HELP All you soapers

[crazyk]

I just finished cleaning up from my first batch of CP soap and I think it all went wrong.

I got my oils and lye to trace, then added my FO's and it got a bit liquid and lost the patterns that you see at trace. I kept using my stick Blender and then all of a sudden it went like clag and all grainy.

I ended up mixing it by hand for a bit and the grainy bits went away a little, but It would not pour out of my pot and I had to scoop it out with my spatula.

It ended up looking like polenta. Anyhow I scooped it into my mould and squashed it in.

I had a peek about 20mins later and it started to go a bit more liquid and change to a darker colour but there were little white bits on it. I covered it back up and left it.


What happened?

 

[Guest]

seize...

 

[reallyrita]

Yup...seize....

this happened to me about a month ago. I was going to throw the soap out. Then, I got the flu.....and I never looked at my cure rack for about 10 days...guess what? That awful icky seized soap looked good! Of course, it still smelled awful...but that was the FO from hell. It has been a month now and it does not smell so bad any more. Point being....let it be for a while, might turn out ok after a few weeks in the open air. I had white bits too....and now they are gone!! Where they went to....I will never know..LOL.

 

[Missjulesdid]

I've been adding my fragrance before trace and it's been working wonderfully.

Also, if you're wanting to add your fragrance at trace, I'd suggest NOT using the stick blend..Just hand stir when your adding the fragrance.

 

[crazyk]

I did a bit of research, and the Gardenia oil I use aparently accelerates trace so i guess that's why it happened all of a sudden.

So what you are saying, is that when you add your EO or FO's at trace, just hand mix until it thickens back up?

I'm going to try another batch tomorrow night, with Lavender & Lemon EO and see what happens. What ratios of these oils do you think I should use?

 

[crazyk]

Well poured my second batch last night.

Gee I hate waiting for Lye to cool down gives me the irrates !

Anyhow my batch was as follows.

Olive Oil
Palm Oil
Coconut Oil
Lavender E/O

Cant remember the break up ratios.

All the processing went quite well soap when I poured it into my mould is a creamy brown colour. Where does this come from because my coconut and palm are white?

Another question, which is probably answered somewhere else, my mixture traced, but when I pour it in the mould it's still liquidy not too much but like custard. Is this normal? or should it be thicker?

If I wanted to make White Soap can somone tell me what to use?

Overall it smelt quite good so hopefully it will come out nice.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

When you peeked, and you saw it looking "liquid" again, it was going into gel stage.

I hated waiting for lye solution to cool a;so. Then I came up with my RTCP using room temperature premixed lye solution. I can, from start to finish, make a batch of soap in 15 minutes, or less. Had to learn to do a quick method because I spend little time in the house during lunch. The TOG Mold shop is always calling my name.

Paul :wink:

 

[soap_lady]

Gee I hate waiting for Lye to cool down gives me the irrates !

Have you tried cooling your lye down faster by placing the container into an ice water bath?

 

[crazyk]

Yes I did that, but I just hate it.

I think next time I'm going to try an chill the water down more and see what affect that has.

 

[Guest]

If I wanted to make White Soap can somone tell me what to use?

You can use titanium dioxide pigment to make a nice white soap. I thought about using it, but my customers prefer a more home-made look.

 

[dragonfly princess]

I have found that when I use Lard in my soap, it makes a nice white color

 

[kwahlne]

I am very new at soaping but both batches I've made, I put in an ice bath and the temp seems to go down almost too fast! Better than waiting forever that's for sure!

 

[crazyk]

You can use titanium dioxide pigment to make a nice white soap. I thought about using it, but my customers prefer a more home-made look.

How much of the titanium dioxide to you need to mix?
Does it make all soaps go white? ie if I mixed vanilla F/O would it still go white?

Thanks

 

[Guest]

I hear that there's a problem with vanilla, that it can turn your batch brown.

If you want white soap I believe it's a good idea to avoid oils that have any color. IOW, use only white solid oils and clear liquid oils. Just today I'm doing a batch that I don't want the soap color to fight with the dye, so I'm using canola oil instead of olive oil. I noticed your recipe has OO in it and that will turn your soap somewhere in the range yellow to light green depending on the characteristics of the OO.

And you seem to be having some problems getting a good batch. How about skipping the fragrance and color and just make an unscented uncolored oil. Once you get that working then add either a scent or a color. The step after that is both.

 

[crazyk]

Hi Lovehound, thanks for your advice I'm going to look into the oil colour side of things and see what that does.

Just yesterday I made a batch with

Palm Oil
Coconut Oil
Sunflower Oil
Avocado Oil

I noticed that all my liquids were pretty clear until I added the Avocado which was greeny but I didn't mind that.

The only thing is people talk about that if you don't add E/O's or F/O's the soap is fragrantless.

When I go to craft markets and look at other hand made soaps they seem to have really nice fragrances and I can't seem to smell the undertones of the oils.

My batches tend to have undertones of the base oils. Do you think it could be the coconut oil?

 

[Guest]

Just let me warn you, I'm a newbie too, although I seem to be having pretty good results and just put my batch #3 in the mold a few minutes ago...

Well yes, if you don't add EOs or FOs your soap in most cases will have a very mild smell, with the exception that some base oils can have a smell e.g. castor oil.

I too think that avocado oil turning the soap greeny is a benefit. After all, if it didn't you'd have to dye it green so everybody would know it is avocado soap, right? Just remember that the green becomes part of your color scheme and any other colors you add will take on a green cast.

I'm not the best person to discuss how hand made soaps at craft markets smell, haven't been to one in a long time. It may be possible they are using synthetics which have less of a complexity of scent. The soaps I've been buying at Whole Foods Market smell nice to me, but like I said I have nothing to compare it with. I like what I like what I like.

I haven't noticed any smells coming from my base oils (evoo, coconut, palm) other than a generic unscented soap smell. That was just my batch #1 Castile with those three oils, and I underscented it so I hardly smell anything but soap, and it smells nice, just not scented. My #2 and #3 are twice as scented and I doubt the base oils will come out at all. #2 was lard, OO & coconut, #3 was lard, canola & coconut.

Anyway I haven't noticed any scent from coconut oil at all.

My first batch was scented but uncolored and the scent failed because you couldn't smell it. My second batch was scented and colored; the scent looks like it will be okay but I put too much colorant (annatto powder) so that batch is "inoperative." Batch #3 looks like a winner, same amount of scent as #2 and mineral pigment for color. Unless I put too much color again. Either way I've learned something.

So I advise that if you are having trouble, cut down the number of variables. I'd suggest you get the scent right since that seems important to you, and then move on to the color. I see nothing wrong with natural colored soaps. They are in some cases uninteresting, but in other cases they are "crafty" and natural. That appeals in some ways.

The goal of my #3 batch was lemon soap. I wanted lemon scent and lemon color, and it looks like it's going to work. Now if only I hadn't forgotten my shea butter at trace.

 

[mandolyn]

I use a recipe with Grade A OO, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Cocoa Butter & Castor Oil. I always get a nice white soap with this mix.

 

[Guest]

I use a recipe with Grade A OO, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Cocoa Butter & Castor Oil. I always get a nice white soap with this mix.

I think it depends on exactly which OO you're using. There is OO and there's OO but they may not be the same. There is a wide variation of OO between light yellow or straw and light green or greenish. I doubt that Grade A guarantees any particular color.