What soapy mistake have you made today?

[AngelBar]

I've been masterbatching my lye lately (50/50) and it's been working really well.

Although, today I was doing a couple of small test batches and as I was stick blending the first batch, it seemed to be tracing kinda slowly and it wasn't as off-white as it usually looks... :think: and I just kept going not thinking to much about it. When I finished and noticed it didn't quite fill up my mold... I had an ah ha moment! :shock: I realized I had forgotten to add any additional water... it was supposed to be 6oz. OOOPS! So I just made a batch of soap with a 50% lye solution. It seems to be doing fine though... it's not too hot at all... no cracks or volcanoing of any kind... in fact it looks OK.

Has anyone ever done this?


Update: It's out of the mold less than 6hrs later (new record for me) and it's still warm and really fairly hard... more so than some of my moisturizing bars after 48hrs. I scented it with Spearmint EO and even though it heated up fairly well, I didn't get any weeping at all. The funny thing is the SEO smells way off, nothing like the other soaps I've done with the same batch of EO that have turned out divine. I hope the smell mellows out. Too much of a wimp to zap test at this time... :-?

 

[Cellador]

I've been masterbatching my lye lately (50/50) and it's been working really well.

Although, today I was doing a couple of small test batches and as I was stick blending the first batch, it seemed to be tracing kinda slowly and it wasn't as off-white as it usually looks... :think: and I just kept going not thinking to much about it. When I finished and noticed it didn't quite fill up my mold... I had an ah ha moment! :shock: I realized I had forgotten to add any additional water... it was supposed to be 6oz. OOOPS! So I just made a batch of soap with a 50% lye solution. It seems to be doing fine though... it's not too hot at all... no cracks or volcanoing of any kind... in fact it looks OK.

Has anyone ever done this?

I have not done this, but I did read a couple of places that a 50/50 solution could be used. I think most problems with a 50/50 solution would involve accelerated tracing & a reduced chance of gelling.

 

[DeeAnna]

Why is raw meat coloured soap the easiest default colour to make???

Or poo colored soap. :think: Guilty as charged.

 

[earlene]

Why is raw meat coloured soap the easiest default colour to make???

So, planing my rhodochrosite soap, the 1/16 inch slivers look like thinly sliced lunch meat! It's uncanny. I really should photograph them. Maybe that loaf of bread soap mold would come in handy for soap sandwiches with sliced meat soap.

 

[NsMar42111]

PSA: Don't HP 100% coconut oil laundry soap. Yea. 3 lbs of lye heavy cement is the result. *sigh*. :headbanging:Well, at least the replacement batch (CP) only took 5 minutes to mix up. And this is the second time I made that mistake! Now there's a giant note on the recipe DO NOT HP LOL.:shark:

The other 2 batches went ok *knock on wood*. Not looking forward to dish cleanup tomorrow though.....3 crockpots and assorted spatulas/cups/etc.

 

[Kittish]

PSA: Don't HP 100% coconut oil laundry soap. Yea. 3 lbs of lye heavy cement is the result. *sigh*. :headbanging:Well, at least the replacement batch (CP) only took 5 minutes to mix up. And this is the second time I made that mistake! Now there's a giant note on the recipe DO NOT HP LOL.:shark:

The other 2 batches went ok *knock on wood*. Not looking forward to dish cleanup tomorrow though.....3 crockpots and assorted spatulas/cups/etc.

Is it possible you might be able to salvage the cement by letting it sit for a few days then grate it up? Maybe add some water and do a full on rebatch at that point if it's still got pockets of lye? Would it be possible to do a 'rebatch' simply by mixing the grated soap with a bit of water and letting it sit with no added heat, just giving it a good stir/mash every so often?

 

[NsMar42111]

Tried adding water and blending the crap out of it, it just kept solidfying and floating. For the cost it's not worth the extra time espically when the new batch took all of 5 minutes to do and coconut oil isn't that expensive really. This is when knowing your batch cost helps LOL. It was only 3lbs . Now, if it had been my regular recipe I'd be using it for something! :mrgreen:

Todays mistake.....letting it sit too long and trying to cut it with the new wire cutter. Nope. Well, the wire marks made using the hand cutter easier because they were nicely spaced LOL.

 

[divinegoddessoaps17]

Witch Hazel spritz instead of alcohol!!

Wow - I just made this wonderful pumpkin spice soap today, and then I spritzed it with alcohol - or so I thought - I USED WITCH HAZEL!! Did I ruin it?

 

[Kittish]

Wow - I just made this wonderful pumpkin spice soap today, and then I spritzed it with alcohol - or so I thought - I USED WITCH HAZEL!! Did I ruin it?

Sure hope not! That top swirl is beautiful, I bet it looks just as pretty inside, too.

 

[divinegoddessoaps17]

Sure hope not! That top swirl is beautiful, I bet it looks just as pretty inside, too.

I;ll post the inside pictures tomorrow!

 

[cmzaha]

Wow - I just made this wonderful pumpkin spice soap today, and then I spritzed it with alcohol - or so I thought - I USED WITCH HAZEL!! Did I ruin it?

There is no reason the witch hazel will hurt it even if it is alcohol free WH

 

[divinegoddessoaps17]

Sure hope not! That top swirl is beautiful, I bet it looks just as pretty inside, too.

Inside

 

[LilyJo]

Just made a couple of soap batches and a batch of lotion bars - thought I was making a test batch but messed my maths up and made twice the size I needed and had to frantically find an alternative mould before it set!

Somewhere along the way also I mixed up the scaled up ratios and only just as I cleared up did I realise I put 1.5 times the cinnamon I should have. Wondered why it seemed so strong, thankfully all the doors and windows are open today!

And it was all going so well.....

 

[OhSweetFreckles]

To Much Beeswax

Today i found a block of beeswax that i had use a while back from belly cream when i was pregnant. I thought "sweet i can add this to my oatmeal, milk & honey soap!" i melted all the oils together'
3 oz of coconut oil
2 oz of sunflower oil
10 oz of canola oil
5 oz of beeswax
:headbanging:

i should have known something was up when my mix became super thick very quickly. but unwasteful and stubborn me said " nope, not today you're going to be rebatched" and i still colored and plopped the thick mix into the mold and did my best to make it look pretty. now that i actually did research on beeswax i'm kicking myself in the toosh. its hard as a rock. ugh, now i don't know what do to with it after it cures. can it still be used as soap will it dry out my skin? :wtf: oh chemistry why are you so cruel to me.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Deleted.

 

[0115d8cf]

This is the third batch in a row that hasn't gelled. The only difference between these and my older ones is these had sugar in them. I even soaped warmer and pre-heated my mold to get it to gel, but no dice. :neutral: I'm not complaining -- avoiding volcanoes is a good thing, but I can't figure out why it's happening. I live in the desert, and the house is at 80 degrees. So mysterious.

 

[kchaystack]

This is the third batch in a row that hasn't gelled. The only difference between these and my older ones is these had sugar in them. I even soaped warmer and pre-heated my mold to get it to gel, but no dice. :neutral: I'm not complaining -- avoiding volcanoes is a good thing, but I can't figure out why it's happening. I live in the desert, and the house is at 80 degrees. So mysterious.

What is your lye concentration?

 

[ibct1969]

In the middle of soaping, I first neglected to stop my Badger color blender thingie from spinning AFTER I took it out of the cup I was mixing hot mink mica in and 'decorated' my sink, the window above it, and the stove top. There's probably some on the ceiling too; i just don't have my glasses on to see it. Of course, the counter that was covered w my plastic picnic tablecloth didn't get one drop of mica on it, but the OTHER counter sure did. Had to clean that up... Then, later, making the SAME soap, I dropped my spatula, which was covered with pink, thick trace soap batter, on the kitchen floor, and of course, my dogs, who were soundly sleeping in the other room, heard that and came galloping in to inspect. I had to stop what I was doing, get the nutball dogs in their crates, get a mop to clean the whole floor. Luckily the soap was patient and I was able to get my swirl on anyway! My kitchen is a disaster though Glad my family wasn't here to witness that!

 

[Kittish]

In the middle of soaping, I first neglected to stop my Badger color blender thingie from spinning AFTER I took it out of the cup I was mixing hot mink mica in and 'decorated' my sink, the window above it, and the stove top. There's probably some on the ceiling too; i just don't have my glasses on to see it. Of course, the counter that was covered w my plastic picnic tablecloth didn't get one drop of mica on it, but the OTHER counter sure did. Had to clean that up... Then, later, making the SAME soap, I dropped my spatula, which was covered with pink, thick trace soap batter, on the kitchen floor, and of course, my dogs, who were soundly sleeping in the other room, heard that and came galloping in to inspect. I had to stop what I was doing, get the nutball dogs in their crates, get a mop to clean the whole floor. Luckily the soap was patient and I was able to get my swirl on anyway! My kitchen is a disaster though Glad my family wasn't here to witness that!

Oh goodness. I can relate to the splatters everywhere disaster. Mine was attempting to make mole, though, and a couple of ill thought out substitutions in the recipe. I wound up with a 4 foot circle of splatters all over everything. Including the ceiling. There's still a couple of spots up there that I couldn't reach with the step ladder. Can also relate to the dogs coming galloping into the kitchen at any noise. "Hey, Mom! Was that food? Don't worry, Mom! We'll clean it up! Heyyyyyyyyyy. This isn't food." Followed by that oh so sad 'how could you betray me like that' look.

Thank goodness the soap turned out ok in spite of everything!

 

[earlene]

Kittish, I have been known to use a mop on the ceiling. Of course not just any old mop will do for such an endeavor, but I bought one just for ceiling use when we lived in a house with bathrooms so poorly ventilated that I had to regularly mop off mold spots.