Will a seized batch turn out?

[Kansas Farm Girl]

If a batch seizes when you add your EO, and you can smash it into the mold, is there much of a chance you will have useable soap eventually?

My sister decided to attempt making soap on her own, never touched it before. She HP, had it looking good, about ready to mold it, added EO (I don't know what kind yet) and in her words "[FONT=comic sans ms,sans-serif]I decided to put in just a little essential oils. Stirred that in and the soap got dry. Lumpy. Wouldn't stick together. I went ahead and put it in the mold but I'm don't have any expectation that it will actually be soap. [/FONT]"

Any words of wisdom?
Thanks

 

[squigglz]

I think you should be able to just reheat it and remold it. I could be wrong. I do HP but I've never had a seized batch-everything I can find about it says to reheat, though.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

what was even worse, she then tried a CP batch, I have no details on that one, and burned out her new stick blender. I guess in the many emails I sent her I forgot to tell her to pulse no more than 30 sec or so at a time. needless to say, she is not in a good mood right now. she says she's just going to leave soaping up to me.

 

[squigglz]

Heh. Soaping takes a lot of patience and an extreme willingness to learn and research before even attempting your first batch xD Poor girl. Tell her to stick with it! It's so much fun. (Saves a lot of money too)

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

We'll see where she is after this. I had offered to drive up to help her (120 miles) but she was impatient. She may just decide to continue relying on me for all her soaping needs.

I did pass your thought on remelting and seeing it that helped, can't hurt. Thanks

 

[leolab]

seized soap

seized soap can be put in crock pot with a bit of milk about 1/4 cup and heated to a vaseline stage and remolded , in all my years of soaping i have had this happen twice it is usually when you use a unknown fragrance or essential oil. when purchasing your fragrance read sellers descriptions for whether it causes ricing i stay away from these myself.

 

[Lindy]

Heh. Soaping takes a lot of patience and an extreme willingness to learn and research before even attempting your first batch xD Poor girl. Tell her to stick with it! It's so much fun. (Saves a lot of money too)

I've saved my credit card full :lolno:

 

[paillo]

it also sounds like maybe she didn't measure her essential oil? some essential oils can REALLY speed up trace - clove and white thyme come to mind. always, always measure - what may sound like a little might be way over the recommended quantity and cause seizure.

yup about the rebatch, and the sooner the better so it's still as soft and pliable as it can be.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

Thanks All. I really wish she had called me before she started so that I could walk her through and answer questions - but .... oh well, you can't change the past. But you can learn from it. I have been lucky and not had that happen to me (yet), when it does, and I would be lying to myself if I thought it never would, I will now have a better idea what to do to salvage the batch. And if she ever gets brave enough to try again I really hope she will let me help a bit more.

 

[judymoody]

If the EO caused her HP soap to seize, it probably wasn't fully cooked. If saponification is complete, the EO shouldn't cause the soap batter to seize.

You might direct her to the soap queen site/videos to get a handle on the basics.

 

[leolab]

soap seizing

honestly best thing i ever used is my soaping software tells me exact measurements and weights for soaping, mind you it will not help with those tricky fragrances or eo , i too had a batch seize just this xmas season , darn cinnamon fragrance , before i knew it i had a red mass in the bottom of my pot, so rebatching was my only option, i like the crock pot method it is the easiest way i have found to rebatch , just add your milk , botched batch and put crock pot on low, come back every 15 min or so stir and let it do its thing till vaseline stage and voila.
rebatching can be done weeks after as well by just grateing your batch.
I use soapmaker 3 by woodman designs a bit pricey for you starters but a good investment for those serious about soap making.