Oh No! Just realised what I did!

[craftykelly]

I just realised that the cucumber facial soap I made yesterday (CP) I forgot to discount water to accomodate for the fact I added the cucumber to the lye mix. So now its too 'wet'

Should I rebatch it? Will this help? I added 2/3cup of chopped and pureed fresh cucumber. I can't believe I did this

Any suggestions?

 

[surf girl]

Well... you can replace water with cucumber entirely (it's what I have done when I've made cucumber soap). So, how big was your batch? What was the lye solution concentration? 2/3 of a cup is going to be 5 oz of "water" (cucumber won't be exactly the same, but I doubt it will matter much, since, as above, you can interchange 100%). Do the math, and figure out what your new lye concentration is... you might still be OK.

 

[craftykelly]

It is 1kg of oils. I just wasn't thinking when I did it

I used 139g lye and 300g water

 

[surf girl]

OK, so with 139g lye and 300g water, you have a 31.7% lye solution, which is about average. I've gone as low as 25-26% - takes longer to harden/cure, but is not a problem per se.

Your cucumber will be (roughly) 5 oz or 142g. In terms of the amount of water (or "water") you now have, your new "lye concentration" is 23.9%, which isn't horrendous, IMO, based on my very limited experience. Personally, I would guess that you could let it set longer before cutting, let it cure longer before using...

Hopefully, one of the more experienced soapers will dive in here and comment the extra moisture.

 

[craftykelly]

Thanks surf girl. I think it will be OK if I do let it cure for 'forever' but it just looks wet. I have cut it and looks kinda opague.

 

[AshleyR]

Did the pureed cucumber turn your soap nice and green? I have a cucumber FO and am wondering if I should try adding pureed cucumber.... but I don't want the soap turning ugly and brown!

 

[surf girl]

Ashley, in mine, the soap is a pale green. There is the occasional fleck of darker green skin (I should have used way more - the flecks are nice).

The soap is really not as yellowy/tan as it looks in this pic:
.
.

...but it was certainly greenest when it came out of the mold, and mellowed to a less green, more golden colour later.

 

[craftykelly]

I didnt use the skin, just the flesh and looks pretty much same colour as surfgirls. I think its going to be lovely

 

[starduster]

Special

It could turn out very special.I look forward to hearing later on.

 

[digit]

craftykelly - I hope your soap turns out well!!!

surf girl - Beautiful!!! Just beautiful!!!

Digit

 

[andreabadgley]

What a perfect picture surfgirl, for a beautiful cooling soap! I never realized you could add pureed cucumber to soap. I love this place! I learn so much here!

 

[craftykelly]

I am going to do what SurfGirl suggested and replace all the water with cucumber. I am pretty sure the soap might just need an extra 1 to 2 weeks curing but seems ok already. Thanks

 

[Jeremy]

I have a question

Surfer Girl, using cucumber instead of water, do you use the puree of cucumber or strain it? And what kinds of qualities does the cucumber add to the soap?
Looks good by the way, real creamy.

 

[surf girl]

I wasn't actually aiming for any special qualities with the cucumber, just did it because it was fun to do and I was hoping for a bit of green. I didn't strain, just pureed on the most energetic mode my blender has, which is "liquify". Seeds not used, of course. I have to say that I can't see that it adds much more to the soap... a very, very light cucumber scent, but otherwise...