Tragedy and Triumph

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WyvernWench

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... all in the matter of a few hours!

So I really wanted to try my hand at some honey - oatmeal soap. I did my homework and searched the web and found a website from Google that had a 'how to add honey to your soap' recipe. In fact it was the top link, probably a sponsored ad, on the search results page.

I followed that recipe exactly.

I measured my lye water and poured about 2 oz. into a small measuring cup. Then, wanting to do it the very best I could I didn't go for the household, common bottle of honey ... I grabbed my husband's precious jar of Premium Select Raw Buckwheat Honey.

Following the recipe ... exactly ... I measured out two tablespoons of honey per pound - two tablespoons for my 32 ounce mold - and added that to the measuring cup. Nuked the mix for about 25 seconds and I had my honey water all ready.

When the lye had been worked into the oils lightly I added my honey water and was a touched surprised when the batch went from a light cream color to a deep rich red-gold tone ... but since it matched the dark coloring of the buckwheat honey I thought everything was OK.

It poured wonderfully, it peaked beautifully with the spoon work along the top. In fact, it was so lovely I decided to add dried, grated orange peel to the top, just for a little color accent to the what was now a red-brown color of the soap.

About an hour after I poured and wrapped the loaf in several tea towels I knew I was in trouble.

Where my studio for the last month has been filled with the delightful scents of Sandlewood, White Tea, and Orange Valencia there was now this really rank, odd smell of what .... it took me a few minutes to name that stench ... burnt, boiling molasses!

Now I didn't add any scent to this batch. So it didn't hit me right away that the smell could be from the batch of soap I had just made. But just in case I decided to check it.

The reak form the wrapped soap mold told me I had a disaster on hand. The tea towels on top of the mold were hot, the mold was hotter than my lye water has ever gotten, all of the spoon work on the top had melted, and my orange peel dusting was black-brown.

I left it unwrapped in hopes that it would not suddenly burst into spontaneous combustion - did I say I have a fire extinguisher in a few steps away in the kitchen.

I made that batch yesterday morning around 6-7am. By 8pm it was rock hard, and finally cool enough to touch. I went ahead and took it out of the mold to let it finish cooling down. The top was covered with this thin layer of dark orange oil which I was able to lift using a few paper towels.

This morning I did cut it, the smell has reduced a little. Its now down to burnt brownies instead of burnt, boiling molasses. That oil layer I think came from the dried orange peels that got fried during the heat reaction from too much honey and what little oil remained in the peels literally got baked out.

I think it is going to make some wonderful deer repellent soap for around my veggie garden.

I did re-search the web this morning for another 'how to add honey' recipe and discovered that its not 1 tablespoon per pound, its 1 teaspoon ... sigh ...

I used the double rich, double thick buckwheat honey at three times the recommended amount and am lucky that I didn't set the studio on fire. The whosits with worrying about the dangers of lye. Its the honey which now concerns me.

But out of all of this it did remind me to double check the expiration date on my kitchen fire extinguisher - mine has another year.

My day, yesterday, did end with a small triumph though. I have been testing here and there my first batch of soap from May 31st to see how everything was curing. I had left my sample bar in its small bowl on the kitchen sink - I could put it away later.

My son kindly did the dishes last night while the rest of us were watching the news.

I expect like everyone here I have been getting the 'how many bars of soap do you think one family needs' - 'you're giving all of those away as Christmas presents, right?' and the 'your studio smells like a popourri factory' comments.

But out of nowhere we all hear, "Hey Mom! This stuff is REAL SOAP!"

What did they think I was making ... my great grandma's stinkie, smelly thingies that go in the bottom drawer of the dresser to hide the mildew and dust ???

Sigh! Thanks for letting me share !!!!


The brown soap with the burnt top is the Buckwheat Honey soap, then there is Orange Valencia, and the green swirl is Grapefruit.

Sm-Honey.jpg


Sm-Orange Valencia.jpg


Sm-Grapefruit.jpg
 
Looks good! I have to say though...why would you not check SMF for honey soap threads? Seriously, there are TONS.

I use beeswax in my honey soap, so I soap hot. I use beeswax at 5% and I use 1 tablespoon of honey PPO. I have done hot process (I like to add my honey at the end).

To do CP, I like to melt the beeswax in the microwave with an equal amount of some other oil (usually olive or castor). This is not extra oil - this oil already included in the recipe. So I heat my oils till about 100-120, then microwave the beeswax + oil. (Do this in a few 1 or 2 minute bursts). Then I pour that into the oils. If the wax hardens in the oils, I gently warm them until it melts. Beeswax has a melting temp of 144F. While I don't get the large pot of oils that hot, it is hotter than the 100 I prefer to soap at. When the beeswax is melted in the oils, I add the honey to the oils, then stick blend so it is well mixed. The honey wants to separate out of the oils, so I blend it thoroughly, then pour the lye water into the oils while I am still blending. Pour at trace. I have never had a soap volcano or a major separation with honey soap. My theory is that the honey PLUS Honey FO or OMH FO is the culprit.

Sugars - milk, honey, table sugar, brown sugar - can cause your soap to get hotter, or overheat. Some soapers put their soap mold directly into the fridge or even the freezer. My preference is to make honey soap in the winter so I can put it outside. If I make it during the warmer months, I leave it uncovered. I place a towel under it so that if disaster strikes, the soap will glop into the towel.
 
Wow, you weren't kidding about charred orange peel. I'd never have thought soap would get that hot.

I love the colors in the Orange Valencia.

I wonder if I can name this batch "Smokin' Honey"?

Looks good! I have to say though...why would you not check SMF for honey soap threads? Seriously, there are TONS.

DixieDragon, I accept that chastisment in total appreciation of now knowing where to go first when I have one of those stupid, its been asked a thousand times, everyone else already knows the answer questions! GRIN!
 
DixieDragon, I accept that chastisment in total appreciation of now knowing where to go first when I have one of those stupid, its been asked a thousand times, everyone else already knows the answer questions! GRIN!

LOL! It's not stupid (even if it's been asked a bunch). It's the best resource so use it! If you don't want to start a thread, Google "soap making forum" AND "honey soap" and see what pops up.
 
LOL! It's not stupid (even if it's been asked a bunch). It's the best resource so use it! If you don't want to start a thread, Google "soap making forum" AND "honey soap" and see what pops up.
(I'm sure most people know this, but just in case.)

In Google search bar, type:
Code:
  site:www.soapmakingforum.com search terms
"search terms" are what you're looking for and there is no space between site:www.soapmakingforum.com.
 
Yeah, honey'll do that. I put mine in the fridge for 24 hours when I do anything with honey or milks. I am by no means a pro here but I learned the hard way (pee yew) about honey over heating.

Those are very cool looking soaps though. If you don't like the tops on the orange peel ones- can you cut if off? I have had to do that as well when I put dried rose petals on some soap that turned brown... :headbanging:
 
Burnt, boiling molasses & charred orange peels aside, it turned out just as beautifully​ as the other 2 batches you made.
 
... all in the matter of a few hours!

So I really wanted to try my hand at some honey - oatmeal soap. I did my homework and searched the web and found a website from Google that had a 'how to add honey to your soap' recipe. In fact it was the top link, probably a sponsored ad, on the search results page.

I followed that recipe exactly.

I measured my lye water and poured about 2 oz. into a small measuring cup. Then, wanting to do it the very best I could I didn't go for the household, common bottle of honey ... I grabbed my husband's precious jar of Premium Select Raw Buckwheat Honey.

Following the recipe ... exactly ... I measured out two tablespoons of honey per pound - two tablespoons for my 32 ounce mold - and added that to the measuring cup. Nuked the mix for about 25 seconds and I had my honey water all ready.

When the lye had been worked into the oils lightly I added my honey water and was a touched surprised when the batch went from a light cream color to a deep rich red-gold tone ... but since it matched the dark coloring of the buckwheat honey I thought everything was OK.

It poured wonderfully, it peaked beautifully with the spoon work along the top. In fact, it was so lovely I decided to add dried, grated orange peel to the top, just for a little color accent to the what was now a red-brown color of the soap.

About an hour after I poured and wrapped the loaf in several tea towels I knew I was in trouble.

Where my studio for the last month has been filled with the delightful scents of Sandlewood, White Tea, and Orange Valencia there was now this really rank, odd smell of what .... it took me a few minutes to name that stench ... burnt, boiling molasses!

Now I didn't add any scent to this batch. So it didn't hit me right away that the smell could be from the batch of soap I had just made. But just in case I decided to check it.

The reak form the wrapped soap mold told me I had a disaster on hand. The tea towels on top of the mold were hot, the mold was hotter than my lye water has ever gotten, all of the spoon work on the top had melted, and my orange peel dusting was black-brown.

I left it unwrapped in hopes that it would not suddenly burst into spontaneous combustion - did I say I have a fire extinguisher in a few steps away in the kitchen.

I made that batch yesterday morning around 6-7am. By 8pm it was rock hard, and finally cool enough to touch. I went ahead and took it out of the mold to let it finish cooling down. The top was covered with this thin layer of dark orange oil which I was able to lift using a few paper towels.

This morning I did cut it, the smell has reduced a little. Its now down to burnt brownies instead of burnt, boiling molasses. That oil layer I think came from the dried orange peels that got fried during the heat reaction from too much honey and what little oil remained in the peels literally got baked out.

I think it is going to make some wonderful deer repellent soap for around my veggie garden.

I did re-search the web this morning for another 'how to add honey' recipe and discovered that its not 1 tablespoon per pound, its 1 teaspoon ... sigh ...

I used the double rich, double thick buckwheat honey at three times the recommended amount and am lucky that I didn't set the studio on fire. The whosits with worrying about the dangers of lye. Its the honey which now concerns me.

But out of all of this it did remind me to double check the expiration date on my kitchen fire extinguisher - mine has another year.

My day, yesterday, did end with a small triumph though. I have been testing here and there my first batch of soap from May 31st to see how everything was curing. I had left my sample bar in its small bowl on the kitchen sink - I could put it away later.

My son kindly did the dishes last night while the rest of us were watching the news.

I expect like everyone here I have been getting the 'how many bars of soap do you think one family needs' - 'you're giving all of those away as Christmas presents, right?' and the 'your studio smells like a popourri factory' comments.

But out of nowhere we all hear, "Hey Mom! This stuff is REAL SOAP!"

What did they think I was making ... my great grandma's stinkie, smelly thingies that go in the bottom drawer of the dresser to hide the mildew and dust ???

Sigh! Thanks for letting me share !!!!


The brown soap with the burnt top is the Buckwheat Honey soap, then there is Orange Valencia, and the green swirl is Grapefruit.

View attachment 24996

View attachment 24997

View attachment 24998
Thank you for sharing this useful story and saving any of us from going through that ALTHOUGH your soap STILL looks great (mishaps aside) but of course the others look amazing. I actually add more than a tablespoon of molasses but not to cp. My first batch of 100% hp didnt turn our as I liked so immediately I broke it down and rebatched with other oils plus molasses (1tblsp) and it was an amazing soap.
 
Thank you for sharing this useful story and saving any of us from going through that ALTHOUGH your soap STILL looks great (mishaps aside) but of course the others look amazing. I actually add more than a tablespoon of molasses but not to cp. My first batch of 100% hp didnt turn our as I liked so immediately I broke it down and rebatched with other oils plus molasses (1tblsp) and it was an amazing soap.
Hi @HoliHealerz - this thread is from about five years ago, and many of the folks who posted above are no longer active here. So you probably won't get a response from the person to whom you replied. ;)

FWIW, I have used molasses in CP soap. It is a heater for sure - more so than honey for me. If you do a search for Irish Lass' honey method, she explains how to add honey to CP soap without overheating. It also works for molasses. HTH!
 
Hi @HoliHealerz - this thread is from about five years ago, and many of the folks who posted above are no longer active here. So you probably won't get a response from the person to whom you replied. ;)

FWIW, I have used molasses in CP soap. It is a heater for sure - more so than honey for me. If you do a search for Irish Lass' honey method, she explains how to add honey to CP soap without overheating. It also works for molasses. HTH!
Oops.🤦🏻‍♀️Thank you for your help with molasses I will check it out.
 
Hi @HoliHealerz - this thread is from about five years ago, and many of the folks who posted above are no longer active here. So you probably won't get a response from the person to whom you replied. ;)

FWIW, I have used molasses in CP soap. It is a heater for sure - more so than honey for me. If you do a search for Irish Lass' honey method, she explains how to add honey to CP soap without overheating. It also works for molasses. HTH!

If you add the honey or the molasses to the lye solution while still hot, will there be a bad reaction? Or affect the chemistry of the honey/molasses?
 
If you add the honey or the molasses to the lye solution while still hot, will there be a bad reaction? Or affect the chemistry of the honey/molasses?
FWIW, when using honey, I mix it with an equal amount of water and warm it before adding it to my warmed oils. I find adding any additives -- EOs, FOs, Clay, etc to the warmed oils before adding the lye solution, accomplishes two things:
- There's less chance of forgetting to add them. 🤔 :D:rolleyes:
- SBing for one full minute ensures they are thoroughly mixed into the batch. ;) :thumbs:
 
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