A mix of questions

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MrJuggles

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I've made several batches of simple soaps over the years, so much so I'm quite comfortable with the process. I really don't try anything fancy and just melt a few fats/butters, add the essential oil, lye, mix and pour into molds. It's served me well as I'm really not trying anything too technical.

However, now I would like to try something a little different and I was hoping for some guidance and/or tips.

I have a couple of silicone molds that are shaped like the Star Wars Death Star, supposedly for ice cubes, but I've never used them for that. A few years ago I made some really runny and was able to pour it in the hole at the top and the soap came out fine. But that was a few years ago. I was hoping to make a few more now with some exfoliant in and activated charcol (so it goes black) as well an essential oil to give it a nice smell.

My questions are this, how would I make it a little runnier? Would it be a case of mixing the lye at a higher temperature and leaving it longer to set?
When I use the Lye calculator, how do I work out the right amount of exfoliant grain and activated charol to use, so not only is it gritty enough, but also very black. I will be using 1lb of Olive oil and 1lb of avocado butter, this is more or less what I've used for my other soaps and it's always been fine. However, now I'm worried of how the consistency will differ with the extra ingredients.

Finally, if it's just a bar of soap, are fragrance oils bad? Or should I just stick with essential oils?

I've included a few pictures for reference, they are 1) The Death Star Soap I made a few years ago that was fine 2) My current round of soap that's just curing and I'm happy with 3) The molds for the Death Star Shapes I want to pour the mixture into.


Thank you in advance for any ideas you may have, and if I've missed anything important off my synopsis then please ask me and I'll reply.

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FO's are fine as long as you follow the IFRA safe level or what the mfg says.

Using softer, slow moving oils like avacodo and olive are fine but just realize that curing time is longer for those oils as well as the time it takes for the soap to harden in the mold. Also with small individual molds like yours there's no gel phase and that will lengthen the time to unmold.

There is no area in soap calcs for additives like Activated charcoal or other gritty additives. Just follow the advice of trusted sources. I just made a batch with charcoal and I used 2 tsp ppo but I have seen recommendations of 1 tsp to 1 tbsp if AC ppo. To much AC will stain wash clothes and the sink.

If black color is your goal, I would go with black mica.

If you want to keep it thin enough to pour inside the small molds, you should stay away from FO's/EO's that cause accelerated trace and don't use your stick blender very much.
 
You can also use a higher percentage of olive oil and lower the amount of avocado butter.
Will that make it runnier to pour into the hole, but letting it still set (just taking a little longer to firm up enough)

FO's are fine as long as you follow the IFRA safe level or what the mfg says.

Using softer, slow moving oils like avacodo and olive are fine but just realize that curing time is longer for those oils as well as the time it takes for the soap to harden in the mold. Also with small individual molds like yours there's no gel phase and that will lengthen the time to unmold.

There is no area in soap calcs for additives like Activated charcoal or other gritty additives. Just follow the advice of trusted sources. I just made a batch with charcoal and I used 2 tsp ppo but I have seen recommendations of 1 tsp to 1 tbsp if AC ppo. To much AC will stain wash clothes and the sink.

If black color is your goal, I would go with black mica.

If you want to keep it thin enough to pour inside the small molds, you should stay away from FO's/EO's that cause accelerated trace and don't use your stick blender very much.
Thank you for your reply, I've just got one or two probably very silly questions.
When you say "lengthen the time to unmold" do you mean the amount of time until you can take it out of the mold, or actually how long it takes to take the mold off when you unmold. I'm assuming the former.
I'm glad you said about the staining, yes it really is just the black color I'm after, I'll go buy some black mica then. If I gift these, I don't want to be giving a caveat too that it might stain. I appreciate the heads up on that.
 
Thank you for your reply, I've just got one or two probably very silly questions.
When you say "lengthen the time to unmold" do you mean the amount of time until you can take it out of the mold, or actually how long it takes to take the mold off when you unmold. I'm assuming the former.
I'm glad you said about the staining, yes it really is just the black color I'm after, I'll go buy some black mica then. If I gift these, I don't want to be giving a caveat too that it might stain. I appreciate the heads up on that.
Yes, the amount of time it takes the soap to harden before you can remove it from the mold.

Black mica is usually created with mica and black iron oxide, so you could also use black iron oxide by itself but your better off with black mica. Most people will recommend 1 tbsp per pound of soap but the company mad mica says that you can use 1-2 tbsp of their mica. Some people mix the dry pigment right in to the soap but I mix mine with oil first. If I am doing only one color then I reserve 1 ounce from the recipe to mix the mica and then add the oil/mica mix back in.
 
I'd also try more water in your recipe for a runnier batch. Go for a 28 - 30% lye concentration. If you really want exfoliant, then charcoal won't cut it. You'll probably need something like ground orange peel or ground seeds of some kind. Or ground pumice (which is fab for a hand soap). Then the next thing is - will they fit through the little hole???
 
My questions are this, how would I make it a little runnier?

You could increase your water, but it would also increase your cure time. It would also increase the amount of time it would take to unmold, but you can use a little Sodium Lactate or regular (not iodized) salt too.

Would it be a case of mixing the lye at a higher temperature and leaving it longer to set?

You would want room temp and to just bring your batter to emulsion or a very, very light trace.

When I use the Lye calculator, how do I work out the right amount of exfoliant grain and activated charol to use, so not only is it gritty enough, but also very black. I will be using 1lb of Olive oil and 1lb of avocado butter, this is more or less what I've used for my other soaps and it's always been fine. However, now I'm worried of how the consistency will differ with the extra ingredients.

I wouldn’t use Activated Charcoal, in my experience it thickens your batter...same with using TD. I would use a Black Mica and

Finally, if it's just a bar of soap, are fragrance oils bad? Or should I just stick with essential oils?

Nothing wrong with FOs, I use them all the time. A nice one to try is Black Raspberry Vanilla...nice and well-behaved,
 
Will that make it runnier to pour into the hole, but letting it still set (just taking a little longer to firm up enough)
It will be more liquid than a recipe high in solid fats or butters. Yes, it will need to set longer before un-molding.
 
It will be more liquid than a recipe high in solid fats or butters. Yes, it will need to set longer before un-molding.
What would you mean by more liquid? 6be recipe for 1lb soap asks for 172 grams of water. Would half again keep it runnier?

Also would I still give it a whizz with the blender to ensure its mixed, but just for a few seconds or so, to ensure its all mixed togethe?

I certainly don't have any issues with waiting a week to unmold it and a few months before I can use it.
 
FO's are fine as long as you follow the IFRA safe level or what the mfg says.

Using softer, slow moving oils like avacodo and olive are fine but just realize that curing time is longer for those oils as well as the time it takes for the soap to harden in the mold. Also with small individual molds like yours there's no gel phase and that will lengthen the time to unmold.

There is no area in soap calcs for additives like Activated charcoal or other gritty additives. Just follow the advice of trusted sources. I just made a batch with charcoal and I used 2 tsp ppo but I have seen recommendations of 1 tsp to 1 tbsp if AC ppo. To much AC will stain wash clothes and the sink.

If black color is your goal, I would go with black mica.

If you want to keep it thin enough to pour inside the small molds, you should stay away from FO's/EO's that cause accelerated trace and don't use your stick blender very much.
Thanks for all your input. The ratio of Mica worked brilliantly, I'm very happy with the colour. I messed up though and totally forgot about your advice about the stick blender, so it got to trace too fast. It's fine I've now got eight little black silcone muffin molds of soap and in the end I'll still wash with them.

How much mixing with a whisk would you think will be enough to ensure it's properly mixed? If it's mixed in, but is still very liquid, will the hardening process still take place, just at a much slower rate?

This is my barnand half the Death Star mold, before it hardened up too much. I'm still very happy with the colour and I'm glad you suggested black mica.

IMG_20200426_115341.jpg
 
How much mixing with a whisk would you think will be enough to ensure it's properly mixed? If it's mixed in, but is still very liquid, will the hardening process still take place, just at a much slower rate?


View attachment 45480

They look super cool :)

You want to mix till emulsion. There was a recent very good video somewhere (but can't find it now) how to recognize emulsion; if you are not sure you can recognize it, you should watch it. Basically, you want to have a completely homogenous liquid, with no floating oils at all. If you lift some up on the back of a spoon and it starts breaking up / beading, you have not mixed long enough.
 
How much mixing with a whisk would you think will be enough to ensure it's properly mixed? If it's mixed in, but is still very liquid, will the hardening process still take place, just at a much slower rate?

"I Dream in Soap" on YouTube has a really good video on emulsion
 
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