what happened to my soap?

[DucknBear Gracie]

I made this batch yesterday, I can’t really work out whats going on with it, I did some research on glycerin rivers, however it doesn’t really look like any pictures. I did everything as normal, although I am trying a new recipe (I used it the other day as well and other than the essential oil I used sped up trace and made it thick it was pretty good, my favourite so far of all my tests) and used lavender and scotch pine essential oil which i’ve used in hot process and never had issues... I wonder if maybe it’s got too much water in it (I used a 2:1 water to lye ratio) as it was quite soft... I’m relatively new to cold process soap making, i’ve done lots of research and i’m loving it but i can’t really figure out why it has weird swirlies in it, I was certain mixed my micas in enough and the swirls aren’t present on the sides, I also only cut this about 2 hours ago, using a new cutter (I couldn’t get the hang of it) so it’s quite messy! I hope it’s okay to use, it was a bit of an experiment using embeds and frosting and new mica colours, I love going all out with it!

 

[GemstonePony]

"Glycerine rivers" can look like anything from crackles to thin lines to thicker lines to "glycerin pools."

 

[Booker]

I have never made CP soap. I am trying to learn all I can. To my untrained eye, this soap looks fine. Are the colors meant to be solid and not have a swirled appearance?

 

[DucknBear Gracie]

"Glycerine rivers" can look like anything from crackles to thin lines to thicker lines to "glycerin pools."

The swirls on this lot of bars aren’t clearish like they tend to be in pictures of glycerin rivers, they’re a lighter colour of the part it’s in, they go right through the bar as well, i’m just confused as i have a bar that does have some glycerin rivers but it looks so different

I have never made CP soap. I am trying to learn all I can. To my untrained eye, this soap looks fine. Are the colors meant to be solid and not have a swirled appearance?

yes, ignoring the top “frosting” bit which is supposed to be purple and blue together, the bar is 3 shades of purple and 3 shades of blue (although 2 are super similar and ones more green) it’s supposed to be solid, i’m super confused about the swirls! They don’t show on the side and the soap batter (not sure what else to call it) was a solid colour when i poured it in, other than one colour where i accidentally scraped an uncoloured bit into the mould, i’ll send a pic of the side...

 

[KimW]

As @GemstonePony stated, glycerin rivers appear in different ways. I see glycerin rivers in your pics. Not being able to examine the soap, I could be persuaded to say the streaks might also be from not mixing colorant thoroughly - but I'd have to be persuaded. Sometimes "glycerin rivers" can appear less obvious along the sides of a soap. Looking closely at the pic of the side of your soap, I do see evidence of glycerin rivers in the middle right of the white area, but that could just be the angle.

Here are some links. A SMF thread that seems to describe exactly what you're seeing, an article with the first pic of glycerin rivers that remind me of yours, and a video where you can see this gals rivers are much more prevalent in the body of the soap than they are on the sides. Forgive if you've already seen these.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/glycerine-rivers.69895/https://merrydaysoaps.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/soap-notes-glycerin-rivers-yogurt-titanium-dioxide/

Finally, here are some good links about glycerin rivers in general:
https://auntieclaras.com/2014/05/glycerine-rivers-secret-revealed/https://classicbells.com/soap/streakMottle.asp
P.S. I love the look of your soap and how the streaking is only in the bottom part and not in the piped tops. PRETTY!

 

[AliOop]

Definitely glycerin rivers, and beautiful ones at that.

 

[Zing]

Yep, glycerin rivers. That is gorgeous soap and great color combo! I wonder if any of your colorants contain titanium dioxide which for me triggers glycerin rivers. Sometimes the name is "___ Mica" or "___ Oxide" but the ingredients include titanium dioxide. Your rivers are beautiful and complement your soap.
I have successfully avoided glycerin rivers by soaping at cooler than 100 degrees F and using a 32.5% ratio of lye to lye+liquid.

Welcome to the Forum! It was precisely this very same issue that led me to this forum, when I did not even know what to call my unexpected result. Prior, I had no idea there was this whole other world of soaping, YouTube, etc.!

 

[cmzaha]

A lye concentration of 33% will usually not produce glycerin rivers and I really do not see any. I soap with a 33% lye concentration which is approx 2:1 liquid to lye ratio and I have to force gel in 99% of my soap batches. It looks like the colors were not mixed well.

 

[TheGecko]

Not what you wanted, but it looks awesome with the GR.

 

[DucknBear Gracie]

As @GemstonePony stated, glycerin rivers appear in different ways. I see glycerin rivers in your pics. Not being able to examine the soap, I could be persuaded to say the streaks might also be from not mixing colorant thoroughly - but I'd have to be persuaded. Sometimes "glycerin rivers" can appear less obvious along the sides of a soap. Looking closely at the pic of the side of your soap, I do see evidence of glycerin rivers in the middle right of the white area, but that could just be the angle.

Here are some links. A SMF thread that seems to describe exactly what you're seeing, an article with the first pic of glycerin rivers that remind me of yours, and a video where you can see this gals rivers are much more prevalent in the body of the soap than they are on the sides. Forgive if you've already seen these.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/glycerine-rivers.69895/https://merrydaysoaps.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/soap-notes-glycerin-rivers-yogurt-titanium-dioxide/

Finally, here are some good links about glycerin rivers in general:
https://auntieclaras.com/2014/05/glycerine-rivers-secret-revealed/https://classicbells.com/soap/streakMottle.asp
P.S. I love the look of your soap and how the streaking is only in the bottom part and not in the piped tops. PRETTY!

Thank you so much for all this information! Ill spend my day tomorrow reading up on these, I feel better knowing they're probably glycerin rivers, I was super confused when I cut it!

Definitely glycerin rivers, and beautiful ones at that.

I wasn't sure if I liked them much as I didn't what they were, however now I know they're probably glycerin rivers I think they look pretty cool!

Yep, glycerin rivers. That is gorgeous soap and great color combo! I wonder if any of your colorants contain titanium dioxide which for me triggers glycerin rivers. Sometimes the name is "___ Mica" or "___ Oxide" but the ingredients include titanium dioxide. Your rivers are beautiful and complement your soap.
I have successfully avoided glycerin rivers by soaping at cooler than 100 degrees F and using a 32.5% ratio of lye to lye+liquid.

Welcome to the Forum! It was precisely this very same issue that led me to this forum, when I did not even know what to call my unexpected result. Prior, I had no idea there was this whole other world of soaping, YouTube, etc.!

Thank you! I used 2 mica powders from Mad micas, I got them in the royalty soaps frosting kit so i'm not entirely sure if they have titanium dioxide, but I will have a look tomorrow. This was my second time using micas so I need to do some more research on them as I love the colours from them, once I do my research I think I might invest in some more as the kit only comes with blue,green, pink and purple and id really like a couple more colours to experiment with! I use a 2:1 water to lye ratio which I think is about 33%, I read or watched (cant remember) someone who used 1.85:1 water to lye so I think I might do more experiments next week and try that maybe? I also make sure my oils and lye is at around 80 degrees F - although my thermometer gave up yesterday, however I'm pretty sure both were under 90 F, definitely under 100 F!

This forum is so handy! I did some research before coming on here, but having peoples opinions and advice is super helpful!

Not what you wanted, but it looks awesome with the GR.

At first I didn't like it as I wanted solid colours, however its really growing on me!

A lye concentration of 33% will usually not produce glycerin rivers and I really do not see any. I soap with a 33% lye concentration which is approx 2:1 liquid to lye ratio and I have to force gel in 99% of my soap batches. It looks like the colors were not mixed well.

Hmm, I'm definitely going to do some more reading, the colours were solid when I put them into the mould, other than one which had a bit of uncoloured batter that I accidentally scraped in, I think ill read some more on glycerin rivers as thats what most people have said about, so far no ones said the soaps unusable so I'm glad about that!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I made this batch yesterday, I can’t really work out whats going on with it, I did some research on glycerin rivers, however it doesn’t really look like any pictures. I did everything as normal, although I am trying a new recipe (I used it the other day as well and other than the essential oil I used sped up trace and made it thick it was pretty good, my favourite so far of all my tests) and used lavender and scotch pine essential oil which i’ve used in hot process and never had issues... I wonder if maybe it’s got too much water in it (I used a 2:1 water to lye ratio) as it was quite soft... I’m relatively new to cold process soap making, i’ve done lots of research and i’m loving it but i can’t really figure out why it has weird swirlies in it, I was certain mixed my micas in enough and the swirls aren’t present on the sides, I also only cut this about 2 hours ago, using a new cutter (I couldn’t get the hang of it) so it’s quite messy! I hope it’s okay to use, it was a bit of an experiment using embeds and frosting and new mica colours, I love going all out with it!
View attachment 53781

I think your soap is pretty & unique, even though its not the look you're reaching for.

 

[Babyshoes]

Looks like a happy accident to me, those swirls are pretty!

 

[penelopejane]

Hmm, I'm definitely going to do some more reading, the colours were solid when I put them into the mould, other than one which had a bit of uncoloured batter that I accidentally scraped in, I think ill read some more on glycerin rivers as thats what most people have said about, so far no ones said the soaps unusable so I'm glad about that!

Yes the soap is usable but you might find as it cures that the different sections will cure at different rates so you get indents in the soap where the glycerin rivers are. Those links about will show you how to avoid them in future if you want a clear soap that you can reproduce everytime.

 

[linne1gi]

Definitely glycerin rivers - caused primarily by too much water in your recipe. That's the short answer. When you have excess water the soap tends to heat up faster and stay hot longer - which is actually what is causing the rivers. Water discounting is how to prevent them.