Getting familiar with soapmaking...

[Hljod.Huskona]

Greetings everyone!

I'm pretty new to soap making. So new in fact that I've only made a handful of batches. I've been spending a lot of time over the past few weeks reading through this forum, getting some good suggestions, recipes, and tidbits on soapmaking. And a few chemistry lessons (always welcome in my book)!

I do have a few lingering questions...and I feel like a bit of a goof asking. But the only way to figure these out is to ask!

Curing, Saran wrap, Soda Ash
In my first batch, we used plastic molds (I don't have a loaf mold.....yet). We used a blend of cocoa butter, olive oil, coconut oil, apricot kernel oil, and then the lye. These are all referring to CP, btw. We poured the soap into the molds, which I lined with some olive oil to prevent sticking. I wasn't sure what else to use. We cured for about 6 weeks. The soap had a white powdery substance all over them. Was that soda ash? The soap itself came out very nice. The lather was just right, and the soap left my hands pretty soft (softer as time went by and I got further into the batch). I was concerned that maybe we used too much of something until I read about soda ash. Could this have been prevented by using saran wrap on the soap while curing? Should we put the saran wrap on just until I'm ready to cut (or take out of mold), and then leave them in a safe place to cure? Or do you only use saran wrap with MP (which I have not worked with before...I really like CP). I'm so confused!

Abbreviations
There are a lot of abbreviations I've seen with soapmaking, most of them I have been able to follow. The only one I am not sure of is "PPO"...can someone elaborate? When I read this, they were referring to a "salt PPO"??

Adding herbs, seaweed, oatmeal, etc.:
In my first batch I added lavender flowers to my soap. I read about the browning, so I tried to add them towards the end (at trace). I was hoping they'd at least maintain *some* purple...but alas, they did not. Does anyone have any tricks up their sleeves for this? I have seen some soaps maintain colors, so I know it's possible. Just not sure how!!

Coloring with Mica?
For a time in my herbal business, I was also making natural make-up products. For coloring, I often incorporated the vibrant colors of mica to them. Has anyone ever added mica to soap? Is this possible, or will the colors and/or soap be effected? I'm sure I could just include this in my next batch and find out first-hand - but it doesn't hurt to ask ahead of time anyway!

And lastly....HP vs. CP
What is the difference between HP and CP? For the CP, I added the lye and water separately, warmed the oils, then added the lye/water to the pot and blended until trace. So does the HP actually get heated farther then?

I know I'm asking a bunch of questions here...so I thank everyone for their help in advance.

Cheers!
Rebecca

 

[jennikate]

Ok the white pwder sounds like soda ash I happens to me alot PPO Per pound of oil. Sadly nature of the beast lye turns botanicals brown. melt and pour can retain color much better but we have nocontrol over what is in that base. CP vs HP HP you cook it till most saponification done usually a 1-2 hour process It doesnt come out as smooth much more rustic the advantage is it can be used sooner. I cant get more specific about hp since i dont do hp. Duh me I forgot to say saran wrap over soap while its in the mold It can prevent soda ash. Leave it on soap till you remove from mold. HTH the only silly question is the one yhou dont ask

 

[Deda]

I use mica to color most of my soap.

IME ash does as it pleases....

 

[gekko62]

Many mica's aren't stable in cp soap(ph is too high or some such). Pop Mica tho is fantastic,really vibrant.Dont know where you get them in the states,someone'll chime in.
When soap reaches trace its actually only a very small way into the saponification process.So adding anything at trace in an effort to avoid lye is futile.Calendula petals stay yellow but other botanicals turn brownbrownbrown.
So in yr 1st batch,with the lavender flowers & the ash,did you use lavender eo?? Lav ashes like crazy for me!

 

[honor435]

hp , you can use almost right away. although i do still cure for a wk or two. you are actually cooking the soap, i use a crock pot on high, add your lye/water to the oils, sb(stick blend) til trace, then cook, 30-55 minutes, you will see it gel on the outer edge, then when the gel ring goes to the middle, and is gone you stir and add fo and color, glop into mold, make sure to bang it to get air bubbles out, then cut next day!

 

[TessC]

There's a gallery of mica colors here, it's by no means a complete list of all of the mica colors out there but it'll maybe give you some ideas. Also, if you go to the TKB Trading site, they have a section for soap-safe and stable micas/oxides:

TKB soap colorants

 

[carebear]

Curing, Saran wrap, Soda Ash
In my first batch, we used plastic molds (I don't have a loaf mold.....yet). We used a blend of cocoa butter, olive oil, coconut oil, apricot kernel oil, and then the lye. These are all referring to CP, btw. We poured the soap into the molds, which I lined with some olive oil to prevent sticking. I wasn't sure what else to use. We cured for about 6 weeks. The soap had a white powdery substance all over them. Was that soda ash? The soap itself came out very nice. The lather was just right, and the soap left my hands pretty soft (softer as time went by and I got further into the batch). I was concerned that maybe we used too much of something until I read about soda ash. Could this have been prevented by using saran wrap on the soap while curing? Should we put the saran wrap on just until I'm ready to cut (or take out of mold), and then leave them in a safe place to cure? Or do you only use saran wrap with MP (which I have not worked with before...I really like CP). I'm so confused!

yes, it's ash and it's only a cosmetic issue. laying saran wrap over the top can prevent it from happening much of the time.



Abbreviations
There are a lot of abbreviations I've seen with soapmaking, most of them I have been able to follow. The only one I am not sure of is "PPO"...can someone elaborate? When I read this, they were referring to a "salt PPO"??

PPO is "per pound of oils"

Adding herbs, seaweed, oatmeal, etc.:
In my first batch I added lavender flowers to my soap. I read about the browning, so I tried to add them towards the end (at trace). I was hoping they'd at least maintain *some* purple...but alas, they did not. Does anyone have any tricks up their sleeves for this? I have seen some soaps maintain colors, so I know it's possible. Just not sure how!!

no trick on lavender except lay only on top which makes it last a bit longer. if you must blend it in make sure it's all chopped up or it'll look like mouse turds


And lastly....HP vs. CP
What is the difference between HP and CP? For the CP, I added the lye and water separately, warmed the oils, then added the lye/water to the pot and blended until trace. So does the HP actually get heated farther then?

for HP you cook the soap to hurry along the reaction, with CP you let it go slowly and the only heat is that generated by the reaction (often causing gel). there is a bit of a difference in the finished product in terms of texture and such, but IMO no other difference. Others may think differently, though.