I've made a few soaps at this point but they all had in old almond milk cartons or small individual molds. I ordered this cheap log mold from Amazon (I would not recommend it btw) and used it for the first time a week ago. I used coconut milk at 50% of the water (2.2 water:lye ratio) and 28 oz. of oils which included olive, coconut, corn, vegetable shortening, castor and cocoa butter. I don't think I'll do another soap with the corn oil, but I'd just bought some for cooking so I thought I'd throw a little in.
The colors are spirulina (I think - it might have been chlorella), cocoa powder, turmeric and TiO2. I had intentions to add EO of lemongrass, rosemary and orange but saw that sitting on the counter as the soap was poured into the mold - doh. I put covered the soap and refrigerated it for 24 hours then set it on the counter for another 24. It was still really gooey after 48 hours so I uncovered it and let it sit another 2 days. It was still somewhat soft in the middle but better - barely cuttable. I've not had a soap be this soft for this long before, I'm not sure if it was the mold, oils, coconut milk, refrigeration or something else. I'm going to use the mold again in the next few days with a recipe I've used before so I'll reduce the variables - maybe it's the mold.
I was mostly happy with the results. The downside is the smell since I forgot to add the EO. It smells a lot like cocoa butter. I premixed all of the colorants in oil except for the TiO2. That didn't get mixed well and there are some white streaks. I could have stick blended it in better but I wanted to avoid the batter getting too thick. I'll be premixing everything from now on - lesson learned. Outside of these two things everything went according to plan.
My next soap is going to be a Christmas soap. I'm going to do a circles pattern using squeeze bottles. I'm also going to create a step by step checklist so I don't end up forgetting something. At some point I'll be on the hunt for another 2# loaf mold as I'm not happy with the cheap one from Amazon. Probably one from Brambleberry - I like the idea of silicone inside a wooden box, I'm not keen on folding freezer paper. I can barely fold a sheet of paper in half evenly. Freezer paper might be more than I can handle.
The colors are spirulina (I think - it might have been chlorella), cocoa powder, turmeric and TiO2. I had intentions to add EO of lemongrass, rosemary and orange but saw that sitting on the counter as the soap was poured into the mold - doh. I put covered the soap and refrigerated it for 24 hours then set it on the counter for another 24. It was still really gooey after 48 hours so I uncovered it and let it sit another 2 days. It was still somewhat soft in the middle but better - barely cuttable. I've not had a soap be this soft for this long before, I'm not sure if it was the mold, oils, coconut milk, refrigeration or something else. I'm going to use the mold again in the next few days with a recipe I've used before so I'll reduce the variables - maybe it's the mold.
I was mostly happy with the results. The downside is the smell since I forgot to add the EO. It smells a lot like cocoa butter. I premixed all of the colorants in oil except for the TiO2. That didn't get mixed well and there are some white streaks. I could have stick blended it in better but I wanted to avoid the batter getting too thick. I'll be premixing everything from now on - lesson learned. Outside of these two things everything went according to plan.
My next soap is going to be a Christmas soap. I'm going to do a circles pattern using squeeze bottles. I'm also going to create a step by step checklist so I don't end up forgetting something. At some point I'll be on the hunt for another 2# loaf mold as I'm not happy with the cheap one from Amazon. Probably one from Brambleberry - I like the idea of silicone inside a wooden box, I'm not keen on folding freezer paper. I can barely fold a sheet of paper in half evenly. Freezer paper might be more than I can handle.
