Just eyeball it

[artemis]

So, I'm having fun watcing random soapers on the YouTube today, just observing technique and looking at the final results, etc. About 3 videos into one gal's collection, she says something like, "normally I would measure out the oils and the water and lye, but today I'm just going to eyeball it."

 

[lionprincess00]

Ooooo, never tried that (erm, never will). I DO eyeball micas i dry dump into batter, but...yup, that's about it! Creepy for me. I take soap making as chemistry when it comes to lye, water and oils. Period, end of paragraph.

 

[IrishLass]

Hopefully she said something like, "Folk's, don't try this at home" before launching into a detailed explanation of why one should always weigh their oils and lye, but why do I get the feeling I might be hoping for too much? :evil:


IrishLass

 

[artemis]

Hopefully she said something like, "Folk's, don't try this at home" before launching into a detailed explanation of why one should always weigh their oils and lye, but why do I get the feeling I might be hoping for too much? :evil:


IrishLass

Errr.... no. It was more like, "I feel like being difficult," and, "hope it all works out."

 

[artemis]

Ooooo, never tried that (erm, never will). I DO eyeball micas i dry dump into batter, but...yup, that's about it! Creepy for me. I take soap making as chemistry when it comes to lye, water and oils. Period, end of paragraph.

Even when I started out soaping using cups and Tbs, at least I was measuring. Don't worry, I bought a scale right away and never just used the eyeballs.

 

[artemis]

Also this in the "About", "I am by no means a professional." Then adds a link to her shop? ETA: I thought that, to be fair, I should mention that I like everything else about this soaper-- she makes a lovely looking soap, and she's a good video editor.

 

[SunRiseArts]

That is insane. I do cook like that, can never give a recipe. My sons ask me ... what did you put in there? And is always a bit of this, a dash of that ... lol. But NEVER would I do that with soap. Is bad enough my scale does not have the two digits after the point, and I tend to guess that part .... some.

 

[KristaY]

Oh my..... It's like baking a cake. If I measure and weigh everything it'll be a great cake. If I "eyeball" the flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, oil, etc, it'll probably be an unedible disaster. But at least the cake won't be potentially harmful like lye heavy soap. Oh my....

 

[Susie]

You learn something from every video, sometimes it is what to do, sometimes it is what not to do. Sad thing is that this is teaching newbies whether she knows it or not. Or maybe that is her plan. Have them screw up their soap so they have to buy someone else's.

 

[Soapprentice]

Wow!! That is a superpower ... wait a minute, is there any chance she meant measuring the 'temperature' of oils and lye water?

 

[artemis]

Wow!! That is a superpower ... wait a minute, is there any chance she meant measuring the 'temperature' of oils and lye water?

No. Not the way she worded it. I keep trying to come up with scenarios to make this ok. What gets me is that she didn't need to say anything about it-- you never witness her measuring in the other videos.

 

[artemis]

Ok. So, I want to write a comment on the video that is not an attack, but clearly addresses the issue. Wanna help? (I can't ever just comment online, even here. I always have to over think what I'm saying)

This is the first draft:
" You make such nice videos and have such a good technique. I just wish that at the 20 second mark you would have mentioned why it's unsafe to not measure everything. There are new soapers watching and one of them could think that's a safe thing to do."

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I think that is a very well worded response to it - not attacking, but clear and reasonable

 

[Soapprentice]

I agree.. that's a really polite way to say.

 

[Susie]

I usually am not so polite. I just usually tell them straight up that they are being irresponsible and leading newbies astray.

 

[artemis]

I usually am not so polite. I just usually tell them straight up that they are being irresponsible and leading newbies astray.

Yeah, but I'm not interested in starting any kind of flame war in the YouTube comments.

 

[artemis]

Update: I left the comment, and she responded right away: "hello and thank you! actually what I meant when I said measure everything was break up my lye water and oils into two separate groups. I'd mix the first one (green) and pour it. then I'd mix the second half of the lye water and oils for the pink part. this ensures the green would've had enough time to set up and be a nice, clean layer.

I ALWAYS weigh my lye and water. you're absolutely right. now, watching the video it almost seems like I was saying that I didn't weigh/measure those things but that's not at all what I meant. I just meant taking part of my already measured lye water and oils. good catch!!"

 

[SunRiseArts]

Soapprentice I was reading the other day a blog where she said that she did not measure temperatures. That she uses the heat of the lye to melt her hard oils, and then mix her batter. I tried it once, it was a disaster for me, but I am not as experience.

Anyone ever done that?

 

[Susie]

It is called the heat transfer method. I used to do it all the time, before I started trying to swirl colors.