Check my recipe for for inverted stamping...

[aprice522]

So I have been testing lots of different recipes but want to do the inverting stamping challenge and want to have a faster moving recipe then I have experienced so far. Even my Milk honey oat didn't go too fast....

So I did some research on the oil properties to make sure that I was heading in the right direction.

So here we go:
Lard 70
CO 15
OO 10
CaO 5

I don't want to move too fast, but I seem to trace rather slow in general.

Would a higher superfat slow trace? Would using the standard 38% water from soapcalc slow trace? I haven't messed with the lye/water thing yet. I don't have a great grasp on that yet. I plan to grow in that area, but for now baby steps.

I have a sample oil from BB (rose cedar wood or something??) that I would like to try.

Opinions please!?!

 

[IrishLass]

For me, your recipe would be a nice, slow tracer. It looks nice, though, so I wouldn't change the oils/fats. To make it go faster, all you need to do is add less water. The same is true with any recipe, no matter how slow it is. The less water you use, the faster things go. If you were to use the standard 38% oils as per water default on Soapcalc for this recipe, which in considered a full-water amount, it would go very slow indeed- especially with all that lovely lard in there, since lard is a slow tracer.

How fast are you willing to go? :mrgreen: If you want to go really fast, you can use a 40% lye solution (1 part lye to 1.5 parts water), but I wouldn't recommend that if you were just starting out. A good 'middle of the road' water discount that is lovely even for beginners is a 33% lye solution (1 part lye to 2 parts water). I call that my Goldilocks solution- it's not too fast and it's not too slow. I soap pretty much 98% of all my batches at 33%. To use it, all you need to do is type 33% in the lye concentration box on SoapCalc (ignore the 'water as % of oils box completely), and the print-out page will give you the proper amount of lye and water to use.


IrishLass

Edited to add- a higher superfat will not affect trace (at least it doesn't for me).

 

[galaxyMLP]

I don't think it should matter toooo much. I would just make sure you have quite a bit of time set aside for the challenge. Even with slow tracing recipes, if you keep stick blending well past trace, they should get thicker pretty quickly. I did that with a 100% lard recipe this weekend (not for the challenge, just for another soap) and it works quite well.

I think that recipe looks like a recipe for a great soap regardless of trace time. I think the CO and Castor oil should help keep trace from being too slow as well. As far as playing with water, I would just stick with what you know!

The thing is, the soap will eventually get thick enough no matter (this said water before...) what recipe you use. Its just a matter of how long you want to wait/how much time you have.

Mind you, I havent done this challenge yet. But its on my list for tomorrow!!

ETA: Aannnd IL and me posted at the same time. In that case, I'd go with her advice.

 

[doriettefarm]

Maybe try increasing your castor and swap out regular olive oil for pomace? Usually my batches with that much lard are pretty slow to trace but it does look like a really nice recipe. Do you have any FOs that accelerate trace? Florals and spices usually fit the bill if you want something that moves fast and can use it to your advantage. A water discount would also help.

 

[aprice522]

which in considered a full-water amount, it would go very slow indeed- especially with all that lovely lard in there, since lard is a slow tracer.

This is why I love this place...

Summer Bee Meadow was the first place that came up when I googled the "oil properties in soap" This is what they said for lard:

"contributes to: soap hardness, stable lather, conditioning, quicker trace. "

I went through their list of oils and looked at the trace speed on them and decided on higher lard, but threw the OO in there as the balancer because they said Lard, CO and CaO are all quick tracing.

So of course I assume it is true because IT IS ON THE INTERNET. Palm hitting forehead....I can just see myself saying to my kids "just because someone or something tells you it is true, doesn't always mean it is...."

Until I did the specific research for quick trace, I had it in my brain that lard was a slower trace from all the readings that I have done here.

I guess I can just go forth with this recipe and make my stamp while I am waiting for trace!!

 

[IrishLass]

Wow- I love SummerbeeMeadows (I use their calculator for my liquid soaps), but that is really weird that they would say lard speeds trace. It is the exact opposite for me and just about every soaper I know- it's a slow tracer. It makes me wonder if they have ever soaped with lard before, or maybe they have used lard, but every time they did so, it coincided with them using an ornery FO. lol


IrishLass

 

[dibbles]

I'd make my stamp first. It took me longer than I thought it would to get the size right, although maybe you aren't using wire. And maybe you aren't as much of a butterfingers as I am either.

 

[not_ally]

I have seen references to lard speeding trace. But many, many more by soapers who say the opposite, as has been the case for me (in spades). Tallow is faster than lard, but both are better than pomace or some others. RBO is one of those that others don't seem to find speed trace, but has, at least some, for me. It might be b/c mine was old or something, though, I only used it a few times and then stopped, so did not test w/another source.

 

[galaxyMLP]

I find lard traces suuuuper slow. It's so nice for swirls.

 

[not_ally]

I haven't actually soaped for this challenge yet, so guessing is probably stupid, but at least from the Auntie Clara post, if I go forward I am going to start w/a slow tracing recipe and wait for it to get thicker if I have to.

It seemed like if the trace was too light you could wait on it, try and then smooth out mistakes and try again, but if not light enough you were just kind of screwed and would have to make a whole new batch. I am definitely one of those people that is not good at going forward boldly and tends to want to try over and over again if I try at all, though.

 

[Spice]

So I have been testing lots of different recipes but want to do the inverting stamping challenge and want to have a faster moving recipe then I have experienced so far. Even my Milk honey oat didn't go too fast....

So I did some research on the oil properties to make sure that I was heading in the right direction.

So here we go:
Lard 70
CO 15
OO 10
CaO 5

I don't want to move too fast, but I seem to trace rather slow in general.

Would a higher superfat slow trace? Would using the standard 38% water from soapcalc slow trace? I haven't messed with the lye/water thing yet. I don't have a great grasp on that yet. I plan to grow in that area, but for now baby steps.

I have a sample oil from BB (rose cedar wood or something??) that I would like to try.

Opinions please!?!

What is inverting stamping and what is CaO?

 

[DeeAnna]

Inverted stamping is the August challenge. Check the forums for the challenge thread. Also http://auntieclaras.com/2014/04/tutorial-inverted-stamp-technique-lattice-tops-more/

CaO is probably castor oil in this context ... look at her recipe ingredients. You're going to see a lot of this type of shorthand.