Cast your mind back to these beauties!
When I first made them, they maybe got alien brain (although they definitely didn't overheat in their individual moulds, maybe my use of IPA on the M&P embeds provoked that?). Then they got what appeared to be ash crystals. ALL my soaps get soda ash, but only these soaps have gotten actual crystals on the surface. They passed the zap test though, so they're good, right? And I have to say, it is a good soap. Despite being ugly and the CP part losing all fragrance, the M&P EOs are still strong and the soap lathers nicely, conditions, is hard and lasts forever. It was a 100% lard soap and I have since made other 100% lard soaps and have had none of these issues (other than being crumbly. All my lard is crumbly or crumbly-adjacent).
So! The other day I was using my new soap cutter/planer to shave off some remaining crystals. Got lots off, but then noticed that the crystals were scratching the soft wood of the planer, so I switched techniques and washed the crystals off. Really got in there with an old toothbrush and everything and put the soaps to dry on a plastic rack. A few days later, it was as if I hadn't touched them....a solid coating of these crystals again. Again I went at it with the toothbrush until the crunchy bits were gone and all that was left was hard soap.
What is happening??? The crystals form on the same parts of the soap that they always did; the sides that didn't have them then never do. And by now, I've removed up to .5cm of surface from these things; we're not talking about a slight planing.
I keep using the stuff as it's a fine soap, but I just don't understand it. It was my 3rd or 4th batch of soap, I think, but I haven't encountered anything like it in the dozen I've made since then. I have used the same recipe since then, but haven't used M&P embeds. (And of course there's always the possibility that I miscalculated the lye to begin with, but wouldn't I have had zap troubles and wouldn't the bar be harsh?)
thanks!!
When I first made them, they maybe got alien brain (although they definitely didn't overheat in their individual moulds, maybe my use of IPA on the M&P embeds provoked that?). Then they got what appeared to be ash crystals. ALL my soaps get soda ash, but only these soaps have gotten actual crystals on the surface. They passed the zap test though, so they're good, right? And I have to say, it is a good soap. Despite being ugly and the CP part losing all fragrance, the M&P EOs are still strong and the soap lathers nicely, conditions, is hard and lasts forever. It was a 100% lard soap and I have since made other 100% lard soaps and have had none of these issues (other than being crumbly. All my lard is crumbly or crumbly-adjacent).
So! The other day I was using my new soap cutter/planer to shave off some remaining crystals. Got lots off, but then noticed that the crystals were scratching the soft wood of the planer, so I switched techniques and washed the crystals off. Really got in there with an old toothbrush and everything and put the soaps to dry on a plastic rack. A few days later, it was as if I hadn't touched them....a solid coating of these crystals again. Again I went at it with the toothbrush until the crunchy bits were gone and all that was left was hard soap.
What is happening??? The crystals form on the same parts of the soap that they always did; the sides that didn't have them then never do. And by now, I've removed up to .5cm of surface from these things; we're not talking about a slight planing.
I keep using the stuff as it's a fine soap, but I just don't understand it. It was my 3rd or 4th batch of soap, I think, but I haven't encountered anything like it in the dozen I've made since then. I have used the same recipe since then, but haven't used M&P embeds. (And of course there's always the possibility that I miscalculated the lye to begin with, but wouldn't I have had zap troubles and wouldn't the bar be harsh?)
thanks!!