5th batch failure :(

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tisci

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I just tried to make some soap & it didn't work out too well. I'm not sure where I went wrong. I decided since I had all my new oils, molds, fragrances & micas I would give it a shot. My first few batches were just made w/olive oil, Crisco, coconut oil, grapeseed & castor. I got palm oil, olive pomace & palm kernal flakes.

This batch was 30 oz of oils for the Crafter's Choice green silicone mold from WSP. I did palm oil at 35%, olive pomace at 30%, palm kernal flakes at 20%, castor oil at 10% & grapeseed at 5%. I kept the grapeseed aside & used that to mix my color in.

I got everything ready & had both the oils & the lye at 110 degrees. I poured the lye water into the oils & used the stick blender only long enough to get it all mixed together. I scooped out some of it to put in my cup of grapeseed color & then I blended for about 2 minutes before it was at a thin trace. I got my fragrance (Blarney Stoned from Nature's Garden) measured & then poured it in along w/some titanium dioxide. At this point it had somehow gotten itself to a really thick trace just by sitting there, before I poured the fragrance in. It looked like whipped buttercream frosting. I ran the stick blender around a few times to try to get the fragrance & titanium dioxide dispersed evenly & then glopped it into the mold. I poured the colored bit, which had also set itself up to a thick trace, on top & then kind of pushed it down inside.

Any suggestions to why it set up so quickly? I just want to figure out how to do it differently next time. I had no issues before w/the different oils so I don't know if it was the smaller amount of oil, the fact that they're different oils or that I mixed in my stainless steel pot instead of a wider mixing bowl. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. This is a special batch I was trying to make for my mom & I'm a bit discouraged now. I was gonna try to make another batch later to give away as Valentine's soaps, but I'm kind of worried it will just happen again.


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I can't answer your question either...but, I would like to add-

I also just got the WSP green mold and used it for the first time last night...and I had soap volcano...OY!

My question is...do you need to soap at a lower temp with the silicone molds?

I also read somewhere that you are supposed to mix the TD with the lye water before adding to oils...could be wrong thou!!! I've never used TD, I ordered some a few days ago. So, I'm curious about it too.
 
Hmm. I'm not sure about the TD. I added it in because the soap was more yellow than I had wanted. It was a last minute decision. I will have to look into that so I can use it correctly in the future. Thank you!

I should probably also add that in the larger mixing bowl w/about 50 oz of oils it has taken me over a half hour to get to a medium trace. My stick blender isn't a great one, so it normally takes a bit.
 
Regarding the Titanium Dioxide, there are 2 kinds you can get - one is water soluble, the other is oil soluble. How you add it to your recipe would depend partly on which type you have.
 
Yes it is important to know if your td is water dispersible or oil dispersible or both - and then to blend appropriately. With td that is oil dispersible you can put it into your base oils if you want all your colors to have a pastel sort of tint to them (or if you are making just white.)

It is also important to know that in general you don't need to use much td to get a white base (if your base is already light it takes very little.) Using too much can make your batch crackle and or have a chalky texture.

Also, td is a thickener - it will thicken your batch. I tend to use approx. 1/4 tsp. ppo to start out with until I figure out what the least amount is that i need to get the desired white.

Another thought - check to see if your fo could be one that accelerates your trace.
 
I'm a fairly new soaper, but FWIW, I have two guesses as to what may have happened...

First guess - you have a fairly high % of palm/pko in your recipe. It may have gone to "false trace" because of that. I use a fairly high amount of palm, and my mixture thickens a lot in the beginning, but continuing to sb will thin it out again. (before fo , of course)

Second guess - your oils may have begun to cool a bit, also making it tend to thicken. You might want to soap warmer with that much palm the next time.

Oh, have a third guess - did you discount your water? Depending upon how much of a discount - it could make a big difference.

More experienced soapers can correct me if I am wrong...
 
Thanks guys.

Ilovesoap-My TD is oil dispersible..

LisaNY- Thanks. I plugged the info into SoapCalc & it looked good so I went w/it. I think I did the water at 33% instead of the automatic 38% that the calc has. Next time I will leave it at 38% water, lower the palm & soap hotter..
 
tisci said:
Thanks guys.

Ilovesoap-My TD is oil dispersible..

LisaNY- Thanks. I plugged the info into SoapCalc & it looked good so I went w/it. I think I did the water at 33% instead of the automatic 38% that the calc has. Next time I will leave it at 38% water, lower the palm & soap hotter..

Hopefully, that will help. Post back results when you soap again. :eek:)
 
It sounds like you are using oils that speed up trace. Palm, palm kernel, castor oil and oilve pomace all speed up trace to some extent. You also have alot of hard fats. That might have caused a false trace. You can tell if your soap is thick but still looks grainy on the surface. When this happens stop stick blending and just stir and observe what happens. If it's false trace the soap with get thinner again.

It might also be your fragrance oil. That might be an accelerator.

Remember to go easy with the stick blender. Short bursts and then stir with it.

Try different recipes. Try a recipe with more soft oils and less hard oils and see how you go. Sunflower and canola oil retard trace and give you a bit more time if you want to play.

Remember it's early days. Try lots of stuff and you will not only work out what you like but you will learn loads!!

Hope this helps.

About the TD. I add my pigments to a little water in a baggie and then press it with my fingers to makes sure it disperses in the water. Then I add to my soap.
 
I don't use TD so I can't comment there. But from what you describe, I'd suspect the fragrance. If all was fine and you suddenly got quick acceleration to very thick trace (AKA seizing or "soap on a stick") when you added the FO, I'd be suspicious of that.

There are some scent review forums where people review various FOs and how they behave in CP soap. Do a google search of your FO and the supplier and "review" and something should pop up.

The combination of your oils might also have been a factor.

Good luck and don't be discouraged!
 
Normally, I would suspect the FO first, but since your soap was as thick as buttercream even before you added the FO and TD (if I read you right), then my educated guess is that a pseudo-trace occurred from the oil combo you used, and it went further downhill from there when you added the FO and TD. I've never used pomace, but I've read that it is a fast tracer. I've never had a fast trace from using castor, but I've gotten pseudo-trace from palm and PKO if they were not soaped warm enough. To avoid pseudo-trace, I always make sure to at 120 degreesF with my lye solution being about 98-100 degreesF.

IrishLass :)
 
Thank you so much for the feedback everyone! I really appreciate it. I'm gonna try again this weekend & soap hotter & play around w/soap calc to tweak the recipe a bit. I'd love to find a good base recipe that I can use, hoping I get there someday relatively soon.
 
IrishLass said:
Normally, I would suspect the FO first, but since your soap was as thick as buttercream even before you added the FO and TD (if I read you right), then my educated guess is that a pseudo-trace occurred from the oil combo you used, and it went further downhill from there when you added the FO and TD. I've never used pomace, but I've read that it is a fast tracer. I've never had a fast trace from using castor, but I've gotten pseudo-trace from palm and PKO if they were not soaped warm enough. To avoid pseudo-trace, I always make sure to at 120 degreesF with my lye solution being about 98-100 degreesF.

IrishLass :)

You're reading it right. It set itself up before I could even add the fragrance. Thank you sooo much. I'm going to soap at those temps in a few days. Trying to make heart cupcakes for next month.
 

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