Please explain the saponification process to a newbie

[ade]

Made my first batch 3 weeks ago:-
50% lard
30% coconut oil 76deg
20% olive oil
I made kilo of the stuff and it's really good,I must have got lucky.
The only moulds I had were plastic food containers,but they worked.
I cut it the next day, it's white with a kinda off white core.

This weekend I got a little carried away in the garage,and made this.

Well i had to test the mould,so i made the same batch of soap up.
Only difference I managed to get some vanilla fragrance oil,of my sister.
I added 10ml to the soap at trace.
Well I took it out of the mould 24 hours later,it looked a strange uneven in colour.The block also appeared to be softer than the last batch.
So let it stand another 24 hours,before cutting.
The soap turned out like this.

Very marbled looking,and it smells of marzipan not vanilla.
As the mould got too hot ?.
Do I need to cool the mould ?.

PLEASE HELP THE NEWBY

 

[jennikate]

Vanilla is famous for discoloration. I don't know about the smell they often morph as curing happens.

 

[artisan soaps]

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[BakingNana]

Which vanilla did you use? Do you still have the bottle? It'll be interesting to see what the smaller amount of FO does. Keep us posted! And boy, you're a great carpenter--wonderful mold.

 

[ade]

Thanks for all the positive comments,4 days later the soap smells more like play dough.
I think the oil my sister gave me was this http://www.marksandspencer.com/Mark...6030&page=2&mnSBrand=core&rh=n:42966030,k:oil
As for the mould it cost me about 4.50 dollars in timber.

 

[PracticalDreamer]

Beautiful mold! I wish I had your skills, it looks lovely and I'm sure will be very functional for you.

I'd be careful with that fragrance oil - seems to be more of a "Plug In" type scent than anything, so it may not be skin safe.

 

[clbutler]

Great first run! It looks so much better than my first batch.

As for that first photo, that does look like a partial gel. It looks like you're using a wood mold, which usually does a good job insulating to keep the heat in. When I use mine, I usually put a towel on the top to keep the heat from escaping around the lid. I don't wrap the base too much to keep it from overheating.

There are a few companies that are now making a cold process stabilizer for vanilla FOs, which will keep the soap from turning brown. I haven't tried it yet, but I've seen the results. It looks pretty darn good.

Hope this helps some!

 

[honor435]

there are tons of place that we could rec. to buy fos, or go to natural store and get some eos? nice mold, i have just like it, hubby was a carpenter.

 

[artisan soaps]

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[Saltysteele]

check out soapcalc.net

in the top right corner, it will give you an option to choose for FO strength (0.7 seems to be the average ppo -PerPoundOil)

also, here you can play around with different oils and see how they affect your soaps properties.

check out the wholesaleplus.com and all their fragrance oils and essential oils, as well as all the other soap-making supplies. they're my fav. place to deal with.

as for the partial gel, some items, such as goats milk and honey will actually increase your gel, and you have to watch so as it does not burn; some don't even cover their molds when using these. lots of trial and error and experimentation in this hobby

 

[BakingNana]

Agree, Saltysteele....to me, the trial and error is the fun part, except when you really screw up with expensive oils. :cry: Haven't done that too much, thankfully.

Do you guys think she could use this soap for household cleaning type chores? Maybe washing floors, cars, or woodwork or something? I don't think I'd use it for laundry or dishes type stuff with FO that isn't skin safe, but maybe 'inanimate' objects type cleaning so it's not completely wasted?