Check it out! Daniel's first batch!

[Guest]

Started things out last night with a simple recipe:

17 oz. Extra virgin olive oil
5 1/2 oz. Organic coconut oil
3 1/8 oz. Sodium Hydroxide
7 3/4 oz. Distilled water

This recipe was superfatted at 6%. No essential oils or fragrance.

Just after pouring into a makeshift mold -- a baking pan. Will be making a proper pine mold later.

I covered the mold with a towel and put it in the oven (unheated). This is how it looked when I checked it about an hour later: chalky and opaque. It smelled like lard. I zap tested it just for the hell of it and definitely got the 9 volt battery effect on my tongue!

A few hours later. The appearance of the soap had changed slightly to look more "swirly" and clear:

Here's the finished soap after I cut it into bars this morning. Zap tested it: no zap. The smell had mellowed out to a natural, "plain" soap smell. I tested out a small piece to wash my hands -- awesome lather, very fluffy, creamy and cleansing. Sweet!

I cut the soap into bars and put them away to cure.

Results of first batch: success!

Next batch: will introduce essential oils and fragrance oils to this recipe.

 

[andreabadgley]

Great job! What created the swirl? It looks lovely!

 

[Guest]

Great job! What created the swirl? It looks lovely!

Thanks... not sure about the swirl, it just happened! Though I'm wondering if it will remain as the soap cures.

 

[andreabadgley]

I've had swirls happen unintentionally like that before, too, and I can never figure out what it is. It seems almost like tiny bubbles, or maybe streaking for one reason or another. It's a mystery! Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[jbarad]

Awesome soap ! I love the swirly in it !!

 

[jenn624]

Really neat! I like those swirls too.

 

[IanT]

Great job!!...

yupp... itll zap your tongue until the saponification process is all done (when the soap is completely cooled... about 18-14 hrs)..

you made some nice soap!

 

[carebear]

very nice indeed!

(if that's a metal pan beware - under the non-stick finish it could very well be aluminum and one small scratch will cause you issues)

 

[Guest]

very nice indeed!

(if that's a metal pan beware - under the non-stick finish it could very well be aluminum and one small scratch will cause you issues)

Thanks for the heads up. I bought the pan brand new specifically for soaping, just until I have time to make a pine mold -- probably next weekend.

 

[Jeremy]

Looks great for a first batch. I made a similar batch for my first and had the same swirl effect. Now that I am actually trying to create swirls it's not going so well..lol.

 

[Jody]

Those look great. Nice soap.

 

[IanT]

very nice indeed!

(if that's a metal pan beware - under the non-stick finish it could very well be aluminum and one small scratch will cause you issues)

yup!! think Mt. St Helens in your soap mold

 

[Guest]

very nice indeed!

(if that's a metal pan beware - under the non-stick finish it could very well be aluminum and one small scratch will cause you issues)

yup!! think Mt. St Helens in your soap mold

Really?! I hadn't read about that. What happens, it reacts with aluminum and explodes?

 

[carebear]

not explodes, no, but seriously reactive. I put the spoon I used to stir my lye solution into an aluminum pour pot from my candles, thinking (well actually NOT thinking) that the tiny bit of lye would help get the soy wax out of the pot.

It did work - after a fashion. It took me quite a while to figure out what that hissing noise was and when I finally did look at the pour pot in the sink I discovered that not only was the soy wax gone, but so was part of the pot... (just pinholes, but still = lye + aluminum = bad)

 

[Guest]

Wow.... really good to know!

 

[IanT]

yup!! thats why we all help eachother

 

[christellita]

Great job!!...

yupp... itll zap your tongue until the saponification process is all done (when the soap is completely cooled... about 18-14 hrs)..

you made some nice soap!

I've had these swirls before, too- and checking them with a pH strip has shown they are ok- but theys till make me nervous. What causes them???

 

[Guest]

I've had these swirls before, too- and checking them with a pH strip has shown they are ok- but theys till make me nervous. What causes them???

This is just a guess, but I'm wondering if it's due to uneven gelling. The swirls only appear in the center of the soap.

 

[kwahlne]

Really nice batch, Daniel! Great job! And nice pics, too!

 

[starduster]

Soap Trip

Congratulations Daniel.You soap is soooh cool.
You can use all sorts of molds. You will find yourself eyeing everything off as a potential mold.
Latex, plastic and all that is safe. Ahh such learning curves. We are still all at it.
A whole new life has begun.
So many different niches with soap. I wonder what yours will have morphed into in say about 3 years from now. :?:
Cupboards overflowing with magical molds.
You kitchen smelling like a ....... .... ....
and a 1000 different ways of saying to anyone you meet 'Do you like handmade soaps"?