New mold tryout

500g batch, in a 6" square slab mold. 700 or 750g batch would probably fill it up to the top. Not sure if I'm going to cut this soap into 6 2"x3" or 4 3"x3" bars.

I am still learning patience. I really should have let the soap sit in the mold another day like I intended to. Edges are still pretty soft, but I think it'll be ok.

So... does this remind anyone else of a bio-hazard symbol?



The wrinkles you see are the plastic wrap I have over the soap, the actual soap surface is beautifully smooth. Didn't even dent the bottom getting it out of the mold.

Looks good. Is that a BB mold? Looks like the one I have.

I see what you mean about the biohazard. I like it!

Obsidian said:

Looks good. Is that a BB mold? Looks like the one I have.

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Nope, found this one on ebay, but you're right, they look the same.

So... something happened with this soap. The top is covered with a network of fine, shallow cracks and it's waxy/crumbly. It is not lye heavy. I tested every face of every bar several times, as well as testing bits that I trimmed off the bars. (Crumbly soap seems to come about most commonly because of separation/excess lye from what I've seen and read.) The crumbly part is all across the top and partway down what were the outside edges in the mold. I sprayed the top with isopropyl alcohol and covered with plastic wrap (not touching the soap) for 24 hours. The cracks were all visible already when I unmolded the soap, and have not changed in appearance since. Soaped fairly cool- around 110*F. I did not insulate. Recipe is after pics (ignore the white bits on the one soap- they're soap crumbs that are stuck on).

Here are pics of some of the bars:






You can see especially on this one the very subtle color change between the crumbly layer and not crumbly soap, along the top edge.

Soap recipe:

Lye concentration 40%
Distilled water 103g
NaOH 68g

Coconut oil 25% 126g
Olive oil 40% 175g
-plus 25g in colorants
Rice bran oil 15% 75g
Shea butter 15% 78g
Castor oil 5% 25g

~1/2 ounce essential oil mix (orange, patchouli, lemongrass) added at trace (thin to medium).

Batter split and colored with red and yellow iron oxides (dispersed in olive oil from the batch total).

This is the same recipe I used for the Blue Lace Agate soap, the only difference is a 33% lye concentration for the agate soap. It ashed heavily on top, but was not crumbly at all (I did not spray this soap, but did cover it overnight). Also not insulated.

My initial, tentative conclusion is that the cracking and crumbling were caused primarily by my lye concentration. I'm going to switch back to a 30-33% solution for several batches, and see if I still have this problem in this mold.

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Kittish said:

Soap recipe:

Lye concentration 40%
Distilled water 103g
NaOH 68g

Coconut oil 25% 126g
Olive oil 40% 175g
Rice bran oil 15% 75g
Shea butter 15% 78g
Castor oil 5% 25g

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OK.. is this math correct?

AngelBar said:

OK.. is this math correct?

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It is. I ran the recipe through SoapCalc, and used the amounts indicated. Well, as close as I could. Went no more than 5 grams over on any oils. 500 gram batch.

ETA: Oh, I see what you mean. I'll correct that. Thanks for the catch! I weighed out 25 g of olive oil separately to mix the colorants, so 200g total olive oil in the batch.

Kittish, my guess is that it's a combination of your lye concentration and dry ingredients. Micas, oxides and clays and other dry ingredients will suck moisture from your soap, and with your water discount, perhaps there wasn't enough of it to go around. Using too much dry powder in your recipe can make it crumbly as well.

toxikon said:

Kittish, my guess is that it's a combination of your lye concentration and dry ingredients. Micas, oxides and clays and other dry ingredients will suck moisture from your soap, and with your water discount, perhaps there wasn't enough of it to go around. Using too much dry powder in your recipe can make it crumbly as well.

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You might be on to something there. I used a quarter teaspoon of each pigment. That may very well have contributed to the whole crumbly top thing.

toxikon said:

Kittish, my guess is that it's a combination of your lye concentration and dry ingredients. Micas, oxides and clays and other dry ingredients will suck moisture from your soap, and with your water discount, perhaps there wasn't enough of it to go around. Using too much dry powder in your recipe can make it crumbly as well.

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This is, after looking through my batch notes, almost certainly what the issue is. Looking over the soaps themselves, I see that same texture here and there in other 40% batches. I had thought it was just ash when I trimmed the bars initially.

I have two batches made at 40% lye concentration that don't show any of the waxy/crumbly texture anywhere, out of six different batches made at that concentration that include pigments (I'm not counting uncolored batches). I wonder just what I did a little bit differently with those?

Not sure why but the first set of photos look like a cake chiffon to me.

Cake chiffon? What's that, please? It's not a term I think I've heard before.

Nice colors; what did you use to try your edges?

baylee said:

Nice colors; what did you use to try your edges?

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You mean to bevel them? This:



It's my flower knife from when I was a floral designer, back in the wild days o' me youth.

I tried using a vegetable peeler, but wasn't happy with the results. The 'blade' on my cheap cutter/planer/beveler combo is crud. I've got a good beveler on my list of stuff to get.