Castile soap

[Dawni]

Or as close to one as I could possibly get.

This soap uses 100% pomace, because I did not have extra virgin on hand. I have plans to make one with EVOO for comparison. No other additives except for sea salt in the water.

I also hand mixed this, to get a feel of it. I thought it would gel on its own considering our heat but I think it didn't. Maybe if I used a loaf mold, but I didn't wanna spoil it if I cut badly so individual molds it was.

However I did do one thing that's not "traditional" which is different water amounts within one soap. I wanted to see what that'll do to white soap with no additives. 80% of the soap used 1.5:1 and the 20% 1.8:1.

The less water soap took forever to come to trace, mixing by hand. I wanted it at medium so I can do an ITP swirl and have the "darker soap" suspended within. Don't know if I truly managed it. That technique is best for loaves, I belatedly realized. You can see some uneven-ness in the swirls in these two pics

Yep, my sister gets her very own butterfly Castile soaps, which she'll have to impatiently wait a year for lol I had to hide these from myself for four days before unmolding and I'm glad I didn't try sooner.

The top part of the soap also has some uneven colors, which I'm thinking is partial gel. Can you guys see what I'm talking about below? It also shows in the first pic above.

All in all that was a good educational experience for me. And after a year I have my own "Castile" soap to probably stare at n never use lol I don't know how to make myself test it every month after the 8th (this is the plan lol) but first thing is to find the perfect hiding place. Or maybe I'll make mom hide it from me this time lol

There's just something about white soaps, right? Next project is HP Castile, to see how close to white that will get.

I want to say thank you to Ms. @penelopejane for inadvertently giving me the urge to make a Castile, and for all her guidance regarding ingredients (or lack thereof lol) and procedure.

Thanks for reading!

 

[KiwiMoose]

They look lovely Dawni! And it was my pleasure to read : )

 

[Terri E]

These look awesome! I have never made Castile soap but you made me want to! It will be next on my list!

 

[penelopejane]

Great job and good note taking.
The swirls of the different lye concentration will be great to watch and take note of overtime.
Maybe just a tiny bit of non gel but they look pretty good. Especially the butterfly - ones they are perfect! The great thing about castile is that over time they whiten even more.
I ca't believe you handblended them!

 

[Dawni]

They look lovely Dawni! And it was my pleasure to read : )

Mwwaah!

These look awesome! I have never made Castile soap but you made me want to! It will be next on my list!

Thanks! Can't wait to see yours..

Great job and good note taking.
The swirls of the different lye concentration will be great to watch and take note of overtime.
Maybe just a tiny bit of non gel but they look pretty good. Especially the butterfly - ones they are perfect! The great thing about castile is that over time they whiten even more.
I ca't believe you handblended them!

Thank you! I initially was gonna blend then remembered I read several times that pure olive oil takes forever to trace so I wanted to see how long forever takes haha

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I really like the butterfly ones. I have a friend who really likes butterflies--I might have to get some of those molds for her. I just don't have the patience to wait that long to try soap--how do you do it? you can see the partial gel a bit but it doesn't look bad. good job

 

[earlene]

So cool, Dawni! You did the Ghost Swirl in Castile. They are beautiful. I've done High & Low water soaps in both loaves and individual molds, even slabs. I think it works fine in all molds, but it depends on how you do your pour, I think more than the mold itself. Mine were not ITP swirls, though. I used two different containers for pouring; High water in one pitcher and Low water in the other pitcher. Pouring both together is one way. Pouring one, then pouring the other in a pattern is another way. And of course a very slow swirl stick can be used as well, to add a sort of a design can also be utilized.

I tried it several times before I became quite comfortable with it. It looks to me like you have achieved remarkable success on your first attempt.

As for partial gel, that's sort of the point with the high and low water. The high water portion should gel faster than the low water portion, which is what gives it the difference in color.

See Auntie Clara's explanation here and here.

 

[Dawni]

As for partial gel, that's sort of the point with the high and low water. The high water portion should gel faster than the low water portion, which is what gives it the difference in color.

See Auntie Clara's explanation here and here.

Ah yes, I didn't think of that lol I should have but didn't. Thank you @earlene! I'm quite happy with how these turned out.

@Marilyn Norgart I've been know to use this phrase quite often - I hide the soap from myself. Haha.. Hopefully I can manage fine for a year with this one. I'll have to probably soap lots of others to compensate hahaha. I bought the butterfly molds specifically for my sister, she loves em too

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I've been know to use this phrase quite often - I hide the soap from myself

if I hid it long enough for it to cure I probably wouldn't be able to find it again

 

[Dawni]

if I hid it long enough for it to cure I probably wouldn't be able to find it again

Lol

We now factor in the size of my house. It's small and doesn't have that many hiding places. I'm bound to come across mine if I do some thorough cleaning in any of the rooms hehehe

 

[jcandleattic]

They are beauties!!

 

[Dawni]

So cool, Dawni! You did the Ghost Swirl in Castile. They are beautiful. I've done High & Low water soaps in both loaves and individual molds, even slabs. I think it works fine in all molds, but it depends on how you do your pour, I think more than the mold itself. Mine were not ITP swirls, though. I used two different containers for pouring; High water in one pitcher and Low water in the other pitcher. Pouring both together is one way. Pouring one, then pouring the other in a pattern is another way. And of course a very slow swirl stick can be used as well, to add a sort of a design can also be utilized.

I tried it several times before I became quite comfortable with it. It looks to me like you have achieved remarkable success on your first attempt.

As for partial gel, that's sort of the point with the high and low water. The high water portion should gel faster than the low water portion, which is what gives it the difference in color.

See Auntie Clara's explanation here and here.

Thanks earlene! I checked on it today to see what the difference in gel looks like after 4 days. You're right, it depends on the pour more than the mold and I think the ghost swirl is noticeable more in just a couple of them. Here's my favorite:

Also, since I tested the lather in my HP Castile, I tested a leftover ball of this one too. Big difference in lather in just a difference in process.

Will update both over the next several months..

 

[dibbles]

You are right - there's just something about white soap. These are lovely.

 

[Dawni]

Lather update! It's been close to a month since these were made, and while the soaps are still hidden away curing, here's a pic of the lather I got from a small test ball, if anyone's interested.

Tiny bubbles but bubbles nonetheless, and no snot. Check out the HP version for comparison.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

the HP looks like more lather. is this from around the cure time?

 

[Dawni]

the HP looks like more lather. is this from around the cure time?

They were made a couple of days apart only. The first few days I had almost no bubbles at all from the CP but had some in the HP...

 

[szaza]

Great experiment @Dawni! I'm really curious how the two soaps will continue to cure. Was actually thinking of doing something similar, but I haven't had time to make soap since februari (and my soapy to-try list only keeps getting longer) so I think I'm going to keep an eye on this thread and learn from your experience [emoji6]

 

[Mobjack Bay]

This soap uses 100% pomace, because I did not have extra virgin on hand. I have plans to make one with EVOO for comparison. No other additives except for sea salt in the water.

Your soap is very pretty! I still have so much to learn - like what oils will produce a white soap. Does pomace look green out of the bottle? Edited to add that I found a thread on the oils that produce white soap, here: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/white-soap.39113/#post-366463

 

[earlene]

I am not Dawni, but I use pomace olive oil and yes, it is rather greenish. But like all olive oils, I think the intensity of the green can vary depending on the olives themselves at the time of processing. So not every bottle of pomace is going to be exactly the same shade of green. But as far as creating any sort of green in the soap, it doesn't carry through. My uncolored Castile soap made with pomace is just what I would call off-white.

 

[Dawni]

I updated the HP one but forgot this lol

Improved greatly from the earlier pic... But still slightly snotty.

Dunno if we captured it well enough..