Clay Soap Has Clumps

[wahiniki]

Hello everyone! I’ve forayed into using clays as colorants for my hot process soaps and would like to ask if any of you have experienced getting clumps of clay in the soap? Or is this even clay?

The soap is made with Tallow, Palm Oil, CO, OO, shortening, a bit of stearic acid.

I used blue green clay. The clay was blended in my oils.

I noticed it was the same for another batch I made which used red clay. It’s not DOS.
I am not bothered by it too much just want to know if this something to expect when using clays.

My uncle who received it rather liked it because it added some gentle exfoliation.

Personally, I just want to know if this is avoidable as I want to make pretty speck free soaps too.

PS. when I used Kaolin Clay it didn’t have any of these specks. So I’m thinking it’s the kind of clay?

love to hear your thoughts

 

[Marsi]

is there some plant material in there?
some of the fleck lines look like they are plant material

for clay i soak mine in a little bit of plain water from the recipe
little lumps of clay fall apart on soaking
runny clay blends easily into oils

to remove debris in the clay
you can sieve dry clay (i dont like the dust from this)
or you can add a little more water from your recipe
and use a spoon to push the runny clay through a cotton cloth

pretty soap - i can see why your uncle likes it

 

[wahiniki]

thank you very much! i thought the blue green clay looked brackish at first then I realized it looked more natural and quite organic.

There is no plant material in this but they do look like it! I supposed it adds to the appeal.

Would soaking the clay in water help before adding to oils? Hmm...I'm a bit wary about water/oil not mixing.

That's sensible! Using a sieve might help with the de-clumping. Might need to get one of those nylon/plastic sieves as I only have a metal sieve. I kept reading how clays should be mixed with anything but metal.

Thank you very much!

 

[Marsi]

Would soaking the clay in water help before adding to oils? Hmm...I'm a bit wary about water/oil not mixing.

i soak my clay in water before adding to the oils

I add the runny clay and the lye (water) around the same time
it blends into the oils just fine

you could delay adding the runny clay until you have made your batter if you want
this is good for when you are splitting colours (easy)
the batter will get thicker with more mixing this way

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, you want to mix the clay with water first. I mix almost all dry ingredients with water so I can get out any clumps.

 

[TheGecko]

I mix my clays and pigments with water and use a mini blender (milk frother). You really want to make sure you are using clays from a reputable source and that are meant to be used in bath and body products.

 

[wahiniki]

you could delay adding the runny clay until you have made your batter if you want
this is good for when you are splitting colours (easy)
the batter will get thicker with more mixing this way

I did this with a new batch just a day after I posted! I wanted to see if adding hot-water-soaked-clay after the cook could still result in a colored batter. It did! These were made with red, blue green and yellow clay. It was my first hanger swirl so I am quite ecstatic there was some swirling action (next time though I'll use a thicker hanger).

There are still spots but I think using a sieve could be key. Will try another batch soon.

Is there such a thing as too much clay? I want the colors to be more vibrant.

Yes, you want to mix the clay with water first. I mix almost all dry ingredients with water so I can get out any clumps.

Thank you! How do you feel out for the clumps? I use hot water in the hopes that it will help it blend better.

I mix my clays and pigments with water and use a mini blender (milk frother).

This is a great hack! Does the metal affect the clay in any way? Have been reading how "metals de-charge" clay. Like here.

 

[Obsidian]

Thank you! How do you feel out for the clumps? I use hot water in the hopes that it will help it blend better.

I use a plastic baby spoon and mix the clay in a shot glass so I can see the clumps. I use the back of the spoon to smash the clumps. Kaolin clay mixes up nice, its bentonite that is miserable to mix.

 

[TheGecko]

This is a great hack! Does the metal affect the clay in any way? Have been reading how "metals de-charge" clay. Like here.

You're making soap, so any benefits are pretty much destroyed by the lye. 'Sides...your stick blender bell is metal or the blades are metal so kind of moot.

 

[Dawni]

Yo girl!

When I'm lazy to premix, I add the clay to my oils slowly, like sprinkle a little at a time, blend, sprinkle again, til there's no lumps. So far so good haha

There's a "lots of clay" recipe somewhere but I can't remember right now where I read it.

Do note that most of the clays I've found here (other than the now-I-can't-find-it Australian red reef clay) don't really make vibrant soaps. They'll color, yes, somewhat, but not bright nor vibrant. Can't say about what others may have.

P.S.
What's that white stuff in the top left?

 

[wahiniki]

Hello and thanks @Dawni! I’ll do a search on the lots of clay soap.

I think the correct term I should have used is “more solidly colored”. I do love the muted coloring of clay I just wish I could translate it better.

P.S.
What's that white stuff in the top left?

I believe that is un-clayed soap! I added the clay with water post-cook so I had to manually mix it with my spatula. I think it’s a limitation brought about by manual mixing.

When I mix my clay into the oils before the cook, I don’t seem to get that.

 

[mishmish]

If I'm using clay to color cp soap I always mix it with a little distilled water and stir the lumps out. Bentonite clay needs a LOT of water to loosen it up and I'll definitely use some of the water from the recipe before using the rest to make my lye solution. I will also microwave the bentonite clay/water and whisk it to get the lumps out, adding honey also makes it liquefy better for some reason.

 

[wahiniki]

Hello everyone! Thank you again for helping this girl out. I felt the love.

So, I made the soap and applied all your suggestions and then some:

1) Pre-soaking clay
2) Using an electric milk frother (what a time and wrist/arm saver)
3) Using a sieve / strainer when pouring the clay
4) Adding clay to the oils before lye

I use high temperature hot process method wherein I force the saponification and volcano.

- The total amount of clay I used was 30 grams (about 6 tsp of clay) for this 900gram-oil batch. It’s a lot more than the usual “1 tsp ppo/ 5 grams per 450 grams” but it works better for me. No issues with seizing either or the batter being hard to work with! 🎖

Applying suggestion #1 & #2 of presoaking clay and feeling out for clumps (thank you @TheGecko and @Obsidian !)
- To soak the clay, I used 1 tbsp of hot water per 5 grams of clay. I used a shot glass size plastic beaker and mixed using my new handy dandy cheap milk frother. This milk frother is amazeballs. Saved me so much time. The hot water helped too!

Applying suggestion #4 of adding clay to oils. Thank you @Dawni and @TheGecko!

-I had a 900 gram oil batch with 30% lye concentration.
- When my oils were heated, I added 2 tsp of unsoaked kaolin clay passing it through a strainer/sieve! I stick blended it before I proceeded with my lye. This makes the entire batch contain Kaolin Clay

Applying suggestion #3 using a sieve for to add watered clay.
- Once my batter was cooked, my soaked clays were ready to go! I let it pass through a sieve/strainer. I mixed the clay in with separate batters and mixed manually using a spatula.

My hot process batter is fluid enough to swirl. And voila!!!! No clumps so far on the outside. Hopefully none of it too on the inside!

There is still bits of the soap that wasn't colored because manually mixing, but I don't mind it too much.

Some of the spots are stearic spots, and others are from my wire cutter. When I smooth it out most of it goes away. It's been a few days since these bars were cut and sadly, they have tinged with a muddy brown because of the high vanillin content of my fragrance. But still! Still looks lovely and delicious. It's just apt as the scent is quite masculine and chocolatey.

 

[lsg]

When making a single-color soap, you can add the clay directly to the lye water.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/adding-clay-to-lye-water.45055/

 

[linne1gi]

Hello everyone! Thank you again for helping this girl out. I felt the love.

So, I made the soap and applied all your suggestions and then some:

1) Pre-soaking clay
2) Using an electric milk frother (what a time and wrist/arm saver)
3) Using a sieve / strainer when pouring the clay
4) Adding clay to the oils before lye

I use high temperature hot process method wherein I force the saponification and volcano.

- The total amount of clay I used was 30 grams (about 6 tsp of clay) for this 900gram-oil batch. It’s a lot more than the usual “1 tsp ppo/ 5 grams per 450 grams” but it works better for me. No issues with seizing either or the batter being hard to work with! 🎖

Applying suggestion #1 & #2 of presoaking clay and feeling out for clumps (thank you @TheGecko and @Obsidian !)
- To soak the clay, I used 1 tbsp of hot water per 5 grams of clay. I used a shot glass size plastic beaker and mixed using my new handy dandy cheap milk frother. This milk frother is amazeballs. Saved me so much time. The hot water helped too!

Applying suggestion #4 of adding clay to oils. Thank you @Dawni and @TheGecko!

-I had a 900 gram oil batch with 30% lye concentration.
- When my oils were heated, I added 2 tsp of unsoaked kaolin clay passing it through a strainer/sieve! I stick blended it before I proceeded with my lye. This makes the entire batch contain Kaolin Clay

Applying suggestion #3 using a sieve for to add watered clay.
- Once my batter was cooked, my soaked clays were ready to go! I let it pass through a sieve/strainer. I mixed the clay in with separate batters and mixed manually using a spatula.

My hot process batter is fluid enough to swirl. And voila!!!! No clumps so far on the outside. Hopefully none of it too on the inside!

There is still bits of the soap that wasn't colored because manually mixing, but I don't mind it too much.

Some of the spots are stearic spots, and others are from my wire cutter. When I smooth it out most of it goes away. It's been a few days since these bars were cut and sadly, they have tinged with a muddy brown because of the high vanillin content of my fragrance. But still! Still looks lovely and delicious. It's just apt as the scent is quite masculine and chocolatey.


View attachment 54037View attachment 54038

I did an experiment a while back - last October actually. I had some left over batter (I was making embeds). So I made 2 soaps, one with blood orange essential oil, which I "marinated" with kaolin clay. (added the clay to my essential oil and let it soak for at least one hour, I prefer overnight) - The other soap, I added plain blood orange essential oil, same strengh, same amount, but no kaolin clay. After 6 weeks, I couldn't smell anything at all in the soap without the clay, but the soap with the clay smelled great. When I add the clay to the essential oil, I use my mini mixer to blend the clay and the scent very well. Pictured is my soap. The pink soap has the clay, the green soap has no clay. Also the soap is very smooth.