Goat Milk Soap, Anyone?

Over the past year, I have come to know and love a very dear family that resides in Virginia in a lovely place called Weeping Willow Farm. I have visited them multiple times, and each time, they are kind enough to welcome me and my family into their house for several days at a time---even ten days at one point! I have ridden their horses, eaten their vegetables, milked their goats (yes, once!) petted their dogs, helped sell their products at the local farmer's market and watched movies with them late into the night.

Honestly, they are one of the best families I have ever known.

Upon the second or third visit, I really came to realize how much Mrs. Soares loves to make soap. Not only is this a fascinating process (I know after watching her!) but it takes much skill and attention to detail. In my opinion, soap making is not only a lost homemaking skill, but a wonderful art. At my invitation, Mrs. Soares has been kind enough to appear as my guest today for an interview!

I hope you'll take the time to see what it really takes to make the soaps you saw above. It's incredible; there's so much more behind it than you realize! After that, I suggest you take a look at her Etsy shop! I have several of her products myself and I love them.

Without further ado, please welcome Rebecca Soares to Shades of Art!

Q: How long have you been making your soaps?

A: I have been making soap since the winter of 2008. I started making regular soap (without goat milk) because I had skin issues, specifically, psoriasis. I was hoping that making skin care products without chemicals would help my skin condition, and while it did help some, I was disappointed. I still needed to use some topical medicines to help my skin.

I started looking around for better natural ingredients to add to my homemade soaps and to help my skin. It was then that I learned about the health benefits of goat milk in soap. We just so happened to have recently purchased a couple of dairy goats to provide milk for our family, so it was perfect timing to try adding goat milk into my soap. From there on, I have not had to use medicine. The goat milk definitely made quite a difference and helped my psoriasis tremendously.

It didn't heal me, but it definitely made it manageable without having to purchase steroid creams. So while I started making soap in 2008, I didn't actually start adding goat milk into my soap until 2010---and will only make soap with goat milk in it from now on.

The colours are stunning, and the smells are incredible!

Q: When and how did you decide to make them so artistic, and once you decided, how did you start getting your ideas? Was it just practice makes perfect, or did Pinterest have anything to do with it?

A: At first, I started making soaps only with the intention of healing the skin. I handed my soap out as gifts to friends and family on a regular basis. However, as I made it more and more, I truly fell in love with the hobby of soap making. Around 2016, I started selling my soaps quite actively to stores and markets. Prior to 2016, I had sold my soaps through Etsy and small markets only.

I started researching how to make soap beautiful, mainly because I really wanted to show everyone just how much I love making these soaps. What better way to show them that than to not only make them purposeful but beautiful as well?! It became an art to me. While some people look at soapmaking as a science experiment, I never have, and I never will. It is truly an art. An aged Homestead art, and a way to make something purposeful for the home while using a unique artistic touch. To me, it made it more personal---a special gift indeed.

At first I toyed around with using micas, which are not all natural. I never felt comfortable doing that and quickly switched to plant based and natural colorants instead. By 2019, with the help of Pinterest and multiple soapmaking tutorials online, I started figuring out how to make many kinds of artistic designs, swirls, and soap creations using 100% all natural colorants. I worked hard on making my soaps unique.

One thing I learned while selling at farmers' markets is that while people do love natural soaps, they truly love seeing my soaps' artistic flair and design just as much. I can't tell you how many times I have seen people grab a soap to purchase---just because it was pretty or matched their guest bathroom decor---rather than smell it first!

So I focused on turning my soaps into something that would add to the home. Home is where the heart is after all. So why not add my love for soap making to people's homes? I guess it's my way of bringing a little smile to my customers---or at least that's my intention.

Bonfire Scented Goat Milk Soap

Q: How can you make them so beautiful and yet all natural?

A: Making my soaps so colourful while only using natural products has definitely been a trial and error process. Many herbs and plant based colorants just don't add much pop. They can even disappear or mellow out tremendously, not even looking like the colour intended once the soap is done curing. So I started practicing and practicing and practicing. My family is never short on soap because if one doesn't look the way I had hoped, we end up using it instead of selling it or giving it away.

So the learning process has still been a beneficial one. I have learned that there is no one specific way to make soap. I am a member of a soap-making guild, plus a part of many soap making groups. I am surprised at how many soap makers strictly adhere to a very scientific standard of making soap. Only certain ingredients, only certain measurements, calculate things just so, do it exactly as the recipe states...

As my family would tell you with my cooking, I have never stuck to a specific recipe for anything---ever. I toy around with it until it becomes my own. I add things or take away things or switch things around until it's something I truly love. And that's exactly what I did with not only adding natural colorants to my soap, but with the actual ingredients to my soap as well. Like I said, it was and still is definitely a learning experience, but I truly enjoy it, and I think that's what actually made me the soap maker I am today.

Believe it or not, I (Autumn) actually helped with this particular soap 'Blue Ridge Views' one time. It's harder than it looks!

Q: How has being a Christian influenced you in this particular area?

A: My faith in God actually has been a big part in my soap making for a variety of reasons.

First of all, Colossians 3:23 & 24 are my go-to verses when it comes to the work that we are put on this earth to do. "Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." If my work here on this earth is truly for the Lord and not for men---especially because He's the One who gave me this gift in the first place---you can be certain I'm going to do my best at it! I'm not saying my goat milk soap is the best soap anyone has ever made---but what I am saying is that it is the best that I am able to do and that is what I strive for.

Secondly, our farm verse is 1 Thessalonians 4:11 & 12: "and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependant on no one." This verse is actually etched in the cement floor of our milking barn. Because I am more of an introvert, I love to be in the home and work in the home and on that land that God has given me. This verse speaks volumes for how we live our life here on this farm. It is who we are.

Thirdly, God has given me a true love for the home. My mission field is my family and my home. Everything I do within these four walls and one this acreage is for His glory and honor. And it may sound silly, but making something as simple as soap to wash our hard-working hands and bodies with is part of that mission. It has become a part of being a home. Just as much as the memories we make together on holidays or the pictures we have on our walls. Mom's homemade soaps, dad's handmade woodworking, the hole in the basement stairs, the smell of fresh baked bread, snowy jackets lying by the woodstove, bonfires in autumn, firefly watching in summer, home schooling at the table, or on the couch, or in the barn, or on the back of a horse or out in the woods...These and so much more are all what makes our home...home. God has blessed me with this family and this home. I only hope to bless Him in return.

And fourthly, after 20 years of home schooling, I have learned I truly love to teach. I believe God has given me the gift of teaching. I want to use that gift for Him by teaching others how to make soap, along with keeping the home. It's not as difficult as so many people think. In my eyes, it's just another recipe to tweak and make your own. Yet it can bring a smile to someone's face. Joy to a home. Decor to a bathroom. A scent that brings back memories. Healing to dry, itchy skin. Something worth learning.

Some people call it a forgotten art of the home. I call it a homestead tradition to be shared.

My personal favourite, Blue Jeans and Flannel

Q: Where can we check out your online store?

A: My website is here and our goat milk soaps are available on Etsy at WeepingWillowFarm1.

Thank you, Mrs. Soares! This was such a pleasure to learn personally, and I'm sure it will be a pleasure to read for my audience! This is certain to help prove that almost anything, done well, is an art. Soapmaking certainly is one.

Again thank you so much. :)

God bless!