Serenity

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Kittish

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Calling this batch Serenity.

First attempt at a hangar swirl. Scented with a pink lotus EO blend. The white specks you see on the soap are sparkles from the mineral glitter I added to the firefly mica.

serenity1-1696.jpg
 
Probably be able to cut it tomorrow. Hehe, I was thinking about the scent blend I used and the color scheme, and then realized as I was already contemplating the name that one of the colors I was looking at using was called 'firefly'. And that I could make it shiny... Right, at this point I can't really call this batch anything else, now can I?

ETA: Just checked on it, and it's got a thick layer of oil on top. A little bit has managed to work its way through the liner and out of the mold, but I have it sitting in an oven bag so a bit of leakage isn't a problem. I hope the oil soaks back in, though I won't be too surprised if not all of it does. I managed to add almost 30 extra grams of coconut oil. Brand new container, and it glorped on me. Kicks my SF up to somewhere between 8 and 10%.

Mixed at about 150*F and poured at thin trace (because I expected my EO blend to accelerate- ALL florals. And of course, as has been par so far, expected acceleration didn't happen. *sigh* ). It smells gorgeous so far. You can pick out rose, and if you know what you're smelling, carnation, jasmine and the lotus, too. Hope that holds. It's got a much stronger fragrance than I would have expected from using half an ounce (15-20 grams) of combined oils in a 750g batch of soap.
 
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I'm pretty happy, but at the same time really disappointed with this soap. My light pink just completely disappeared. I also seem to have had partial separation in the mold (not surprised, not with the lake of oil that had to soak back into it), but testing multiple sites on several bars produced no zaps so the end result seems to be just cosmetic. The cut is the most uneven, ragged, lopsided cut I think I've ever done because I had to turn the loaf on edge so the bottom wouldn't crumble uncontrollably but the top was still just a little too soft to turn it upside down, which made it too tall for the guides in my miter box so I had to eyeball the first inch (while trying to keep a decidedly slippery soap from skittering clear out of the miter box while NOT sinking my fingers into the top). Still, the colors and the swirl are pretty and the soap smells just heavenly. So, I'll pretty up the bars as much as I can in a couple of days and see how it cures out. Probably wind up keeping most of the batch for my own use because of the weird texture where it separated.
 
I think the subtle look is nice. And you can always spin textured/rough cuts as 'rustic' ;)
 
Very pretty!

You may want to pop those soft loaves into the freezer for a couple of hours to firm it up enough to cut. Works a charm.

I did, to get the mold liner off without tearing it up. Then had to let it soften back up some to get my wire through it. :-? Won't be an issue for much longer, I'm getting one of those cheeseboards with the built in wire cutter.
 
Serenity, again. Used the same soap recipe and EO blend. I should have dropped a hangar through it a couple of times, but I'm happy enough with how it looks. Give it a few days to firm up nicely and try out my new beveler. If I can get my printer up and running before the soap gets too hard, I might also tag it with a Serenity soap stamp.

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I really like how the soap came out of the mold. Just dropped right out after I broke the airseal, no pressure needed. And it set up a lot faster than the last batch, too. Since I've got bowls now that aren't too shallow for my stick blender I guess I'll get into the habit of using it. Made things go much more quickly.
 
Wow, I totally love the way it seems translucent in some zones and opaque in others. Really stunning effect!
 
Just got both Serenity batches trimmed and prettied up as much as possible. I'm 97%+ certain that there is no unreacted lye in the first batch. With the separation it did in the mold, I'm kind of surprised I haven't been able to find any. I have scraped samples for testing from every single bar in multiple sites, including digging into a couple in various spots, especially in the areas where the texture is weird. Not even a tingle.

97%+ certain isn't good enough for me to feel comfortable sharing them with anyone who doesn't know how to recognize unreacted lye, though, because sure as I decide it's safe to share with just anyone, someone will find a pocket and not know what it is. I absolutely do not want to rebatch this soap, the fragrance wouldn't survive and it's just heavenly. I guess I'll be enjoying it for months and months after it finishes curing.
 

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