First time with mineral color! disaster!?! (pictures)

[ministeph]

Hi everyone!

I'm from Ontario, and it seems to be a bit difficult to locate mineral colours here. I managed to get some a while back from a soap supplier in huntsville.
Anyway. I made sure they were all oil soluble and what not and was really looking forward to using them.. but now after my first attempt, I don't know what went wrong!!

The outside of the soap looks awesome, just as I assumed it would look in the inside, but today when I cut the soap, I couldn't believe how bad it looked!
Any advice on what this is, what caused it, what I can do to never see it again would be amazing! I hope the pictures are clear enough, its hard to explain what it looks like in words.

some info.. soap is my regular recipe olive, coconut, shea, never failed me before...mixed with a SB

 

[MrsFusion]

Humm, I don't know...sorry. I will be interested to see what others say.

 

[rebekahp]

I think it looks cool, is it a textured surface?

 

[ministeph]

it doesn't really feel textured... infact it feels really smooth. I would say the soap isn't as hard as usual, and feels kinda greasy/smooshy.
I thought at first that it was just oil that hadn't mixed in or something.. but I SB'd the same as I usually do and I have never had any problems

 

[ministeph]

also, now that it has been sitting... it is feeling less oily and seeming fine. the lines through it are just kinda clearish/natural coloured instead of solid and opaque.
the outside like I said.. looks PERFECT, so the inside was a surprise.. When i took the whole block of soap out of the mold it looked thoroughly opaque and coloured, even the bottom and top.

the spots aren't particularly oily or weepy.. the soap is an even consistency, the lines just look different, you can't feel them in any way.

hmmm.........I don't think it was from improper mixing.. I did SB it to death to make sure it was solid enough to layer, that also wouldn't explain why the entire outside looks fine.

 

[agriffin]

Awesome colors! But...I'm not sure why it has that crackle look.

 

[Half Caper Farm]

I wouldn't call it a "disaster". I think it looks pretty neat! Leave it sit for a while, it may grow on you - and if anybody asks, tell them "I meant to do that!"

Hmm, I think that needs to be my new sig line. . . :roll:

 

[xraygrl]

sometimes those type of colorants will do that if the soap overheated a bit. You used titanium dioxide, right? What temps did you use, and is the fragrance a known to overheat?

 

[soapbuddy]

I get that look when I use titanium dioxide and gel.

 

[ministeph]

oh wow, I didn't know you had to try and avoid gel to use titanium dioxide! How do I go about avoiding gel?? does everyone who uses mineral colors do that?

thanks for all the help btw!

 

[ministeph]

also, usually I soap pretty low, I wait for it to get to around 80 degrees. But lately after watching a few videos from brambleberry I have started soaping at around 120-130.. must have been WAYYYY too hot!

 

[rubyslippers]

Beautiful layering effect! I've had soaps do that crackling thing & I always thought it was because it must have overheated in the gel stage. Now I'm wondering if it was when I used TD. :?

 

[Bean13]

Yes my TD did that to me as well in my layered soap. I soap between 110 and 120. I also warm my molds in the oven before I pour so a bit extra heat as well. At first I thought maybe I didn't stir enough because I hand stirred, but now I'm thinking it was the heat. Makes sence to me.
Still looks prety though. Don't worry about it. I like it.

 

[soapbuddy]

oh wow, I didn't know you had to try and avoid gel to use titanium dioxide! How do I go about avoiding gel?? does everyone who uses mineral colors do that?

thanks for all the help btw!

I put my soap in the fridge or the freezer to avoid gel. Be aware that it slows down saponification, so the soap could zap, up to 3 days later. After that it's fine.

 

[ChrissyB]

I've had that with using too much td.

 

[loveit_latherit]

me too - no big deal. Love your layers and the blue hues are very peaceful

 

[ministeph]

Thanks everyone the positive responses have made me feel soooooo much better. To be honest, I was going to dump the whole batch.

I'm debating trying a smaller batch now doing the same thing and either soaping at a lower temperature and gelling, soaping lower and avoiding gel completely, orrr adding the colors/titanium dioxide to the melted oils BEFORE adding the lye OR (haha) or adding them to pure oil instead of lightly traced soap when mixing them in... decisions decisions...

 

[Tacoma]

I do not think it is the TD. I had a batch do that and I did not use TD or any colorant. Did you use an essential oil or a fragrance oil? I used a fragrance oil and I believe it had something to do with the solvents in the fragrance oil. I have used it and at first it seemed rather drying but it has gotten better. .Anyway that is my $.02 worth. Happy Thanksgiving

 

[paillo]

I've had that with using too much td.

the only time i've had that happen was the only time i used td after that, and after reading about its potential health effects, i threw it out and have gone with white clay instead (which doesn't do much to whiten, btw, but i do love the clay properties).

 

[ministeph]

Thank you for all the advice everyone! i suppose i'm goign to have to mess around until I figure out what is going on. I'm going to make a smaller batch tonight with less TD, lower temps and more mixing and see how that goes. Than I will continue from there haha.

I also wanted to add, For those who use TD.. I found this batch is considerably softer than it usually would be at this time. I do this same recipe constantly and always by the second or third day the soaps are pretttty rock solid.
This time, they are still kinda.. squishy? feeling? not sure.. I did not forget any ingredients or anything haha, and I've already 'tested' one and it does not zap and is actually quite nice for a brand new soap!

I just hope they get harder after curing now.. the weird crackleness is growing on me