SMF Soap Making Challenge: September Discoloring FO

[gigisiguenza]

Galaxy and not_ally - I've added it all to my notes and when I do it, I'll keep ya posted on the how of it. I figure the worse that can happen is ugly soap and I've already got one of those, so it won't be a major crying session if it happens again LOL. Tyvm both of you

 

[not_ally]

. I figure the worse that can happen is ugly soap and I've already got one of those, so it won't be a major crying session if it happens again LOL.

Oh, yeah. I just got rid of some of the evidence of some of those today. I was tired of looking at them

I am fairly sure that this contest will produce another round, but I am cool w/sacrificing my tender soapy hopes in the interest of science, and putting the results on display

ETA: If you do CPOP, I think it would be helpful to others if you post about your experience. People's results do seem to be all over the place w/this issue.

 

[gigisiguenza]

Oh, yeah. I just got rid of some of the evidence of some of those today. I was tired of looking at them

I am fairly sure that this contest will produce another round, but I am cool w/sacrificing my tender soapy hopes in the interest of science, and putting the results on display

ETA: If you do CPOP, I think it would be helpful to others if you post about your experience. People's results do seem to be all over the place w/this issue.

I've got a friend who wants my ugly pizza soap, so there is hope there LOL

And I sure will Ally. There are so many different ways to accomplish the same thing that it can't hurt to add to the mix if it helps someone else like me figure it out

 

[gigisiguenza]

Ok so my oven has a warm setting the lowest temp above that is 200, so I'm assuming that the warm setting is around 150ish. I've got it in there and I'm watching it carefully. Will keep ya posted

<<<<<very nervous about this LOL

 

[gigisiguenza]

Btw how long do I leave it in the oven? It's been in there an hour so far with no volcano and I'm clueless on cpop. Is it supposed to be in there for the whole time it's gelling or is it just for a while then it gels the rest of the way on its own? The oven is only about 150ish temp wise.

 

[gigisiguenza]

Well however long it's supposed to be in there with it turned on I'm making an executive decision that when my ride to the store gets here, the oven is getting turned off LOL. Let's hope that doesn't hurt it any.

 

[galaxyMLP]

I don't think it needs to be on for more than 1 hour at any temp above 140. And on my oven, warm is actually 170. But... That varies. hope it turns out great!

 

[gigisiguenza]

Then I'm glad I turned the oven.off before I left. I left it in there to sit til I get back though.

 

[gigisiguenza]

I checked it and I'm not happy. The top looks so dark and dried out. Sigh. I've got some major learning curves to conquer with cpop it seems. I haven't cut it yet, as it doesn't seem ready, but I'm hoping like heck the inside looks better than the outside. And I think I added too much colorants. Ugh. Was not a happy soapy adventure this time LOL. Live and learn. Making copious notes so I don't repeat this episode.

 

[dillsandwitch]

I found with my cpop adventures that the soaps firms up and then it goes soft again on top then firms up again. If you check it regularly enough you can see this firm soft firm changes and once its back to firm you know its done and can either rest in the oven or be taken out.

 

[gigisiguenza]

I found with my cpop adventures that the soaps firms up and then it goes soft again on top then firms up again. If you check it regularly enough you can see this firm soft firm changes and once its back to firm you know its done and can either rest in the oven or be taken out.

I will look for that sequence in future. I was kinda winging it tonight, and I'm not sure yet if I'm happy with the results yet or not. Tyvm for the feedback

Here's where the soap stands right now:

I took it out of the mold (stuck it in the freezer for a few to make it easier to get out, Ty to all who suggested that). It unmolded easily. It cut beautifully, and has no evidence of partial gel (no middle ring in the center... I'm not sure if that means it gelled or not, but it sure doesn't look partially gelled). The white (uncolored) portion looks very nice and white (a positive, for sure). But... the other colors are so dark as to be mud.

Now, to be honest, after I mixed them, I thought to myself "those are way too rich, you mucked that up already" but once the color is in, you can't undo, so I proceeded as if it was fine. I used the same glycerin method for the colorants that I used on the rose pink soap, but that is perhaps not well suited to CPOP as the very pretty pattern I was going for is a laughable muddle of over saturated additives that are barely discernible from each other. Essentially it looks like different colored mudslides LOL.

But... all my errors aside.... I think it did indeed gel, as I can tell the soap is way more solid than it usually is, especially for having only made it 8 hours ago. This is a plus, as I like not having to wait 2 days to cut LOL. Also, the scent is still very much present - but I'm not sure if that's a result of the scent or the process.

So... for my first CPOP I would feel safe in saying I did the process itself right, even if I messed up the batch itself with my errors. I will likely try it again when I'm off on Wednesday, as it didn't give me any grief and the trade offs of faster cutting and more intense color saturation are quite nice. And I'm not sure I like the recipe I'm using. This is the second batch I've used it on that has traced too fast, even with barely emulsion this time, and the colors are not what I intended. I might need to rethink this recipe or go back to the one that worked well for the first swirl attempt.

Man, there is one heck of a learning curve on this soap making... good thing I'm stubborn enough to consider failures and less than optimal results a challenge to figure it out til I get it right

 

[jules92207]

Made my first attempt tonight. I don't know why I struggled so much with what I was going to do but as soon as newbie posted some of those brown beauties on the browsing soap pics I remembered I wanted to try something...I really hope it turns out.

I did not gel mine, I'm really new to this gel thing unless it wants to do it on its own then I just let it do its thing. I'm always unsure my little silicone mold would hold up under the heat.

 

[gigisiguenza]

Made my first attempt tonight. I don't know why I struggled so much with what I was going to do but as soon as newbie posted some of those brown beauties on the browsing soap pics I remembered I wanted to try something...I really hope it turns out.

I did not gel mine, I'm really new to this gel thing unless it wants to do it on its own then I just let it do its thing. I'm always unsure my little silicone mold would hold up under the heat.

Jules I'm not sure how I feel about gelling either. I did like that it was ready for unmolding and cutting so soon, but I didn't like how the colors looked. But, the colors issue is my own mistake, I'm sure. I will try it again, but I'm still on the fence.

 

[not_ally]

I was dreading doing this one, it has been a month since I have soaped and I just knew it was going to be a fail. Well, it pretty much was! But kind of a relief, at least I got it out of the way, knew what I did wrong (flubbed up new technique and tools), so can make another and try to fix things

 

[TwystedPryncess]

I am not particularly happy about my cobbled together top decorations, either. My soapy idea is going to be a huge pain in the butt. Leave it to me to think of something I have to do in stages. The outcome soap will actually look really simple, too. However, I made M&P decorative thingies and then realized I can't CPOP those, and the colors I have really should probably be CPOP'd. At least I thought of it before I popped it all in the oven, which is totally something I would do. So, hopefully, my first try works. I really do not have any other super awesome discoloring FO's so this try is what we get. LoL.

 

[not_ally]

Second one is better, although still afflicted w/the same issues. At this point I don't care, it is too hot to soap and I have to move in a week, sorting and packing all the soapy stuff is going to be a nightmare so no more soaping for a while.

I am CPOPing this now, but I am kind of bummed, the discoloration is not going fast, I thought it might w/CPOP and an FO with this much (11%+) vanilla. I picked the colors b/c I assumed the uncolored/DFO part would end up chocolate brown, but I think it is going to take a while. Here it is immediately post pour, will post pics of bars a few days out.

 

[TwystedPryncess]

NA I Looooove those colors!!!!

 

[Saponista]

I love those colours too. I can't wait to see what it discolours to.

 

[commoncenz]

So I unmolded my challenge soap last night and I have to say it was rather anticlimactic LOL. I had hoped to see more color morphing in the mold, but I guess it will need more time and more exposure to air for the DFOs to completely turn. The indigo is slowly turning, so that's good.

In addition to that, I am less than impressed with the way the pour turned out. I was too enthusiastic in my SBing, so it reached trace too quickly. Sigh..... I've got to learn to be less aggressive in my blending. I always overdo it because I'm worried I've got false trace when I'm aiming for emulsion stage.

I think I'm gonna do another batch, just to be sure I have one for the challenge And maybe I'll make this one a gel batch. I've never gelled before. Any advice before I tackle this later tonight?

G

I feel your pain. I've probably messed up more than a dozen swirls by getting to aggressive with my stick blending because I'm worried about reaching false trace in my slow moving recipe.

 

[not_ally]

FYI, the colors were Mad Oils neon pink mica, Mica's and More cosmic purple mica (Mica's and More is Steph Graham's mica buy in group that Galaxy told me about, Steph has good micas at great prices), TD (my TD/white batchlets are always at least three times as big as the rest of the color batchlets in swirls like this, or it does not show up well), and a mixture of an apricot oxide/neon yellow pigment that I kept jiggering with b/c I thought it would not show up. And it didn't