My first fresh GM soap (with pics)

[Elly]

Hi guys,

My first fresh GM soap attempt went well regarding the colour, its is a beautiful off white, however today as I tried to unmould it my troubles started. I am using for the first time a nizzy mould with dividers which I found very difficult to manage, the soap was stuck to the bottom I then put it in the freezer for 2 hours, it loosen up a bit but not fully, it was quite difficult to remove, consequently parts of the soap suffered disfiguration, any suggestions with this problem? On top of the unmoulding bit, the soap feels softer than usual, I don't know if the recipe I formulated needs some adjustment or is it the frest milk that could have caused this. I've never used castor oil before, could this cause extra softeness? Today is a very hot sticky day that could also contribute to the softness and stickiness of the soap or not?. I tried to avoid gelling but some parts of the soap have traces of minor gelling, I did not put it in the fridge but left it uncovered at room temp. Please check out my recipe, any comments are greatly appreciated. Hope this lot cures up to a hardish bar

30% coconut
30% palm
9% grapeseed
25% Olive
5% castor
1% steric acid

5% superfatted
20% liquid discount (H2O+milk 50/50)

Have a look at my soft cheesy soap

 

[SimplyE]

Those are really lovely! I think they really do look nice. Way to go! You should have a fairly hard bar with the recipe you provided. Since you did not gel, that is probably why it is softer. Give it a day or so, and it should harden up better. I have started really experimenting with gel vs no gel, and it seems the no gel needs to stay in the mold longer because it stays softer, which "might" help the unmolding problem. Not sure. I love those bars, though!

 

[topcat]

They still look great Elly! I use a two part liner in my Nizzy mould....made from laminating plastic that has been through the laminator, so it is double thickness and sort of hardened. You need to measure the inside dimensions of the base of the box then carefully measure same on your plastic, then fold firmly, run a blunt knife along the fold and make an edge. I will post a pic of mine so you can see. I have two rectangular pieces with two folds each, then I place them in the mould cross ways to each other before I pour the soap batter.

Sometimes you may need to leave your soap in the mould longer especially if not using a liner. I didn't use the liners the first time and eventually had to freeze the soap overnight then left on the bench until I could pull the sides gently away from the soap, turned it over and firmly patted the base of the mould to get them out. This is because I used base oils that are not as hard as some! Tallow based soaps harden really well and come out quite easily apparently.

Okay, this is the two part liner in the mould (sorry I just unmoulded a batch and haven't cleaned up yet :wink: You can see this soap wouldn't have come out without the liner!). You can click on the pic to get a larger image.



This is the two pieces lifted out of the mould -



This is of both parts of the liner side by side -



HTH!

Tanya

 

[Elly]

Thanks SimplyE and Tanya for your replies, I have never experimented with no gelling this is my first time and I think this might be the reason for the soft soap. Tanya the information and pics on the lining of the mould is great, I don't know where to get this laminated material, any suggestions? :?

 

[Lindy]

Hey Tanya! I love your paper weights.... :roll:

 

[ChrissyB]

Yes, yes, yes, everything the others said about your soap not gelling. Give it a day or two and it will start to harden up nicely.
On another note, I have my Dad down at the moment and he is making me some wooden moulds, we were trying to figure out what to use as liners, and we decided on laminating plastic...never heard of anyone using that before but we thought it would work, then I read on here that you use it too Tanya,.
Remember how we keep saying Great Minds think Alike?

 

[topcat]

Yes, definitely Chrissy! I cannot take the credit thought - Nizzy suggested it. Elly, you will need to run it through a laminator first, or if there is a laminating store near you they may have offcuts that are big enough to cut to fit? They may give some to you. Otherwise you can buy it from stationers - to get the size needed you will probably have to buy A3 size. I think you have to buy a packet?

Tanya

 

[topcat]

Hey Tanya! I love your paper weights.... :roll:

Hi Lindy! You spotted my 'keeper' rebatched ones.....too ugly to give away, but they smell divine!!! :wink:

Tanya

 

[Elly]

thanks so much for the tips