Last weekend I made my first layered CP soap, with three layers. I divided the batter in half, and colored one half using black mica. I then divided that half in half again, and used it for the bottom and top layers. In the middle I did an in-the-pot swirl out of some other colors. A couple of things didn't quite go to plan. Unfortunately, I turned the loaf over a couple of times in the process of unmolding and then cutting it, and stupidly lost track of which end had been the top, which probably would have been really helpful information in figuring out what went wrong. But I'm still hoping to get at least some ideas.
First of all, when I cut it, one of the layers starting coming off of the bars on some of them. When this first happened, I quit cutting it, put it back in the mold, and waited a day then tried again, and that seemed to help, but I still had one more bar come apart. It seems to have been bars from the outer edges of the loaf that had the top layer came off. Did I just cut it too soon, or might there be a more complex cause?
Secondly, I didn't use enough of the black mica to make the batter actually black, it was a medium grey color. I was worried that if I added more I would mess up the texture of the soap, so I just went with it. When they came out of the mold, the layers with the black mica in them were a light grey, like concrete. But what's interesting is, I checked on them four days after unmolding, and one of the layers has darkened considerably. It's still not black, but it's a very dark grey. The other layer is still the same light grey that they both were when it first unmolded. My guess is that the darker layer was in the bottom of the mold, and either it A) went through gel phase while the outer layer did not, or B) maybe the lighter colored one just had more exposure to air overall by being on the top? I did insulate the loaf with plastic wrap and put a piece of cardboard over that for 24 hours after pouring.
Funnily enough, I'm still actually pretty happy with the batch. It's only my third batch of CP and I realize I was being overly ambitious doing both layers and a swirl, but even the bars that came apart look pretty cute. The swirl came out more of a half circle and kind of looks like a little rainbow in the middle. But I would like to know what may have caused both of my issues.
First of all, when I cut it, one of the layers starting coming off of the bars on some of them. When this first happened, I quit cutting it, put it back in the mold, and waited a day then tried again, and that seemed to help, but I still had one more bar come apart. It seems to have been bars from the outer edges of the loaf that had the top layer came off. Did I just cut it too soon, or might there be a more complex cause?
Secondly, I didn't use enough of the black mica to make the batter actually black, it was a medium grey color. I was worried that if I added more I would mess up the texture of the soap, so I just went with it. When they came out of the mold, the layers with the black mica in them were a light grey, like concrete. But what's interesting is, I checked on them four days after unmolding, and one of the layers has darkened considerably. It's still not black, but it's a very dark grey. The other layer is still the same light grey that they both were when it first unmolded. My guess is that the darker layer was in the bottom of the mold, and either it A) went through gel phase while the outer layer did not, or B) maybe the lighter colored one just had more exposure to air overall by being on the top? I did insulate the loaf with plastic wrap and put a piece of cardboard over that for 24 hours after pouring.
Funnily enough, I'm still actually pretty happy with the batch. It's only my third batch of CP and I realize I was being overly ambitious doing both layers and a swirl, but even the bars that came apart look pretty cute. The swirl came out more of a half circle and kind of looks like a little rainbow in the middle. But I would like to know what may have caused both of my issues.
