Ok I just got into soapmaking, I kind of fell into it really, and I like it. Especially since I've been paying over $6 a bar for my vegetarian-friendly soap and it's still too drying for my skin.
My first batch turned out perfectly. Then I found a nice cheap bamboo box in Canadian Tire that I thought would make a great soap mould. I wanted to fill it to the right height so for batch 2 I made a bigger batch, and did a different recipe.
Unfortunately I decided to put the lye jug on the balcony because I didn't have a face mask for the first batch and it irritated my throat. Yes I bought a mask and had it for the second batch but I used the balcony anyway. Unfortunately I didn't realise the lye had settled and not mixed in. My soap was taking forever to trace. I saw my mistake and searched online, and used a wooden spoon and a small amount of water to dissolve the rest of the lye. After a lot of banging, bashing and swirling I managed to get it to dissolve and added it to the mix. By this time though the mix had gone kinda chunky from sitting there. It went a bit pudding-like but grainy. I started mixing again and it was going like thick whipped cream where I blended. I realized that the only way to get a normal consistency back was to add a bit more water, so I did and that worked. After a couple of minutes of blending I had a nice trace similar to my first batch. I added my FOs and poured it into the mould.
All up this saga took around 2 hours… I was in fear of burning out my new stick blender.
This is the recipe:
Olive oil 55%
Canola oil 20%
Coconut oil 25%
Total 1.3L of oil… original water percent 38% SF 5% but of course I had to add extra water to get the rest of the lye into the mix.
My FO's were eucalyptus oil and I some old lemongrass I had in the drawer.
It has hardened a little, and I have removed it from the mould and even cut it up, in the hopes that the extra air circulation will help. Small flakey bits around the edge are hard but the main blocks are still pretty squishy and there are oil drops on top.
Now I am wondering if my rather soft, oily soap will ever fully harden, and if so, how long might it take? And if it doesn't, can I use it anyway? I've been seeing references to cream soap and whipped soap. I don't really mind if it's not hard if I can put it in a pot and still use it. I sure as heck don't want to throw this much away.
And yes I'm going to stir my lye properly in future!
My first batch turned out perfectly. Then I found a nice cheap bamboo box in Canadian Tire that I thought would make a great soap mould. I wanted to fill it to the right height so for batch 2 I made a bigger batch, and did a different recipe.
Unfortunately I decided to put the lye jug on the balcony because I didn't have a face mask for the first batch and it irritated my throat. Yes I bought a mask and had it for the second batch but I used the balcony anyway. Unfortunately I didn't realise the lye had settled and not mixed in. My soap was taking forever to trace. I saw my mistake and searched online, and used a wooden spoon and a small amount of water to dissolve the rest of the lye. After a lot of banging, bashing and swirling I managed to get it to dissolve and added it to the mix. By this time though the mix had gone kinda chunky from sitting there. It went a bit pudding-like but grainy. I started mixing again and it was going like thick whipped cream where I blended. I realized that the only way to get a normal consistency back was to add a bit more water, so I did and that worked. After a couple of minutes of blending I had a nice trace similar to my first batch. I added my FOs and poured it into the mould.
All up this saga took around 2 hours… I was in fear of burning out my new stick blender.
This is the recipe:
Olive oil 55%
Canola oil 20%
Coconut oil 25%
Total 1.3L of oil… original water percent 38% SF 5% but of course I had to add extra water to get the rest of the lye into the mix.
My FO's were eucalyptus oil and I some old lemongrass I had in the drawer.
It has hardened a little, and I have removed it from the mould and even cut it up, in the hopes that the extra air circulation will help. Small flakey bits around the edge are hard but the main blocks are still pretty squishy and there are oil drops on top.
Now I am wondering if my rather soft, oily soap will ever fully harden, and if so, how long might it take? And if it doesn't, can I use it anyway? I've been seeing references to cream soap and whipped soap. I don't really mind if it's not hard if I can put it in a pot and still use it. I sure as heck don't want to throw this much away.
And yes I'm going to stir my lye properly in future!
