Things NOT to stir your HP soaps with...

[DanielCoffey]

Heh - I had a bit of a surprise when I tried to use a brand new set of high-temperature silicone spatulas to stir a crockpot of raw shaving soap... the dye in the spatula came out into the soap!

I had just added the lye and was slowly stirring to a soft paste when I needed to put the spatulas down so I could add a little water and EDTA.

I was just scraping one spatula off with another when I noticed a roll of orange gunk fall into the crockpot. I quickly fished it out and investigated. It was clearly from the spatulas since the crockpot was glazed white, the raw soap was creamy white and the spatulas were red.

No significant amount of the dye entered the soap and I swapped to a stainless steel serving spoon (now my soaping spoon of course).

Here is the offending spatula set from Amazon UK.

 

[earlene]

Wow!!! I'll be sure not to buy that brand. I have and do use many different colored silicone spatulas and have never had the color leach into the soap so I guess I have been fortunate. But I have not seen that brand name before. Make sure you post a review on the product on Amazon so other customers can be forewarned.

 

[DeeAnna]

I have a red silicone cake pan by Wilton that left orange-red blotches on my blue and white soap. Burned once, but never again! Grrr.....

On the other hand, I use cheap red silicone spatulas that have worked just fine for years. After the cake pan incident, I was wondering if they'd bleed too -- but thought I'd try them for soaping since I didn't like them for cooking. Got lucky there.

 

[DanielCoffey]

I wonder if it was the heat, the lye or the fats? I could easily boil them in water, soak them in a bit of lye and stir a spare bit of cooking oil with them to see what brought it out.

Given that they are sold for cooking not soaping, I would suspect the lye.

 

[WeaversPort]

And to think my dollar store spatulas are better behaved on that particular front..

Even if I'm not fond of the heads coming off - at least they haven't bled, so far.

 

[SaltedFig]

From their website:

Garcoo is a brand of Shenzhen Garcoo Technologies Co., Ltd. Garcoo aims to develop top product series covering Home & Kitchen and spread the idea of "Natural, Eco-friendly and Comfortable" around the world. What Garcoo creates is an all-new lifestyle featuring "Embrace the Nature, Enjoy the Life"!

Looks like you got to embrace the nature (of your spatula's) :silent:

Lucky you didn't use them for cooking. Even if it was the lye that did it.

 

[Susie]

I use my Dollar Tree spatulas and spoons, also. They have served me well since I started making soap.

 

[IrishLass]

I've heard of such things happening with certain silicones. For example, back when ED first came out with their red silicone molds, many reported that the red color bled into their soap.

My favorite, all-around silicone soap-making utensil is a red silicone spoon made by Wilton, and I am very thankful that it has never bled into my soap. I've been soaping with it for at least 3 or 4 years now, and I'm glad I bought 3 of them at the time, because it looks like that particular model is not being sold anymore. I love it so much because unlike my other silicone spoons/spatulas, it is able to squeegee every last drop of oil or soap batter out of my bowls/pots with ease.


IrishLass

 

[RDak]

FWIW, here is my favorite spoon for making HP soap. (I do the double boiler method.)

I bought 3 about 10 years ago and am still on my first one. That is how long it has lasted!! :shock:

https://www.thesage.com/catalog/products/Soap-Spoon.html