The Lavender Goat Milk soap we made last week has been cut and is now curing in the basement. Cold process soap needs to cure to allow the PH to stabilize, and for some of the water to evaporate. The curing process makes for a longer lasting soap. We generally let ours sit for 4 weeks before using any of it.
uncut block of soap (click on any image to enlarge)
Since this soap was poured in our wooden mold, we had to take it out of the mold and cut it into bars. We normally do this about 24 hours after pouring, but in this case it was more like 36 hours. For this batch we used our fancy wavy edge crinkle cutter that was given to us by our favorite soapers, Mary and Tracy from Soap Solutions. Check out their products in the local area for great quality, all natural soaps, lotions, lip balm and other creations. They put a lot of care into what they make, plus they “don’t test on animals, only their family and friends”. Gotta love that!
our repurposed soap cutter
I am usually the one who cuts our soap, I guess because I have a steady hand and a good eye for keeping them straight. Or at least that’s what my wife tells me. We also have a straight edge cutter we use for cutting the bars. Our 10 inch wide mold allows us to cut the soap into 10 one inch thick bars that weigh somewhere around four to five ounces each, which is a great size for a bath or hand soap.
soap bars ready for curing
After cutting we stand them up on cardboard or plain paper so the air can get to them during curing. I wish you could smell the basement right now. The lavender aroma is wonderful! Does that make me a girlie man because I like lavender? I also love the look of the flower buds in the soap, which also act as a mild exfoliant.
Lavender Goat Milk soap
We’ll be making more soap in the weeks to come, including some made specifically for hand soaps that have more scrubbing power. In addition to using them ourselves they make great gifts. We want to have a nice supply made and cured before the holiday gift giving season.
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Someone, somewhere, needs to invent scratch-n-sniff blogs 😉 I can almost smell your soap, and the bars look beautiful. I never would have thought to use a crinkle cutter. I’m hoping that by the time we make soap for the first time that our Lavender Provence will have all filled in that we planted this year. I can’t wait to use it!
Very cool! Anyone would just love to get those as a gift, I am sure. I want to make some homemade soap someday… hopefully if I do, it turns out as beautiful as yours!