What is your worst acceleration story

[bookreader451]

I am asking because I just had a "non" accelerating FO go from 0 to 60 in a minute. I made my go-to swirl recipe and I was trying the one pot wonder and plop, plop, plop, arrggghhh!

I read the FO reviews and none said it accelerated so not sure why it did for me. It really doesn't matter a whole lot because the soap is for my sister and she likes my fugly soaps but, the design idea was soooo amazing in my head. It was going to be a Route 66 design with blacktop, 50's style turquoise, pink and green and yellow and look like something from Tree Marie .

So what is your absolute worst acceleration story and looking back was the soap as bad as you thought?

 

[AliOop]

"... and look like something from Tree Marie". Best soaping punchline ever! She makes it look so easy, doesn't she??

I had very bad acceleration from an EO mix that never accelerated on me previously; I'd have to look back in my notes and see which one. I normally don't do big complicated stuff, but my plan this time was a pipe divider swirl (just like Tree Marie, ah-hahahahaha!!!) with five colors. Once the acceleration happened, everything ended up glopped into the slab mold and spoon swirled. Some of it looked ok, but most of it looked like a kindergartner's art project. Even my super supportive husband kind of cocked his head and said, "That wasn't what you were planning, was it?" Ummm, that would be NO.

The end of the story is that about six weeks later, the homeless shelter got some more really nice but funny-looking soap. Thankfully, it didn't look as bad once it was cut into half-bars, which is what they prefer. Ah well.

 

[Elizevt]

I just had my very first batch accelerate today. I saw the august challenge today was a zigzag swirl thingy. I thought let's give it a try.

Ya, it didn't go too well, I used too many hard oils and it got thick so freaking fast. I didn't even touch my stick blender.
I added my lye water to my oils and I HAND whisked for about 1 min. I divided the batter into 3 bowls for the 3 colours and then blam it got super thick (I used Zinc oxide, rose clay and charcoal for the colours +/- half a teaspoon of each)

Needless to say, I just mixed the colours in with a spoon and scraped the 3 colours back into the mould with a spoon. There wasn't even any plopping. I had to scrape and flatten.

So no zigzag swirls for me. It looks more like a marbling effect.
So I tossed it in the oven and I hope it gels. At least then the colours will pop a bit more.

I didnt have time to add any fragrance or essential oils. but at least I managed to rescue my soap.

 

[bookreader451]

The end of the story is that about six weeks later, the homeless shelter got some more really nice but funny-looking soap. Thankfully, it didn't look as bad once it was cut into half-bars, which is what they prefer. Ah well.

That is where my ooops go. I pack it with a washcloth in a ziplock.

 

[TheGecko]

I've had two.

The first is my fault (Pearberry by Rustic Escentuals), I didn't read the CP Notes: Severe Acceleration. Which BTW was actually an understatement...it seized. I tried chipping the soap out of the bowl and ended up having to throw the bowl away. I did try it again...pre-colored the soap, soaped around 75F and it was fine...kind of/sort of. It started out fluid, but was quickly thickening up. I wouldn't recommend more than a 2lb batch. And if you want to layer, add the FO just before pouring.

The second was a recent purchase...Autumn Harvest by Elements Bath and Body. I fell in love with the FO so much that I bought a 16oz without testing first; it should be noted that the reviews said no seizing, ricing of acceleration. They lied. It accelerated...went from emulsion to a thick trace in under a minute. And got hot. And hard. I could have unmolded after an hour, but waited a day. But I will use it again...it smells divine!

 

[sarahmarah]

Last night I decided to experiment with using my C3 wax that I had for candles. I calculated about 13% into my recipe and since it’s a higher temp wax I soaped slightly higher. It didn’t emulsify with a few short bursts of my stick blender like usual and I think I blended slightly too much (which wasn’t much as tall). Once I started my in the pot layering for my zig zag wave—it all thickened up. When I went to sloppy pour it was already gelling! I said fine I’ll do a sloppy spoon swirl—nope. It was bile olive green and I was so aggravated that I threw it out. I’m not a rebatcher—I don’t have the patience. I don’t think I’ll be trying soy wax again in the immediate future...

 

[bookreader451]

I once used a green that went to diarrhea brown. I unmolded the soap, and said homeless soap, cut the bars in half and walked away discouraged. The next day it was green and not as fugly as I thought. Greens are tricky sometimes.

 

[artemis]

I have two, both FO induced. The first was a Chanel dupe from Bulk Apothecary, purchased at my mother's request. There were no reviews. It discolored, ruining my pale pink and black design. I separated the batter, turned around to grab AC for the black portion. When I turned back .5 seconds later, it was nearly soap on a stick. Crammed it into the molds and hoped for the best. It was like soap dough.

The second was a lemon poppy seed (or lemon cake or something) from Nurture. It was listed as no discoloration and light acceleration. It discolored and started to seize almost immediately. What was going to be a yellow and lighter yellow swirl ended up just an odd tannish color with no actual swirl.

In both cases, the soap itself wasn't bad. But, they were both pretty ugly. And the pieces of the Chanel soap still smell to this day. Not my favorite...

 

[Anstarx]

I had problems with FOs locally purchased for a long time since I have to wait for months for my order from the US to arrive. I decided to do a super exfoliating bar one day and used a peach FO and a vanilla FO to do a simply layer. I knew the peach FO will accelerate so I saved it for later. My batter was at light trace when I added the vanilla FO and within one single burst, the soap batter that was directly underneath the SB was solid soap. I had to scoop it out and just sorta threw into the mold. The peach FO accelrated as expected but it was nothing compared to the vanilla FO. Guess I won't be using local FOs for a while and stick with EOs.

 

[Misschief]

This was mine. The idea was a good one... Lime in the Coconut. Except the Lime FO accelerated like crazy. It was supposed to be a swirl but ended up with blobs of green lime scented soap in the well behaved coconut scented soap. Swirls were not possible. Fortunately, the soap smelled amazing and customers loved it, even though I knew what it was SUPPOSED to look like. And this was NOT how it should have looked.

There have been others. Just because you've been making soap for what seems like a long time doesn't mean you get caught sometimes. I don't always read the reviews. I should.

 

[shunt2011]

I've had a few over the years. The one that sticks in my mind was trying to make a 6lb batch with a plumeria fragrance that as soon as I added it, it seized. I left it in the pot until it gelled then quickly added some color and dumped it into the mold. It was the ugliest greyish purple soap and I hated the smell.

 

[MarinaB]

FO Sea Moss from BB was a nightmare.
Many people like that aroma, but, it is not easy to handle.

 

[MarinaB]

I added the vanilla FO and within one single burst, the soap batter that was directly underneath the SB was solid soap.

What brand it was? I just got delivered my Vanilla FO from BB.

 

[ArlingtonSoaper]

I had a bottle of "Simple Serenity Grapefruit Essential Oil By ArtMinds™" from Michaels. I bought it about two years ago when I first started making soap and was doing M&P.

I wanted to use it up so I put it into CP soap and it seized immediately, riced, and looked like it was separating too. It was oily. Also it didn't smell good in the CP batter. That's the only soap I ever threw in the trash. The bottle had no instructions for usage, and neither did the product page on the Michaels website.

From this I learned to not use a fragrance in soap again unless there are usage instructions associated with the fragrance.

On the same day I made a second batch of CP using "Crafters Choice™ Mahogany Teakwood* Fragrance Oil 559" from WSP. This also accelerated rapidly and also riced. Within two minutes it was like a chunk of fudge. For this batch, I opted instead to put it on the stove and finish it off as HP soap. This is because the fragrance smells great.

From this I learned that if there are instructions associated with a fragrance, I should read them. The WSP site says "Cold Process Soap Test Results: Acceleration: Severe; Ricing: Severe."

 

[user 46585]

I once got a 1 oz sample of a FO to test that had no reviews for acceleration nor ricing and I had a cool swirl planned for it. I added it in at emulsion and within 30 seconds it started ricing and accelerating to the point that I had to just shovel it out with a spoon into the mold and then slam the mold hard enough to break through the earth's crust in an attempt to remove air pockets lol. If I hadn't moved so quickly it would have completely hardened in the mixing bowl within a few minutes. It has been one of the soaps I was able to cut the quickest within a few hours and my cutter even had a little trouble getting through it because it was already that hard. It was with one of my favorite recipes that I've used numerous times and had always been easy to work with. The soap turned out ok but definitely not what I was looking to do to begin with. The ricing was visible and looked messy but it was still soap and did the job.

 

[Anstarx]

FO Sea Moss from BB was a nightmare.
Many people like that aroma, but, it is not easy to handle.

It's a brand produced locally in my country so I doubt you will get your hands on it lol. It's mostly used in manufacturing sythetic cleanser, candles, aroma beads, etc so it wasn't designed with CP soap on mind. I had to test all of them myself. That's why I stick to imported FO or local EOs instead.

 

[Adeliepenguin]

I was making a strawberry rainbow soap at my daughters request. I had all the colours in their jugs ready and I added the fragrance to the jugs (rookie mistake) they all went to play doh in 20 seconds, I literally had to push each layer down in the mould and it looked better than expected but still awful! Needless to say it went into the cupboard and the fragrance oil in the bin

 

[gardengeek]

Just last week I tried my hand at a marble design and used a FO I had used once previously. My notes stated it was well behaved but this was a different base recipe and temps. Everything was going along smoothly, but by the time I added the swirl colors to the base color they had thickened so much they barely slid down the side of the main container. By the time I poured the batter into the mold it would barely pour. The top half inch was so hideous it had to be trimmed off. On a positive note, the soap has a pretty cool texture along the vein lines that I probably couldn't recreate if I tried. I had such high hopes for my "Pink Marble"!

 

[MarinaB]

Today I made soap with FO Cinnamon and sugar from BB. On a bottle it said - light acceleration. I was really careful!!!! Used that aroma the first time. Smells like real cinnamon.

 

[linne1gi]

Chamomile Essential Oil from NOW brand - enough said.