Help with molding in Rose Silicone Mold

[Jayrian]

Hi Guys,

I just bought some rose molds as attached. I am having some problems with consistency issue if any of you can share your expertise.

The compositions are:
500mg Frac Coconut Oil
50% Palm Olein
Water 380g
Lye 170g
No Fragrance

I made 2 batches with both lyes and oils at room temperature (28 - 30C) and have different results. One of them is perfect while the other have white batches on them

My questions are:
1. How to avoid those white things ontop and on the side of the soap?
2. What do I have to do to achieve 100% of the rose mold ie. on the top part of the rose design there are some bubbles or patches that are not covered with soap.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance

 

[Steve85569]

Was the temperature during saponification the same? I see tan on the soap on the left. It looks almost like partial gel in the pictures. Might also be that the second one isn't completely mixed? It's kind of a neat look IMHO. Just tell people you did it on purpose and try to repeat it.

 

[KristaY]

The white stuff on the bottom (flat side) looks like soda ash. It's harmless and will wash off with water. You can rub your fingers over it to remove it while wet or use something like nylon panty hose. I've found it's easier to remove than try to prevent. The only thing that has helped me get rid of most of my ash is to decrease my water.

As for the bubbles or little holes, the best thing to do is pour at a very light trace and bang the mold on the counter to bring the air to the surface. When I'm using cavity molds like that I put them on large baking sheets so I can bang the baking tray with the mold on top and not worry about the flexible mold doing goofy gymnastics.

The discoloration is very interesting. It has the look of high/low water which is cool and hard to achieve! It could also be soda ash building up on the sides. Were your oils blended together really well before adding the lye? Hopefully someone with more expertise on this type of thing will come along to help.

Those are really pretty soaps!

 

[Obsidian]

The white swirls are probably stearic swirls from the palm, it can partially separate and cool faster then the other fatty acids in the soap. I almost always had this when I used palm.

Is this a recipe you have made and used in the past? That is a lot of frac coconut, its not usually recommended for soap. Soapers use regular old 76 degree coconut oil.

 

[shunt2011]

I agree with stearic spots and on not using fractionated CO. I use that in body perfumes.

 

[Seawolfe]

500mg Frac Coconut Oil
50% Palm Olein
That is an odd choice for oils (I assume you meant 50g Palm). What made you decide on them?

I vote ash for the bottoms and stearic streaks on the sides. If palm olein has stearic...

 

[DeeAnna]

You can separate fats such as palm oil, lard, and tallow into two parts -- liquidy olein and the more solid stearin. Olein contains more oleic acid and is more like olive oil. Stearin contains more stearic and palmitic acid. Palm olein (or palmolein) is just the olein from palm oil.

The soap in the photos has soda ash on the flat tops. I can't quite decide if it's ash on the sides, but that's what I'm thinking.

Seawolfe -- I can't quite figure out the recipe either -- not sure about the 500 mg (milligrams) FCO. I'm assuming that should be 500 g, not mg.

 

[penelopejane]

It might be that the Coconut oil has partially solidified before it was mixed properly. This has happened to me before.
With solid oils I soap a little hotter about 43 degrees C or 110 F and I mix the oils with a SB beforehand I put the lye in. I think mixing the oils before the lye goes in is even more important than the temperature. This has solved the problem of blobs and swirls of different colours for me.

 

[Jayrian]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the prompt response and input. Sorry it took me a while to reply.

I made a typo it should be 500g of coconut oil and 500g of Palm Olein. The reason why I choose these combination is because these are the most readily available oil to me.

Didn't know that I should have mixed the oils prior to pouring the oil in. Today I will try to mix them and soap at 43C, try to bang the mold on baking tray to try to remove the bubbles. Hope everything turns out well.

Will post some pics of the result.

Oh another question, while mixing oil and lye with the stick blender should I press the SB to the bottom of the bowl or should I stir it around while mixing it? Does it even make a difference?

Thanks again.

 

[Steve85569]

With the SB you do not want to introduce any air bubbles so keep it very close to the bottom. Just be sure you are getting everything mixed in well.
I use a lower water batter and don't go much over the temperature listed (43 C) and don't go to a thick trace. That allows the batter to flow into the design. This mixture will IMHO gel without any attempt to assist it.

Just my two cents worth,
Steve

 

[navigator9]

For the soap with streaks, here's my theory. I used to get streaks in my soap fairly frequently. I got to the point where I wondered if maybe things weren't getting mixed as well as I thought they were. My theory is that the stick blender doesn't reach all areas of the soap batter equally. And I think it may depend on the size of the batch, the power of the stick blender, the shape of the pot or bowl, and how much you move the SB around. So, what I do is this. After I finish mixing with the SB, and just before I pour, I stir the pot with my spatula, scraping the sides and bottom, and mixing well. It only takes a few seconds, and I already have my spatula at hand to scrape the pot, so it's not a big deal, and the payoff.......I don't get streaks any more. So it can't hurt anything to give it a try, and who knows, it just might work for you, too.

 

[Jayrian]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for all your suggestions I combined all and have achieved a near perfect rose molded soap.

I heated up all the oils to 43 Celc and blended them prior to pouring the lye. After the lye is poured in I used spatulla to mixed them for about 1 - 2 mins. Then I mixed them with SB, what I did differently was inserting the SB fully instead of swirling it around the middle and the top. This is followed by mixing with spatulla and repeating the process until light trace.

Still having some little bubbles ontop of the rose design for some of the soap, while some others are perfectly smooth. I am not sure how to achieve consistency there.

But thanks again for all the great advice.

Cheers