The Willy Nilly 4-H Livestock Club

Sudsy Soap Workshop

by: Nat of Nat's Little Bit Farm

  

 

After a long and cold winter, everyone was looking for a fun  indoors project that may come in handy later on in the summer. Since a few 4-H members had dairy goats, everyone decided that it would be neat to learn how to make goat's milk soap (and a few others too!) Well, the time came and we all gathered  up for a Sudsy Soapy Workshop!

After having a GREAT TIME learning how to make soap, we wanted to share our experience and pictures with you so that you can see how we made our different projects and maybe be inspired to try making soap yourself.

All pictures courtesy of Nat's Little Bit Farm and the Willy Nilly 4-H Livestock Club. Please ask permission for any reproductions or material or pictures. We don't mind sharing, just ask! Thanks!

Without further ado, lets begin our first project: Cold Process Goat's Milk Soap:
The first step in soap making is to get all your supplies gathered up in a well lit area with protection for not only for you (since some ingredients are hot and caustic) but also your working surface.

 Notice all the safety gear on the right side. Goggles for your eyes, a mask for mixing powdery lye, and thick gloves to protect your hands.

Since this was not our table, we covered it in thick plastic and secured it with tape.

All utensils were labeled for this project and NOT USED FOR FOOD.  These are our specific soap tools and need to be labeled as such.

Personal Safety Gear is ALWAYS NEEDED along with ADULT SUPERVISION for children. (sometimes us adults need supervision too!)

Supplies Needed Project 1:

  • Accurate Gram Scale!

  • Heat resistant bowl SS or glass

  • Heat resistant pitcher SS or glass

  • 2 High Heat Thermometers

  • Wooden spoons or cooking spatula

  • SS wire whisk or stick blender

  • Few Tupperware containers for measuring supplies on scale

  • Paper towels for spills & trash

  • Soap Molds or Containers

  • Stove or other heating surface

  • Oven Mitt

  • Selected Oils

  • Red Devil Lye (c)

  • Cosmetic Grade Fragrance

  • Cosmetic Grade colorants

  • Goat Milk!

  • Knife or Putty Knife to cut soap

Notice all the work stations are covered with tablecloths and taped down. Gloves!!!

All of us wore gloves to protect our skin from any accidental chemical burns from the un-aged/un-cured freshly made soap.

Lye is a dangerous chemical that takes a while to react with the oils to create soap in the process of "saponification." Exact measure is important for this process to be completed.

Because of the younger age of some of our participants, I did most of the mixing myself on the front tables and kept the kiddies a good 10 feet  back to prevent any accidental splashing.

We measured the ingredients before the meeting and used the 4-h kitchen in our activity building for any clean up/heating of oils.

The left hand table was my mixing area and the right hand table was the sent and color area where we dished out small samples and got creative!
On the left is our trusty electric scale.  This is a big commercial grade one that we barrowed from Cohen Farms. Many thanks!  You can use an accurate postage scale but it is HIGHLY ADVISED to invest in a small pocket electronic scale.  Measurements are by weight, not volume!

  On your right is our Stainless Steel bowl that is ready for heating to melt all our oils together. All ingredients were weighed.  You can use a microwave.. but use caution. We used a stove top and gently mixed it till it was all melted.
 

Now on to the DANGEROUS PART

  MIXING THE LYE INTO WATER

WEAR SAFETY GEAR!!

Put on safety gear!!! Gloves, mask, goggles and common sense!

The measured ingredients : COLD Water and Lye are taken outside in sealed containers to avoid accidental mixing.

All containers are WELL LABELED!!! Use these containers only for lye and make sure they are heat resistant. The lye will reach temps of over 180 degrees!  Oven gloves for transport may be in order depending on your container.

Here Joe gets ready to pour the measured LYE INTO THE WATER. This will be a re-occurring theme. LYE INTO THE WATER... (if not, severe splatter and burns result).

The initial mix will give off some fumes so be prepared to sit back and stir from a distance.

 

NOTICE that the containers are well labeled.  The water jug is plastic - this was used to just transport and weigh our water out.

Our lye was measured in a jar with a lid. This prevents any spilling before you reach your mix destination. We put the water into the heat resistant container (giant glass measuring cup) and THEN ADDED THE LYE TO THE WATER. <--major hint hint.

Note the wooden spoon.  These can deteriorate due to the caustic properties of the lye. Stainless steel utensils can be used instead. This is still very very caustic folks, and can cause bad chemical burns. Seek medical attention if spilled on skin, or if accidentally ingested. Wash exposed skin with lots of fresh water. Some people recommend keeping vinegar on hand for accidents. When in doubt, call 911 and or poison control.

LABEL YOUR TOOLS!

ONWARD to the next steps of Cold Process Goat's Milk Soap (click here for page 2)--->

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