A picture of ricing, volcanos, separating, overheating

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I've had a couple soapmaking disasters but nothing like this, usually I've screwed up the ingredients somehow (wrong oil mix, or too much water). But so far I've only been using small silicon molds. I'm wanting to move into bigger molds, especially on days like today -- poured a batch last night and I'm already wanting to unmold it so I can do a new batch. But seeing stuff like this is kinda scary. Is it even possible to get ricing/volcanoes in a small mold? I always see photos of it happening in a big mold but I'm not sure if that's because the soap needs "critical mass" to act like this, or if the people who are committed enough to soapmaking to post pics are just all using big molds.
 
Ricing doesn't happen in the mold. This is a texture change you will see in the soap pot. It can happen to any size soap batch.

Volcanoes can happen in the soap pot or in the mold. If in the mold, volcanoes are less likely to happen in smaller molds or flatter molds because the center portion of the soap doesn't get as hot if the soap is more spread out -- more surface area in other words.

I've never had a volcano. That's not to say I'm immune, but just that it hasn't happened so far in some years of soap making. I've seen mild ricing once in awhile.

Ways to minimize the chances -- Don't make soap with really hot ingredients. Pay attention to the additives you use, especially fragrance and essential oils. I don't use a lot of EOs in my soap, but I do use FOs. I don't buy fragrance oils that are known for ricing or severe acceleration.
 
Last edited:
Kelly Frizzell said:
First off, I am new to soap making, and I am sooo excited to be able to be a part of this group, thank-you for the add.
Q to post #82 - is there a list somewhere that will tell you what FO's or EO's are know for ricing or acceleration?
Click to expand...

Hello and welcome!! There is a fragrance oil list on the forum. Has it's own topic. However, recipes can act differently and other things influence how they behave as well (Temps, too much stickblending) Best recommendation is to purchase from reputable companies, many list their behavior in CP.
 
I agree with Shari ^^^. There is no one master list -- you need to do your homework with various suppliers. One supplier with lots of info is Nature's Garden, so you might start there and then branch out to other suppliers. You can get some ideas of where to look from our Fragrance Oil Review here: https://tinyurl.com/y8yqhtlt
 
Soap on a stick!
IMG_0447.jpg
 
I had similar with a rose soap I made last weekend. First batch will need to be rebatched. Second batch needed to be blended until almost so thick i had trouble getting it into the mold in a nice fashion... The soap itself is fantastic will have to try more water next time to see if I can slow down the trace...
 
Kelly Frizzell said:
Would that combination of EO's always cause the soap to seize?
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I haven't had trouble with Litsea (May Change), but I've had Ylang Ylang and Palmrosa hurry things along a bit.

No, it won't always cause seizing - it's not so fast that it can't be controlled by diluting it in some of the superfat oil and gently mixing it in at the very end (obviously not much good if you don't know beforehand, but it can be just fine if you blend it in gently just before the pour).

Some of the other essential oils can be very quick, especially the warm spices.
 
SaltedFig said:
I haven't had trouble with Litsea (May Change), but I've had Ylang Ylang and Palmrosa hurry things along a bit.

No, it won't always cause seizing - it's not so fast that it can't be controlled by diluting it in some of the superfat oil and gently mixing it in at the very end (obviously not much good if you don't know beforehand, but it can be just fine if you blend it in gently just before the pour).

Some of the other essential oils can be very quick, especially the warm spices.
Click to expand...
Thank-you, I am not sure what EO/FO's to try, nor how much, etc. I have added only a few drops to a couple of the soaps (tried a few shakes of Pennyroyal in one and it turned out OK, but the couple of drops of Eucalyptus and then Lavender I tried in the other two soaps really did nothing), I was afraid of adding too much, but then the result was no real scent noticable.
What would you recommend I do, as a beginner, to learn what soap recipes work best/better with which scents? What scents would you recommend starting with? LOL, there are so many variables with soap recipes and adding scents just makes it more complicated. Two of the five soaps I have tried thus far have created their own scents (pine tar and a milk based soap) so that was a good thing. But I would like to try rosemary/mint, or lavender, or orange. But if those are the scents I would like to start with, do I just use the scents as I have them listed? Or is there another scent that should be added (say to the orange) to help it smell better? I did not know until just reading one of the forum posts that there was such a thing as a fragrance calculator, so I have never tried one, but next time I have time to start making soap again, I would like to know how to use one.
Anyway, any suggestions would be very welcomed. Thanks. I am loving this forum and all of the advice.
 
Hey Kelly, could you make a new thread for your question?
(just copy the text you have written, it's a good, clear question - you don't need to include the quote)

I'm sure you will get a lot of help on EO's and FO's if you do :)
(My concern is your question might get missed by quite a few experienced people, who may not see it in this picture thread :)).
 
SaltedFig said:
Hey Kelly, could you make a new thread for your question?
(just copy the text you have written, it's a good, clear question - you don't need to include the quote)

I'm sure you will get a lot of help on EO's and FO's if you do :)
(My concern is your question might get missed by quite a few experienced people, who may not see it in this picture thread :)).
Click to expand...
OK, I will give that a try.
I also wonder how I know when someone replies to something I have posted - is there a place I can see that? I just found a reply to a post that the person had left Nov. 5, twenty days ago.
 
It's possible you will never know some people have responded to you unless they click the "reply" link in the bottom right corner of one of your posts or include the "@UserName" (like this -- @Kelly Frizzell ) in their reply.

If you aren't getting these notices even if people are doing this, you should review the "Alert Preferences" settings in your user profile. Go to the top of this page, click on the icon that looks like a person, and click on the link for "Alert Preferences." When alerts are turned on, a "bell" icon will turn color at the upper right corner to let you know there are responses to check.
 

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