steffamarie
Well-Known Member
So let me preface this by saying, I am a very anxious person. I'm not adventurous. I plan and stick with things that are tried and true. So I made a very out of character decision this morning to try CPing Coconut & Vetiver from Nurture Soap. For anyone who hasn't read the soap testing notes or the reviews of this FO...here's a link. The bottle says "Acts crazy in CP" and that is incredibly correct. My review should be posted soon, but here's the story.
I chose a small batch because I only had a sample size and also because I didn't want to waste a 3-lb batch if it never came together. So I melted my hard oils, added my liquid oils, added my non-lye liquid (buttermilk powder and bentonite clay in aloe juice), and decided to add the FO to my oils rather than at trace. I blended that in, and it did kind of stay separate from the oils in places. So I added my lye solution and HOLY COW. We went immediately to a medium/thick trace with the most intense separation or ricing I've experienced thus far. I sort of figured it was going to do this, so I just kept stick blending.
For like 20 minutes, I blended on and off trying to force it to stay emulsified. I was actually having a fun time seeing all the weird stages it went through - it alternated between a medium and a thick trace and sort of acted almost non-Newtonian. After a while, the strangest thing happened - it reversed itself. It went back to a thin trace - almost just emulsion - and the graininess of the ricing almost disappeared. So I kept treating it like a regular soap batter and it continued to act like one! With a little more blending (god bless my mother for buying me a nice stick blender for Christmas) we made it to a medium trace and I added some oat flour for texture and to try to absorb any extra FO that stayed separated out.
I got it in the mold, finally, and tried to texture the top. It was still acting like that sort of non-Newtonian fluid, staying upright for a few minutes but with the edges melting back into the loaf after a time. Very very weird, but I've got it outside on the brick of my porch to try to keep it cool. It should get just above freezing today, so hopefully that will help prevent overheating.
Whatever happens, I had a really fun time watching what this FO did to my soap...it smells amazing and with a little luck, hopefully I'll end up with at least one bar that's usable! If I have to rebatch, so be it. I'll update back when I cut it!!
I chose a small batch because I only had a sample size and also because I didn't want to waste a 3-lb batch if it never came together. So I melted my hard oils, added my liquid oils, added my non-lye liquid (buttermilk powder and bentonite clay in aloe juice), and decided to add the FO to my oils rather than at trace. I blended that in, and it did kind of stay separate from the oils in places. So I added my lye solution and HOLY COW. We went immediately to a medium/thick trace with the most intense separation or ricing I've experienced thus far. I sort of figured it was going to do this, so I just kept stick blending.
For like 20 minutes, I blended on and off trying to force it to stay emulsified. I was actually having a fun time seeing all the weird stages it went through - it alternated between a medium and a thick trace and sort of acted almost non-Newtonian. After a while, the strangest thing happened - it reversed itself. It went back to a thin trace - almost just emulsion - and the graininess of the ricing almost disappeared. So I kept treating it like a regular soap batter and it continued to act like one! With a little more blending (god bless my mother for buying me a nice stick blender for Christmas) we made it to a medium trace and I added some oat flour for texture and to try to absorb any extra FO that stayed separated out.
I got it in the mold, finally, and tried to texture the top. It was still acting like that sort of non-Newtonian fluid, staying upright for a few minutes but with the edges melting back into the loaf after a time. Very very weird, but I've got it outside on the brick of my porch to try to keep it cool. It should get just above freezing today, so hopefully that will help prevent overheating.
Whatever happens, I had a really fun time watching what this FO did to my soap...it smells amazing and with a little luck, hopefully I'll end up with at least one bar that's usable! If I have to rebatch, so be it. I'll update back when I cut it!!
