Double layered CP soap

[Lankan]

Hi I'm new to soap making. So every attempt gives me more learning points than the previous one. the one I'm going to detail is my 3rd attempt, which I made last Sunday.

I watched so many soap making videos. Got fascinated by the dancing funnel soaps and desperately wanted to try. So made all my arrangements with full motivation.

Oil blend -
Palm oil - 425g
Coconut oil - 175g
Sunflower oil - 300g
Total Oil weight - 900g

NaOH - 103.6g~104g with 2.5% super fat (according to Soapee soap cal & SoapCalc)
Lye to water ratio - 30:70
Colors - Pigment red in sunflower oil, mixed on a yogurt cup and kept & Titanium Dioxide (TD) to be added directly. (Still I couldn't find a place to purchase mica based colors, hence had to stick with oil soluble pigment colorants)
Scent - Rose essential oil
Water - Distilled, Deionized water 180ml+ 60ml of rose water
Mold - two cardboard boxes layered with baking paper, boxes approx 4cm tall, idea is to pour only up to 2.5cm. (21*11*4 + 17*14*4)

The idea was to divide the batch into two after trace, add colors and essential oils and pour into the boxes little by little creating the perfect funnel soap I always imagined..

Since I have a very limited space, dining table turned out to be my working table.

So here is my experience to really making it..

Step 1 - Got into safety wears, Dissolved the NaOH in water, measured temperature (184F), and let it cool down.
Step 2 - Powered up the stick blender
Step 3 - Lye water temperature - 123F, & Oil temp - 84F, filtered the lye water and mixed directly into the oil blend.

Now comes the interesting part, where I messed up the rest,

Step 4. - Continued stick blending, missed lite trace, and reached medium trace, mix is like pudding now.
Step 5. - understood my dancing funnel dream is getting flushed out, got tensed up...divided the mix into two and first mixed the red color in one portion, realized the amount of color I've mixed is not enough to reach the color I wanted, tried to mix some more color and spilled some out and finally got somewhere close the color I wanted.
Step 6 - The other portion is turning hard as it set idling, quickly put some TD, tried to stick blend. poured some water to loosen up (not a good idea). Since I have used the stick blender to mix red colour first bit of red shade got into the white portion also.

Step 7 - Fully understood that now I've to be on a fail safe mode. decided to pour the entire mix into one box instead of two boxes (lost hope is seeing a good soap). Proceeded to mix further an poured the white color first and leveled it. then mixed the red little more and poured and leveled out the box. I was left with little amount of red soap, hence used three small three cups to fill up and used the left over white soap to make some shade.

I was fully disappointed with the outcome, especially when I realized that I totally forgot to add essential oil as I intended, so my soap became unscented by accident. Also my dining table is fully messed up, with soap and red color here and there. Believe me making soap is not easy as it seen in YouTube videos.

So I watched it going through gelling phase and saw very tiny air bubbles coming out. the next day I unmolded the soap and due to the odd dimension of the loaf (17 * 14* 4) I has to cut it into 6 big bars. Cutting the loaf was a smooth process may be due to the sunflower oil in the blend. I can visibly see some small air pockets inside the soap. Now I started to wonder whether I've added too much red color to the soap and literally turning the soap into pastel color. Also I was able to see white spots, which are the result of adding titanium dioxide powder directly, not the lye .

Anyway what turned out is better than the worst I expected, so here is a photo of the bars set to cure..

Learning from this attempt

1. Always something going off is possible
2. Have a checklist before starting the process.
3. Colorants - have plenty mixed in oil and add little by little
4. Mix the light color first
5. Trace, Trace, Trace
6. Be happy with what you got finally


....
Track record
1st attempt - Palm & Coconut blend, CP hard soap, unscented, no colorants, hand whisked.
2nd attempt - Palm, Coconut & Sunflower blend, CP liquid soap, rose essential scented, blood red detergent colored, Stick blended
3rd attempt - Palm, Coconut & Sunflower blend, CP hard soap, double layered, red pigment & titanium dioxide white colored, unscented by accident, stick blended.

 

[shunt2011]

I think your soap looks good for starter soap it actually looks better than my first try years ago. The trick is not to stick blend it too much. And mix your TD with either water or oil depending on which one it is. Water soluble or oil soluble. You'll get the hang of it. It just a matter of getting to know your recipes and how they react. Palm oil does have the tendency to trace a bit quicker sometimes.

You say your second attempt was CP liquid soap, you used KOH correct?

 

[Lankan]

I think your soap looks good for starter soap it actually looks better than my first try years ago. The trick is not to stick blend it too much. And mix your TD with either water or oil depending on which one it is. Water soluble or oil soluble. You'll get the hang of it. It just a matter of getting to know your recipes and how they react. Palm oil does have the tendency to trace a bit quicker sometimes.

You say your second attempt was CP liquid soap, you used KOH correct?

My first attempt became very hard when I attempted to cut. It may be due to the palm and coconut blend and also I added the lye soon after mixing in water, so super hot. This time I left it cool and mixed little above room temp. However, like you said over blending is what caused the problem.

CP liquid soap was using KOH only. I wrote about it here . I had problems with water separation and high pH value with that soap. It also leaves a oily residue after washing, for which I still can not find the reason or cure..

 

[Kamahido]

I am a bit curious. Where did you buy your Rose Essential Oil?

 

[dixiedragon]

^ What Kamahido said.

Also, you may want to try mixing your TD at least with glycerin vs oil. I personally find that works better.

 

[soapmaker]

We all understand the frustration. Not nice at all when you have a design in mind and everything goes thick! And oh the mess! But looks good. The red pigment looks quite red so will likely stain a white wash cloth. I also use glycerin to mix my TD and subtract that amount out of my water.

 

[Lankan]

I am a bit curious. Where did you buy your Rose Essential Oil?

I bought it from a chemical shop, which mostly sells wholesale. Since I'm from a different part of the world. I don't know whether my source will have any benefit to you.

Also, you may want to try mixing your TD at least with glycerin vs oil

Yes. I've to try doing that. Otherwise I might end up getting white spots in my soaps

We all understand the frustration. Not nice at all when you have a design in mind and everything goes thick! And oh the mess! But looks good. The red pigment looks quite red so will likely stain a white wash cloth. I also use glycerin to mix my TD and subtract that amount out of my water.

Yes. Like I said i made peace with what I got . I also feel the red colour is too much leading to stains. If it happens I may have to rebatch, which will be again a new experience for me

 

[artemis]

Yes. Like I said i made peace with what I got . I also feel the red colour is too much leading to stains. If it happens I may have to rebatch, which will be again a new experience for me

Just a tip: rebatching with red soap can sometimes lead to soap that looks like ground meat. A lot of soapers like to shred a failed soap and add it in to new batter to make confetti soap.

 

[Lankan]

Just a tip: rebatching with red soap can sometimes lead to soap that looks like ground meat. A lot of soapers like to shred a failed soap and add it in to new batter to make confetti soap.

Thanks. I read about confetti soap in this forum. Didn't take is seriously. Let me try that if this batch goes wrong. I might as well try that instead of rebatching. because, I prefer CP over using heating methods.

 

[Alzie]

Just a tip: rebatching with red soap can sometimes lead to soap that looks like ground meat. A lot of soapers like to shred a failed soap and add it in to new batter to make confetti soap.

Very good tip...i have one amazing red wine 'meatloaf' rebatch soap on my shelves....I should have made confetti but at the time I was determined to make it to what I wanted lol