HELP! Orange / brown spots straight out of the mold

[gypsyarmadillo]

OMG! I am so heartbroken I unmolded my lavender soap today and found these little orange-brown spots all over the soap, primarily in the colored portion (purple color). Of course my first thought was DOS, but I have never heard of it happening so fast (i unmolded in 24hrs). My recipe is the same one I have been using for years and is well test with no problems, and other batches made within the last week or so are fine..The only thing different being that in this batch I used labcolor and I did a hanger swirl with a metal hanger. Now, the labcolor used is about 2 months old and kept in the fridge, but I am wondering if it developed molld and that is what has caused the spots? Or maybe it is a reaction with the metal hanger (although the hanger was wrapped in plastic wrap...). I threw out all of my labcolors and ordered new just to be safe and I am going to use a new hanger to be thorough, but I was hoping I could get some feedback if anyone has any theories? Id really just want to cry as now i have to toss this batch of lovely smelling soap, and I had to toss all my labcolors *cries*. In the years I have been making soap I have never come across DOS or other spot problems, so this is a first for me and I'm really not sure what else may be causing the problem. All thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Thank y'all so much.




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[AlchemyandAshes]

DON'T THROW OUT ALL THAT SOAP YET!!! :shock:
I would wait to hear some opinions from other soapers before I threw out soap that may still be usable, if not pretty. I don't use lab colors or know much about them, but I doubt they would mold in 2 months, especially stored in the fridge. I'm suspicious of the hanger used to swirl or possibly the liquid used to make the lye solution. Can you post a picture and your recipe? Did you wrap your hanger with Saran Wrap? Did you line your mold with anything different (or at all)? Is there any sugar or honey in this recipe? Did it overheat? Spots like that can sometimes be reactions of the lye with impurities in the lye itself or other ingredients, like metal particulates in the water. Lots of variables, but maybe someone else has had this happen and can give you an idea of the cause.

 

[Lynnz]

Sorry to see this has happened for you. Given that the hanger and the colourant are the only variations is it possible that your colour needed a good shaking up. I cant imagine the hanger being an issue, I presume that it came out with the covering all nicely intact, so wonder if possibly the colourant was in need of a good shaking prior to using? Did you use goatsmilk in this recipe then possibly it could be little bits of the milkfat that got burn't whilst mixing your lye?

 

[gypsyarmadillo]

Thank you for the reply, I really appreciate it! The picture should be showing now My recipe is pretty basic with OO at 36% PO at 28% CO at 22% Shea at 9% Castor at 5% superfat at 7% and my lye is from Essential Depot. I do almost always mix in some sugar at about 1 tsp ppo and I pre-dissolve it in the H20 (always distilled); no other additives in the lye this time. The lye solution is mixed in a stainless steel container and my habit is to mix slowly, a bit at time, so I don’t think it got hotter than usual, but then again I can’t recall what the initial temp was at initial measure before the cold bath. I do always cover my hangers in Saran Wrap to help with drag and to keep the metal from contacting the soap, but maybe contact was made nonetheless…? Really, I haven’t done anything different than normal, which is why I am so perplexed :shock: . I have been making soap on and off for over 10 years now and haven’t had any major problems since my initial year of soapmaking. Although, like I mentioned, I am relatively new to Labcolors and so far they have worked well for me, but they are the only thing I can think of that makes sence as a viable culprit. I will probably keep the lavender soap for myself, if only for observation.

 

[gypsyarmadillo]

Another note of the colorant: I do slightly warm each one prior to use and give them a good shake, as the user manual for the Labcolors mentioned that some need it, so instead of trying to recall which ones do and don't I got into the habit of doing it with all the colors. I then do the color blending and mix with a mini stickblender.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Oh, I finally saw the picture
Could it be the sugar? Maybe it didn't dissolve all the way?
The soap is beautiful, even with the spots :wink:

 

[Genny]

I think it's most likely the sugar, but what colors did you use?

 

[gypsyarmadillo]

Oh, I finally saw the picture
Could it be the sugar? Maybe it didn't dissolve all the way?
The soap is beautiful, even with the spots :wink:

Gosh, I'm going to kick myself (hard) if it is only the sugar, especially since I threw out all those colors :x But, you know, it could be. I dissolve the sugar in the water as my first step so usually by the time I mix in the lye it has been dissolving for about 25min (I stir it a few times in that period), but maybe I didn't notice some undissolved particles in the H2O..I’ve never had problems with the sugar, so it didn’t dawn on me that is what it could be (thank you for pointing that out!) I'm so very paranoid of DOS/Mold that maybe I overreacted....It's just that, like a lot of soap makers, I've got my process down to a "T" and rarely deviate, so when something goes wrong it throws me for a loop

I think it's most likely the sugar, but what colors did you use?

I did a blend of blue, red and orange to get a the dark lavender color...One question I do have about it being sugar is why do you think that it only shows in the purple portion and not in the portion that was colored with only a bit titanium dioxide? When I look at all the soaps from that batch the spots are almost exclusively in the purple portion of the soap.

 

[Genny]

I'm changing my mind about the sugar. I actually think that it's most likely your orange colorant that just didn't get blended in well enough.