Insty-Trace fiasco...

[Todd_in_Minnesota]

A sad tale, and a question for the Forum.

In a fit of creativity last night I decided to make one more batch for Christmas gifts... nothing complicated. Just some pretty colors, some nice scent, and some easy swirls. Little did I know.

I mixed up a well-known recipe (lard based!) that usually gives me lots of open time for coloring, layering, swirling, etc. I set up three color tubs (blue, green, yellow) and some charcoal powder for random lines.

For the 36oz of vegetable oils I used the same total weight of essential oils I always do - 1.0oz to 1.2oz. On a whim I chose the oils to be .7oz YlangYlang, .3oz Ravensara, and .1oz Cinnamon. They seemed to compliment each other; sweet with a bit of spice under.

The veg oils and lye mixed up as they always do, but when I added the Essential Oils in it turned to applesauce within about 30 seconds. Foolishly (I should have known better) I tried to continue with the multi-color plan, and poured the applesauce into the three color tubs. By now (maybe another minute in) the applesauce was firming up to soft peanut butter, and was almost impossible to get mixed into the mica powders.

So I decided to pretend the uneven colors were 'art' instead of 'fail', and tried to get them into the mold.
By this time it's spackle, and I'm spooning it out of the tubs and smashing it down into the silicone mold with the back of a spatula.

When I finally gave up it looked (and felt) like crayon fragments mashed into old window glazing putty.
When I cut it, it might look 'artsy'... I haven't completely given up hope. But it certainly wasn't the easy, swirly, fun extra Christmas batch I had envisioned.

So - the question is, was the instant-trace in an otherwise well-behaved recipe the .1oz of Cinnamon? I had hoped that small amount wouldn't be a problem.

Or was it the Ravensara? That's an EO I have no experience with. Honestly, I don't even remember buying it!

What's the Forum's wisdom on this one, so I know which bottle of EO to quietly discard?

Thanks all.
Todd

 

[SunRiseArts]

well, I do not like to use cinnamon in my soaps, and I hear it usually causes problems.

But I had to answer because I love your avatar. Makes me think of Yoda!

 

[dibbles]

I don't know anything about ravensara, but ylang and cinnamon will both accelerate. I've used cinnamon leaf at a low percentage and found it workable. Ylang, however, moved super fast. I used up what I had, and haven't bought more - I like it fine, but it isn't such a favorite I'm willing to put up with it.

 

[Todd_in_Minnesota]

I don't know anything about ravensara, but ylang and cinnamon will both accelerate. I've used cinnamon leaf at a low percentage and found it workable. Ylang, however, moved super fast. I used up what I had, and haven't bought more - I like it fine, but it isn't such a favorite I'm willing to put up with it.

Hey Dibbles,
Now that you mention it, I went back through my batch history and every time I use .6oz or more of YlangYlang, it's traced faster than I want. I'm finally seeing the light! (once somebody else shined it in my eyes).
Thanks!
Todd

 

[pearl]

I agree with dibbles, both cinnamon and ylang are accelerating. Cinnamon is ok in lower amounts, with lower lye concentration (up to 30%, but not higher) there's not that much difference. Ylang is another story, not only tracing fast, but changing color of the batter as well.
Just yesterday I was making soap favors for my daughter's birthday and was using standard plane formula: palm, OO, CO and Castor (33% lye concentration). I was making two batches, only different scents, one being combination with ylang. First batch behaved as usual, no surprises at all. The one with ylang reached light to medium trace withing a minute, just by hand mixing, didn't used SB at all and also changed color, became more darker. I will see if this change translates into the final soap colors, as I have another batch with the same colors to compare, but done only with EO.