Hi All from Australia.👋

[Beefriendly]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for having me.
I'm pretty new to CP soap making, I've successfully pulled off a few batches and am having fun with it.

Hoping to learn from more experienced soap makers.

I'm already enjoying the threads on rebatching as with my most recent batch I was following a recipe that ended up being for much more than my mould could hold!
Rookie mistake but I did learn alot from that experiment

I do have a question about the lye I mixed it up as usual with distilled water, let it cool when I went to add it into my oils I noticed it had some crystal like flakes in it.

What would have caused that?

It was a 1.5:1 ratio in the recipe I did dissolve it correctly and have used that water discount successfully before with no issues.
The soap seems OK I can't see any evidence of lye tunnels or crystals ( I want to rebatch as the eucalyptus EO and possibly spirulina ( first time using that combo) seemed to speed up trace and while I was grabbing another mould it set very quickly so it's ugly airpockety soap currently.

Thanks in advance for the advice and tips.
(Have attached picture of said ugly soap for interest and giggles for the wiser soap makers on here. )

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum. I always stir my lye mixture several times. You can strain the lye/water mix to make sure there is no undissolved lye crystals in what you add to the oils. I usually use the default setting in the lye calculator for lye/water ratios. You can chop us the newly made soap and re-batch using a slow cooker or double boiler. A picture of your soap doesn't appear available in the above post. Without seeing a copy of your recipe, it is hard to tell why you had accelerated trace.

 

[dibbles]

Welcome! What you saw on your lye solution sounds like 'lye lint'. This happens when the NaOH reacts with carbon dioxide in the air and forms sodium carbonate. You can strain your lye solution as you are pouring it into the oils, or you can just stir it a little and add it to the oils.

 

[Relle]

Welcome . Good to see another Aussie here.

 

[Beefriendly]

Welcome to the forum. I always stir my lye mixture several times. You can strain the lye/water mix to make sure there is no undissolved lye crystals in what you add to the oils. I usually use the default setting in the lye calculator for lye/water ratios. You can chop us the newly made soap and re-batch using a slow cooker or double boiler. A picture of your soap doesn't appear available in the above post. Without seeing a copy of your recipe, it is hard to tell why you had accelerated trace.

Thankyou for the reply it was my first attempt at splitting the batch and colouring part in an attempt to create a fancy design so I'm guessing that may have had something to do with it and my mad scramble to find another mould!
Extra time but I did learn alot from it so not a waste.
A double boiler method sounds easier than the oven rebatch I might give that ago thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Beefriendly]

Welcome! What you saw on your lye solution sounds like 'lye lint'. This happens when the NaOH reacts with carbon dioxide in the air and forms sodium carbonate. You can strain your lye solution as you are pouring it into the oils, or you can just stir it a little and add it to the oils.

Awesome so it shouldnt adversely affect my soap?
I did stir it in abit before I poured it into the oils but in future if it happens again i think I will strain it just for peace of mind.....still building confidence working with lye.

 

[Beefriendly]

Welcome . Good to see another Aussie here.

Thankyou Relle it is nice to see other Aussies on here I'm looking forward to learning lots.

 

[dibbles]

Awesome so it shouldnt adversely affect my soap?
I did stir it in abit before I poured it into the oils but in future if it happens again i think I will strain it just for peace of mind.....still building confidence working with lye.

It won't hurt your soap at all.

 

[Beefriendly]

It won't hurt your soap at all.

Awesome, Thankyou for putting my mind at ease.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Thankyou Relle it is nice to see other Aussies on here I'm looking forward to learning lots.

We even have Kiwis here! Welcome

 

[Beefriendly]

We even have Kiwis here! Welcome

Thanks

 

[user 56151]

Another Aussie here. I always keep another mould on hand just in case. I only ever mix to emulsion when I’m splitting my batch, it gives you much more time. There are loads of videos on YouTube about rebatching. I’ve had to rebatch a couple of times but have never been happy with the result. Enjoy your soaping journey

 

[Beefriendly]

Another Aussie here. I always keep another mould on hand just in case. I only ever mix to emulsion when I’m splitting my batch, it gives you much more time. There are loads of videos on YouTube about rebatching. I’ve had to rebatch a couple of times but have never been happy with the result. Enjoy your soaping journey

Yay! It's great to find more Aussies on here keeping another mould on hand is good advice and I will be doing so from now on to avoid sacrificing anymore of my silicone cake moulds!

How do you recognise emulsion stage?
Is that when oils and lye are just combined.....light trace? I'm going off soap queen TV's examples of trace to try and visualise it.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Yay! It's great to find more Aussies on here keeping another mould on hand is good advice and I will be doing so from now on to avoid sacrificing anymore of my silicone cake moulds!

How do you recognise emulsion stage?
Is that when oils and lye are just combined.....light trace? I'm going off soap queen TV's examples of trace to try and visualise it.

Emulsion is just before light trace. In my experience - once you get to light trace, the train has left the station on its way to Accelerationville. LOL. Not necessarily, but if you have to do any more stick blending of colours or additives at light trace you run the risk of it starting to get thicker. There is a video floating around some on here show emulsion - maybe try the search button?

 

[user 56151]

Yay! It's great to find more Aussies on here keeping another mould on hand is good advice and I will be doing so from now on to avoid sacrificing anymore of my silicone cake moulds!

How do you recognise emulsion stage?
Is that when oils and lye are just combined.....light trace? I'm going off soap queen TV's examples of trace to try and visualise it.

Yes when they are combined, there shouldn’t be any visible oil on the top or on your blender. It’s before it reaches light trace. I always make sure there is a light on, that way you can see the oil because it’s shiny. You can bring it to trace when you mix in your colours. Add everything you can to your oils before you add your lye. The only thing I add after the lye are the colours when I split it up.

 

[Sandiebrown65]

(Have attached picture of said ugly soap for interest and giggles for the wiser soap makers on here.

Hey!! Another Aussie here. I have only been making soap since January so I'm also a beginner. We all have our ugly, blobby, air-pockety soap!! Here is my most recent UBAP (ugly, blobby, air-pockety). This one was a very ambitious attempt at a column pour gone wrong. Ended up being a scrape and slop design but smells just like a lemon meringue pie.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Hey!! Another Aussie here. I have only been making soap since January so I'm also a beginner. We all have our ugly, blobby, air-pockety soap!! Here is my most recent UBAP (ugly, blobby, air-pockety). This one was a very ambitious attempt at a column pour gone wrong. Ended up being a scrape and slop design but smells just like a lemon meringue pie.

The good thing is - it's still soap and it still cleans (and smells good), eh?

 

[Beefriendly]

Emulsion is just before light trace. In my experience - once you get to light trace, the train has left the station on its way to Accelerationville. LOL. Not necessarily, but if you have to do any more stick blending of colours or additives at light trace you run the risk of it starting to get thicker. There is a video floating around some on here show emulsion - maybe try the search button?

Emulsion is just before light trace. In my experience - once you get to light trace, the train has left the station on its way to Accelerationville. LOL. Not necessarily, but if you have to do any more stick blending of colours or additives at light trace you run the risk of it starting to get thicker. There is a video floating around some on here show emulsion - maybe try the search button?

Thanks I'll give it a search there are so many interesting threads on here I keep getting pulled down soaping rabbit holes!

 

[Beefriendly]

Yes when they are combined, there shouldn’t be any visible oil on the top or on your blender. It’s before it reaches light trace. I always make sure there is a light on, that way you can see the oil because it’s shiny. You can bring it to trace when you mix in your colours. Add everything you can to your oils before you add your lye. The only thing I add after the lye are the colours when I split it up.

Thankyou for explaining I'll give it ago I'd also been adding my EO's after my lye so will try adding it before hand.

 

[Beefriendly]

Hey!! Another Aussie here. I have only been making soap since January so I'm also a beginner. We all have our ugly, blobby, air-pockety soap!! Here is my most recent UBAP (ugly, blobby, air-pockety). This one was a very ambitious attempt at a column pour gone wrong. Ended up being a scrape and slop design but smells just like a lemon meringue pie.

Hi Sandiebrown65, thanks for sharing a pic of your creation, I'm going to remember the UBAP acronym for next time I stuff up.....and I say next time because it's highly likely but I'm having heaps of fun with it.
Lemon meringue pie soap sounds divine though even if it is an ugly duckling.