I swanee, I just cannot leave well enough alone. I had planned to try a nice little batch of 100% coconut to see if I liked it. After all, there has been some lively discussion. Then, after reading some more, I got a little concerned and decided to dump a little castor in there also. All is well so far. SoapCalc put the numbers pretty much through the roof and I figured all was still well; lots of folks here have said to take SoapCalc with a grain of salt. Well, that grain of salt brought to mind the discussions on salt bars and adding salt to harden a bar.
Heere we go.
I wonder how much salt? Some say 1 tsp ppo, probably for hardness; others say 50%, 70%, yadda yadda.
Then there is kosher, sea, pool, table, iodized or uniodized? Sometimes life is complicated. So I ask. Thank you Amy for answering and making me realize that my question was not detailed enough for you to tell me what I wanted to know exactly. Now, none of this is a problem except that smart Dennis has already weighed up the oil, water and lye and the lye mixture is in the sink cooling.
It gets better.
Make a decision!
Kosher! (I have it.)
How much! Uhhh, well dump some in here and weigh.
Done! 70grams! Why 70? I dunno, it was a good year. Sorta.
Lye is not quite ready and that's a shame because now I've spotted the bottle of Cimarron LabColor. Hmm.
Yep, dumped some in a plastic container and figured what the heck. I'll mix up a little and see what happens this time.
Sometimes I scare myself. :shock:
Lye is ready. Pour, stir, stir, stir, hmm, trace not coming too fast. This might work.
OK, little trace, go ahead with the salt. Oh, and the FO, grab that. Where is it? Ok, got it.
Dump in the salt and FO. AAHHHHHRRRGG! Extremmmme trace coming, quick, dump some in the plastic thing!
Dump, mix, mix, pour a little back here, and here and here. One stir. Dump into the mold. WHOOPS, WON'T FIT! TOO MUCH! Dumping remainder back in plastic thingy. Whew! Done.
Wow, I made a mess everywhere! I needed at least one, maybe two extra hands. A 3yr old has nothing on me!
After two hours I checked and decided to wait a little longer. Finally removed from mold and sliced at 2 1/2 hours. Put together and placed back in the mold. Don't think it's ready. Didn't use the oven, just wrapped in towels. This stuff is getting hard fast!
Removed after about 5 hours and here's what we ended up with.
Lovely assistant and soap photographer etc is out buying shoes for chirrun. Must document for posterity myself.
This is after it was sliced, put back in the mold and finally removed for good.
Again.
These are going to be on the shelf for a long time, but I have a special one for use pretty soon.
Same laid out to see the interior. Looks kinda like Spam. Yummy, fried spam on fresh white bread with mustard!
And last but not least, I proclaim you to be Mount Ugly and claim you for the kitchen sink!
This is the stuff that was left in the bottom of the plastic thingy while I was dealing with the mold. I poked at it with a couple of chopsticks and then left it alone. Later I decided to salvage and use it.
If you're interested I used Peak Clean Cotton FO and really like it. Hope it holds up.
Heere we go.
I wonder how much salt? Some say 1 tsp ppo, probably for hardness; others say 50%, 70%, yadda yadda.
Then there is kosher, sea, pool, table, iodized or uniodized? Sometimes life is complicated. So I ask. Thank you Amy for answering and making me realize that my question was not detailed enough for you to tell me what I wanted to know exactly. Now, none of this is a problem except that smart Dennis has already weighed up the oil, water and lye and the lye mixture is in the sink cooling.
It gets better.
Make a decision!
Kosher! (I have it.)
How much! Uhhh, well dump some in here and weigh.
Done! 70grams! Why 70? I dunno, it was a good year. Sorta.
Lye is not quite ready and that's a shame because now I've spotted the bottle of Cimarron LabColor. Hmm.
Yep, dumped some in a plastic container and figured what the heck. I'll mix up a little and see what happens this time.
Sometimes I scare myself. :shock:
Lye is ready. Pour, stir, stir, stir, hmm, trace not coming too fast. This might work.
OK, little trace, go ahead with the salt. Oh, and the FO, grab that. Where is it? Ok, got it.
Dump in the salt and FO. AAHHHHHRRRGG! Extremmmme trace coming, quick, dump some in the plastic thing!
Dump, mix, mix, pour a little back here, and here and here. One stir. Dump into the mold. WHOOPS, WON'T FIT! TOO MUCH! Dumping remainder back in plastic thingy. Whew! Done.
Wow, I made a mess everywhere! I needed at least one, maybe two extra hands. A 3yr old has nothing on me!
After two hours I checked and decided to wait a little longer. Finally removed from mold and sliced at 2 1/2 hours. Put together and placed back in the mold. Don't think it's ready. Didn't use the oven, just wrapped in towels. This stuff is getting hard fast!
Removed after about 5 hours and here's what we ended up with.
Lovely assistant and soap photographer etc is out buying shoes for chirrun. Must document for posterity myself.
This is after it was sliced, put back in the mold and finally removed for good.
Again.
These are going to be on the shelf for a long time, but I have a special one for use pretty soon.
Same laid out to see the interior. Looks kinda like Spam. Yummy, fried spam on fresh white bread with mustard!
And last but not least, I proclaim you to be Mount Ugly and claim you for the kitchen sink!
This is the stuff that was left in the bottom of the plastic thingy while I was dealing with the mold. I poked at it with a couple of chopsticks and then left it alone. Later I decided to salvage and use it.
If you're interested I used Peak Clean Cotton FO and really like it. Hope it holds up.
