How the soap crumbles

[artemis]

I'm not looking for troubleshooting. I've got it narrowed down to the floral FO plus too many hard oils plus my first time with TD. I am sharing because you are the only people I know who would want to see such a thing. It came out of the mold crumbly. It crumbled as I cut it. It looks like feta cheese at this point.

I *think* it's slightly zappy. I tested and got a little twinge. I've never had a zap before. I will test it again after a few days or so.

It did accelerate, especially the portion with the TD.

 

[Kittish]

Oh wow. That's like, the ultimate case of soda ash!

 

[artemis]

And yet, not. It's all soap, the same all the way through. I may also have used a little too much salt for this particular recipe. I'll try a closer shot...

 

[artemis]

 

[Susie]

Did you check your scale?

 

[Millie]

Mmm, looks like a good cheese.

 

[cmzaha]

Well that just sucks, I hate it when soap goes wrong. To much TD can contribute to crumbling. I go to recipe is only 13% soft oils and will only crumble when I cut if I wait to long. I have to cut in 7-10 hrs. But I have had this happen when I first started soaping and thought I really need white and used a lot of td.

 

[artemis]

It was definitely too soft to unmold earlier than I did. Maybe I missed the magical window of opportunity. I'll keep an eye on my scale next time, too.

I was pretty sure the TD plus the floral FO was to blame. I'll probably try this FO again, just separate from the TD. One new thing at a time!

 

[HowieRoll]

I am sharing because you are the only people I know who would want to see such a thing.

That made me laugh - and it's so true!

 

[SunRiseArts]

oh gosh! Maybe you can rebatch it?

 

[Kittish]

That might be a good candidate for rebatching as a glycerin/MP soap, if you wanted to make the effort. It should dissolve really quickly.

 

[artemis]

Yes...... I do not like rebatching. But, I'm concerned it might be slightly lye heavy. I don't know by how much, though. At least it is all one color (minus the gold mica top) so I wouldn't end up with "dirt" or "meat" or some other strange color or soap with a rebatch.

 

[artemis]

Update: the soap is not zappy today, so we can at least use it here at home. I managed to trim a few bars. The crumbles, I think I will add to my homemade scouring powder or something.

The FO is SnowQueen/Frozen from Nurture. OOB it's hard to pin down and seems a little different everytime I smell it. Gardenia? Rose? A little citrus? Almost but not quite headache inducing. After the lye, it's a little more mellow. A very "clean" scent, a little more citrus-y maybe. Still definitely a floral.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I tend to think you cut it too early, actually. The fact that it was a little zappy (then wasn't) and clearly didn't gel reminds me of a soap I once made with a portion still batter-yellow and zappy when I unmolded it. It crumbled like that, too, but after a few more days the saponification had finished and it was white and normal ungelled texture.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Oh, dear. I'd Hot Process Hero that batch and see if it still zaps. If it does, HP it again and add a bit of oil.

You'll lose all the design, so maybe drop in a bit of whole-bar colorant to offset the floral? A nice yellow, maybe?

It may not look like much when all is said and done, but I bet it's fine soap for home use, at the very least!

 

[artemis]

Do over! I used the same FO and eliminated the TD. I'll have to play with the TD a little to figure out how much is too much. I'll save it for an FO that doesn't accelerate.

 

[mommycarlson]

Artemis, that is lovely! For your gold mica line did you just use any gold mica dry? I've done gold mica mixed with oil for the top and it comes out pretty and shimmery, but gold mica in oil mixed in with soap batter comes out orange. I'd love to do a gold mica line but I'm afraid it'll be orange, any tips?

 

[Obsidian]

I agree with BrewerGeorge, it looks like you cut too soon. If soap is still too soft, it will stick in the mold like that and crumble when cut.

I don't think the TD had anything to do with it, especially since the soap doesn't appear to be overly white.

I had a batch try to do that yesterday. It's a recipe that I can normally cut after 8 hours. This time, 24 hours in and it was still too soft to unmold, the edges crumbled when I tried.

 

[artemis]

I agree with BrewerGeorge, it looks like you cut too soon. If soap is still too soft, it will stick in the mold like that and crumble when cut.

I don't think the TD had anything to do with it, especially since the soap doesn't appear to be overly white.

I had a batch try to do that yesterday. It's a recipe that I can normally cut after 8 hours. This time, 24 hours in and it was still too soft to unmold, the edges crumbled when I tried.

Yeah, but the soap wasn't sticky. I've had soap stick in the mold before due to impatience-- I was able to smush those loaves back together. No amount of smooshing would've pasted this one back together. It's much whiter in person, but I also didn't add TD to the whole batch as I was going for a white-on-white look. The TD parts have a different texture than the rest. I'm not blaming the TD, I'm blaming the TD + the fast FO and maybe also the amount of salt I used.

 

[artemis]

Artemis, that is lovely! For your gold mica line did you just use any gold mica dry? I've done gold mica mixed with oil for the top and it comes out pretty and shimmery, but gold mica in oil mixed in with soap batter comes out orange. I'd love to do a gold mica line but I'm afraid it'll be orange, any tips?

It is the Shimmer Gold Mica from Nurture. It's the first time I've had it and haven't mixed it into batter yet.