Honey Dots?

[kumudini]

Very easy! I cut mine a little longer than the mold so I have something to grab onto, I can just pull the log out. If the bottom of your mold is openable you can easily push it out. Then the liner just peels right off, though that might vary with the recipe used.

Thank you! Now I can dream about piles of round soap all over my kitchen .

 

[navigator9]

The way I learned was to add the honey to the hot lye water, the heat insures it will melt and become fully incorporated. It does make the lye water turn an ungodly shade of orange, but when you mix it into the oils, it goes away. I think your soap looks lovely!

 

[IrishLass]

The way I learned was to add the honey to the hot lye water, the heat insures it will melt and become fully incorporated. It does make the lye water turn an ungodly shade of orange, but when you mix it into the oils, it goes away. I think your soap looks lovely!

This is how I do it, too. I learned it from a fellow soaper named Soapbuddy a few years back. I mix it in a little water and then add it to my cooled lye solution. Ever since I started doing it that way, I've ceased to have any problems with weeping honey or honey dots in my soaps made with honey, nor overheating issues. I know many beekeepers do not like the suggestion of adding honey to the lye water, but the way I see it is that the honey is going to react with the lye whether added to the lye solution up front or to the batter at trace, since lye is still very active at trace.


IrishLass

 

[TeresaT]

Honey: I saw a video where the soaper zapped it in the microwave for a few seconds to "loosen" it up, so that's what I do and add it at trace (or after the cook in HP). The tube lining: brilliant! It never occurred to me to let it overlap. I was trying to figure out how they lined the ends up! Major face-palm right there! Lining seems the way to go, especially with something heavy duty that you can reuse (and pull the soap out of the tube with).

 

[DeeAnna]

Oh, if you want to benefit from the goodness in honey then eat it, don't put it in soap!!! I absolutely do not believe any benefit of raw honey -- the enzymes, flavor, etc. -- survive the soap making process, no matter how or when the honey is added. Even the sugars in honey -- fructose and glucose -- react with the lye.

I don't add honey to my soap, but if I did, I'd use my "cooking honey" meaning the stuff that comes out of my wax harvesting process. Cooking honey as sweet as normal honey, but often a little darker from the heating needed to harvest beeswax from comb. Cooking honey is fine in stuff that needs a bit of sweetening -- I'll use a teaspoon or two in chili for example. Cooking honey has lost that heavenly floral-citrus aroma that makes my real honey so wonderful.

 

[BlackDog]

Oh, if you want to benefit from the goodness in honey then eat it, don't put it in soap!!! I absolutely do not believe any benefit of raw honey -- the enzymes, flavor, etc. -- survive the soap making process, no matter how or when the honey is added. Even the sugars in honey -- fructose and glucose -- react with the lye.

Haha! I read it was a humectant so I thought I'd give it a try. I get so much since the guy brings it to me! I love it in tea but I think my dentist would throw a fit if I put it in every cup since I'm a tea addict :shock:

 

[DeeAnna]

Honey is a humectant. But think about it! There is a LOT of glycerin in a handcrafted soap -- about 10% to 11% by weight based on weight of oils. Glycerin is also a good humectant and honey at maybe a tablespoon ppo is just not going to compare to glycerin at 10% ppo. You can make a better argument for honey adding to the soap's ability to make more lather.

Add honey to your soap if you like -- there's nothing wrong with the idea -- but just don't get caught up in the foo-foo dust about it being magical stuff in soap. The beneficial properties of honey are better gained by eating moderate amounts of it and appreciating its wonderful aroma and flavor or by using it as a medical treatment for damaged skin.

 

[BlackDog]

Honey is a humectant. But think about it! There is a LOT of glycerin in a handcrafted soap -- about 10% to 11% by weight based on weight of oils. Glycerin is also a good humectant and honey at maybe a tablespoon ppo is just not going to compare to glycerin at 10% ppo. You can make a better argument for honey adding to the soap's ability to make more lather.

Thanks for the info DeeAnna! I'm a music teacher, which is about as far from "chemist" as you can get, lol. And as a (very) new soap maker, I have a lot to learn.