Turned out great! Good job!
Thanks so much! I am thrilled people who actually make soap think it turned out okay. My family would think it great even if it was a complete mess, lol!
Recipe advice for newbie
- Thread starter lanafana
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Thanks so much! I am thrilled people who actually make soap think it turned out okay. My family would think it great even if it was a complete mess, lol!
Question... The Castile soap is taking a long time (I'm impatient) to harden. I made it on sat. and really want to unmold it. It is getting harder but not yet hard enough to unmold. Is it possible to put it in the freezer or outside overnight and unmold it when it hardens and then cut and put back in a cold place. Obviously I could wait a few more days and see, but....I've already messed with it a bit (probably messed it up some) and I am really having a hard time being patient! Just want to know if it's possible. Thanks.
grayceworks
Well-Known Member
Castile is the ultimate lesson in soaping patience. Unless you reduced the amount of water used in the recipe, it may take some time to unmold, and more time yet to cut. But the longest part is the verrrryyyy long cure time. It is lovely soap, but it's best after several months, and even better after a full year!
Just give it time to be firm enough to unmold and cut without smushing the edges and making big thumbprints in it lol --- ask me how I know this...
Edited to admit... I lasted a whole.... week. Before I had to try it. I have no patience.
I made myself a HP batch of it, which has a totally different feel to the bar... has a creamy slippery lather but also bubbly, and the bar does not feel as rock-hard as my now-dry CP Castile bars do.
And the CP ones are just over 4wks old now, and they're just... slippery gooey lather, no bubbles yet. Nice on the skin already, but... I see why they say wait a year LOL It is a weird sort of lather at this stage of curing.
It is lovely soap, but it's best after several months, and even better after a full year! Just give it time to be firm enough to unmold and cut without smushing the edges and making big thumbprints in it lol --- ask me how I know this...
Edited to admit... I lasted a whole.... week. Before I had to try it. I have no patience.
I made myself a HP batch of it, which has a totally different feel to the bar... has a creamy slippery lather but also bubbly, and the bar does not feel as rock-hard as my now-dry CP Castile bars do.
And the CP ones are just over 4wks old now, and they're just... slippery gooey lather, no bubbles yet. Nice on the skin already, but... I see why they say wait a year LOL It is a weird sort of lather at this stage of curing.
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Castile is the ultimate lesson in soaping patience. Unless you reduced the amount of water used in the recipe, it may take some time to unmold, and more time yet to cut. But the longest part is the verrrryyyy long cure time.
Just give it time to be firm enough to unmold and cut without smushing the edges and making big thumbprints in it lol --- ask me how I know this...
Edited to admit... I lasted a whole.... week. Before I had to try it. I have no patience.
I made myself a HP batch of it, which has a totally different feel to the bar... has a creamy slippery lather but also bubbly, and the bar does not feel as rock-hard as my now-dry CP Castile bars do.
And the CP ones are just over 4wks old now, and they're just... slippery gooey lather, no bubbles yet. Nice on the skin already, but... I see why they say wait a year LOL It is a weird sort of lather at this stage of curing.
OMG, I'm going to go crazy! I knew about the incredibly long cure time but not the unmolding. This is the part I'm having trouble with. I don't mind waiting to use the soap, but I tried a couple of things with the pouring and reeeaaaaly want to see how it turned out. The only reason I did Castile is because it was the only oil I had in abundance for now. If only I'd known . I guess the waiting game begins. I'll let you know who won...me or the soap!
FlybyStardancer
Well-Known Member
I feel your pain, lanafana! I did a OO/Soybean/CO/Castor recipe I made still isn't ready to unmold, even after a week! I want to know how the swirls came out!
THANK YOU...EXACTLY!!!! I tried to take a peek thinking it was hard enough and completely ruined one side. If I had loads of batches hanging out somewhere I don't think I'd be bothered. But these are my first, so I really want to check them out like....NOW! And I thought I was a relatively patient person....is it the soap. Lol.
FlybyStardancer
Well-Known Member
lol Well, this is my second batch of bar soap... First batch was 100% coconut oil, so it hardened up very quickly and was at the perfect consistency for cutting something like 12 hours later.
You'd think I'd have patience. I bake bread, and knit... But nope! No patience here! lol
But I'm definitely going to remember to discount water or add sodium lactate to future soft batches. Maybe figure out some way to encourage gelling... (My first batch didn't gel, and I'm fairly certain this didn't either.)
You'd think I'd have patience. I bake bread, and knit... But nope! No patience here! lol
But I'm definitely going to remember to discount water or add sodium lactate to future soft batches. Maybe figure out some way to encourage gelling... (My first batch didn't gel, and I'm fairly certain this didn't either.)
I used lavender ultramarine powder. It is pretty, but I was trying to make a very light lavender with a darker purple swirl. But by the time I got enough color in to overcome the gray it was much darker than I wanted and had moved really fast, so...no swirl. :-| I was bummed. Scented it with lavender eo. Smells lovely though!
Lol, I crochet and bake bread as well. I also have six kids I homeschool with number seven on the way. So yeah, patience galore right? I guess the soap has made me into a monster on several fronts!
I still don't make my own recipes so the discounting water thing kinda scares me. I'm too new at this to this to try anything out if the ordinary. I need to figure it out though because it sounds like it will be useful in the future (that's if I ever attemp Castile again!!).
And with the gelling. How do you know if it had gelled or not? Is is translucent like throughout the bar?
Oh bummer, at least it came out okay and smelled great. This is what I wanted to do as well with same scent. But maybe layered shades of purple and I wanted to see what color I would get with alkanet root.
FlybyStardancer
Well-Known Member
In theory, discounting shouldn't be that hard. Just run it through a calculator and follow the new water amount.
Yeah, it becomes warmer, and it looks more translucent.
Here's a video where Cathy of Soaping101 shows soap in a slab mold going through gel. You can see in the upper right corner where it hasn't started to gel yet.
[ame]http://youtu.be/JQyI2PF95Go?t=7m30s[/ame]
Thanks for the link, enjoyed the video! In theory I do get the water discount, but am still a bit afraid, in awe I should say, of lye lol. After I've made a few more batches I think If try. I haven't even used lye calc as of yet...afraid of that too! I feel like there is something I'm bound to do to mess it up. I'll get there one day...hopefully sooner than later. For now I'll stick with the books lol.
Do you mean, how much oil for your mould?
That is the hole in your mould size as Inches Height x Width x Length x 0.4 = oils in ounces
hole in your mould size as CMs Height x Width x Length x 07 = oils in grams
eta - I say the hole in the mould, as the height and so on can be different on the outside of the mould! It is the space that the soap goes in to, not the actual size of the mould, if that make sense.
That is the hole in your mould size as Inches Height x Width x Length x 0.4 = oils in ounces
hole in your mould size as CMs Height x Width x Length x 07 = oils in grams
eta - I say the hole in the mould, as the height and so on can be different on the outside of the mould! It is the space that the soap goes in to, not the actual size of the mould, if that make sense.
When I put my percentages of oils in lye calc and it gives me a recipe, what size batch is that recipe for?? I know I am really exposing my stupidity right now, lol! Is it a 1, 2, lb batch? I'm confused
FlybyStardancer
Well-Known Member
Which lye calculator are you using? Brambleberry's? SoapCalc? SBM?
I am using the soap calc pro app on my phone. Should I only use the website? I see the calculation, but don't see where it says what size batch it would be. Do I just add up the oils in oz and figure it out myself?
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