New and already in trouble

Hi
My name is Elizabeth. This holiday season I got the idea to try making soap for Christmas presents.
I started looking into it and quickly found out it is to late for this year to learn Cold Process in time so I thought I would start by trying Melt and Pour to learn some basics of colorants and fragrance.

My first trial
Peppermint and Cocoa powder.
I just tried melting my first small batch of MP and added my peppermint EO and cocoa powder.
So far multiple things seems to have gone wrong.
One there is a smell... I did not notice it until I added the Cocoa powder so I'm not sure if I heated up the soap to much in the microwave or if it's the powder.
Second it set within in seconds. As soon as I started pouring i had a big lump of soap base.


I joined the forum hoping to find answers and support as I try this new craft..

Hi Elizabeth,

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not an expert at MP but how long ago did you make the soap? Sometimes soap smells a little funky but then the scents mellow and the odd smell fades away. As to setting up in seconds, MP does cool fairly quickly so you have to work fast but generally it takes longer to harden. How long did you heat it? Did you heat it in a microwave? How much soap did you heat at one time? When I heat MP in a microwave, I only heat 4 to 6 oz at a time. If I want to heat up a larger amount, I use a double boiler because I can keep setting the pan back on the bottom pan to keep it fluid.

Also, what type of base did you use? I've noticed some bases do have an odd smell to them. I can't say if the odd smell fades because I always used FOs in them and didn't notice an off smell afterwards.

eta: It's not too late to make CP if you have the supplies. You can make a basic recipe and it will have time to cure before Christmas. It's still 5 weeks away.

Hazel said:

Hi Elizabeth,


I'm not an expert at MP but how long ago did you make the soap?
How long did you heat it? Did you heat it in a microwave? How much soap did you heat at one time?
Also, what type of base did you use?

eta: It's not too late to make CP if you have the supplies. You can make a basic recipe and it will have time to cure before Christmas. It's still 5 weeks away.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

My soap is about 3 hours old.
I used a microwave and heated 6 oz of MP Shea and Mango butter base. I did a 30 sec zap and a few 10 sec zaps. When I was done there were still a few small chunks but i let them melt on there own. I think I might use the double boiler method from now on.
I'm really hoping the funny smell goes away. I made my boy friend smell it with out telling him what I thought was wrong. He said the soap smells fine but there is a lingering scent of bitter chocolate. Which makes sense since that is what I used.
I ordered some FO that haven't come in yet but I was so excited when I received my soap base I wanted to do a test to see how the soap would act. One of the FO's is Dark Chocolate. I think once it comes in I can save this tiny batch by remelting and adding the Dark Chocolate scent.

I haven't given up on Cold Process yet. Besides being worried about curing time I also did not want to under take the project yet because of the size of my kitchen. It's so small and horribly ventilated I have trouble cooking. I don't want to think about trying to make soap for the first time in it. Luckily I will be moving soon to a place with a much better kitchen.

Just give it a little time to mellow. It may be all right. Personally, I like the smell of bitter chocolate but I'm a chocoholic. But as you said, you can always melt it and add FO if you still don't like the scent.

It's been a couple of years since I used a shea butter MP base so I don't remember if it set up faster than plain MP or not. Perhaps it set up faster because there is shea butter in it. Anyway, you could just heat up some water in a pan and set the shea MP base cup in it to stay warm while you blend the FO into it. Then pour really, really quickly. :wink: Make sure when you pick it up to pour that you have a towel to place under the cup. This will keep any water from dribbling into your mold.

You might also try using a chocolate fragrance oil with your peppermint. Experiment with proportions by using Q-tips. Dip the Q-tips in the f.o./e.o and put them in a closed jar for a couple days to see how you like the combination.

Here is a link to the SoapQueen blog. She does a lot with M&P.

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... mint-loaf/