So annoyed with myself

[DMack]

My impatience got the better of me. I live in Scotland where it rains about 75% of the time. I work and have a small child. I soap outside. Today I had a work and child free day, the weather looked ok, rain due later, so I snatched my opportunity to soap but I was against the clock as wouldn’t be child free for long. Stupid. Stupid, stupid. Cos it’s wintry and very cool and I’m used to soaping outdoors I’m used to soaping cool, but my lye got really hot and I had my first volcano. I’m gutted. I know it happens, I’m more annoyed with myself for rushing and fluffing it up. and I have no idea when I can next soap
postives : I know my mistakes, oils and lye too hot, feeling rushed. I just wanted to vent a bit. Thanks

 

[SoapDaddy70]

I feel your pain. I rushed through a session once and it was miserable. Had to be somewhere. Thought I could finish before I had to leave. Lye was not cooled down enough. Batter accelerated and barely had time to get it in the mold. Never again. Soaping should not be stressful. Now I make sure I have more than enough time to take it nice and slowly, listen to some music, and take my time. Lesson learned.

 

[Megan]

Yep, something always goes wrong if I am in a time crunch to make soap. Usually if my soap session goes bad, it's either because I feel rushed or because I'm in a bad mood.

 

[DMack]

Yeah. I should have waited. I got all excited as its rained for about a month, and it’s been busy at work and yada yada yada. No excuses. Just gutted about the waste and hoping the mould will be ok it’s outside cooling off so I can ditch the gunk. I’ve no idea how hot it got. I use a silicon mould so they’re good to about 300 degrees so I might be lucky

I think I answered one of my many questions though. Matters not if use yellow or orange calendula petals. Turns out the same colour

 

[Johnez]

I didn't soap last week for the exact reason your post details. The toddlers, work, and simple fact that even a carved out time slot isn't a guarantee have stymied me for almost the entire summer. :-/ I'm about to implement a time saving idea a few veterans on this forum have shared-master batching. Soapers here commonly premeasure their lye with water for future use, some masterbatch oils as well. It takes some forethought, but if you have a steady system it might make the actual soaping go smoother for you when you catch a 2 hour or so window. Perhaps simply collecting your materials and tools into a container for a planned recipe that is ready to go when your window opens up might help.

 

[Tara_H]

There's certainly a bunch of phases it can be done in if necessary. Working in fits and starts you can get to the point where the solid oils are measured out into one (covered) container, liquid oils in another, mica weighed, dispersed in oil or water and divided between pouring jugs, and fragrance weighed into a small sealed container.
It's not until the lye hits the oils that you really can't put the brakes on, but everything up to that point can be done in advance. That was my general approach for a good while when I was struggling with unreliable energy levels and couldn't guarantee I'd get through it in a single pass, but the same also applies to anyone who's pressed for time.

 

[DMack]

Thanks for the comments and tips
Really appreciate it. I’ve more oils ordered and the weather is looking good for Tuesday, it’s also back to school so I’ll have 5 hours to myself. but I’m going to weigh out my oils the night before

 

[Vicki C]

I think all of us have been there - our excitement gets the better of us. Lately I have tried to stop myself and say okay, what prep work can I do now that will make this go more smoothly tomorrow (or whenever the next soaportunity will be). But don’t beat yourself up, mistakes are how we learn.

 

[maryloucb]

I generally get my lye solution and oils, colorants, essential oils ready the day before. It is much easier to do in stages for me because I’m usually trying to fit it in between a million other things!

 

[Mistrael]

You have my sympathies. I've been wanting to soap for weeks but haven't been able to have time & energy & a migraine free day all at the same time. It gets harder to resist the temptation to say "I can do this, it will be fine" the more time passes.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Stupid. Stupid, stupid.

Been there; done that. Join the group.

Soapers here commonly premeasure their lye with water for future use, some masterbatch oils as well.

When I made soap for wholesale customers, I melted all the oils for 4 batches, divided into 4 5-lb buckets with lids and stored them in the laundry room. I made my lye fresh the night before soaping and put it in the fridge, ready to soap the next morning. Set out fragrance & any additives.

Perhaps simply collecting your materials and tools into a container for a planned recipe that is ready to go when your window opens up might help.

Everyone should have a soaping box with everything in it ready to go when needed

 

[Jenna D]

I didn't soap last week for the exact reason your post details. The toddlers, work, and simple fact that even a carved out time slot isn't a guarantee have stymied me for almost the entire summer. :-/ I'm about to implement a time saving idea a few veterans on this forum have shared-master batching. Soapers here commonly premeasure their lye with water for future use, some masterbatch oils as well. It takes some forethought, but if you have a steady system it might make the actual soaping go smoother for you when you catch a 2 hour or so window. Perhaps simply collecting your materials and tools into a container for a planned recipe that is ready to go when your window opens up might help.

I have a question regarding master batching. How long can you store it prior to use? I had heard you could not go past 1-2 weeks because then you have to deal with evaporation. My day job is very intense. So, I sometimes go 3-4 weeks between batches.

 

[Johnez]

I have a question regarding master batching. How long can you store it prior to use? I had heard you could not go past 1-2 weeks because then you have to deal with evaporation. My day job is very intense. So, I sometimes go 3-4 weeks between batches.

If it's sealed, evaporation is not going to be a concern. 3-4 weeks definitely should be fine.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/premixed-lye-losing-effectiveness.85728/

 

[Vicki C]

Oh boy, I had a soap disaster this evening (right after saying we have all been there) - intended to make four pull throughs, added two FOs that have behaved in the past (but I had never mixed them), and trace accelerated like crazy, ended up doing a sloppy mixed pour into two loaf molds. Gaaaah…. I should have just done some prep work and walked away for the day.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Get back on the horse and ride, ride, ride! It'll be far behind you soon and just a small blip in your soaping history.

 

[TheGecko]

I have a question regarding master batching. How long can you store it prior to use? I had heard you could not go past 1-2 weeks because then you have to deal with evaporation. My day job is very intense. So, I sometimes go 3-4 weeks between batches.

The reason I started MBing was because I never seemed to have time to make soap. After work wasn’t an option and often times on the weekends, by the time I was able to carve out time to make soap…all that prep and clean up for a half hour of fun wasn’t worth it. Which really sucked because this was something I really wanted to do.

I MB 40lbs of oils/butters. After a great start, it ended up lasting me just over six months (I fell into a funk). I made a batch in September, it’ll be gone in another couple of weeks. I use a food grade 5-gallon container and is tightly sealed when not actively making soap. I also MB my Lye Solution…ready-to-use. Food-grade gallon jugs, tightly sealed, kept in the back of my soap cart (rolling kitchen island). First time I made it, I was constantly weighing it…no evaporation, no ‘lye lint’. I do recommend that you take a paper towel dampened with distilled water and clean the cap and mouth of the jug before putting it away elsewise the lye solution dries and it gets ‘crunchy’ and could affect your seal.

I haven’t had any issues with either

 

[Vicki C]

Get back on the horse and ride, ride, ride! It'll be far behind you soon and just a small blip in your soaping history.

Haha thank you for the encouragement. I feel like I have had a lot of blips lately.

 

[DMack]

Oh boy, I had a soap disaster this evening (right after saying we have all been there) - intended to make four pull throughs, added two FOs that have behaved in the past (but I had never mixed them), and trace accelerated like crazy, ended up doing a sloppy mixed pour into two loaf molds. Gaaaah…. I should have just done some prep work and walked away for the day.

 

[DMack]

The reason I started MBing was because I never seemed to have time to make soap. After work wasn’t an option and often times on the weekends, by the time I was able to carve out time to make soap…all that prep and clean up for a half hour of fun wasn’t worth it. Which really sucked because this was something I really wanted to do.

I MB 40lbs of oils/butters. After a great start, it ended up lasting me just over six months (I fell into a funk). I made a batch in September, it’ll be gone in another couple of weeks. I use a food grade 5-gallon container and is tightly sealed when not actively making soap. I also MB my Lye Solution…ready-to-use. Food-grade gallon jugs, tightly sealed, kept in the back of my soap cart (rolling kitchen island). First time I made it, I was constantly weighing it…no evaporation, no ‘lye lint’. I do recommend that you take a paper towel dampened with distilled water and clean the cap and mouth of the jug before putting it away elsewise the lye solution dries and it gets ‘crunchy’ and could affect your seal.

I haven’t had any issues with either

So you literally weigh out say 4 times your recipe, melt it and store it? If you use lard or palm as I do at about 40-60% will it solidify again? Then you just weigh out what you need and remelt? I could MB my oils but I don’t think I have anywhere I could store MB lye safely. However it would halve my prep time. Making a lye solution is quicker than sorting out the oils