Making Laundry Detergent

My laundry bucket is just about empty so I need to make soap today. In the past I've used the old fashioned recipe of Borax, washing soda, Fels Naptha, and 5 gal of water. I think today I'm going to try something different and put some of our left over bits of goats milk soap to the mix and see what happens. Or, perhaps I will grind up the left over bits and add powdered Borax and washing soda to get a dry mix. I'll do the old fashioned way with water and try the powdered was also and see which one I like.

I do have to say that the cleaning ability of the home made detergent isn't as stellar as the store bought versions, but it's kinder on my septic system, kinder to my skin, and with pre-treatment of stains I still get clean laundry.

Natural Goats Milk Soap, made on the farm.

Here is my latest effort at making soap. I've got a small show coming up with a group of artisans and I'm trying to make as much soap as I can. Since the show is only a week away I decided to try my hand at HP or hot processed soap. I searched the Internet and found the oven method on Diane's Naturally http://www.dianesnaturally.com.au/. For those who don't know CP or cold processed soap takes 4 to 6 weeks to 'cure', while HP takes 24 hours to set up and cure. It's a lot easier to do CP but it's quicker to do HP.

As you can see from the photos below I've got what I think is a temperature problem, but I'm no expert and will ask others what this two tone soap means and if I should turn it into laundry soap (grate it all up into powder). The second photo shows the smaller molds turned out nicely, but the large block mold is discolored.