Post you ugly soap pics here - Troubleshooting thread

[hopalongkat]

Soda ash is killing me! Fortunately I haven't had too many other complete disasters or weird things but I ALWAYS have soda ash...I'm guessing that's what that is anyway! Any hints or tips for preventing? I soap around 120 degrees and spray with alcohol and cover and insulate!

 

[nsmar4211]

I was doing a bunch of reading and there were some convincing experiments showing that less water in the recipe reduces soda ash. Haven't tried it myself. What's the water content of your recipe?

 

[hopalongkat]

Mmm, I don't know percentage, but it was 4.6 oz lye and 11.22oz water...how might I determine just how much water to take out?

 

[Sonya-m]

We'd need your full recipe to determine your water %. Did you use soapcalc? My guess is you used full water - the default in soapcalc is 38%. You can use the settings in soapcalc to reduce your water %, a lot of soapers use the lye concentration setting instead though - full water tends to give me around a 26.5% lye concentration. A pretty common setting is 33% lye concentration.

I too have heard that lower water soaps get less ash.

 

[hopalongkat]

I just use the lye calculator on bramble berry. Just unmolded and cut and found gelling which has never happened to me before maybe next time...

 

[Obsidian]

I like the two tone purple, its pretty.

 

[rparrny]

Went to do a wall pour in my slab mold but it traced way too fast and screwed up every thing. I did use castor oil at 15% along with shea and kokum butter, but my last batch with this combo did well. Wondering if it was the EOs...lavender/cedarwood and a touch of ylang ylang. I'll see how it is after it dries but I'm pretty sure it's heading to the food bank...

 

[hopalongkat]

We'd need your full recipe to determine your water %. Did you use soapcalc? My guess is you used full water - the default in soapcalc is 38%. You can use the settings in soapcalc to reduce your water %, a lot of soapers use the lye concentration setting instead though - full water tends to give me around a 26.5% lye concentration. A pretty common setting is 33% lye concentration.

I too have heard that lower water soaps get less ash.

Sonya-m and everyone else, here was my full recipe:
17.5% Olive Oil = 5.95 oz
15% Coconut = 5.10 oz
12.5% Avocado = 4.25 oz
20% Sunflower = 6.80 oz
25% Rice Bran = 8.50 oz
10% Cocoa Butter = 3.4 oz
Lye: 4.60 oz
Water: 11.22 oz
Superfatted by 3%

I used Bramble Berry's Lye Calculator; haven't worked with Soap Calc yet. I soaped around 120. There was also lavender FO, 2.5 oz...maybe that caused it to heat up as well? This was my first time using this many different oils (pretty much used everything I had)! A partial gel happened and it is still REALLY soft, almost mushy. Now that I'm looking at the recipe I'm wondering if I needed more hard oils? Honestly, I really don't have a good understanding on all this water/lye percentage and superfatting business. I kind of learned to start with percentages of oils and go from there so it's just me throwing things together ha! If anyone could explain that better, or might have an idea as to why I experienced partial gel, I'd be greatly appreciative! And let me know what you think of the recipe in general, please

 

[grumpy_owl]

This is the second time I've had BB's Merlot Sparkle Mica, which used to be very well behaved, separate on me and make an oily, grainy batter. At least, I think it's the mica. Scent is NG's Applejack Peel and the green part came out nicely, but I have these translucent jelly pockets and cracks on the top. You can see in the pics--they look yellowish. What is this and why did the soap gods turn on me?

 

[Obsidian]

I have no idea what that could be, I've never seen such a thing. Was the batter possibly not mixed enough? I use merlot mica and its never given me any trouble.

 

[grumpy_owl]

Maybe, Obsidian. But as I said, the green part, which is the bulk of the loaf, is smooth and pretty. No zap. The reddish parts are kind of crumbly, like old mortar. Recipe was one you'll recognize: 40 tallow/40 lard/20 coconut oil.
I just ordered NG's Tomato Red mica so I'm hoping not to fool with trying to get a decent red anymore. It's worked exactly once for me--same mica, same recipe. <throws up hands and rolls eyes>

 

[newbie]

Ummmm yeah. Part of the batter was fine and the other part separated. Looks a bit like soap mixed with puke spots. It has a j'ne sais qua to me, actually, but it's hard to explain.

PS. I've had TKB's Colorona Bordeaux do exactly that separating grainy thing on me, too. I think for me it was a quantity issue but if you want to get a deep red, it seem like you have to put in a fair amount. My soap never liked it when I used a lot.

 

[RogueRose]

These were actually really nice soaps when they first came out of the moulds about a year ago but this is what they have turned into for some reason. They almost look like sweet potatoes or yams. This is one of the reasons I was hesitant to give soaps to people b/c there is no real explanation that I can come up with as to why this happened to them. I used the same recipe as other batches and used oils from the same bottles so I'm clueless as to why this may have happened.

 

[kumudini]

Rose, your pics just made me so sad, for you and for the soap. I'm thinking that it might be an FO issue. One of the swap soaps I received has this rusty liquid oozing out while all the other soaps sitting right next to it in their own cups are fine. So it's not my basement or any other environment factor.

 

[Misschief]

Ok, let's talk ugly. This first picture is what I was attempting to make...looks lovely. Rosemary and Peppermint soap.

img_8041 by Ev Skae, on Flickr

How mine turned out...

001 by Ev Skae, on Flickr

It took forever to firm up, for one thing. I even had to throw some out; I couldn't get it out of my silicone mold (oops.. it was a plastic mold) and it started to go rancid (in the mold) after almost two weeks. As you can see, I have ash; and the brown spots? Those are mint leaves. Yeah, never again.

I'm holding on to the batch for now, until I decide the best course of action. For now, apart from smelling very minty, it's a Pinterest fail.

 

[RogueRose]

Rose, your pics just made me so sad, for you and for the soap. I'm thinking that it might be an FO issue. One of the swap soaps I received has this rusty liquid oozing out while all the other soaps sitting right next to it in their own cups are fine. So it's not my basement or any other environment factor.

I think it was an old lavander & rosemary FO I had as that was to only thing that was common across the soaps - both FO's were from the same company. I just wonder what could have been in the FO to make it seep out?

 

[KristaMarie]

Misschief, what was your recipe? I can't imagine why a batch would go rancid so quickly, unless the oils used were really old. Did you get dreaded orange spots?

Ash happens. I get it on most batches and Do. Not. Care. That can be easily removed!

 

[Misschief]

Krista, trust me, it went bad. It didn't get hard in the molds and I left it in for quite some time (more than a week because it was too soft to get unmold). I know what rancid oil smells like. Even over the overwhelming mint scent, I could tell. I think part of the problem was that plastic molds don't breathe; there's no air circulation. And the ash? Yeah, no big deal. On one of my soaps (double chocolate), I actually like it; it adds to the aesthetic.

The rest of the batch is still soft, after 4 weeks, but I'm rebatching 2 bars... seems to be going well from what I can see. Tomorrow will tell.

 

[nsmar4211]

Misschief, if the next batch won't unmold after a few days and you think it'll go rancid due to air stagnation, have you considered freezing it just so you can unmold it? . I'm a little curious why staying in the mold would make it go rancid if it was mixed properly, I've had to leave soaps in the cavity M&P molds (I was doing CP) for over a week just to unmold them but no rancidity that I can tell... *scratches head*

 

[rparrny]

Ummmm yeah. Part of the batter was fine and the other part separated. Looks a bit like soap mixed with puke spots. It has a j'ne sais qua to me, actually, but it's hard to explain.

PS. I've had TKB's Colorona Bordeaux do exactly that separating grainy thing on me, too. I think for me it was a quantity issue but if you want to get a deep red, it seem like you have to put in a fair amount. My soap never liked it when I used a lot.

I realize it's not what you were going for, but I really like it! It looks like natural stone to me.