Ok, so experiment number 3-
I decided to try a totally new recipe that I've been thinking about. It's all liquid oils, so that obviously affects the hardness of the finished paste -- this is definitely the softest paste of the three. The PKO, which is rock-hard at room temp also made a hard paste. The CO, which is usually mushy-half-melted at room temp here made a soft paste like a thick salve. And this recipe, with all liquid oils, has turned out about like orange marmalade, in color and hardness. Thick enough that if it was CP bar soap, you could texture the top and it would keep its shape, probably will be a bit firmer as it cools, but it's still VERY hot right now.
But it is soap! The utensils got very sudsy as I washed them. No zap.
This one heated up and thickened faster than the other two initially, but it turned to applesauce as it got hotter, and I ended up just stirring it for about 10 minutes with a spoon until it passed that phase and was smooth again. Was opaque orange at that point, like butterscotch pudding, then in another 2 minutes with one or two more stirs with the spoon, had reached transparent orange jelly looking paste that could hold peaks. Still too hot to comfortably hold the outside of the plastic container, but it's only been a few minutes.
Anyhow, here's pics of the diluted PKO soap. It's clear, but the container is frosted.
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And the CO paste (left) and the new paste from today (right). You can see how clear the paste is where I pushed some up on the side of the container.
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Today's recipe- 3% SF
30% sunflower
25% camelina
25% castor
15% avocado
5% neem
Equal parts lye and water. Glycerin at 90% of the water amount.
Since I've added the EO's with the oils as I would in CP bar soap, like I did in the past two experiments, I did so again, this time at the correct amount for what I anticipate the diluted soap to be.
Measuring everything out - 20 min.
Mixing the lye-water and adding the glycerin - 2 minutes.
Mixing the lye into the oils - 1 minute before it started to emulsify, spoon stirred.
Stick-blending - less than 1 minute before it was too thick to blend, was like HP bar soap right before you'd stuff it into a mold.
Letting it sit while I put stuff away - 2 minutes.
Noticed it had reached the applesauce stage. The PKO and CO skipped right past that. Hand-stirred on and off for 10 minutes until smooth again. Like pudding.
Reached transparent jelly-like stage - 2 minutes. Stirred a couple times, paste holds its form. No zap.
Washed utensils, 10 minutes lol. Nice and sudsy. Yay! Probably still too 'fresh' to be using today though. I imagine this is similar to CP soap, safe to use, but will get milder as it sits.
But I had to try a bit!
So, the actual time spent from adding the lye to the oils, until it was paste, was about 16 minutes. I can deal with that.
It took me longer to write this post than it took to make the soap!