It always amazes me how much the soap can change from the beginning stages to the final product. One of the best examples of this is one of my newest creations Oatmeal Cookie Goat Milk Soap. I decided to post the different phases the soap goes through, as it is prepared and cured before it is ready to go out the door, to show these changes.
First the mixed lye water and oils are poured into molds and any top additives are added. In this case I used organic oatmeal sprinkled over half the top to help identify this as the Oatmeal Cookie Goat Milk Soap.
As the mixed lye and oils sits, it starts heating up and going through gel phase. Below you can see a crack started to develop in the top of it, so I put it in the freezer to slow down the heating which helps minimize further cracking.
After a one to multiple day rest in the mold, the soap is ready to take out and prepare for cutting. Below is a picture of how it looks in loaf form.
After being cut, and in this case stamped with a cute goat milk stamp, the soap then needs to sit and cure for an additional 4-6 weeks depending on humidity and temperature. The curing time allows it to harden up and finish any saponifying that may need to occur.
The finished product! A beautiful bar of Oatmeal Cookie Goat Milk Soap - Smells as delicious as it sounds and includes ground oatmeal throughout the bar for extra exfoliation!
Please contact me at OceanBluffFarm@gmail.com if you would like me to prepare a batch for you!