Help! We made a CP Cinder Block!!

Lenimae · Apr 11, 2012

This was our very first crack at cold process...I'm so utterly confused & upset!

I hope someone could tell me where we may have gone wrong as we are quite inexperienced with this method!

So to start, we doubled the recipe down below...

9 oz olive oil
5 oz coconut oil
2 oz palm oil
2.4 oz lye
5.2 oz water
.7 oz your choice of essential oils at trace (we used f/o not e/o)
keep temps between 100 and 115 degrees.

When it was all mixed we separated the batter, used blue mica in smaller amount...added fragrance to larger amount. Combined and swirled both together in plastic mold. Added in some melt & pour flower embeds, spritzed some rubbing alcohol to help adhere finely grated soap on the top that we used for a finishing decoration. Soap then got really hot in the (covered) mold. A couple of hours later our pretty blue swirls had completely disappeared. Hmmm... Left for 24 hours and cut...or at least tried!! Didn't exactly cut...more like shattered!!

Does this story sound familiar to anyone? I would be so grateful for any feedback so that this doesn't happen again. Maybe we screwed up one of the measurements? Maybe I shouldn't have covered it?? Please PLEEEASE HELP??!!

*NOTE* Would love to add before & after photos, I do have them, but I haven't got a clue as to how to upload them... Brand new to the forum world!!!

Genny · Apr 11, 2012

What fragrance oil did you use & where'd you get it?

Also, a lot of times if you cut too early, it'll crumble.

Mica sometimes doesn't work in cp. It's a lot of times, just trial and error with those.

judymoody · Apr 11, 2012

From what you say, I suspect that your fragrance caused your soap to overheat. Soap that has overheated can be crumbly or kind of waxy/greasy looking in some areas and chalky in others.

Could you say a little bit more about the temperature at which you soaped? How thick was your soap when you poured it?

As Genny said, not all micas are CP safe. Some can disappear or morph into a different color.

If you have a picture that could help too.

Sorry it didn't turn out as you hoped.

Lenimae · Apr 11, 2012

Thanks for your replies!

The color that we used is called "Twighlight Sparkles" from Soap Crafters Co. and we did use quite a bit but only in that little bit of soap batter that we had separated from the rest.

The fragrance that we used in the rest of the soap was called "Love Spell" by the same company. I don't believe we used any more than 1 tsp/lb of soap.

The soap is very chalky/waxy...not mushy at all. I used a bit of it to wash my hands (just to check the lather). It was super slippery and lathered nicely but dried the heck right outta my hands...like it had sucked all of the moisture right out of them!! Very strange...and even a tad embarrassing!!! :roll:

As soon as I figure it out I'll upload a couple of pix... I've got before the transformation and then after, lol!

judymoody · Apr 11, 2012

I ran your recipe through soapcalc.net, an on-line lye calculator, and according to that program, your superfat (fat in excess of the lye needed to saponify it) is less than 1%. Most soapers use 5% or more to cushion against possible inaccuracies in your measurements. This is especially important in a small recipe of a pound or less as your initial recipe is (I saw that you doubled it.)

Given that your recipe is over 30% coconut oil, with that % superfat, I would expect it to be drying. Also, if your measurements were off even slightly, your soap might be lye heavy which would be consistent with the crumbly texture and the harshness on your hands.

I should mention, though, that you should never judge a soap as it performs right out of the mold. It will change over a 4-6 week cure and become milder. Especially if your soap doesn't gel, it will take a bit longer to fullly cure.

For the future, I recommend that you convert your recipe to grams which will allow for greater precision in weighing your ingredients. (.1 oz is roughly 3 grams) If you don't have a good digital scale which measures in grams, I recommend that you get one. They aren't that expensive and are an excellent investment.

I'm not familiar with the fragrances that you used so I'm no help there.

Good luck with your next batch!