Peak Cranberry Apple Marmalade... without ricing!

[meeplesoap]

You guys, I am so thankful for this forum and the fragrance cheat sheet as well. Without it, I wouldn't have known about this fragrance's love of ricing; as a result I was well-prepared! I was able to do a somewhat complex soap recipe (buttermilk soap to play up the tart, with red clay/mica and sugar) and it did not accelerate, rice, or overheat on me, even a little!

I soaped 100% room temp - everything was 80 degrees. I saved back my 4oz castor to which I added my FO and let it rest, soaped up to the end, then blended in the castor/FO blend. It thickened within 2 minutes with a SB on low, poured perfectly and I even had time for a mica swirl at the end. I'm sure if I had just swirled in the fragrance with a spoon I would have had even more time, but I wasn't foolhardy enough to attempt a complex color scheme anyway!

It's in the freezer now, I will post pictures either tomorrow or Saturday, depending on when it's done. So if you love this fragrance, don't be scared! Soap cool, be prepared, mix your FO with some of your oil (I did a 1:2 ration FO to oil) and all will be well.

 

[newbie]

I like your technique of adding the FO to the castor and adding it at the end. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[meeplesoap]

I like your technique of adding the FO to the castor and adding it at the end. Thanks for the tip!!

Castor works well because it's kind of thick. With my other oils, I ended up with a layer of FO on the bottom, and regular oil on top, leaving a film of wasted FO on the container, even with scraping. By pouring the castor first, the FO is kind of cushioned and stays on top = less waste!

 

[newbie]

I stick blend my oils a lot before I add in the lye water just because of the layering effect with the oils. That way everything is pretty homogenous. In terms of adding in an FO at the end of blending, I find if I add just the FO and hand-stir, I can still get FO freckles. Maybe it would blend in better added to the castor oil. Plus castor can increase trace so stirring it at the end makes for more time before trace gets too heavy, or have you found otherwise?

 

[meeplesoap]

I soap cool (room temp) so fast trace usually isn't a problem for me. I still hand stir my castor/FO blend in, but rather than a spoon, I use a wire whisk, inserted straight down into the fresh (thin trace) soap. The whisk allows me to get at the soap along the bottom edge of the pot and into the 'corners', and as long as I'm somewhat careful, doesn't add any air bubbles. So my FO gets mixed in nicely and I still have time to play if desired.

(Except for one time when I made clove oil. I still ended up with soap on a stick... but I used WAY too much clove. My brain was turned off that day!)

 

[Stinkydancer]

I love the scent but it goes brown for me in HP.

 

[shunt2011]

I love the scent and it is one of my best sellers especially in the fall. I've used it many time and still experience slight ricing but it's tolerable and I'm able to get a lovely cranberry color swirl with it.