Weeping Soap - Lye, FO or something else?

LazyUmbrella · Sep 3, 2015

Hi All,

So I made this soap that was a replica of the Colombian flag. Relatively happy with the colours until I noticed some dark spots in the blue portion that seemed to be weeping with liquid.

When I split the soaps at those weeping spots, I noticed a bit of liquid pooled within.

Soap formula:
5% Castor
10% Cocoa butter
23% Coconut
30% Olive
32% Sunflower

5% SF
3.3% BB Bartlett Pear fragrance oil
The colours were clay and mica powders that I suspended in a bit of glycerin and then dispersed in water before adding it to the oil-lye mixture.

What can this liquid be? Lye? FO?

Thanks!

kumudini · Sep 3, 2015

Wish I could help, but had no such thing happened for me yet. But I know more experienced folks will chime in soon.

ETA: did you zap test that fluid yet? That should tell you if it's lye or not.

RogueRose · Sep 3, 2015

Well that could be due to excessive glycerine - how much did you add? I can't see anything in that recipe that would cause that.

There are some possibilities that the recipe could have been incorrect by adding either too much lye or too little of one of the oils. There are numerous ways this could happen, use your imagination.

Both lye and glycerine are hygroscopic and can cause a sweating result in some materials, especially things like soap that can't absorb the water.

Could it be a reaction with the FO? Have you used it before?

shunt2011 · Sep 3, 2015

Looks like it may have overheated a bit. I've had that happen a time or two. As long as it doesn't zap you should be okay. It should be okay for personal use after a good cure.

LazyUmbrella · Sep 3, 2015

Thanks all for your input!

To answer your questions:
- I did zap it originally, and it zapped, but maybe it was too soon
- I added probably 2 mL of glycerine for 1/4 tsp blue mica, and then suspended everything in 450 mL of water. I would have assumed that the glycerine would have dispersed completely in the water since glycerine is water soluble, but maybe I didn't mix thoroughly?
- Overheating, eh? Well I did wrap it up like a baby. But it's weird that it would only happen with the blue, and also I would think that the entire mixture would swell up and puff up, but maybe I'm wrong.

I'm glad I could use it, but I'm disappointed that I can't distribute it.

Thanks everyone!