Tussah Silk and Ice water lye solution

[MommaSoaper]

Changing things up a bit and am using distilled water/ice to make lye solution.

Before I changed my methods, I Was adding salt and tussah silk to water and then dissolving it all with the lye. Now that’s not possible.

Any ideas how to dissolve silk and additives now that I’m using ice??

Thank you for the help!

 

[dibbles]

I use a combination of ice and room temp water (just enough to dissolve the additives) and stick blend them into my warm oils. The ice never seems to weigh the exact amount needed for the liquid, so I have to add to it anyway. It won’t work for silk though

 

[cmzaha]

you simply need hot lye liquid to dissolve silk. Sorry, I have no other suggestions, other than master batch your lye solution, dissolving your silk then soap with your room temp solution.

 

[MommaSoaper]

I use a combination of ice and room temp water (just enough to dissolve the additives) and stick blend them into my warm oils. The ice never seems to weigh the exact amount needed for the liquid, so I have to add to it anyway. It won’t work for silk though

Kind of figured there wasn’t a work around on this. Thank you for your input

 

[MommaSoaper]

you simply need hot lye liquid to dissolve silk. Sorry, I have no other suggestions, other than master batch your lye solution, dissolving your silk then soap with your room temp solution.

Thank you! This is what I figured. Always hopeful though

 

[AliOop]

I do as cmzaha suggested - MB lye solution at 50% with tussah silk, then dissolve additives in my extra water on a batch-by-batch basis.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I'm a little late to the party, but, back in the day, some soapers added the tussah silk directly to the lye crystals and allowed it to thoroughly dissolve before adding the water. Whether that will work or not with adding ice, your guess is as good as mine but I see no reason why it shouldn't.

 

[Shelley D]

I'm a little late to the party, but, back in the day, some soapers added the tussah silk directly to the lye crystals and allowed it to thoroughly dissolve before adding the water. Whether that will work or not with adding ice, your guess is as good as mine but I see no reason why it shouldn't.

So, I can add the tussah silk to the lye crystals, without any liquid, and the silk will dissolve? Then I can add the lye to my frozen liquid? I'm very curious about this because I noticed no matter how small my silk bits are, they always clump up around the ice and then don't dissolve. Then I figure I can blend in the silk clumps when I add the lye solution to the melted oils but it just gums up in mu stick blender. I was wondering what else I could do with the silk because I have more than I really need as I tend to use clays and other ingredients at this point, but I would really love to add the silk to my soap

 

[Zany_in_CO]

So, I can add the tussah silk to the lye crystals, without any liquid, and the silk will dissolve?

Yes.

 

[AliOop]

So, I can add the tussah silk to the lye crystals, without any liquid, and the silk will dissolve?

No, tussah silk won't dissolve if you try to mix it with dry lye crystals. To dissolve, it needs both the exothermic reaction (heat caused by mixing the NaOH with water), and the strong alkali solution.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

No, tussah silk won't dissolve if you try to mix it with dry lye crystals.

you won't know until you try it. I did and it did. YMMV.

ETA: I didn't "mix" it. Just placed it on the crystals and left it alone until dissolved. Then added the water.

 

[Misschief]

you won't know until you try it. I did and it did. YMMV.

Then added the water.

Added TO the water, right? Adding water to the lye is a big no no.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Added TO the water, right?

Yes. Of course. Good catch!

 

[AliOop]

you won't know until you try it. I did and it did. YMMV.

ETA: I didn't "mix" it. Just placed it on the crystals and left it alone until dissolved. Then added the water.

I have tried it. Nothing happened whatsoever.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I have tried it. Nothing happened whatsoever.

Hmmm.

 

[Firefly24]

Looking for info about Tussah silk and here I am. Just watched a YT video and saw that you cut the silk in small amounts, add it to the lye water. She did have ice, water, and lye. Question? Where have you all bought your silk from? How did it work in your soap? Did you "feel" the difference when you actually used it? Bee, the Soap witch says she likes it in her recipes.

 

[AliensrReal]

Looking for info about Tussah silk and here I am. Just watched a YT video and saw that you cut the silk in small amounts, add it to the lye water. She did have ice, water, and lye. Question? Where have you all bought your silk from? How did it work in your soap? Did you "feel" the difference when you actually used it? Bee, the Soap witch says she likes it in her recipes.

I love tussah silk. It gives my soap a silky feel with lots of slip. I add a cotton ball size per 2lb batch of oils. Some add the same amount to a 5lb batch of oils. I get my silk from Amazon.

 

[Shelley D]

Looking for info about Tussah silk and here I am. Just watched a YT video and saw that you cut the silk in small amounts, add it to the lye water. She did have ice, water, and lye. Question? Where have you all bought your silk from? How did it work in your soap? Did you "feel" the difference when you actually used it? Bee, the Soap witch says she likes it in her recipes.

I have used it with my frozen goat's milk and noticed it dissolves very slowly with frozen liquids when making the lye solution and I would end up with slimy clumps in my stick blender when I combined the lye solution with the melted oils. I might try splitting my liquid when make the lye solution next time ~ adding the silk to some room temperature liquid first and start adding lye, then add the rest of my liquid as the frozen cubes and finish adding the lye to see if I can get the silk to fully dissolve.
I know I didn't use too much silk because I used about half of the recommend amount and snipped it into tiny pieces, but it just turned into sticky slimy clumps in the lye solution made with all frozen liquid.
So the experiments continue . . .

 

[AliOop]

I have used it with my frozen goat's milk and noticed it dissolves very slowly with frozen liquids when making the lye solution and I would end up with slimy clumps in my stick blender when I combined the lye solution with the melted oils. I might try splitting my liquid when make the lye solution next time ~ adding the lye to some room temperature liquid first and start adding lye, then add the rest of my liquid as the frozen cubes and finish adding the lye to see if I can get the silk to fully dissolve.
I know I didn't use too much silk because I used about half of the recommend amount and snipped it into tiny pieces, but it just turned into sticky slimy clumps in the lye solution made with all frozen liquid.
So the experiments continue . . .

I also haven't had any success getting silk to dissolve in a cold solution, or (as suggested above) by placing it directly on the dry NaOH.

 

[AliensrReal]

I don’t use ice when making my lye solution. I just put the silk in my water and then add lye. I don’t even strain it unless I’m using the silk that wasn’t cleaned of debris before purchasing.