Wednesday, December 10, 2008

OK, so I cheated a little

I have always wanted to try making soap at home. The main reason we raise goats is to be able to get milk to make soap and cheese and then pretend we are going to sell them. Well, the goats are bred and we hope to get milk soon but I wanted to make soap now. After a little research I ran across a method call Remelt and Pour, this seemed to be able to give me my soap making fix for now. I plan on making my own lye from wood ashes from our wood stove for the process later on and use milk from our goats along with fresh herbs from our garden but that is in the future. It seems like everywhere I looked homesteading bloggers where making soap, I'm easily influenced and wanted a piece of the action. I rounded up some goodies from around the house and got into the process. Here is what sorta, kinda happened.


Grabbed 3 bars of Dial soap that we got at a bulk store. = cheap
Took out my good ole pocket knife and shaved into pieces. This Old Timer has worn a hole in many a jean pocket as you can tell.

Let me say that I should have used a grater for this, these large pieces took a long time to melt. Hey, there's my smoke's, been looking for those.

Placed the soap in my make shift double broiler. = Glass bowl inside of a pot. Add some water and mix and melt. Sorta looks like gravy to me. hehe!!

Found some of this bath treatment stuff under the bathroom sink, yep we got a sink and a crapper in the house. We're big time around here, nothin to good for my woman. Why, the other day we was at the Dollar store and I told her to get anything she wanted. Ain't nothin in there to good fer my woman. lol Anyway added this powder to the mix and stir some more.

Ain't got any of 'em fancy soap molds or anything but Liv had these cupcake trays that she said just didn't work out to good for and was kind enough to let me use them if I promised I'd leave her alone and let her do her cake thing. Deal !! These are plastic or something, they are flexible. (or "bendy" as Katie says ) Pour in the mix that I melted, not real neat like either as you can see. After it sets a bit I can clean it up some.
A couple hours later I removed them from the pans/tray to continue to dry.

Kinda looks like candy of some kind here. lol

The next day that are still not set up good, it takes a few days or so I have read. They look like can biscuit's in this picture. Man they smell good, the bath treatment stuff had oatmeal in it too and you can smell it. Not very pretty soap but, it was a trial run. I had no extra $$ invested and I sorta got my feet wet in this whole soap making thing. I have much to learn I know but this was a good confidence build for me. I will feel a little better when I try to make my first batch of real homemade soap now that I have cheated a little.


Cheaters soap/Canned biscuits

10 comments:

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

That looks like a good start. I want to try making goat soap in '09. You didn't mention drinking goats milk, mine is delicious.

Amy said...

Mmmm! Boy that sure looks tasty! I bet you can't wait till Daisy has her babies. Why do I have a sudden craving for sausage gravy and biscuits???

The Scavenger said...

Joanna, I just wanted to give it a try and see what happened. It's not real pretty but it sure is good soap. The only goats milk I have drank so far is that stuff you buy in the store, I don't think that really counts. lol

Amy, guess this time you left hungry. hehe!! All 3 goats are bred but I think Daisy will kid first, maybe. lol

Thanks for the comments,
Chris

Marie said...

What's the consistency of the soap? Is it a lot softer than the original bar? In any case, that is pretty cool, and the finished product looks good!

mmpaints said...

Did you know that you can make pretty decent soap out of a gallon of store bought whole milk, a little lye and some common cooking oils? Also, commom PVC pipe makes a great soap mold and having pieces 2' long with caps you can buy at the hardware store. Easy removal by simply putting it in the freezer for a few minutes. All I've used the past 6 years is soap I've made from first store bought milk and now fresh.

Throwback at Trapper Creek said...

Watch out someone might wash your mouth out with that stuff ;)

Looks good enough to eat, but not near as nice a Liv's cakes!!

The Scavenger said...

Marie, it is softer and I took 3 bars of soap and got 24 small cups of soap and 4 1/2 pretty big cups. Not bad. It was fun and I learned a little too.

MMPaints, that is too cool, gonna try that for sure. You have made your own for the past 6 years? Now I like that.

MOH, lol I don't guess you can call these 'cakes' of soap. It was fun and I'm ready to take the next step.

Thanks for the comments, love to hear from you all.

Chris

TEAM HALL said...

Hey there Chris...good job! Man I wish I had Big Daddy home everyday to play. Oh not that I'm saying you're just playing around...no, no, that's some serious soapin' you're doing there! hehe
Oh btw: don't visit my blog today. I'm making fudge for the very first time...and well, we all know how "easily influenced" you are! lol

Anonymous said...

Hey! Looks like you had fun! Cute post! Love how you improvise! Gen--Il Homesteader

The Scavenger said...

Cath, really other than take car of the animals this time of year all I do is play around the rest ofthe day, no joke. Can I just come over and take a litle peek??

Gen, thanks, just trying to do what I can, where I am, with what I have. Gonna try to live the rest of my live by that motto I think.

Thanks for the comments, I love to hear from my "peeps". lol

Chris