My real first attempt

[Crazy8]

So I have been watching MANY soaping101 videos lately and decided that I was ready enough to try making the CP Bastile soap but without any fragrances. I did everything correctly except that I was hand mixing it, my blender is on the way, and when I poured the lye water it was not room temp. I don't know if that makes much difference in the results I am noticing. My understanding was that it should be done in 24 hours. Well in 24 it looked kind like what some oils look like when they separate. it was soft enough that I could press the more solid stuff down with very little pressure. There was also a thin layer of oil on the top.

Currently the oil that was on top is very very little now and the bars have solidified a bit more. I feel they may not actually be ready for a whole 3-4 days. I also sprayed the molds I am using with Pam. I am not sure if this will have any ill effects but I thought at first it would make a good release agent, then the voice in my head said "If this is all made up of oils that solidify, what is to keep the Pam (canola oil) from being consumed and there for not serving any real purpose?" So I guess we will see.

So Does it sound like I did anything wrong based on what I have mentioned? Is this supposed to take only 24 hours to cure? Any reasons why its taking longer?

Thanks for the help

 

[theath2010]

Hand stirring can take a long time and you may not have reached a full trace. Depending upon how much oil was on top this can be normal. I have made some soaps that get little oil spots on top but this usually soaks back in. I do believe that using Pam was not a good idea and I would suggest lining your molds with freezer paper next time.

The length of time a soap takes to harden (enough to cut) can very greatly depending on your recipe, the temperatures you soap at, and if you gel or not. As for a cure time you will need to wait at least 4-6 weeks if not longer for the soap to cure. Soaps with a higher olive oil content will take longer. I would suggest searching on the forum for all of this information and reading some beginners books.

There are a million things I could suggest or give tips on but searching for your specific questions would be most beneficial in my opinion.

 

[OliveOil2]

In addition to what was said above if you are using a silicone mold the soap could take 5-7 days before it is ready to remove from the mold, since you are using a high percentage of olive oil, the recipe is most likely fairly soft. I hand stirred my first batch, and it took a very long time before the mixture was ready to pour into the mold. Every recipe is different, so I think at this point patience is your best bet, just let the soap rest, and see how it looks in four or five days.

 

[sistrum]

High olive oil soaps can take a long time to set up. Especially if you used full water and soaped cool and did not gel.
My 100% olive oil soap I made last night is now out of the mold and waiting to be cut. But my technique is different.
Just give your soap time it should be just fine. And congratulations!

 

[Crazy8]

Thank you guys on your advice. Yeah, the video I watched said to bring to a light trace so that's what I thought I had. Well, like I said, I got my SmartStick blender coming so that will make things much easier and faster to bring to trace. I do think I am going to let this batch just sit and ill keep poking it every so often just to see where the hardness is at. Im sure if it sits long enough it will get hard enough to cut.

Also, the only reason I didnt line the molds is because one of my molds is a small 6 site muffin pan. I thought considering the size of the "sites" that it would make a great soap mold so lining these with paper would have been tough. Though now thinking about it I suppose I could cover the whole pan with plastic wrap and then just pour over each site. That would probably work pretty slick.

 

[MaitriBB]

Bummer! Castile is probably not the one you want to try first if you're hand mixing Sorry that happened to you!

 

[tryanything]

If you are going to continue using the muffin pan you can coat it with mineral oil (baby oil) as a releasing agent. Or if they are silicone and flexible you can just let them be and push the soap out after it sets up. I have a silicone cavity mold I do that with. I don't coat the inside with anything and they just pop out with a gentle push.