My Second Soap!

[Rah]

I made another soap!
I put it into the moulds at around 11 last night (it is now 4:00pm) so I am now just waiting for it to harden.

I have the clingfilm on there because I read somewhere that it would stop soda ash from forming. Thing is, I'm worried it may affect the time it takes the soap to harden... anyone know?
It's still very soft having been in the moulds 17 hours or so... kind of like cheesecake texture. It may be because of the high percentage of olive oil though. That takes longer to harden, doesn't it?

I was really curious to see if vitamin e oil preserved the lemon eo scent (I have a book which says it does, but several people told me they'd never heard of it being used for that purpose - I'm sorry, I was too curious! I had to try it and see. I halved the recipe though and ran it through a calculator, so I didn't waste too many ingredients.)
It smells really lemony at the moment, but I'm trying not to be too optimistic of it staying that way.

Either way, I'm excited. This is way too much fun.

Also, on the right is my first soap - a coffee one. It doesn't really smell of anything, but it's lovely and scrubby and gets permanent marker off your hands really easily, haha.

 

[Jody]

Those look great Rah. I usually don't unmold for about 24 hours and I know it is soooo hard to wait and even then sometimes they are still a little soft but they should harden. If you don't already know if you freeze the containers for awhile before unmolding they will release a lot easier.

 

[Rah]

Thanks very much, I guess I'll just have to be patient. I'll probably unmould them tomorrow afternoon, just to be safe.
And thanks for the advice! I may just have to do that, seeing as most of them are in glass moulds.

 

[Lindy]

Once the soap is cool you can take the plastic wrap off if you want. Nice job - I'm looking forward to seeing them unmolded...

 

[IanT]

Once the soap is cool you can take the plastic wrap off if you want. Nice job - I'm looking forward to seeing them unmolded...

just make sure its ALLLLLLLLLL the way cooled though!!, Id wait at least 24 hrs before taking it off ...

in my experience ill get ash sometimes still if i take the plastic wrap off before the 24 hr mark

 

[topcat]

Excellent Rah! Please post unmoulded pics - also if they are still able to be dented with a finger you don't have to unmould them just then :wink: The freezer trick will work well, I usually let them freeze solid so they don't dent when I manhandle them. Dipping the bases of the moulds in a hot water bath can also help them release.

Tanya

 

[Rah]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I think I'm going to leave them for a few days... it's been nearly 24 hours and they are still VERY soft. So I will wait and see. I'll post pics when (or if) I get them unmoulded.

 

[LomondSoap]

Can't wait to see them Rah, resist temptation to unmould them too early (I would have had them out by now - too impatient).
Using a little Litsea cubeba is the best way I know to hold citrus scents.

 

[Rah]

If I'm honest, I'm really getting quite worried now! Came home from school today and they're still really really soft - they don't realy seem to have hardened at all. I took the clingfilm off because I thought it might have something to do with that.
I don't think I got my ingredient measurements wrong or anything, I put it all through a calculator and everything. Perhaps I used too much water content...the calculator told me to use 4-6 oz of water content and I used 4.75 ounces of water, 1 oz of creamed coconut and an egg yolk...
I'll keep waiting, haha.

 

[Rah]

My Second Soap is REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD.

Well, I decided after 6 days it was time to unmould my soap.
I put them all in the freezer for about an hour, then tried to get them out. Here is where I learned that glass moulds are a BAD idea!

I had to cut round the edges, but even then they didn't come out! So I put the moulds in some hot water and finally managed to get the soap out with a lot of prying and levering. I was left with some ugly, shapeless lumps so I used a cookie cutter to try to pretty them up, but now they are tiny and still really rather ugly.
Also, all the edges that came off when I used the biscuit cutter were really soft and I ended up just squishing them all together, so now I have an enormous lump of soap "dough"... haahaha. It's so stupid!

I am not going to take any photos as they really are horribly ugly.
I think what I will do is just leave them for ages and rebatch them when I feel I can look at them without being sick.

I'm not too annoyed, it's all part of learning I guess!
But I don't think I will do another mostly OO soap any time soon..... =[

 

[topcat]

Rah, if you get some silicone bakeware moulds, like a cake loaf or square pan, you will find it easier next time to unmould. I haven't tried glass and now, after your experience, I definitely won't! I actually use a loaf pan quite often and as it is soft and very bendy I put it into another metal pan - sort of like a liner I guess. It works very well!

If the soap is still so squishy why not roll them into soap balls with your hands and then roll them in dried calendula petals or lavender buds? Or even finely ground oatmeal? They will look rustic and awesome then. Leave them as long as they need to harden right up. Here is a link to a pic of what I mean. The soaps on this link are not CP - they are rebatching a product called 'soap noodles', but that this the effect I mean.

http://aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/Using- ... p-126.html

Tanya

 

[Guest]

But you still have soap, you can rebatch or shred , make soap stones etc, all is not lost.

I am thinking positively as I have 4 pounds of $&%# sitting on my soap table that I don't know what to do with , it is hard as a rock and crumbly.

 

[unmouton]

I agree with topcat! There is still hope. I can't run your recipe through soapcalc, but the few times I've added too much liquid to a recipe, the soap was a "fudgy" texture that was soft enough I could push a finger deep into it, after more than a week. It eventually hardened up just fine!

Your scent sounds lovely, please post back and tell us if it holds with the vitamin E. I love citrus EOs, but nothing makes them stay in my soap. If the vitamin E works, you'll be my hero!

 

[Rah]

Topcat - yes, definitely going for silicone or just plastic tupperware next time (did my first soap in a big tupperware tray and it worked out fine.)
And I took your advice and rolled all the soap (including the ugly cutouts) into balls. I didn't roll them in anything as they were meant to be shampoo bars and I don't want bits in my hair, but I might do it with a few just to see the effect.

Kitn - Yeah, I'm not too worried about it having gone wrong because I know it's usually salvagable! The soap balls I made don't look too bad and I'm sure they'll smooth out once they have hardened and been used a couple times.
As for your soap, I hope iyou manage to sort it out. Is it possible to rebatch it?

Unmouton - I think that I only added about half an ounce too much liquid perhaps, so I'll just keep waiting.
As for the lemon scent - I'm not sure how long it is until it usually disappears, but at the moment the soap is at the 'fudgy' texture and the scent is still quite noticeable.

Thanks guys! I might take some photos now I've managed to make them less ugly.

 

[Guest]

Please take pictures, I love what transpires if the soap didn't turn out the way you wanted, in my experience it can be as nice or better than what your first vision was.