance table last spring, and figured for a buck i would give them a whirl, that if they didn't work for soap, i could always bake with them.  Best buck i have ever spent on soap molds.  The mold just peels away from the soap, very low kill ratio, and the clean up is a breeze.  Tray molds are nice, but a bugger to clean.  I will confess to leaving a roasting pan full of tray molds on the floor next to my kitchen sink for an entire month because i was dreading having to clean the molds.  You have to soak and brush and soak and scrub and run lots of water...i mean, the crud in there is SOAP...you would think they would be easy to clean up.  Not so, my friend.  Cleaning the molds is the worst part of soap making.  But not with the silicone.  I just turned the little cupcakes inside out and all the stray bits and pieces slid right off, rubbed 'em down, and dried 'em off.  It was a lovely, quick clean up.  Am now officially on the hunt for cute silicone molds.

Here we have the granddaddy of all the molds.  Mackerel of The Krew made me this mold, and i will be demonstrating it in action in a day or two.  It is the quickest and easiest way to make bars.  Pour out your batch into the lined tray, then when it is set, ya open the hinged end to pull out a great long bar that you cut into the desired size.

The bars are not necessarily pretty bars, unless you prefer a rustic look, but i like the flexibility it affords.  You can make a nice fat bar for general consumption, or you can cut small chunks like we do for the shampoo bar below.

 

While we are at it, how about we cover tools and equipment as well?

 

Most of the equipment you should have around the house, except maybe one item.

 

You are gonna need a great big stainless bowl for the milk and lye, and a stock pot or some such for the fats.  Ya need a couple of wooden spoons and a spatula, and two thermometers.  You could make do with one, but they are gonna be dedicated to soap anyway, and two makes things soooo much easier, as you have to be getting the temp on the fats and the liquids at the same time.  A ladle for pouring, a large tray and freezer paper to line it for curing the bars.  If you are using a bar mold, ya gonna need some sort of cutting apparatus.  I use my trusty old Galloping Gourmet Bash and Chop.  Remember him?  Only now i think he goes by his real name, but i prefer to call him the Galloping Gourmet.  So much more colorful.  Kinda like Graham Kerr, himself.

 

Test:  What do you notice about each of my utensils?

 

Answer:  They all have "Soap" or "Soap Only" written on them.

 

You are gonna wanna dedicate all of the equipment to soap making only.  Mark the stuff so there are no boo boos.

 

Here is the one item you may not have on hand, and are gonna need to procure.  The beloved boat motor.  Actually it is a stick blender, but Bob (Queen Bob, not Duck Bob) refers to it as a boat motor, and so do i.  This piece of equipment should be dedicated strictly to soap making also.  It is not VITAL, as you can stir by hand, but it makes short work of the process, and if you are gonna be doing it by hand, i suggest you quit reading this and head to the gym right NOW and start working on those arm muscles, whatever they are called, because if you don't, by the time you get the soap in the molds, your arms will have fallen off.  Just so ya know.

 That's about all i can think of right now.

 

OH!!!  Wait!!! Ya need one more thing. 

 

Call in a good friend and accomplice, because soap making is a two man job.  I guess you COULD do it by yourself, but you have several things that need to take place at the same time, so an extra set of hands is very....handy!!  Besides, it is a good excuse to get together with a dear friend and yammer, while being completely productive.  Only thing that i can think of that would make it better would be if wine were involved, but ya gotta be working with lye, here, so am thinkin' it is best to leave the wine corked.

 

Okay, that is our primer on equipment and molds for soap. Tomorrow we will start making a batch. Ready?

 

P. S.  Congrats to Susan Dear Susan on the arrival of another grandbaby...does this mean that The Most Awesome Baby in the World has competition now?