Amy's Soap Challenge #2....Soaping with goats milk

Today I tried something new with my soap. I added goats milk. Since I live in the city and "fresh" goats milk would require me to take a mortgage out on my home, I opted to use powdered goats milk. I reserved a bit of the water that I weighed out for my batch and warmed it and added the powdered milk to it. I suppose I could of mixed the milk with more water and froze it and used the frozen method, but I wasn't brave enough to try that yet. So, I added the milk concentrate after my lye and oils were already mixed. 

At first I got scared cause the "milk" didn't blend in like I thought it would with my whisk. So I grabbed the stick blender and proceeded to cream it up good!! That seemed to be the trick because it all smoothed out and then I added some honey fragrance oil. My husband loves vanilla and honey soaps so I was thinking of him when I made this one :)

I knew it would heat up so I popped it in the refrigerator to sit for a few hours. Oh, I almost forgot, I put bubble wrap in my mold to try to get a honey comb pattern. I'm hoping my soap will get more yellow or golden. I didn't want to add any colorant to this batch because I want to see what the milk and this FO does. It smells really really good!!

Took it out of the fridge. It gelled up. Maybe I should of put it in the freezer?

Never used bubble wrap for the texture. All 4 sides... too much? lol

Partial Gel :(

In the mold. I can't figure out why this picture keeps loading sideways. Sorry

Update Thursday April 5, 2012: So this soap has been curing for a few days and it's gotten a little darker, but not much. Its a light beige color and I'm ok with it. The partial gel is still very noticeable, but that's ok too.

I took my little end cut to the sink and lathered it up. It is so nice and creamy and has just the right amount of suds. This FO is definitely a keeper. The honey smell is so strong and wonderful. I have never had such a lovely honey FO before. When I used the sample piece of soap the honey smell lingered on my hands for quite a while.

Very nice :)