violets2217
Well-Known Member
Honey & Hemp Oil Soap...
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It looks beautiful! I think honey soaps are just one of those fussy things that each soaper has to work out for themselves, because we all soap at different temps, and use different amounts of honey, sometimes with accelerating fragrances too. I have good luck with leaving my honey soaps on the counter, covered but not insulated. Some people might get away with lightly insulating their soaps, and some depend on the fridge.
Fortunately honey soaps are one of those rare beasts that look good with a partial gel - it's a little bit rustic and gives off a natural, wholesome, delectable vibe. The top on yours looks just like honeycomb. I want to eat that soap.
Fortunately honey soaps are one of those rare beasts that look good with a partial gel - it's a little bit rustic and gives off a natural, wholesome, delectable vibe. The top on yours looks just like honeycomb. I want to eat that soap.
violets2217
Well-Known Member
Thanks! When I unmolded it I thought the same thing! It looked so delicious! I just wanted it to be perfect! Lol
That’s a pretty soap!
I've found that trying to prevent gel is a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes it works well, and sometimes it seems that the soap will work hard to go through gel just to spite you.... even when placed in the freezer. lol
Years ago, a fellow soaper taught me a great way to make to make a honey soap without any overheating issues in spite of being soaped warm and CPOP'd in the oven to encouraged full gel. It works great and I've been using it ever since with excellent results each time. I add my honey directly to the (cooled off) lye water up front. Doing so prevents all the negative issues that can occur with adding honey to soap batter otherwise, such as overheating, separation, volcanoing, cracking, etc....... from happening.
I first dilute the honey with a little bit of my batch water to thin it out so that it's not so viscous, and then I mix it into the cooled lye water. The lye water will heat up to about 160-ish degreesF and turn a burnt-orange color, but that's the only drama that ever happens, if you can even call it drama, because it doesn't volcanoe or anything like that when added to the cooled lye water.
From there, I'm able to soap warm and encourage full gel in the oven as I normally do with 99% of all my batches, and believe it or not, without any negative issues happening whatsoever.
When I first did it, the burnt-orange color freaked me out because I thought my finished soap would turn out just as dark as the lye water, but my fears were unfounded as you can see below. What you see is the final color I always get when making my honey/beeswax soap, soaped @ 120 degreesF, fully gelled in a 110 degreeF oven. For what it's worth I use 5% honey ppo (just a little over 1 tablespoon ppo) and 3% beeswax ppo.
The drippy looking dark substance filling the holes is WSP's Honey Melt & Pour Soap that I melted down and poured over the face of the soap a few days after unmolding and cutting to make it look more like real honeycomb.
IrishLass
Years ago, a fellow soaper taught me a great way to make to make a honey soap without any overheating issues in spite of being soaped warm and CPOP'd in the oven to encouraged full gel. It works great and I've been using it ever since with excellent results each time. I add my honey directly to the (cooled off) lye water up front. Doing so prevents all the negative issues that can occur with adding honey to soap batter otherwise, such as overheating, separation, volcanoing, cracking, etc....... from happening.
I first dilute the honey with a little bit of my batch water to thin it out so that it's not so viscous, and then I mix it into the cooled lye water. The lye water will heat up to about 160-ish degreesF and turn a burnt-orange color, but that's the only drama that ever happens, if you can even call it drama, because it doesn't volcanoe or anything like that when added to the cooled lye water.
From there, I'm able to soap warm and encourage full gel in the oven as I normally do with 99% of all my batches, and believe it or not, without any negative issues happening whatsoever.
When I first did it, the burnt-orange color freaked me out because I thought my finished soap would turn out just as dark as the lye water, but my fears were unfounded as you can see below. What you see is the final color I always get when making my honey/beeswax soap, soaped @ 120 degreesF, fully gelled in a 110 degreeF oven. For what it's worth I use 5% honey ppo (just a little over 1 tablespoon ppo) and 3% beeswax ppo.
The drippy looking dark substance filling the holes is WSP's Honey Melt & Pour Soap that I melted down and poured over the face of the soap a few days after unmolding and cutting to make it look more like real honeycomb.
IrishLass
violets2217
Well-Known Member
I've found that trying to prevent gel is a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes it works well, and sometimes it seems that the soap will work hard to go through gel just to spite you.... even when placed in the freezer. lol
Years ago, a fellow soaper taught me a great way to make to make a honey soap without any overheating issues in spite of being soaped warm and CPOP'd in the oven to encouraged full gel. It works great and I've been using it ever since with excellent results each time. I add my honey directly to the (cooled off) lye water up front. Doing so prevents all the negative issues that can occur with adding honey to soap batter otherwise, such as overheating, separation, volcanoing, cracking, etc....... from happening.
I first dilute the honey with a little bit of my batch water to thin it out so that it's not so viscous, and then I mix it into the cooled lye water. The lye water will heat up to about 160-ish degreesF and turn a burnt-orange color, but that's the only drama that ever happens, if you can even call it drama, because it doesn't volcanoe or anything like that when added to the cooled lye water.
From there, I'm able to soap warm and encourage full gel in the oven as I normally do with 99% of all my batches, and believe it or not, without any negative issues happening whatsoever.
When I first did it, the burnt-orange color freaked me out because I thought my finished soap would turn out just as dark as the lye water, but my fears were unfounded as you can see below. What you see is the final color I always get when making my honey/beeswax soap, soaped @ 120 degreesF, fully gelled in a 110 degreeF oven. For what it's worth I use 5% honey ppo (just a little over 1 tablespoon ppo) and 3% beeswax ppo.
The drippy looking dark substance filling the holes is WSP's Honey Melt & Pour Soap that I melted down and poured over the face of the soap a few days after unmolding and cutting to make it look more like real honeycomb.
View attachment 42479
IrishLass
Beautiful soap. You must have a planet/beveler. I’m reading through those posts and shopping around for one! It looks so pretty! I’m loving this forum! I’ve learned so much already in my short time here. 2 questions: since my oven won’t go below 170 degrees...this is were I would use a heating pad or insulate my wooden molds better? And I’m guessing the beeswax is melted with your oils and does it make a harder bar? This is a pretty soft bar no matter how long it’s cured as it’s mostly liquid oils. Thanks for your help!
Yes- I use a planer/beveler. It's actually a Japanese woodworking tool made by Kakuri - it's their 1/8 - 1/4 a radius planer. You can see it and how I use it in this thread here: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-do-you-bevel-soap-share-your-method.64433/#post-657074
You can use a heating pad if you wish, but trust me when I say your oven does indeed go below 170. It might not have a setting for 110 that you can turn your dial to and keep it at 110 indefinitely (for what it's worth, mine doesn't either), but just like me, you can turn your oven on for a few minutes and then turn it off, and the temp inside will reach to between 110 dregreesF to 120 degreesF. I turn mine on for a mere 3 minutes before turning it off and putting my covered soap inside and shutting the oven door and leaving the soap there overnight. The residual, gradually dissipating oven heat is warm enough for long enough to encourage my soap to go through full gel. In the summertime, I use my hot garage to encourage gel (our summers get into the triple-digits which basically turns my garage into a giant oven perfect for CPOPing. lol
You can see how I make my honey/beeswax soap here where I give a blow-by blow description of my process from beginning to end (scroll down to post #16): https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-experimental-honey-beeswax-soap.55689/
IrishLass
You can use a heating pad if you wish, but trust me when I say your oven does indeed go below 170. It might not have a setting for 110 that you can turn your dial to and keep it at 110 indefinitely (for what it's worth, mine doesn't either), but just like me, you can turn your oven on for a few minutes and then turn it off, and the temp inside will reach to between 110 dregreesF to 120 degreesF. I turn mine on for a mere 3 minutes before turning it off and putting my covered soap inside and shutting the oven door and leaving the soap there overnight. The residual, gradually dissipating oven heat is warm enough for long enough to encourage my soap to go through full gel. In the summertime, I use my hot garage to encourage gel (our summers get into the triple-digits which basically turns my garage into a giant oven perfect for CPOPing. lol
You can see how I make my honey/beeswax soap here where I give a blow-by blow description of my process from beginning to end (scroll down to post #16): https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-experimental-honey-beeswax-soap.55689/
IrishLass
violets2217
Well-Known Member
Duh... I do that when I make bread to help it rise in the oven. Thanks for the links and all your help. I’m trying another batch tomorrow! Fingers crossed!!!Yes- I use a planer/beveler. It's actually a Japanese woodworking tool made by Kakuri - it's their 1/8 - 1/4 a radius planer. You can see it and how I use it in this thread here: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-do-you-bevel-soap-share-your-method.64433/#post-657074
You can use a heating pad if you wish, but trust me when I say your oven does indeed go below 170. It might not have a setting for 110 that you can turn your dial to and keep it at 110 indefinitely (for what it's worth, mine doesn't either), but just like me, you can turn your oven on for a few minutes and then turn it off, and the temp inside will reach to between 110 dregreesF to 120 degreesF. I turn mine on for a mere 3 minutes before turning it off and putting my covered soap inside and shutting the oven door and leaving the soap there overnight. The residual, gradually dissipating oven heat is warm enough for long enough to encourage my soap to go through full gel. In the summertime, I use my hot garage to encourage gel (our summers get into the triple-digits which basically turns my garage into a giant oven perfect for CPOPing. lol
You can see how I make my honey/beeswax soap here where I give a blow-by blow description of my process from beginning to end (scroll down to post #16): https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-experimental-honey-beeswax-soap.55689/
IrishLass
violets2217
Well-Known Member
Lol... all my first batches of a great soap I like are always perfect but never replicated AS PERFECTLY!!!
So I tried the CPOP method with @IrishLass recipe as posted above this morning. It went as described, including the honey in cooked lye water... I also freaked out! It was pretty cool though. My lye water was almost blood red... like iodine almost. Molded it and put it in the oven..
Forward 10ish hours later, I’m at work and get a text my son forgot it was in the oven and turned it on for like 5 minutes. I had to laugh cause the questions I asked a mom should never have to ask her son. I was waiting for a “that’s what she said “ reply, but was probably too worried to joke.
edit to update: I think it survived and looks much better and smells pretty good too!
So I tried the CPOP method with @IrishLass recipe as posted above this morning. It went as described, including the honey in cooked lye water... I also freaked out! It was pretty cool though. My lye water was almost blood red... like iodine almost. Molded it and put it in the oven..
Forward 10ish hours later, I’m at work and get a text my son forgot it was in the oven and turned it on for like 5 minutes. I had to laugh cause the questions I asked a mom should never have to ask her son. I was waiting for a “that’s what she said “ reply, but was probably too worried to joke.
edit to update: I think it survived and looks much better and smells pretty good too!
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