# 1st Batch



## grayceworks (Oct 17, 2013)

just got done slicing up my 1st batch. not much to look at, but smells wonderful and already has a nice creamy lather. can't wait to see what it's like when it's all the way cured!

the top cracked in the middle about an hour after pouring, but I remembered reading about smoothing it out with a bit of alcohol and some plastic wrap, and that worked just fine! it settled a bit uneven on top, but all-in-all, I'm quite happy with my first attempt. and now 2nd batch is almost ready to unmold. i think i could become addicted.

hubby has decided he wants to help, as it looks like playing mad scientist lol.


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## eyeroll (Oct 17, 2013)

Nice, what is it scented with?


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## AKjulz (Oct 17, 2013)

Nice job!  Soaping is SO darn addicting. The 'dent' or low spot in your soap looks very similar to one of mine after one of my kitties walked across the entire 5lb loaf I had just poured.  Fortunately it was covered with plastic wrap so no soap on kitty's paws...but just for reference, cat paws do NOT make good soap stamps  and now I'm always sure to lay a board over my molds too. 


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## grayceworks (Oct 18, 2013)

AKjulz said:


> Nice job! Soaping is SO darn addicting. The 'dent' or low spot in your soap looks very similar to one of mine after one of my kitties walked across the entire 5lb loaf I had just poured. Fortunately it was covered with plastic wrap so no soap on kitty's paws...but just for reference, cat paws do NOT make good soap stamps  and now I'm always sure to lay a board over my molds too.


 
Hehe! Too funny! I have a set of stacking crates that I am shelving the soaps in, and they're too narrow for the kitties to walk across them fortunately. Plastic wrap will also help keep kitty hair out.


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## grayceworks (Oct 18, 2013)

eyeroll said:


> Nice, what is it scented with?


 
Well, I ended up scenting it with a combination of a Gardenia absolute, and FO's that smell like Tiare and Gardenia, since I can't find a decently priced real Tiare absolute. So I have a bunch of 1/2oz bottles of samples of various Gardenia absolutes and Tiare scents and mixed a couple of them. Smells delicious and I only used 1oz in a 2lb batch, and it is perfectly scented with still just a touch of the shea butter scent coming through also.


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## grayceworks (Oct 18, 2013)

Here's my 2nd batch. It turned out rather odd. I decided I was going to try a simple swirl, and I used a recipe with OO, CO, mango butter, and avocado oil. It was slower to trace than my first batch, so I'm thinking it will work ok. I divided it into two containers, and I didn't know how color and scent would mix, since I'm using a FO that I couldn't find on the scent review board, so I decided to add color to one half, and FO to the other half. Soooo, I added FO  to the first half, and the batter turned a bright translucent rust color and turned the consistency of Jello in the container. The batter in the other container was fine, so I quick dumped them in together and whisked whisked whisked. Hmm. So, no color added, but it's colored nonetheless. lol It got very hot in the mold, and I went ahead and wrapped it all up in towels, and it was ready to unmold in about 3 hours. I sliced one sliver off the end, and it's very interesting look, but not terribly pretty. It's a translucent avocado green, with speckles and spots all throughout of the rust color. Smells very nice, and the sliver that I cut off the loaf is still a bit soft, so I think it will need to harden a bit more before I cut the whole loaf into bars.  

As nice as it smells, I guess I won't be using that FO again, unless I want a whole batch that color, and mix it IN the mold. lol


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## CaraCara (Oct 18, 2013)

Floral FO's tend to move quickly, and those containing Gardenia (one of my favourites) seem to move _very_ quickly. Try tempering the FO in some of the oils you plan to blend it with for about 10 minutes or so, then add it at trace to ensure your lye is completely mixed.  It will still move but you should have a little bit more time to play. Don't forget to zap test.

Good job on the soaps.


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## grayceworks (Oct 18, 2013)

CaraCara said:


> Floral FO's tend to move quickly, and those containing Gardenia (one of my favourites) seem to move _very_ quickly. Try tempering the FO in some of the oils you plan to blend it with for about 10 minutes or so, then add it at trace to ensure your lye is completely mixed.  It will still move but you should have a little bit more time to play. Don't forget to zap test.
> 
> Good job on the soaps.



Thanks! 

The gardenia ones thickened up too quickly for swirling,  but didn't seize up, just gradually thickened up like making pudding. 

 it was a FO called coco-mango that caused the problem in the 2nd batch. 

Weird cuz it smells like coconut and mango, with a hint of lemongrass, but the soap looks like split pea soup with carrots lol. What on earth am I going to call it? *sigh* 

I will try that method with the gardenia ones though and see if I can't slow it down enough to swirl. I didn't add any additives at all until light trace, which was after about 3 minutes of combination hand-whisking and stick-blending in the first batch and 10 minutes  of only hand-whisking in the 2nd batch. 

Both batches zap tested fine after just 8-12hrs. They don't even taste overly 'soapy', but I didn't use much CO, and wasn't too heavy on the scent, so I guess it wouldn't taste as soapy as a different recipe might.


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## Fyrja (Oct 18, 2013)

Very nice, especially for a first batch.  My first batch was nothing to write home about.  Plain white bars.  I somehow got this idea in my head that I could go ahead and do without a stick blender.  So I whisked, and I whisked, and I whisked and whisked and whisked and whisked.  And when if finally reached light trace I poured it and went and bought a stick blender!


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## grayceworks (Oct 19, 2013)

Fyrja said:


> Very nice, especially for a first batch. My first batch was nothing to write home about. Plain white bars. I somehow got this idea in my head that I could go ahead and do without a stick blender. So I whisked, and I whisked, and I whisked and whisked and whisked and whisked. And when if finally reached light trace I poured it and went and bought a stick blender!


 
I used a whisk and a SB on the 1st batch. I whisked until blended, about a minute and a half, then SB'd for about 30 seconds, then it was at very light trace. I added the fragrances and colors and whisked just until they were blended, and it was ready to pour. 

On the 2nd batch, hubby was napping, so I didn't want to use the SB in our tiny studio apt, because it's noisy. So I decided I would just whisk, and that maybe it would thicken slower and maybe I could swirl. *sigh* I think that plan would have worked if it hadn't been for the coco-mango FO. I whisked for less than 10 minutes and it reached light trace. Not as long as I expected to have to whisk, but still, boy was my arm sore! 

I am using 33% lye concentration. Should I maybe try more water?


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## grayceworks (Oct 19, 2013)

Yes, it is DEFINITELY the FO from this one supplier. I just had another batch do the same thing. I was testing to see if that was the problem, so no additional stuff, just lye, oils, and the FO at light trace. It was not coco-mango, was sandalwood FO this time, and again, immediately after adding, it turned orange and the whole batch thickened up and molded right to the pot like a jello mold! LOL 

 I quick spooned it into the mold put a big piece of plastic wrap over the top, and started packing it down and smoothing it. It was getting too hot to touch even as I was doing that! So once I got it pretty well packed in, I covered it up and figure it will smooth out more as it gels, like my split pea soup one above did.  At least this one is all orange instead of orange chunks in translucent green.  

Well, now I know. At least they were free samples.  The supplier wasn't sure either, they sell them primarily for leave-on stuff, and said they also should  work in MP but weren't sure about CP, so they sent me a couple to test.

 I think I'll stick with my usual supplier of EO and FO from now on, at least for soaps -- but it was an interesting experiment with my free samples!  Pity, though, because just half an ounce to one ounce scents 2lbs of oils, and they smell wonderful. The scent seems to survive very well.  And hey, bonus -- no colorant needed! lol *sigh* 

I wonder why they do that? 

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## roseb (Oct 19, 2013)

Yes, more water will help. Especially when you are just starting out, gives you a little more time.  You might want to try a batch without scent or with an essential oil instead.  EOs don't reaction like FO and are much more forgiving.  Skip the colors too, just until you get a feel for how the process works. You will save a lot of $...ask me how I know.   You should have seen some of my first batches...talk about ugly!  Well the first batch I made laundry soap out of it.  LOL   Good luck and keep us posted.


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## grayceworks (Oct 19, 2013)

_


roseb said:



			Yes, more water will help. Especially when you are just starting out, gives you a little more time. You might want to try a batch without scent or with an essential oil instead. EOs don't reaction like FO and are much more forgiving. Skip the colors too, just until you get a feel for how the process works. You will save a lot of $...ask me how I know. You should have seen some of my first batches...talk about ugly! Well the first batch I made laundry soap out of it. LOL Good luck and keep us posted.
		
Click to expand...

_ 
Forgot to add I used a 25% lye concentration instead of 33% on this batch trying to give myself the extra time AND tempered the FO in part of the oils before adding at trace-- nope, just this particular line of FO's.

BUT -- for future reference, how much extra water can I realistically add?

No colors used yet, (except that in the first batch I used water that I boiled red cabbage in to make the lye, as I've used it for coloring other stuff, and wanted to know if it would stay in the soap or not. But it reacted properly because I wasn't using an untried scent lol). 

This 3rd batch is turning out just fine, just wasn't what I expected -- or rather it was sorta expected since I was testing this FO for the supplier -- well, you get the idea.  

Right now it's completely translucent and gelled and has all smoothed out in the mold, so it should be fine once it cools and hardens up. I hope. It's so pretty all translucent like that! It looks like cantaloupe color from whatever was in that scent. 

Why is there color in FO's anyhow? I think they should be clear. My other brands of stuff are clear, or just the natural shade of the EO... Maybe the color in this FO is causing the issue. Well, that was my last sample of that brand so I won't have to worry about it, but I wish I knew what to tell the supplier. 

Umm, I guess I talk a lot for someone who's scared of people don't I? LOL I tend to talk a lot when I find something I enjoy in common with others.  Anxiety goes out the window. 

At any rate I'm having fun learning all this stuff and experimenting, and that's the point! I figure I'll clear out my supply chest by using up the cheap and unsure stuff in my learning batches since I don't mind if I mess them up and I'll also answer a lot of my insane curiosity about 'What happens if...' 

Not even going to use my good EO's right now, for quite a while yet, just picked up a few inexpensive samples of EO's and FO's and whatever free samples I could finagle, which is how I got these 2 crazy scents lol. So my experimenting won't be too expensive, and it's definitely interesting!

****Next batch though will be super simple with no scent other than the natural shea butter scent, so I can try actually playing with color instead of scent. THEN after I've gotten enough practice with colors, I'll try colors and EO's together. I'm planning on mostly natural colors, but might try some titanium dioxide and oxides or micas later... I've seen so many beautiful soaps colored both ways! And maybe then finally break out my chest of GOOD EO's and get creative with oils. Right now all my good ones are reserved for my skin and hair stuff. That's my plan anyhow. ****

OMG shoulda seen hubby's face when this 3rd batch instantly jello'd ! Hilarious! He's having fun with this too, and I love that we have a hobby we both like now. He never got into playing mad scientist with the lotions, conditioners, gels, etc. But he is loving this! Probably cuz of all the creative potential. He's been showing me pics and youtube videos he's found. 

*So much fun! I think it's safe to say after batch #3 that we're both hopelessly addicted...* 

ETA: hubby loves the 'split pea soup' soap. He shaved with it and likes it better than the stuff he usually shaves with. It lathers nice and is not drying at all. Yay! It's ugly, but a good recipe!


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## grayceworks (Oct 20, 2013)

Well, here's #3. It lathers really well already, but I know it needs to cure a lot more. It's pretty drying right now, even though the lather doesn't feel like it at the time. It smells exactly like Palmolive dishsoap. lol 

It has a lot of air bubbles that didn't get pushed out when it seized up. A lot of the FO separated out and leaked out of the loaf also. Scent is still strong though -- I wonder if what leaked out was whatever was in the FO that made it seize up. Dunno. Trying to decide if I don't mind since it's just a practice batch, or if I want to use it as practice for re-batching, or if I want to turn it into dish-soap or laundry-soap. 






ETA: sorry about the pic quality, I used my phone, since I'm not at home with my better camera.


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## houseofwool (Oct 20, 2013)

Some EO accelerate trace too. Cinnamon is awful. Even stirring be hand with a whisk will bring it to trace in a minute or so. 


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## Ancel (Oct 20, 2013)

Gosh, that is such a pretty soap! I love the color and the translucency, looks so delicate. Why would you rebatch it?!?


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## grayceworks (Oct 21, 2013)

Ancel said:


> Gosh, that is such a pretty soap! I love the color and the translucency, looks so delicate. Why would you rebatch it?!?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Soap Making


 
Thanks! I pretty much just want to melt it and re-pour it, not completely re-do it, I guess, since I didn't actually get to pour it the first time around. I barely managed to mash it into the mold before it solidified. lol -- Sooooo, it has a TON of air pockets. Also, initially when I cut it, a ton of the FO leaked out, at least I think that's what it was -- no zap, no real flavor either -- just oily stuff.  But I let it sit for a while, and it seems to have re-absorbed whatever didn't end up on the paper. I don't know.... Will it lose the color and translucency by melting and re-pouring it?


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## Ancel (Oct 21, 2013)

Don't know that you'll be able to pour it after a melt, it'll be just as gloppy as before. I try to avoid rebatching so can't be of more help. Even with the air bubbles, it still looks great 


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## TVivian (Oct 21, 2013)

Such a great pink color! 


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## MaitriBB (Oct 22, 2013)

I keep some silicone single-cavity molds handy for seizing FO batches, then I can glop and pray better than into a tray or loaf mold.

I think your first soaps look great!  Much better than mine


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## grayceworks (Oct 23, 2013)

houseofwool said:


> Some EO accelerate trace too. Cinnamon is awful. Even stirring be hand with a whisk will bring it to trace in a minute or so.
> Sent from my iPhone using Soap Making


 
I will keep that in mind and remember to check the info & reviews on stuff! Thanks! 



MaitriBB said:


> I keep some silicone single-cavity molds handy for seizing FO batches, then I can glop and pray better than into a tray or loaf mold.


 
Heh. That's exactly what I did with these FO's -- glop and pray! lol -- I can see how the individual molds would work better for that though, since you're not going to reveal any air pockets by slicing them later.  I will have to get some.



TVivian said:


> Such a great pink color!


 
Thanks! Wish I could reproduce it without using that FO. lol


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