BrewerGeorge
Well-Known Member
Last night I made my first soap with pre-made lye solution. It was to have been the first soap with the new Jade scent from BB (very nice, BTW) and a matching jade mica. I'd planned a hangar swirl with black and white tones.
I put the the scent and jade mica in with the oils beforehand, added the lye and got going. But this thing just would NOT trace. At first I thought it was just too cool because since the lye was room temp and the oil was about 100F, the whole thing was only 95F. So I carefully heated the whole thing (only 700g) in the microwave to 130F. Still nothing; it just won't come to trace.
Then I start to wonder if I put enough of the lye solution in the mix. I'm using a 50% solution and doing the typical "flip the lye and water measurements." Did I do that or am I trying to make this soap with half the lye it needs? I'm using a brand-new plastic measuring bowl that I neglected to weigh empty so I had to pour the whole batter into another measuring cup to weigh it. Nope, I didn't double the lye. Habit burned me. But it was easy enough to add another 98g of ready-made solution and stir it in.
The only problem was that now it was pretty warm and had been going a long time, so it went from no trace at all to heavy-medium immediately. I was able to get it layered, still, but the hangar screwed up on me so I punted to a spoon swirl because it was getting pretty thick at that point. Pics when I cut.
Lesson learned: Actually cross out water and lye and write the corrections on the sheet.
I put the the scent and jade mica in with the oils beforehand, added the lye and got going. But this thing just would NOT trace. At first I thought it was just too cool because since the lye was room temp and the oil was about 100F, the whole thing was only 95F. So I carefully heated the whole thing (only 700g) in the microwave to 130F. Still nothing; it just won't come to trace.
Then I start to wonder if I put enough of the lye solution in the mix. I'm using a 50% solution and doing the typical "flip the lye and water measurements." Did I do that or am I trying to make this soap with half the lye it needs? I'm using a brand-new plastic measuring bowl that I neglected to weigh empty so I had to pour the whole batter into another measuring cup to weigh it. Nope, I didn't double the lye. Habit burned me. But it was easy enough to add another 98g of ready-made solution and stir it in.
The only problem was that now it was pretty warm and had been going a long time, so it went from no trace at all to heavy-medium immediately. I was able to get it layered, still, but the hangar screwed up on me so I punted to a spoon swirl because it was getting pretty thick at that point. Pics when I cut.
Lesson learned: Actually cross out water and lye and write the corrections on the sheet.