My first batch of soap

[lostintranslation]

Yesterday I made my first batch of soap.

The ingredients are:

• 
  Olive oil: 37.5%
  Coconut oil: 25%
  Avocado oil: 18.75%
  Shea butter: 12.5%
  Castor oil: 6.25%
  Vanilla essential oil 1.6oz

I mixed the micas in a small amount of oil before starting and then when I got to a light trace, I added the essential oil. After mixing the essential oil, trace seemed to speed up quite a bit so, I mixed some of the batch with the micas and poured the colors into the pot. It seemed that in a short time, trace had sped up quite a bit and the color seemed to stay on the top of the batch.


I am not sure what the brown spot is in this picture.


Here is a picture of the soap cut:


Finally, I noticed that the sides had a lot of bubbles:

I would love to hear feedback and some tips for my next batch.

Video of me cutting the soap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jErm4LiT1CY&feature=youtu.be

 

[judymoody]

Congratulations on your first batch. It is very pretty.

A couple of questions - first your recipe looks nice regarding mix of oils but it's not clear how much fragrance you used because your oils are in % and your fragrance is by weight.

Regarding the reasons for acceleration of your batch, the amount of lye and water you used would be helpful information.

What did you use for fragrance? There is no vanilla EO although there is vanilla absolute which is very pricey. Texas Natural Supply sells a 5th pressing vanilla EO or something like that, also very pricey, I'm not quite sure what it is and I've never used it although it gets very nice reviews.

If this was an FO, was it soap safe? FOs made for chandlers can sometimes cause your soap batter to misbehave and they may not be safe for use on the skin.

Vanilla will discolor your soap brown over time, so be prepared for those lovely greens and blues to change.

p.s. the bubbles are probably from a bit of overheating.

 

[Genny]

Gorgeous colors

As for the brown spot, maybe it was just the way the light was hitting the soap at the time? I've had that happen.

With the bubbles. If you're using a stick blender, make sure it's full emersed. That helps cut down on bubbles. Also, before pouring into your mold, gently tap your mixing container on the counter or whatever to help pop the bubbles. Then when it's in the mold, gently slam that sucker on the counter. That helps get rid of bubbles, too.

 

[steve4soap]

Unless you used a vanilla stabilizer, prepare for that soap to turn a murky brown.

 

[Hazel]

Congratulations on your first batch! But did you remove the pictures? When I click on the links, it takes me to the site but there aren't any pictures.

 

[Genny]

There's also Vanilla Oleoresin, which many people refer to as vanilla essential oil.
Also, unfortunately, plain vanilla doesn't stick in cp very well.

I didn't read that you were using vanilla the 1st time I replied. But like the others said. Vanillin does turn brown. Even using a stabilizer, soaps with a high vanillin content will most likely turn brown over time.

Your swirls still look very pretty though

 

[Genny]

Congratulations on your first batch! But did you remove the pictures? When I click on the links, it takes me to the site but there aren't any pictures.

They're still there when I click on them :?

 

[Hazel]

Thanks Genny! Now I can see them. I don't have any idea what happened the first time.

lostintranslation -

Very pretty swirls and colors! You did a great job with your first batch.

 

[Cuckoo Bananas]

That's a pretty awesome batch for your first go!!!!! Gees doing fragrance and colour and swirl even, I dare say your a natural at this

And like the others have said, I hope it doesn't turn brown on you but yup vanillin tends to do that......

 

[lostintranslation]

Congratulations on your first batch. It is very pretty.

A couple of questions - first your recipe looks nice regarding mix of oils but it's not clear how much fragrance you used because your oils are in % and your fragrance is by weight.

Regarding the reasons for acceleration of your batch, the amount of lye and water you used would be helpful information.

What did you use for fragrance? There is no vanilla EO although there is vanilla absolute which is very pricey. Texas Natural Supply sells a 5th pressing vanilla EO or something like that, also very pricey, I'm not quite sure what it is and I've never used it although it gets very nice reviews.

If this was an FO, was it soap safe? FOs made for chandlers can sometimes cause your soap batter to misbehave and they may not be safe for use on the skin.

Vanilla will discolor your soap brown over time, so be prepared for those lovely greens and blues to change.

p.s. the bubbles are probably from a bit of overheating.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and here are the weights:

Olive oil: 12oz
Coconut oil: 8oz
Avocado oil: 6oz
Shea butter: 4oz
Castor oil: 2oz
Vanilla fragrance 1.6oz
Lye 4.40z
water 12.16oz

I think that with translating, I messed up with the name for essential oil. I am in China and all of the ingredients I buy are in Chinese. I get them imported from Taiwan. The supplier is a soap making supplier and said her fragrances and oils are soap safe.

I am afraid to order from the states because of added taxes or problems with customs. I might try it in the future though.

 

[lostintranslation]

Gorgeous colors

As for the brown spot, maybe it was just the way the light was hitting the soap at the time? I've had that happen.

With the bubbles. If you're using a stick blender, make sure it's full emersed. That helps cut down on bubbles. Also, before pouring into your mold, gently tap your mixing container on the counter or whatever to help pop the bubbles. Then when it's in the mold, gently slam that sucker on the counter. That helps get rid of bubbles, too.

I was hoping that the stick blender wouldn't have been a problem. My container was bigger than I thought it would be when it arrived so, it couldn't get the stick blender fully emerged. Thanks for the advice, I will try it next time.

 

[lostintranslation]

That's a pretty awesome batch for your first go!!!!! Gees doing fragrance and colour and swirl even, I dare say your a natural at this

And like the others have said, I hope it doesn't turn brown on you but yup vanillin tends to do that......

I was a bit nervous but, I prepared everything before hand and wanted to try it out. I will be a little sad if my soap turns brown though, I guess I now know that using vanilla fragrance can turn your soaps brown.

 

[Donna]

Congrats! Your first batch looks awesome!

FO's are so tricky. I'm still learning and taking notes. Every new batch holds all sorts of surprises. I guess that's what makes this hobby so challenging and so much fun. (most of the time)
I've learned to make smaller batches when I'm trying out new FO's.
A web site that might be of some help is The Soap Scent Review Board.

It has some great reviews.

 

[Genny]

What I did when I first started learning and trying out fo's was use a silicone muffin pan for the molds. I mixed my lye & oils to just before trace. I had separate small bowls with the already measured fo's in them. Sit one bowl on the scale, tare it, add soap batter until the correct weight for the little mold. Blend it to trace or if it seized up, shove that stuff in the mold.
I did that for each fo. I took notes as I did it, keeping track of ones that seized. Later I recorded down whether the scent stuck, faded a little, or disappeared.
I kind of still do that when testing new fo's. If I only need to test one fo, then I wait until I need to make a regular batch of soap, but just up the recipe a bit so I can take that bit out and test that new fo.
It saves money, not having an entire bottle of fo & oils go to poop because of problems.

 

[Guest]

Wow! Your first batch is much more attractive than mine. As far as the bubbles, If you used a stick blender, I think you can draw air into the batter with it... like turning cream into a whip. I noticed I was doing that, but luckily it wasn't at trace yet so all my bubble mess escaped on its own. I now keep my blender under the surface as much as possible and don't turn it on untill it is submerged... I also place it back into the batter at an angle so it traps less air underneath it... less bubbles to fuss with banging to get out.

 

[IrishLass]

Awesome looking soap for your first batch! Gosh- if only my first batch had looked as good! Those swirls are fabulous! I agree with the air bubbles most likely being caused by your soap batter being at too shallow of a depth for your stickblender.

The brown spot looks to me like your vanilla oil may not have been mixed in well enough. I've had that happen before.

All in all- nicely done!

IrishLass

 

[debbism]

Don't know what the brown spots are but if it is just cosmetic, you can slice off the outside edges. Nevertheless, the swirl is spectacular and you should be feeling mighty proud of that batch.....I would.

 

[lostintranslation]

Don't know what the brown spots are but if it is just cosmetic, you can slice off the outside edges. Nevertheless, the swirl is spectacular and you should be feeling mighty proud of that batch.....I would.

Thanks for the comment. Would it be easier to slice the edges now or does it become more difficult the longer you wait?

 

[debbism]

Now would be easier, before it gets rock hard