Partial gel ? Is this what it looks like?

[MandyMay]

Hi, I'm hoping for some assistance please. Sorry its a long explanation.
1st soap ..first 2 pictures - my soap was unwrapped and left on a counter by accident.i think it only partially gelled..3 colors, dark rose pink, rose pink lightened with td and white by TD... the light pink and white appear ok... the dark pink came out dark around the edges and what looks like raw batter on the inside... its a basic bastille recipe with castor oil and musk FO... the pictures attached are after 2 days in the mold and 1 day after cutting. The bars are pretty solid.
2. Next bar is 60pct olive 30pct coconut oil and 10pct sweet almond oil.no FO..split into 3. Light pink, cream and uncolored batter... let in the mold for 35 hours, wrapped up. Cut it today and the uncolored portion is milky clear...
Has anyone had this happen to them...2 batches in a row... I thought it might have been the mica but the 2nd one that's transparent didn't have mica in it... what an i doing wrong? I'd be super grateful for anyone's help. Thanks

 

[DeeAnna]

I am not quite certain what you think the problems are exactly. And I'm not quite certain why you think you did something wrong.

You did ask about partial gel. I can answer that -- I don't see any. Partial gel is almost always a circular or oval of darker color in the center of the bar. Your two bars don't show this pattern.

For the first bar of soap, I'm thinking your mica might not be stable in the high pH of soap, so the pink color isn't staying pink. Not sure ... just a guess. If so, the solution to the odd behavior is to not use that mica.

You may have a lot of ash on the upper portions of this bar of soap. Or you've used a heavy dose of titanium dioxide -- enough so the soap looks chalky. Might want to back off on the TD if that's the case.

For the second one, are you wanting to know is why the uncolored portion of the soap is translucent? It's unusual, but not outside the realm of reason. My guess is the soap is probably normal, everyday soap, for all it being translucent.

In both cases, if the soap passes a zap test and the bars are sufficiently firm and usable, I wouldn't worry about it. Let them cure and use them.

 

[MandyMay]

Hi, thank you !! It's just that both occurred one after the other.. the fact they are both color issues made me think i was doing something wrong or wasn't paying attention to something. Thanks again

 

[DeeAnna]

Why is the second soap with the translucent area a "color issue"? You didn't add a colorant to that portion of the soap, right? Not sure I understand.

My perception is the oddities about these two soaps are not related. The first one with the pink mica was caused by the mica and TD you used, and it has little or nothing to do with the soap. The second one with the translucent areas is caused by the soap itself and how it solidified.

Soap can be more translucent or less depending on the fatty acids in the soap as well as the way the soap is allowed to cool. A translucent soap cannot have additives that are particles (like food purees) or any pigmented colorants in it. If it did, the particles would interfere with light transmission through the soap. In other words, the soap wouldn't be translucent.

 

[Obsidian]

The second soap is beautiful, I love the transparent effect.

In the first soap, I see some glycerin rivers going on. What is your lye concentration? This tends to happen in soaps that use a bit more what and have gelled, TD makes it more apparent.