kc1ble
Well-Known Member
I enjoy using my Eucalyptus Spearmint Black and White soap so I decided to make a 12 inch loaf this time with a couple minor changes. What could that hurt right?
I wanted to try adding shea butter as I haven't used this yet and i also decided to try sodium lactate for the first time. I guess I should slow down because I had a lot of problems. I also went from soapcalcs 38% water to 33%.
I added 3 teaspoons of SL to my lye water, that went ok. I decided to add my shea butter after my other oils began to react with the sodium hydroxide. I mixed to emulsion, not trace and added my shea butter. The soap was at 122 degrees when I added the shea butter. I got large clumps in my soap. Knowing I would have to stick blend to get rid of the clumps, I quickly added my FO and began to blend. Now I have ricing from the FO...trace is getting thicker and I still need to separate and add TD and AC,,,and be loose enough for an in the pot swirl. By the time I got my colors mixed in there was no more pouring the batter, it was now pudding. Plopped it in the mold trying to get my design I had last time in this post http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=59551 but it's not there...It should still be a nice soap, but definitely not the same design that I grew to like so much. Here it is
I also doubled the amount of activated charcoal hoping to achieve a blacker black and it is more gray than it was the first time. I think next time I will mix the shea butter with the rest of my oils and hopefully will not get problems there. I have no idea why I got ricing with my FO this time, its the third time I've used it and the first time this happened.
So many lessons to learn.
I wanted to try adding shea butter as I haven't used this yet and i also decided to try sodium lactate for the first time. I guess I should slow down because I had a lot of problems. I also went from soapcalcs 38% water to 33%.
I added 3 teaspoons of SL to my lye water, that went ok. I decided to add my shea butter after my other oils began to react with the sodium hydroxide. I mixed to emulsion, not trace and added my shea butter. The soap was at 122 degrees when I added the shea butter. I got large clumps in my soap. Knowing I would have to stick blend to get rid of the clumps, I quickly added my FO and began to blend. Now I have ricing from the FO...trace is getting thicker and I still need to separate and add TD and AC,,,and be loose enough for an in the pot swirl. By the time I got my colors mixed in there was no more pouring the batter, it was now pudding. Plopped it in the mold trying to get my design I had last time in this post http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=59551 but it's not there...It should still be a nice soap, but definitely not the same design that I grew to like so much. Here it is
I also doubled the amount of activated charcoal hoping to achieve a blacker black and it is more gray than it was the first time. I think next time I will mix the shea butter with the rest of my oils and hopefully will not get problems there. I have no idea why I got ricing with my FO this time, its the third time I've used it and the first time this happened.
So many lessons to learn.