goatsmilk soap with rose clay-partial gel?

[kpduty51]

Hello people,
I am watching my soap gel, I think!
It is a goatsmilk soap with rose clay added. I feel confident in the recipe--ran it through the lye calc and fragrance calc.
It has added fragrance oil called Freckles from MMS. I think I did everything carefully and well.. The only thing I DID NOT do, was to put it outside immediately- in the cold Wisconsin air, like the last two successful goats milk soaps I have made.
I left it uncovered on the dining room table (it is cold here--65 degrees in the houe) And half an hour later, realized it was heating up. I hustled it outside and nestled it in the snow. I think it is obviously gelling, as I check on it 20 minutes later. Still hot in the middle and bouncy. Is this the right thing to do? Doesn't seem like a volcano, but does seem to be gelling... Or is it going to partial gel because I put it in the snow?
This soap is a birthday soap for my soon to be 11 year old... hence the freckles fragrance and rose clay. I know I need to ride it out. I also know I should have put it outside ASAP. It seemed to be cool and hardening before this happened, but I have learned my lesson.
I hope the soap will work, it has great values and will be pretty (if it isn't ugly!) any thoughts? and thank you.
By the way, the last goats milk soap I made was the coffee goats milk with turkish mocha and it turned out perfectly.
thanks.

 

[kpduty51]

I just checked it again, it is much cooler, but looks somewhat transparent under the top 1/2 inch or so of soap and towards middle, not edges. Is that partial gel? will it be ugly? I am ignorant of gel situations.

 

[houseofwool]

I kinda like the look of partial gels. It shouldn't impact the way the soap functions after the cure, so I wouldn't worry about it all at this point.

 

[kpduty51]

It's pretty pink and I know it will still be soap. Other values worked well. But still, I am sad. I am wondering if it would have been smarter to let it gel completely by just sitting here on the table. I know people gel their milk soaps--done lots of reading.

I felt that it was going to volcano as it was rising like bread dough, so maybe I averted a tragedy and am opting for less than perfect, but lesson learned.

 

[melstan775]

Theres nothing wrong with gelled or partially gelled soap. You will just have to wait to see if you like it when it's ready to cut.

 

[danahuff]

If I can tell a soap is already gelling or is too hot to prevent gel, I just go on and let it gel. I had planned not to gel my coffee and cream soap that I made yesterday, but I could feel it felt really warm through the bottom of the mold, so I just let it go. Even if I had cooled it down at that point, it would still have partially gelled in the freezer.

There is nothing wrong with partial gel. It's a cosmetic thing. Some folks like it, and others don't. I personally do not prefer it, so I either freeze my soap right away to prevent it, or I wrap it up in towels and let it gel.

 

[hlee]

I sometimes like the partial gel look, depends on what the rest of the soap looks like but I never really find it unattractive because of partial gel.

 

[kpduty51]

This rose clay and goatsmilk soap was hard enough to cut cleanly just now...
This is fast compared to the soap I made yesterday, which I cut late this afternoon. That one was not a milk soap.

I was surprised to find that it had fully gelled and looks fine.
I was sure that it would be a partial gel, or something bulgy was hiding in the middle.
Soaping is dicey, even when I am prepared.
I really like milk soaping, but think I like it better when it stays cooler and doesn't heat up so much.
The next soap experiment will be goats milk with woad (lavender and clary sage and something?) any advice about woad or thoughts about EO combos? I appreciate your help.

 

[soapcakes]

I thought I read somewhere that clays hold heat as well, so soaps with clay are more prone to gelling?