# Wal Mart Goat's Milk Soap and other Questions!



## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

I just made my second (half) batch of Wal Mart Soap w/goat milk...when I cut it, one end was slightly darker than the other, and the darker end had white swirls along the edges. They are not bubbles, just swirls. They look pretty neat, but I don't think they are supposed to be there...can anyone tell me why it did this? I used a PVC pipe mold for both GM batches, but the first batch was pretty uniform. 

Also, can anyone recommend a good "starter" scent? I'd like to do something simple...lavender or a citrus, one that won't break the bank...

This makes eight batches, two w/milk and no issues...can I move on to trying different oils/fats?

Now I've got a TON of unscented soaps...can it be converted to laundry soap? Can it be used in the HE washers, or will it suds up too much?


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Island Creek Farm said:


> This makes eight batches, two w/milk and no issues...can I move on to trying different oils/fats?


As my husband always says, "Anything can be done with enough time and enough money".

I'm guessing the discoloration is gel and the white swirls are ash. Nothing wrong with either. Some gel their soap on purpose, others don't. I've only made Barb's shaving soap in the pvc and I always get gel.

And yes, you can shred to make laundry soap. I make it into a liquid (do a search - there's plenty of info here) and add to my HE washer. No issues.

Happy soaping.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I would bet you didn't have it really at trace, perhaps with the coolness of your soap room what went into the mold in the swirl was the lard not yet in the emulsion. Make sure you really scrape the bottom and sides of your soap bucket, then stick blend somemore.

You picked the worst two scents, citrus and floral  FO are so much cheaper, go to aromahaven.com and look through their clearance rack, she always has really good cucumber mellons etc...on the sale page.

And yes sub out your butters and oils for whatever you want, course not that the soap will be better than the recipe you are using  Just make sure you put each recipe you make through a lye calculator thesage.com is a good one. If you print it out, you can then keep notes on what you love and what you hate and how scents react, start a notebook..you will NEVER remember all your trial and errors.

Not only can you grate up (I use my food processor) and use the soap for washing clothes etc...but you can also use it in batches of your new soap. As white chunks which are super pretty when you cut the bars when using a scent with vanilla which will turn you base soap brown, to shreds on the top for decoration. Using a potatoe peller you can make beautiful curls to put on the top of colored soap also. V


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I have started using a little cheese grater to grate dark or colorerd soap to get some really fine shreds for effect when I make various soaps. Gets rid of the old and makes the new uber interesting. Example. I make a green soap with lavender colored shreds for my Lavender and Sage soap. Very pretty.

I also use that little cheese grater for beeswax when I include beeswax in a formula (rather it be soap or lotion or whatever) and it melts oh so much faster. 

I bombed at laundry soap so do not encourage that use but I never throw any soap away. It eventually gets grated, chopped or curled into a new soap.


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