What a Drag!

I removed my newest batch of goat milk soap from the loaf mold today and attempted to cut it into bars.  I must admit that I am not particularly surprised that this was easier said than done.

Jayne's pattern with the colours I chose turned out to be really lovely.

Unfortunately, I sort of mangled it when cutting.  Even though I used a very sharp knife which I cleaned after slicing off every bar and also ended up spraying with cooking spray for less friction when cutting, I still ended up getting drag marks in the pattern.  This was especially noticeable because I had chosen black as one of the colours.  What a drag!

Now, clearly this is not the end of the world - it is homemade soap, it should look homemade!  But as a perfectionist it bugs the heck out of me.  There are lots of things I can try next time to reduce drag; the top two being to wait longer before cutting so the soap is harder and using a wire instead of a knife to do the cuts.

On the bright (albeit slightly disconcerting) side, I now have a closet full of curing soap!   Secretly I find this a bit terrifying given that I already want to make another batch to continue refining my soap making skills (how much soap can a family even use?!), but at least we will be clean even in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

P.S. If you usually get a holiday gift from me, this year it will be soap.  Or a goat.  Consider yourself warned.

Luna (she's a keeper).

Baby goat butt!