help me solve what went wrong

[lionprincess00]

I made my second eo soap last night. Weird things were happening. I would like your opinion on it.
First off...
55% tallow
7% castor
18% co
20% Olive
Melted, to room temp. 17 oz total oils, 2% SF

Heated a pinch of Asian black sugar and .9oz sodium citrate into 2.6 oz water to dissolve. Cooled.
Added 2.6 oz naoh, lye. @40% lye concentration.

Sb, added eo blend of 9 grams frankincense, 4 grams 10xorange, 3 grams cedarwood.
Added Appx 2 oz cold heavy cream.
Split for color.
Added to one part bentonite clay constituted in water. Small amount, like 1/4 tsp clay
Added to two parts the indigo...it was 3/8 tsp indigo mixed into 1 tsp the oil taken from my main soap oils. I put more into one, less into another during the split.
Added AC to two parts. Made by splash of water mixed in with 3/8 tsp AC. I put more into one part, less into another (for the two toned effect).
Layered, swirled the tops, onto a heat pad for a couple hrs, turned it off.
Cut 10 hours later a hard fully sapped bar.

Problems...
It took as long as castille to trace. Literally shorted out the sb, talking like 15 minutes to trace. Then it was struggling to thicken.
Then I cut it this morning. The colors were grey muted on the outside and looked like it hadn't even gelled. I had three little round soaps also thesd grey tones.
When I cut the center, it was bright teal! Bold beautiful teal! So I figured I gelled the middle and not the edges, right?

Well, I cut the halves into fourths. The cuts were grey! I thought, didn't gel? No! Within seconds they went deep teal too! The rounds are still grey and smell descent.

Next problem, the teal parts smelled good after I cut when grey, but now that they went teal they smell burnt or off. Bad. I thought maybe the butalytic acid of the cream, but the rounds and ends do not smell bad at all!

What would cause immediate discoloration and stink of cuts, but not the outsides?
Edit, may it have gotten too hot? The bottom is bowed up a little. I seem to have a bad habit lately of overheating my soaps during gelling

Edit, it's the indigo that's smelling burnt and bitter, not the sides nor tops...the part that went deep teal.

 

[MorpheusPA]

The tallow plus the olive was 75% of your mix, or three quarters slow tracing oils. I know the adjustment for me from palm to tallow was a bit of a killer. The stuff takes a lot longer to trace, so I tend to discount water--I'm using a 33% lye solution as a standard with high tallow+olive soap.

I can't speak to the color change. I'm sure somebody with more of a clue will be along shortly.

Other than that, your soap looks fantastic and odd cream/milk smells do tend to fade during cure--so I wouldn't worry about that unless it still smells bad in three or four weeks. Which it probably won't.

And I like both the blue ones and the grayer ones. I'd be thrilled if somebody gave me either as a gift, so I'd just tell people you meant to do that if it doesn't settle down properly.

 

[lionprincess00]

I was under the impression tallow is a fast tracer because of the higher stearic levels.
Edit to say Thx for the compliment. I can find about 10 things I'm not happy about with this batch! But thank you.

 

[Dorymae]

I'm going to bet that the blue turns gray with a day or so. I think it is the exposer to air. ( I could be wrong I have no experience with indigo myself. )

 

[MorpheusPA]

I was under the impression tallow is a fast tracer because of the higher stearic levels.
Edit to say Thx for the compliment. I can find about 10 things I'm not happy about with this batch! But thank you.

It would probably be better if I didn't read "tallow" and think "lard." I'd expect tallow to trace faster than lard, but to have no comparison to coconut.

We can all always find ten things we hate about a batch (that would actually be a short list for me). Your audience is not nearly so critical. They're nice soap, great soap in fact. If it all turns gray it's still gorgeous soap with perfect gray gradients. People will love it.

 

[lionprincess00]

Thx I am experimenting with eo's, so these are mine only for now.

 

[dixiedragon]

I have made a soap that was similar, but it was 25% lard and 25% tallow, plus full water, and certainly traced much faster than 100% olive. You problem may be your EOs - I know that citrus EOs are VERY slow tracers IME, and the soap takes a long time to get hard.

The turning teal is WEIRD. If it didn't smell bad I'd say, COOL, b/c it is very pretty! Maybe the indigo, as a natural botanical ingredient, has a funky smell? I know spirulina smells funky to me at first but then it fades.

 

[Seawolfe]

Indigo does have a funky sort of musty hay field smell that does go away by the end of the cure in my experience. I simply adore the blues you got and hope they stick, but if the consolation prize is that pretty grey gradient, well that's good too.