Just finished first 'real' batch mixing.

[Shalisk]

Well, I am one of those people that learns by doing and I have never been one to take 'baby steps'.

I decided to go for it, and make a 'real' batch of soap in my new loaf mold from ED.

it will be about 4.5lbs when its ready to be unmoulded.

THe good:

I am pretty sure it qualifies as 'soap' I got a good trace, it started to set quick but otherwise was ok.

The Neutral:

When I poured from large pot to Large pyrex (For mold pouring, after mixing lye and oil) There were some 'chunks' that looked like set soap (Not many, not large) and that told me to hurry my *** up.

The Bad:
I need to find a better way to pour my EO's I spilled a good bit trying to measure it out, any suggestions?

I forgot to mix my scents in before seperating them into 2 batches to color them so I ended up having to RE mix it back and a 1 color bar.

My scale shut off mid measure, twice, really pissed me off. Once with water, once with lye, so I scrapped the lye/water mixture and measured indavidually.

I am not 100% sure I will get a full Gel, but I insulated the heck out of the mould, covered it, put it in a box, (with a air tight lid) then wrapped THAT in a blanket

****

Over all I think it went fair to good for my first batch of a size bigger than 6 oz. (3 pounds of oils!) There will be pictures on monday night/Tuesday afternoon when I take it out of the mold, I am not sure when I will cut it though.

These will be my peppermint/Tea tree bars. (Mixxed at about 112-115 Temp to avoid pepperment flashpoint)

 

[Susie]

Congratulations!

A few answers/suggestions:

You said you got to a "good trace". I am thinking you got too heavy a trace to swirl and be fancy. Next time just get it emulsified(where it will not separate back out into water and oil layers. Add your FOs or EOs to your oils before your lye water. This way if it is going to speed up on you, you will know right away.

EOs are a pain to pour. This is why I volume measure them rather than weigh them. If I am organized before hand, I use pipettes.(not often) Otherwise, hold that bottle way above the container it is going into, then pour, or use a toothpick held vertically across the mouth of the bottle. I never can think to get toothpicks from the grocery store.

If you are using a postal scale to weigh, switch to a digital kitchen scale that will weigh grams, tenths of ounces, etc. Until then, get into the habit of pressing lightly on your scale, then releasing to make the numbers change periodically. This keeps your scale from turning itself off.

ALWAYS weigh your water and lye separately. Never try to weigh your lye directly into the water.

Your soap should be ready to unmold and cut anywhere from 12-24 hours after pouring. Don't wait too long or it will get brittle.

 

[Shalisk]

It was a pretty heavy trace by the time everything was all added. Still a liquid for sure but yeah.

As for the EO and FO, I ...cant say I follow your suggestion, I dunno what you mean! O.O I will be making 3-6 pounds of oil at a time, so my EO/FO wont be too high (this one was 43 grams worth) and I was thinking of buying a few of those dropper screw cap things maybe, if you have a visual aid for the pipettes or toothpick thing that would be awsome.

I have a biggest loser scale from BBO, and either it sucks, or the fact its on a (high quality) plastic folding table (Holds 600 lbs) is causing it to be real sensative to movement on the table.

Yeah the lye water thing is noted, i hope my ED lye is in a better container, because ill be damned if the lye in the container I have from the science place in town isnt making the lye pellets staticy o.o

I will unmold it before bed on sunday (monday morning like 5am or somthing, I cant sleep lately) and hopefully cut it shortly after.

Thanks for the awnsers and suggestions!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Lye is often prone to static, I'm sorry to say. But it is still worthwhile measuring it in to a pot first and then adding it to the water - I have had to put a wee bit back in the container, which would not have worked if I was pouring it directly in to water.

 

[Obsidian]

Everything should be weighed out separately, always. For my scents, I use a shot glass to weight it in. I put the rim of the FO bottle right again the glass rim when I pour, I have very little waste this way.
A pipette is a plastic disposable eye dropper. I use them for making lotion but I wouldn't want to measure out a whole ounce of scent one pipette at a time.

Try wiping the mouth of your lye bottle with a dryer sheet, that will really cut own on static. My lye is in a big tub so I just scoop out what I need with a measuring cup, so much better then pouring.

 

[Seawolfe]

I weigh my lye into disposable plastic cups before mixing into the water.
I usually rinse the cups out with lots of running water and use them later in the process for color or clay mixing.

 

[seven]

I need to find a better way to pour my EO's I spilled a good bit trying to measure it out, any suggestions?

if the batch is small, i use a pipette. otherwise, i just pour the bottle into a small pyrex/lab glass thingy container. just make sure the neck of the bottle is touching the container to prevent any spill. if it's too much, i just pour it back to the bottle. of course, always make sure you are using a clean container

spilling FO/EO is one of things i totally HATE in soapmaking. those things are expensive, grrrrrrr...

 

[warmhandswarmheart]

Would pouring EO/FO over the soap batter work so that if you spill, it goes into the soap? And then you could just measure out slightly less to compensate or have a slightly stronger-smelling soap. At least that way it wouldn't be wasted.

 

[jules92207]

Would pouring EO/FO over the soap batter work so that if you spill, it goes into the soap? And then you could just measure out slightly less to compensate or have a slightly stronger-smelling soap. At least that way it wouldn't be wasted.

I have done that, I agree it felt less like wasting it cause it did make it in the soap.

 

[Susie]

Would pouring EO/FO over the soap batter work so that if you spill, it goes into the soap? And then you could just measure out slightly less to compensate or have a slightly stronger-smelling soap. At least that way it wouldn't be wasted.

Some EOs are skin irritants if used in too high a concentration. You must be careful and precise when measuring them. Not to mention that you are going to want to reproduce that exact soap at some point, and when you do, you won't be able to measure "oops".

 

[jules92207]

Some EOs are skin irritants if used in too high a concentration. You must be careful and precise when measuring them. Not to mention that you are going to want to reproduce that exact soap at some point, and when you do, you won't be able to measure "oops".

This is a good point, Susie, I would certainly take additional care to not do that if I know a fragrance is potentially an irritant. I tend to measure exact into a seperate bottle for that batch so there is no chance of over pouring an irritant. I know what is in the bottle is no more than is recommended.

 

[IrishLass]

Lots of good suggestions/tips here. One suggestion that I'd like to add would be to swap out your Biggest Loser scale for a digital kitchen scale when weighing ingredients out for your soap. That's because the Biggest Loser scale (from what I've read of its specs online) can only accurately weigh down as low as .2 pounds (or 3.2 oz/90.7 grams), whereas most good kitchen scales can accurately weigh down as low as 1 gram (.1 oz). This becomes very crucial when weighing ingredients on the lighter side of things, and most especially when weighing critical things like lye. A .2 lb. to 600 lb accuracy is fine when weighing heavier things, but I personally wouldn't trust it for the size batches of soap you are making.

I own this scale:http://www.lotioncrafter.com/my-weigh-kd-7000.html. I bought it when it was on sale for $35.00. It weighs accurately up to 15.4 lbs and as low as 1 gram/.1 oz , which fits my soaping needs perfectly (my batch sizes are 5 lbs and under). One of the best things I love about this scale is its programmable on/off feature. The first thing I did when I bought it was to program it to stay on indefinitely , i.e., until whenever I decide I'm good and ready to physically turned it off myself, which means no more incidences of my scale turning off in mid-pour. Yay! I can't even begin to tell you how awesome that is!

Another helpful hint: When weighing out FO or EO, I pour into an old tea cup, and I do as the others do who place the bottle of FO/EO right up against the lip of the cup (little to no spillage that way), but when I'm getting close to my target weight, I stop pouring and whip out a pipette like one of these to weigh the remainder so that I don't over-pour: http://www.lotioncrafter.com/pipette-3ml.html. I buy them in bulk 100 at a time. They're very handy and pretty inexpensive.


IrishLass

 

[judymoody]

Irishlass, you're back!!!!!!! Hi! :clap::clap::clap:

 

[IrishLass]

Hi Judy! I know, it's been awhile!

IrishLass

 

[jules92207]

Would pouring EO/FO over the soap batter work so that if you spill, it goes into the soap? And then you could just measure out slightly less to compensate or have a slightly stronger-smelling soap. At least that way it wouldn't be wasted.

I will also add when I have done this I have the bowl on my scale, so even the "spillage" is actually being weighed as it goes in so I don't exceed my usage rate.

 

[Shalisk]

Lots of good suggestions/tips here. One suggestion that I'd like to add would be to swap out your Biggest Loser scale for a digital kitchen scale when weighing ingredients out for your soap. That's because the Biggest Loser scale (from what I've read of its specs online) can only accurately weigh down as low as .2 pounds (or 3.2 oz/90.7 grams), whereas most good kitchen scales can accurately weigh down as low as 1 gram (.1 oz). This becomes very crucial when weighing ingredients on the lighter side of things, and most especially when weighing critical things like lye. A .2 lb. to 600 lb accuracy is fine when weighing heavier things, but I personally wouldn't trust it for the size batches of soap you are making.

I own this scale:http://www.lotioncrafter.com/my-weigh-kd-7000.html. I bought it when it was on sale for $35.00. It weighs accurately up to 15.4 lbs and as low as 1 gram/.1 oz , which fits my soaping needs perfectly (my batch sizes are 5 lbs and under). One of the best things I love about this scale is its programmable on/off feature. The first thing I did when I bought it was to program it to stay on indefinitely , i.e., until whenever I decide I'm good and ready to physically turned it off myself, which means no more incidences of my scale turning off in mid-pour. Yay! I can't even begin to tell you how awesome that is!

Another helpful hint: When weighing out FO or EO, I pour into an old tea cup, and I do as the others do who place the bottle of FO/EO right up against the lip of the cup (little to no spillage that way), but when I'm getting close to my target weight, I stop pouring and whip out a pipette like one of these to weigh the remainder so that I don't over-pour: http://www.lotioncrafter.com/pipette-3ml.html. I buy them in bulk 100 at a time. They're very handy and pretty inexpensive.


IrishLass

I got myself some droppers and am looking into some pipette's as for the scale I would love to get another scale but walmart does not have any good kitchen scales, and this one said (on the box anyway) that it goes in .1 oz incraments and thats why I got it. Its not a bathroom scale its a kitchen scale for weighing food.

Next time I place a order at the WSP or some such they have a scale that has great reviews I might try im actually poking around that website you suggested right now if I can get enough togeather to make the order worth while ill order that one It looks big enough to hold big pots too!

Thank you <3