Recent content by mercury52

Thanks for the tips. I didn't insulate this one, and it didn't go through gel or partial gel. The very top of the surface still seemed quite soft (it would hold a fingerprint with a soft touch) for those first few days, which is why I didn't unmold sooner. With most of my recipes, I unmold...

Did a test the other night for my first ever 100% olive oil batch. Went with unscented and uncolored, just to see the virtues of a 100% OO bar. Small 2 lb batch. I did a 5% SF, and did a 1.5:1 Water:Lye ratio. The batch was made on Friday night and has been sitting in the mold until today...

Just as a quick follow-up... I tried the first idea of removing the undissolved paste from the main batch and letting it sit in warmed soap taken from the main batch. After a couple of hours, it really hadn't done anything. So I just weighed out the paste blob (it was about 10% of the...

Thanks Susie! I figured the most likely thing was that the batch just didn't retain quite enough heat over time to get everything fully melted/dissolved, but wasn't totally sure. I'm currently in the process of melting the blobs in a bit of the liquid soap and will see how it turns out. May...

Thank you! Sounds like a perfectly good option!

Hey there! Just tried making my first batch of LS yesterday. It's based on the recipe/instruction from the soaping 101 video, with a few changes. I used only water, no glycerin, and KOH. 73% OO, 12% CO, 10% castor, and 5% sweet almond. The whole process went well in all of the main stages...

Hey there, thanks for the feedback. Overall that's exactly what I'm doing. Each new recipe so far has been a 2lb loaf, about 1kg. This batch was a recipe that was among the first I made. Making such a small loaf yields very few bars for me to test personally, or to give to family/friends for...

Thanks for the additional feedback. I definitely think it's something in the mold - as it's the only variable with the batch as a whole. I don't think it's color leeching per se, but rather some sort of reaction between something in the soap (the lye or one of the oils?) and the color...

Yes, the mold is an opaque grey. Sort of an elephant grey. The 2lb loaf mold is a translucent clear (never any issues with that, it's been my primary mold up to now). The twin mold is green. This is also the first time using the twin mold, so I don't have any reference for that. In my...

Hi everyone. Been trying my hand at soapmaking for a few months now, with generally very good results. Have learned a lot, but still have a ways to go. Made my biggest batch to date yesterday - about 15 pounds total. The batch was poured into a few different molds. Most of the batch went...