So two weeks ago I made my first batch of soap. I was totally excited, my husband even helped measure out everything and get everything in order. Being my first time I only made a 1lb batch.
Here was the recipe:
Coconut Oil, 76 deg 30% = 4.8oz
Olive Oil 40% = 6.4oz
Soybean Oil 20% = 3.2oz
Safflower Oil, HO 10% = 1.6oz
Lye 2.668:1 ratio = 2.28oz
Goats Milk 38% = 6.08oz
Superfat 5%
EO's
lavendar .5oz
Grapefruit .25oz
tea tree .25oz
Honey 1.5 tbsp
I added the lye a little at a time to cold goats milk (did not freeze it). Kept the container in an ice bath and did not let it get over 100deg. Melted the CO on the stove, kept it low temp added other oils and removed from temp. When both were about 95deg I moved the oils to a large glass bowl and then started adding the lye mixture.
A little about the lye mixture, it turned a lime neon green... and got a little grainy along the sides of the bowl. It was goats milk from the store (not raw) and my lye was atleast 5 years old... was it bad?
I used a stick blender (off) to mix in the lye. Then turned it on and it mixed pretty quickly to emulsion. BUT did not get further than an incredibly light trace... after 30 minutes I got impatient and added the EO's and the honey (slightly warmed to melt it) I mixed it another 15 or 20 minutes and it didn't get any thicker.
I know I'm crazy for doing this on a first try, but I wanted to try colors. So I poured a small amount into another bowl and decided to try color. my main batch was a nice buttery color. I only had food dye so I decided on blue. Blue and yellow make green so that's what I expected. When I added a good amount of drops (like 10) it turned blue at first and then faded immediately to a light red/brown.
I had prepped a plastic mold (from granola bars bought at Henry's - fully cleaned!
Since i didn't have vaseline and I was terrified it would stick i used syran wrap to line it. Could I have used parchment paper? I poured the base color into the mold. Then I poured in the color, holding it high so it would go further into the base. I pulled a knife through it a few times to make the top nice, but didn't really do enough for a good swirl without - will do next time.
It looked really nice in the mold. I left it out overnight, uncovered (i didn't really know about the gel phase yet, but I did know that they said not to let it get overheated so I didn't cover it)
The next morning.... wow, it had changed color!!! The brown swirl had gone to a light minty green and the buttery yellow had gone to a dark golden. It was still nice enough, not a big deal.
The next evening I put it in the freezer for a few hours the popped it out of the mold. It was pretty firm and so I decided to cut it. This is where I got sad...
The cuts were coming out a little crumbly along the bottom but it was my cutting technique more than the soap, but what was worse was the strange crystally looking center. No oil was coming out, but it was a little softer than the rest. I looked it up and would have thought it a partial gel, except for the strange white crystally effect. I left it to see what would happen.
It's now two weeks later and no better... I cut into one to see if it was just where I cut it, but no, the strange white effect was all the way through. I cut it in half and the center can easily be squished with my thumb, but the edge (no white) was harder to squish.
So, what do I do with it? I did try some and it soaps pretty nicely, but I'm concerned with what it could be. Should I rebatch it or toss it? Was it the recipe, not freezing the milk, not making trace, the honey, too much EO, old lye, not freezing/wrapping the mold?
I loved making it and have already ordered a lot of fun stuff to play with, but I want to learn about my mistake before making it a second time!
Thanks for any help or ideas on this, it's greatly appreciated
Here is the link to my facebook page for my Soap Making Sagas so you can see the pics in the album "First Try". It's the only album for now...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 8555163735
Here was the recipe:
Coconut Oil, 76 deg 30% = 4.8oz
Olive Oil 40% = 6.4oz
Soybean Oil 20% = 3.2oz
Safflower Oil, HO 10% = 1.6oz
Lye 2.668:1 ratio = 2.28oz
Goats Milk 38% = 6.08oz
Superfat 5%
EO's
lavendar .5oz
Grapefruit .25oz
tea tree .25oz
Honey 1.5 tbsp
I added the lye a little at a time to cold goats milk (did not freeze it). Kept the container in an ice bath and did not let it get over 100deg. Melted the CO on the stove, kept it low temp added other oils and removed from temp. When both were about 95deg I moved the oils to a large glass bowl and then started adding the lye mixture.
A little about the lye mixture, it turned a lime neon green... and got a little grainy along the sides of the bowl. It was goats milk from the store (not raw) and my lye was atleast 5 years old... was it bad?
I used a stick blender (off) to mix in the lye. Then turned it on and it mixed pretty quickly to emulsion. BUT did not get further than an incredibly light trace... after 30 minutes I got impatient and added the EO's and the honey (slightly warmed to melt it) I mixed it another 15 or 20 minutes and it didn't get any thicker.
I know I'm crazy for doing this on a first try, but I wanted to try colors. So I poured a small amount into another bowl and decided to try color. my main batch was a nice buttery color. I only had food dye so I decided on blue. Blue and yellow make green so that's what I expected. When I added a good amount of drops (like 10) it turned blue at first and then faded immediately to a light red/brown.
I had prepped a plastic mold (from granola bars bought at Henry's - fully cleaned!
Since i didn't have vaseline and I was terrified it would stick i used syran wrap to line it. Could I have used parchment paper? I poured the base color into the mold. Then I poured in the color, holding it high so it would go further into the base. I pulled a knife through it a few times to make the top nice, but didn't really do enough for a good swirl without - will do next time.It looked really nice in the mold. I left it out overnight, uncovered (i didn't really know about the gel phase yet, but I did know that they said not to let it get overheated so I didn't cover it)
The next morning.... wow, it had changed color!!! The brown swirl had gone to a light minty green and the buttery yellow had gone to a dark golden. It was still nice enough, not a big deal.
The next evening I put it in the freezer for a few hours the popped it out of the mold. It was pretty firm and so I decided to cut it. This is where I got sad...
The cuts were coming out a little crumbly along the bottom but it was my cutting technique more than the soap, but what was worse was the strange crystally looking center. No oil was coming out, but it was a little softer than the rest. I looked it up and would have thought it a partial gel, except for the strange white crystally effect. I left it to see what would happen.
It's now two weeks later and no better... I cut into one to see if it was just where I cut it, but no, the strange white effect was all the way through. I cut it in half and the center can easily be squished with my thumb, but the edge (no white) was harder to squish.
So, what do I do with it? I did try some and it soaps pretty nicely, but I'm concerned with what it could be. Should I rebatch it or toss it? Was it the recipe, not freezing the milk, not making trace, the honey, too much EO, old lye, not freezing/wrapping the mold?
I loved making it and have already ordered a lot of fun stuff to play with, but I want to learn about my mistake before making it a second time!
Thanks for any help or ideas on this, it's greatly appreciated
Here is the link to my facebook page for my Soap Making Sagas so you can see the pics in the album "First Try". It's the only album for now...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 8555163735
