Mica mixing problem?

[Guspuppy]

This morning I made a soap in which I used two new micas from Nurture. I mixed them with a little oil before adding the lye, as always. They seemed to mix well in the oil, but when I added the batter to the containers with the micas, it did not seem to mix together very well. I was getting largish 'flakes' of mica in the batter no matter how much I stirred and even after hitting it with the stick blender briefly.
I only just started adding sodium lactate to my soaps and had added it to the oils before adding the lye. I did stick blend the SL into the oils before adding the lye, as well. Do you think the SL affected the mica mixing? I've never had that happen before.

Also I have aTD question: I mixed water soluble TD with water in a squeeze bottle to have ready in future, and it separated out. Is that normal?

 

[Kari Howie]

I’ve always added my sodium lactate to my lye water and stirred it up really well into the lye/water mixture. That‘s the way I learned it after reading a few books. I also found Spap Queen’s online tutorials helpful when I first started and that’s probably where I learned the SL in lye water. As to the TD question, I have never premixed a squeeze bottle batch of it so I’ve never experienced separation. I do know that some TD is meant to be dispersed into oil while others with water.

 

[GemstonePony]

I don't use sodium lactate, but most people who pre-disperse TD have a couple stainless steel ball bearings in the container, and before using it they shake the container so the ball bearings can reincorporate the TD.

 

[Kari Howie]

I forgot to mention, I use a little hand-held milk frothier to disperse my TD in a small container then scoop it out into my pitcher of batter and SB it in.

 

[dibbles]

I use SL and add it to my cooled lye solution. I have forgotten to do this a couple of times, and added it to the oil/lye mixture. I’ve never had any problems adding mica. I also premix mica in a bit of oil, and most of my micas are from Nurture.

 

[Catscankim]

I mix in a little bit of batch oils, then add them to my batter. I have sometimes needed to add a bit more that i had mixed, and added to powder directly to the batter. The only downfall i found with that method is the need to SB a bit more, so i only do that if i can afford an extra burst from the blender.

Dont ask me about TD...we dont get along lol.

 

[Guspuppy]

I don't use sodium lactate, but most people who pre-disperse TD have a couple stainless steel ball bearings in the container, and before using it they shake the container so the ball bearings can reincorporate the TD.

oh yes, now that you say that about the ball bearings I do remember reading it, so separation must be normal. Thank you!

I use SL and add it to my cooled lye solution. I have forgotten to do this a couple of times, and added it to the oil/lye mixture. I’ve never had any problems adding mica. I also premix mica in a bit of oil, and most of my micas are from Nurture.

I had done some reading on here and read both, SL to cooled lye and also to oils. I decided to try the oils since I also put sugar in the lye water. The mica mixing gone strange was new to me, I'd never had any problem before and been doing it the same way since starting to use color. SL in the oils was the only difference, aside from the two new colors I'd not tried before and had just gotten. (Brilliant blue and emerald green) I wondered if they'd changed the mica formula or something. I'll put the SL in the cooled lye from now on.

Many thanks to everyone who has answered!

 

[dibbles]

FWIW, I use sugar in my lye water too. The two micas you had problems with I have also used without trouble so I hope this was just a one-off for you.

 

[Guspuppy]

I forgot to add that I had also put sodium citrate in my lye water. I've been using sodium citrate and sugar (also with salt) in lye water successfully but just got some SL to try in place of the salt. I wonder if those plus SL were a problem? (no salt in SL batches) I was just updating my notes and saw the citrate, which I had forgotten to add to the first batch I made using SL. Hm!

 

[GemstonePony]

I used to use sodium citrate, that shouldn't have been a problem. Any chance it's a bad batch of Mica?

 

[TheGecko]

This morning I made a soap in which I used two new micas from Nurture. I mixed them with a little oil before adding the lye, as always. They seemed to mix well in the oil, but when I added the batter to the containers with the micas, it did not seem to mix together very well. I was getting largish 'flakes' of mica in the batter no matter how much I stirred and even after hitting it with the stick blender briefly.

It could be that you didn't get the micas completely dispersed. It would be helpful to know which Micas you used and what your recipe is.

I only just started adding sodium lactate to my soaps and had added it to the oils before adding the lye. I did stick blend the SL into the oils before adding the lye, as well. Do you think the SL affected the mica mixing? I've never had that happen before.

I've never had an issue with SL though I generally add it to my Lye Solution. But I've forgotten and have even added it to my batter at the last minute without any problems.

Also I have aTD question: I mixed water soluble TD with water in a squeeze bottle to have ready in future, and it separated out. Is that normal?

Yes. Titanium Dioxide is a mineral and like any mineral, even finally ground minerals, they will sink in water. Just shake up the bottle real well before you use it and you'll be fine.

 

[jcandleattic]

Do you think the SL affected the mica mixing?

It has never affected my micas and mixing and I use it in almost every batch. I mix my SL with my oils.

Also I have aTD question: I mixed water soluble TD with water in a squeeze bottle to have ready in future, and it separated out. Is that normal?

Yes. Just shake it well before each use.

 

[dibbles]

I forgot to add that I had also put sodium citrate in my lye water. I've been using sodium citrate and sugar (also with salt) in lye water successfully but just got some SL to try in place of the salt. I wonder if those plus SL were a problem? (no salt in SL batches) I was just updating my notes and saw the citrate, which I had forgotten to add to the first batch I made using SL. Hm!

I also use sodium citrate, dissolved in some of my batch water. I add that to my oils though, and stick blend it before adding the lye solution.

 

[Guspuppy]

Ok then, it sounds very much like a (hopefully) one off problem. I'll try again, maybe switch it up and add the sodium citrate to the oils and the SL to the water. Thank you so much for all the help dibbles!!

 

[Guspuppy]

I used to use sodium citrate, that shouldn't have been a problem. Any chance it's a bad batch of Mica?

That's what I was thinking maybe, but it was both colors, not just one of them. So that seems unlikely.