SMF March Challenge- Whipped Soap

newbie said:

Lenaree got me thinking about making floating soap look like a water thing, so I carved this bar and colored it to look like a whale. It's all superficial though and it will be a plain boring bare once the features come off. Still, it was fun to do!

Um, yeah, it would look better if a blurred it a bit.

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That's awesome, Newbie!

just came in here to say what dibbles said about newbie's carving: that. is. AWE. SOME.

Cool critter! Love the stippled style and the eye that caught mine.

Awesome whale!

Love the whale!

Thanks! Unfortunately my guy is one wash away from oblivion, unlike my friend, the model, who is hopefully many many washes away from the same fate.

newbie said:

Lenaree got me thinking about making floating soap look like a water thing, so I carved this bar and colored it to look like a whale. It's all superficial though and it will be a plain boring bare once the features come off. Still, it was fun to do!

Um, yeah, it would look better if a blurred it a bit.

Click to expand...

Wow. That is some serious art, girl.

Yeah, you nailed your model!

I made a practice batch yesterday to see if I was even technically able to take part in this challenge. It was quite a fun! I used a well-behaved fragrance because I did not want to make things even more difficult (although I have this beautiful but rude Jasmin FO I might try next time...). I had some problems with smoothing out the lard (the tiny fat chunks were visible despite whipping like crazy) so I left the hard oils in room temperature for a couple of hours to soften them.

My husband was obviously disappointed I was not working on a cake, but soap again .

The soap is very, very soft after 18 hours of sitting in the mold.

My mind is telling me to go big with one crazy landscape idea I have for this challenge, one that combines regular cp with whipped soap. Not sure however if I have time to do it. Thank you for encouraging us to try this technique!

I'm a bit disappointed hearing how soft it is. I was hoping to get a sort of mouldable dough, I wonder how long I would have to wait to achieve that.

Saponista said:

I'm a bit disappointed hearing how soft it is. I was hoping to get a sort of mouldable dough, I wonder how long I would have to wait to achieve that.

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I wonder if it would be harder if you went with the same oils that are in Ivory soap.

The Ivory soap bar (classic) contained: sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, water, sodium chloride, sodium silicate, magnesium sulfate, and fragrance. The soap bar had a determined pH value: 9.5. (Wikipedia)

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Tallow, Coconut oil or palm kernel oil, water, salt, sodium silicate (not sure what that is exactly... a humectant?), epsom salt, and fragrance. No soft oils at all.

I'm a genius! I've just decided what my first production soap will be AND the title. It will be a cocoa powder colored patch & grass scented individual piles of drops whipped soap called: "This Sh!t DOES Float". I'm a genius. Oh, I said that already. :twisted: :clap: BTW: good morning and happy Sunday everyone. The sun is shining and I'm baaaaaaack!

I tried unmolding one of the individual bars from my first batch. It stuck around the bottom, and the soap is still very soft. I don't want to attempt to unmold the soap in the 1 lb mold. It was in the refrigerator overnight. What do I do with it now - let it sit on the counter, back in the fridge? I'm leaving for a week on Tuesday - I hope it comes out before then! On the plus side - it floats. On the minus side - no lather at all. I'm afraid to zap test it yet.

Dibbles, I made my sample batch Friday night and yesterday afternoon, it was still zappy. This morning, it isn't. I used individual bar molds and had to wait a full 24 hours plus before I could unmold. HTH.

Thanks Misschief. Maybe it will be ready to come out tonight. I for sure won't be trying this again before I leave. I hope that I either have time for another try when I get back, or this one is entry worthy.

Haven't been able to work on a batch of whipped yet (I really needed to get that salt bar made, since I've had the oils measured for so long!)... I keep debating on what FO to use! I know what color design I want to go with, but none of my unused FOs go with the idea behind it...

TeresaT said:

I'm a genius! I've just decided what my first production soap will be AND the title. It will be a cocoa powder colored patch & grass scented individual piles of drops whipped soap called: "This Sh!t DOES Float". I'm a genius. Oh, I said that already. :twisted: :clap: BTW: good morning and happy Sunday everyone. The sun is shining and I'm baaaaaaack!

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This is hilarious...

Jules, the inspirations were the "poop" emoticon and my favorite saying: that "stuff" don't float. I am going to have to practice making my piles. I need to buy googily eyes.

I want to share what I've been trying so others can give it a whirl if they want to. I have been making whipped soap as a type of rebatch and it seems to work pretty well. I'm still working out the details, but here's the general outline --

Prepare a mold. If you grate 2 regular bars of soap, your mold should have a volume of 3 to 4 bars to contain all or most of the fluffier floating soap.
Grate bar soap into shreds. At the moment, I'm thinking the best type to use is a soap that has a firm waxy texture, not brittle and not soft.
Prepare any decorative additives, such as other shreds to add as confetti or whatever, and any fragrance or colorant.
Pour a cup or two of distilled water into a small pitcher.

Find a wide pot with lower sides -- a stainless steel or porcelain coated skillet or dutch oven will work well. A wide pan means there is a large heated surface on which to melt the soap. Lower sides make it easier for you to stir without getting too stiff or tired.

If you have a heat diffuser to "soften" the heat from your stove burner, use it.
Put the diffuser on the burner and the pot on top of that.
Turn the burner on medium low.

Put a small handful of shreds into the pot and let them start to melt.
Add tiny portions of water -- a teaspoon to a tablespoon -- as the soap begins to coat the bottom of the pan. Let the water evaporate before adding more. The idea is to keep the soap from sticking too much to the pan, but not to increase the water content of the soap too much.
If you see what looks like smoke rising from the pan, it probably is. Add a bit of water to cool things down, stir more frequently, and perhaps reduce your heat slightly.

Stir gently but often to keep the soap moving around the pan and melting slowly and evenly.
Add more handfuls of shreds and continue to melt until all the soap is in the pot. Don't add a lot of shreds at a time -- be patient.
Continue to heat and stir, adding tiny dribs and drabs of water as needed.

When the soap heats to 140 to 160 deg F (60 to 70 C), it will begin to magically foam and puff up like warm Marshmallow Fluff. Remove a small dollop and put it into water to see if it floats -- it should!
At this point, the soap shreds should be almost all melted. You can use a wire whisk or electric hand mixer to beat more air into the soap and also to smooth out the texture. Do this while the pan is still on the stove. A stick blender will probably not work because the mixture will be very sticky and somewhat stringy -- again, think Marshmallow Fluff.
When the soap reaches 150 to 160 deg F (65 to 70 C), mix in any additives, fragrance, and colorant.

Fill the mold. Pouring this sticky, puffy soap won't work well for me. I more or less threw spoonfuls of the soap into the mold to force the soap into all the corners.
If the soap sags in the middle as it cools, gently press the edges down so the top becomes flat again. I used a small flat piece of wood to press the edges down and it worked really well. The more water is in the molded soap, the more it will sag in the middle, much like a normal rebatch or HP soap.
Let the soap cool thoroughly before removing from the mold.

You may need to let the unmolded soap dry in the open air for awhile before cutting depending on the water content in the soap. More water = softer = wait longer to cut.
If you have a wire cutter, it may be possible to gently cut the bars and set them aside to dry further. If you must use a knife, you may need to wait longer.

And, yes, it still floats!

I've been using 75% tallow, 15% CO and 5% castor and if it's cool, the fats will be pretty stiff when whipped. After the lye water is added, it stays pretty stiff most of the time. Maybe if you whip in the lye water and then put it in the fridge or freezer for a little bit, it would be more moldable, Saponista. I'm not sure about dough but I would bet it would get firm enough to be manipulated some without losing its airiness. Too much heat from your hands might affect the surface airiness though.

I haven't done it but I'm curious about what happens if you use whipped with regular batter. I've been wondering if the heat that regular batter generates when the lye water is added would affect the whipped soap when they are in contact. Does the whipped soap deflate a little or "melt" as it were?

Also wanted to add that my lather has been absolute crap as well if I try it inmthe first several days. I just tried my first one, Made Wednesday or maybe Tuesday and it's just starting to give some fair lather.