Hello I'm new here & to CP soap making

[Brandica2013]

New here & so happy to have found this forum

« on: February 18, 2013, 01:04:56 PM »
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Hello everyone!! I'm Jessica. I am 33 & my friend & I just started a small business,we had been making lotions & scrubs for a little while now and we love it & so does are customers but we are new to soap making. We started with a beginners recipe/kit from brambleberry.com and we added are skin safe F.O & the suggested % rate after trace and then we split in 3 equal parts & added a white,teal and purple mica and i noticed that the soap looked lumpy after that and when poured in the small 2lbs box mold it did not flow in easy and looked real thick. After we cut around the 2 day mark it was hard and a little crumbly @ edges. Other than that it looked beautiful and smelled great just waiting on the curing process.

We decided to go @ it again but double the recipe with a different F.O this time @ the same % rate and this time we added the purple mica only to the whole thing & again the same it was lumpy and thick after adding the mica. Real hard to pour in are pringle can we made into a mold. We could not even use a large funnel....

Do you all think its the mica? What do you think? What do you suggest we do if the mica is the problem? Any colorant suggestions?

Thanks so much for any input I hope to get to know you all!!

 

[melstan775]

I am by no means an expert, I haven't been soaping long at all, like a week. :-D However, from my extensive reading and forum lurking, I have found it takes very little color and fragerence to scent a whole batch. Some scents can force a trace to thicken and nearly seize. Make sure all your measurements are right, and add the minimum fragerence at the first sign of trace. Be prepared to move fast, and see how that works .

 

[Brandica2013]

Thanks so much!I will give that a try. I have been doing about a year research before going in and my partner she likes to do things her own way and when you 1st start you have to be perscise. and measure every thing and be qick. So I gotta talk to her about it. I also think we are trace to much. So next week just a simple Lye water mix with a few oils and no color or FO than 2nd batch just FO and if comftable last batch do all. Thanks for the advise we need it. Any good colorants you love?
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[Brandica2013]

Oh yeah I noticed when we add the mica @ trace it than instintly started to clump up when folded in and was so thick we could hardly pour in molds.??

 

[three_little_fishes]

I'm new to soap myself, but I've read that mixing the colorant with a little of the melted oil is helpful with clumping. I've never used a colorant before though (that's my next step) so maybe someone with more knowledge could answer as to whether this is helpful or not.

 

[lsg]

You need to add mica to a little glycerin or oil and mix well, then add that to your thinly traced soap.

http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/soap/ColorAdd.asp