I love castor and regularly use it at 10%, sometimes even 15%. I have never had a slimy, soft, or sticky bar. I usually use it in combination with pretty hard oils (OO, tallow, or butters.)
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I love castor and regularly use it at 10%, sometimes even 15%. I have never had a slimy, soft, or sticky bar. I usually use it in combination with pretty hard oils (OO, tallow, or butters.)
Crazy8
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Well I can say that as of now the bars have hardened up quite nicely so they are not soft at all. I also tried it last night with a small sample and the soap is very creamy, doesn't have that sticky feeling since I superfatted it, and feels amazing after rinsing. I mean my hands really do feel clean afterwords. My wife also seemed to notice that, due to the extreme aromatic nature of espresso, you could ever so slightly smell the espresso in the bar. It is ever so subtle and by no means should it be used as a means of fragrance. I just cant wait until I get some coffee/mocha type FO to add to the soap so that it really does smell good. Pics will be coming soon.
Crazy8
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Still working on the photography and lighting. I have some lights I am going to use to make a light booth for this type of stuff. We will see how that goes. These bars stamped beautifully. They aren't even fully cured and they are the perfect hardness to accept the stamp without cracking the bar and without braking any bits from the bar, inside the stamp. If only I can try to get this type of consistency with every recipe now.
Here is the last pic for you all...
Here is the last pic for you all...
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boyago
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If it makes you feel any better about your photography I want renege on the I'll show you mine part since mine look so bad by comparison.
boyago
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IT IS! I built that table. Supper proud of it. I was going to do a copper penny top flooded in resin but when I laid out the pennies they looked cheesey so I came up with the BB idea. I think this looks way cooler and I liked that I could add them in a non uniform way. Thanks for noticing.
Crazy8
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Hard to tell that its real BB's under resin. In the pic it actually looks like a large print. I'm sure it looks way cooler than that though. I think the Copperhead BB's was the right choice. Not sure the penny's would have looked so good. 
As far as the soap goes...maybe try to use one of those rippled cutters on your edges that you want to do that grooved look? Maybe use a pre-measured/pre-cut dowel and when the soap loaf sets up just enough start pressing it in just enough to make those grooves. This will at least give you some more perfect and consistent grooves. Assuming that's the part you find "bad".
As far as the soap goes...maybe try to use one of those rippled cutters on your edges that you want to do that grooved look? Maybe use a pre-measured/pre-cut dowel and when the soap loaf sets up just enough start pressing it in just enough to make those grooves. This will at least give you some more perfect and consistent grooves. Assuming that's the part you find "bad".
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boyago
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i was talking about the photos not the soap.
* wipes tear from eye *
Actually that particular batch came out of a gutter mold which was new and the lye reacted with the paint on the inside and I had to kind of go to town on it with a spoon. My working tag line is "Ugly soaps for beautiful people" witch is certainly true in this case. They normally look more like this.
* wipes tear from eye *
Actually that particular batch came out of a gutter mold which was new and the lye reacted with the paint on the inside and I had to kind of go to town on it with a spoon. My working tag line is "Ugly soaps for beautiful people" witch is certainly true in this case. They normally look more like this.
lizflowers42
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Did you use a metal drain pipe for a mold??
boyago
Well-Known Member
Yes, let me start off with a giant disclaimer. Don't try this at home. NoH2 can react badly with aluminum and other amphoteric metals. It can cause heat, express allot hydrogen, blow up, burn your house down and make dogs and cats live together.
I like the shape and size of the gutter molds. I started off using vinyl downspouts but after a not even really that hot disfigured my molds I tried the aluminum downspouts from Lowes. They have a decent seal on the insides so I thought I'd give it a shot and it worked well. I was cruising Home Depot when I saw they started carrying down spouts made from steel so I figured they would be a little safer for my soap but the material they used for insides reacted with the lye leaving what looked like white soap on my soap. The forum helped me with a little trouble shoot on that one. I'll dig up the link in a second. I think that I will switch back to the vinyl ones and just chill my soaps that I use those with.
Here's the link if your interested.
I like the shape and size of the gutter molds. I started off using vinyl downspouts but after a not even really that hot disfigured my molds I tried the aluminum downspouts from Lowes. They have a decent seal on the insides so I thought I'd give it a shot and it worked well. I was cruising Home Depot when I saw they started carrying down spouts made from steel so I figured they would be a little safer for my soap but the material they used for insides reacted with the lye leaving what looked like white soap on my soap. The forum helped me with a little trouble shoot on that one. I'll dig up the link in a second. I think that I will switch back to the vinyl ones and just chill my soaps that I use those with.
Here's the link if your interested.
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