[gel question] Officially Hate Soap... why can't I stop?

[Dragonkaz]

Sillysoaper your soaps are beautiful ... I love how the swirl is right through the soap!

After pouring my soap into the moulds, I cover the moulds with cling wrap and wrap them in towels. I leave them like this for around 24 hours. I'll often 'hug' the towels and it's interesting to 'feel' the heat that's coming from within.

I've never considered putting the moulds in the oven, although I have read about this a few times ... so maybe one day I'll get round to giving this a try.

 

[panpaste]

Gellin

I have had partial gel on my first three batches of CP.

Plastic Mold
batch 1: insulated with towels
batch 2: not insulated
batch 3: mixed at 90 degrees, put in freezer right away and then fridge overnight (Still partial gelled!!)

So should I change my water ratio to achieve non-gel? I want the lighter color of non-gel soap. The edge pieces that remained non-gel were crumbly though. Maybe I'll just have to get used to the gel look, but you can see tiny bubbles and imperfections easier in the gelled soap.

With batch 3 I cut one slice and left it in the sun here in hot New Mexico and it finished gelling so I just put it all back in the loaf mold and I'm putting it in the oven on the lowest setting to get an even full gel out to the edges of the soap.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

For me its the additives and FO that really make the difference re gel. The first time I use a FO its really a test. Some heat up straight away, others not, some will gell on their own, others need help.

If its the first time, I leave it out on the table and keep an eye on it, if the gel stage is slow, I then either put it in a warmed oven or insulated box. I then keep checking on it to make sure its not overheating.

Once Ive tested it the first time I know what to do the second time I use the FO. If its a slow mover I can choose not to gell, soap as norm and refridgerate, or insulate and hope for a full gel. If its a fast mover I go with it and let it gel, but soap cooler and dont insulate to prevent overheating.

Seasonal changes have ment I have had to re assess my usual methods too .

 

[FreeRabbit]

Oops! I forgot the photos.

http://www.alaskarainsoap.com/images/al ... violet.jpg

http://www.alaskarainsoap.com/images/al ... ckpeel.jpg

wow!!!!

 

[Guest]

Love the look of your soaps, the swirls and color blends are awesome. The bags are ever so sharp!
Cheers!

 

[judymoody]

hi OnePlus:

I found the WSP molds tricky to manage at first as I was used to the wooden molds. The first time, I insulated as usual and got partial gel. Then I tried CPOP and got overheating and bubbles. Now I barely preheat the oven (maybe for 2 minutes) and I put the mold on a cookie sheet and heat that too. I pour my soap and put it back in the oven. I check on it every 20 minutes/half-hour or so. Once it starts to gel, I remove the soap and wrap it (including the cookie sheet) in towels. The residual heat from the cookie sheet acts sort of like a heating pad and keeps the reaction going. Occasionally I'll get some bubbles up the side, but not too often.

If it's not gelling, I turn the oven on for a minute at most to give it a boost.

I generally soap at 33-34% water and between 95-110 degrees depending on my % of brittle oils.

 

[Relle]

Love your soaps SS and your matching bags, do you print them yourself to match your soaps ?

 

[heyjude]

Now that is some beautiful soap! My last few swirls developed ash. AWG!

Very pretty colors. What did you use for your colorants?

 

[Fyrja]

What is the weather like where you live, and the temperature of the room where you soap Oneplus? I ask because I live in the very hot and humid deep south, and to say it has affected the method I have to use to soap would be an understatement to say the least. Everything here overheats, and I do mean everything. The textures on the surface and the bubbles you described sound exactly like what my soap was doing when it got too hot. I also had a few batches turn into greasy soap crumbles from overheating. I never even attempted to put batches in the oven, or insulate because of this. My batches were doing this just sitting in the molds, in the room where I soap. Keep in mind after you mix your soap it continues to get hotter as the lye sapnofies the oils, and if you are using milk or sugar it gets even hotter.

I soap as cool as I can around the 110 degrees mark, and immediately put my mold in the freezer without a lid. I don't bother taking it out as soon as it cools either. I just leave it overnight. I take it out the next day and let it defrost. It usually takes a day or two for me to be able to cut it after I remove it from the freezer. There is condensation which softens the soap, up as it defrosts. In this heat though the condensation goes away fairly quickly and the soap hardens back up. I've had no problems with this method, and absolutely no gel stage. I like a good gel, but it's just too difficult down here to achieve a gel and not have my soap overheat. So for the summer months I've had to sacrifice it. There is a little soap ash doing it this way, but that wipes off easily enough once the soap is hard and ready to cut.