How low can you go?

[CaraBou]

I soaped with separate 50:50 solutions of lye, sugar, and citric acid but forgot to add the balance of my total desired water. In the end it was 1.17 water: 1 lye (46% lye concentration, 54% water). Luckily (and unknown to me beforehand), Crafter's Choice Romance in Bed is suitable for the low water list. My drops were fluid and I didn't realize my mistake until the soap was in the oven. Thankfully I hadn't gone to bed yet. I cut at 3.5 hrs!

It's got me wondering, can you really make a 1:1 soap?

 

[newbie]

Has someone overtaken your body, Cara? You seem to trend to more neutrals and less color and suddenly-BAM- red and yellow soap!

I think you've pretty well proven that a 1:1 soap is possible because 1:1.17 is not much different than 1:1. I think your next soap should be a straight up 1:1, just to see for certain.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Gorgeous! And I would think for a 1:1 soap, you'd have to do just water and lye, no sugar or citric acid.

 

[doriettefarm]

Whoa, that's some serious rebel action CaraBou! You went all out with the extreme low water and red-hot flames . . . major soap envy over here!

 

[jules92207]

Has someone overtaken your body, Cara? You seem to trend to more neutrals and less color and suddenly-BAM- red and yellow soap!

I think you've pretty well proven that a 1:1 soap is possible because 1:1.17 is not much different than 1:1. I think your next soap should be a straight up 1:1, just to see for certain.

Seriously, who are you?

Agree with newbie - a solid test is in order.

 

[CaraBou]

Haha, that's funny guys! Let's just say I started feeling rambunctious after staring guiltily at the Really Red I had purchased for xmas soaps but never made. Hopefully my shower won't look like Norman Bates caught someone there, or I'll never use it (the really red) again!

 

[Steve85569]

Haha, that's funny guys! Let's just say I started feeling rambunctious after staring guiltily at the Really Red I had purchased for xmas soaps but never made. Hopefully my shower won't look like Norman Bates caught someone there, or I'll never use it (the really red) again!

Now I have to get the sound track earworm OUT before bed....

Electric color!!
What happened to the zebra lady?

 

[CaraBou]

Electric color!!
What happened to the zebra lady?

Hey, I'm not a leopard, I can change my spo - err - stripes!

 

[newbie]

Really Red doesn't bleed so no need to take a bottle of bleach in with you when you use this.

My my, you must have been in quite the mood tonight. Lovely drops and I love the middle bar of the first picture best for some reason and next is the one that has what looks like the flames doing up an angle through the soap, although they are all beautiful. Who knows? Next thing we may see from you is a six color rainbow swirl-o-rama.

 

[kchaystack]

I've never had a problem with really red leaving color in my shower. It might tint your lather kind of pink, or stain a white washcloth, but not your skin.

That is a really pretty swirl.

 

[Susie]

That soap is gorgeous!

 

[Arimara]

That's a nice, fiery soap there. I don't see why you can't use a 50% lye solution. Never tried it though.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Some recipes and soaping temperatures will work better with a 50% solution than others. Castile, for example, would be fine. Anything with SA (or pine tar! [emoji33] ) not so much

 

[snappyllama]

Perfect design to showcase a low water test! That soap sizzles.

 

[TeresaT]

Thanks for that info, Craig. I'm going to try it today with my "Bastile" recipe. I've got more OO and lard than I know what to do with; I'll let y'all know how it goes. Hey, how's the baby? I haven't been here since the end of October and was wondering how big he's gotten.

 

[dibbles]

That is some hot and sassy soap - love it!

 

[DeeAnna]

Yep, you can soap with any lye concentration up to its saturation concentration of about 50%. The point is as long as the lye is fully dissolved, it will work to make soap. It's absolutely a do-able thing, but you might find it better to use with fats that saponify slowly (castile is the classic example) than others that saponify easily (coconut oil soap). Hope this helps!

 

[lionprincess00]

I mixed a 1:1 solution with predissolved sugar @1 tbs ppo and 2% sodium citrate in the past with zero issues. Even if adding liquids after trace, the 1:1 can have additives predissolved with zero issues other than heat and turning a light golden color which doesn't affect the final product (if you were concerned).

 

[CaraBou]

Yeah, I'm a believer. I'll add that my 50:50 lye solutions (including this one) are almost always cloudy (but no visible lye granules present). Apparently that alone isn't a problem. But I still can't get over how lucky I was with my random choice of FOs. Had my nose thought differently that night, the result might have been much different!

I'm surprised no one commented on the "tongue and tonsils" in the middle pic. The tongue especially grabbed me right away, but that's probably because it will be perfect for my oldest brother who is true Stones fan.

I should also mention that the yellow is colored solely from beta carotene in Snappy coconut oil. The red was mixed into the same batter and did not change to orange.

 

[jules92207]

I'm surprised no one commented on the "tongue and tonsils" in the middle pic. The tongue especially grabbed me right away, but that's probably because it will be perfect for my oldest brother who is true Stones fan.

I totally saw the mouth immediately!

I always get a filmy layer when I go low, it almost looks waxy on the surface. At first I thought the solution was eating away at my container. Now that I've read more it sounds like it's normal to get cloudy like that, but I've many times tossed my solution cause I didn't trust it was safe.

In hindsight it probably would have been fine.