no trace

[CupcakeKisses]

ok, so far all my soap making has gone awesome. so last night i made 10lbs of plain soap for rebatching. while waiting for temps to match i got a bad migraine so i blended, and blended as long as i could. looks like i may have blended into a very light trace. I felt so horrible i just threw it into the big block mold. covered and went to be. didnt even clean up. today the bit on the sides of the pot is 'lard' like feel & greasiness and no suds. i did use lard in the recipe. the soap itself is in gel stage now.
is that a good sign? do you think it will comeout? i made it at 1am and it is now 730am. it is still very hot and gelled. good sign?

 

[Black soap n candle lady]

I am no soap expert. I too have pretty much had luck with all of my soap concoctions. I do have hope! I just learned what gelling is and I say it seems as if it will be fine. It sounds like it will be pretty. I'm pulling for that batch! It seems like all of my best batches were the ones I was very close to putting in the garbage. Now I just don't toss any of em. I find that every batch has its own personality. That's what makes it so fun for me. Best of luck and post pics! 8)

 

[Deda]

I hope the soap comes out.

But more importantly, is the Migraine gone? Hope you are feeling much better today.

 

[SimplyE]

EWW! Sounds like a not-so-fun evening! :cry: I hope you are feeling better.

I would think that you you are gelling fine. I don't have a ton of experience, but I would think that with a 10-lb batch it would take a while to gel and then would stay there for a while. Even my smaller batches seem to be in gel state for hours. IMHO, I think your soap will be fine, and I hope today is a better day, minus the migraine! I do not envy that one bit.

 

[bassgirl]

I'm no expert either. I've made two batches and neither of them wanted to trace! I finally made myself believe that I saw the tiniest trace near the edge of the bowl (actually, I'm pretty sure I did see it!) and then poured. It was almost as hard as a rock after 48 hours.

Hope you're feeling better!

 

[Healinya]

Have you ever watched this video?

http://video.about.com/candleandsoap/Ac ... Making.htm

Only 3 minutes long, but at about a minute and a half into it, he starts blending and points out 'light trace'

 

[bassgirl]

Whoa! :shock: So this guy's saying that you don't have to wait for the "traditional trace" to pour??? If that's true, that would be great since I spent 40 minutes stick blending mine almost constantly in order to get the barest noticeable trace!

Also, I was using the whisk attachment of my SB. Never even though about using the one he was using.

 

[Healinya]

That video was one of the first I saw before I actually started making stuff.. And I've always made soap that way. Only takes about 2 minutes or so.