My goats!....and something odd about coloring GM soap

[green soap]

Thanks to your kind help and advice, I have some goat milk soaps!

Here they are. The labels will say: Plain goat, chocolate goat (both unscented), minty goat and spicy goat. Minty and spicy are scented with EO blends. Spicy is colored with small quantities of anatto and paprika infused oils. No trouble there. Minty was colored using indigo. See the next picture.


goat soaps jan2012 by rosetalleo, on Flickr

I added indigo dissolved in a little bit of water to the GM lye. I did not use anything for green (yellow) since I figure the GM would contribute that. The color was beautiful at first. When I cut it, there was a different color inside! Which then morphed to a blue/green which morphed to a grey blue-green. My next batch of minty goat will probably be uncolored.


DSC01381 by rosetalleo, on Flickr

 

[krissy]

pretty! maybe for your next minty goat you could do ground up something that stays green and have it in there like flecks?

 

[paillo]

really, really pretty! i keep meaning to try the indigo that has been sitting in my cupboard for ages, this is inspiration.

looks to me like partial gel could be the culprit -- could this be the case?

 

[IrishLass]

Great job! Absolutely lovely!

Re: the different color inside. That's actually pretty normal. If I understand correctly, I believe it has to do with pH and its relationship to air having contact with parts of the soap that have been previously untouched by air (although partial gel can do it, too).


IrishLass

 

[green soap]

pretty! maybe for your next minty goat you could do ground up something that stays green and have it in there like flecks?

Thank you!

I would be concerned that chlorophyll is the source of the greens and i found it accelerates DOS, so I stay away from grinding plants directly into soaps. Also, I don't like anything scratchy, like my rosemary was when i first ground it into a soap. I use the plant infused oils for scents, where the color transfer is very small or none.

 

[green soap]

really, really pretty! i keep meaning to try the indigo that has been sitting in my cupboard for ages, this is inspiration.

looks to me like partial gel could be the culprit -- could this be the case?

Thanks! I know for sure it is not partial gel. The strips shown turned a uniform color in a couple of hours.

The soap was all uniform inside, so no partial gel. I used the amount of water that gives me gel in other soaps, but I soaped cooler since my GM lye was no more than 80F. I left them on a table top. To gel my other soaps I just put insulating pads on top of the molds on a table top (no oven). Most of the time I get ungelled corners, but these soaps were completely uniform.

So I cannot tell if these soaps gelled or not. They remained softer than my other soaps, which makes me think no gel, but they are my first GM soaps. You guys are the experts, do GM soaps stay softer longer? My oils were the same.

 

[kharmon320]

Hi Green Soap! Love all your goats. I'm gonna chime in and say I think that color change is normal. I think Irish Lass is right about the insides not exposed to air. I've had a few of my really dark soaps have much lighter insides when cut, but then darken up as well. Even soaps that are 2-3 months old have done this if I've taken a bar and sliced and end off.

I think you did a wonderful job.

 

[green soap]

Thanks Irishlass and Kharmon, for the compliments and explanation. You are right, the pH is initially really high, indigo is pH sensitive. I guess it goes more towards neutral as the surface oxidizes?

When I use indigo in the non GM soaps it normally gets a rind (not ash), either white if I only use indigo, or any other color contribution from anatto or herb infusions. The part of the soap exposed to air does not get colored blue, or just a little. The GMs don't have this 'rind'. On the other hand, the color is not very attractive compared to how indigo looks in non GM soaps.

 

[Half Caper Farm]

And here I was, expecting pictures of goats . . . :cry:

 

[PrairieCraft]

And here I was, expecting pictures of goats . . . :cry:

Me too.

 

[Dennis]

Show us the goats! Please?

 

[green soap]

Sorry, the milk is not from my goats, it was from goat milk I bought at Trader Joes. I am calling my GM soaps, 'my goats'.

I cannot have goats here because of my gardening style, and I do grow too many things they like to eat. Problem is I like to eat those things too!

However, I have a neighbor who lives around 1/2 mile from me. She raises goats and likes my soap. I have been thinking about proposing a trade. She has very cute goats, and I am sure she would let me take a picture. But, would she trade goat milk for soap? That would be very cool.

 

[Dennis]

Barter. Everyone wins.