Is it possible I've ruined my first Bastille?

[Ifiyenia]

I was so excited last night when I tried my first Castille Type or Bastille soap, everything went smoothly and I couldn't wait to cut it this morning.

But I'm afraid things gone wrong, somehow..

Firstly, I totally ruined the Lynn top I covered my silicone mold with saran wrap, thinking it would be ok, because the soap was not reaching the top of the mold. Mistake. It did. And the wrap ruined the peaks, as you ll see in the pics.
Well OK, I can live with that, it was my first attempt and I had no big hopes.

But what freaked me out was the color of my soap.

While the top and inside has a nice, smooth, creamy-beige color, the sides got a pinkish tint

Is it possible that my expensive, red silicone mold transfered it's color to my soap?
It sounds crazy, since it WAS an expensive mold, suitable for baking and the temperatures stated by the manufactures were -40oF/+482oF or -40oC/+250oC.
Could the soap while in the mold reach temperatures higher than those?!

It seems like a fine soap expect for the sides color, but to me looks ruined.
What should i do?



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[frieda]

I should leave it as it is for the moment... it is possible that the colour still change with time... just wait and see. And after all a bit of a different colour isn't the end of the world, is it?
I don't know if it is the mold itself who is releasing it's colour, one should expect that might not be the case since it is a baking mold and some ones shouldn't want to find colour in their food...
BTW, I love your soaptops, just the way they are!

 

[carebear]

the red silicone molds I had were actually for baking and yes, the red transferred to the soap. i'm told that stops after a few batches but I wasn't interested in finding out so I abandoned them. blue is not problematic, nor are SOME red ones. mine were red, tho a tad orange/terra cotta colored and thick - wilton brand, I think. i don't imagine the dye is toxic since it's a food grade pan, but that's a guess.

 

[LauraHoosier]

To protect your peaks what about using some packing or duct tape to hold a chopstick up on each end and maybe one at about the middle but not in the soap (I'm thinking log mold, never used silicone before) then when you saran wrap it make sure the chopsticks are used like the poles to hold up tent tops. Then you can just wrap saran wrap around the sides which should close up any gaps made by the chopsticks.

Make sense?

 

[BlueValkyrie]

I have red silicone moulds that also colour my soap pinkish - maybe it does stop after a few batches, but I'm not sure I want partially pink soap while finding out...

 

[frieda]

oups...I also got a red sillicone bakingmold that I wanted to use...should better keep it for baking than and get another type for soaping... Is the colour affecting so much the soap? On the picture it seemed hardly noticable to me...

 

[BlueValkyrie]

The colour bleed from my mould is subtle - but it happened for a batch of salt bars that are pure white otherwise, so it's pretty annoying. Also, I don't use colourants in my soap - I'm trying to avoid products with lots of additives, which is why I started making soap in the first place (I have psorasis and my skin gets angry very easily).

I don't like the fact that I don't know what the added red in my soap 'is' - a chemical? A vegetable dye? A constituent of silicone? You can barely see it, but it still bothers me :roll:

Most people probably wouldn't notice, or mind at all. And if it was a darker batch, I might not have minded either :wink:

 

[Ifiyenia]

frieda, the color did fade a little, you can still see a pinkish tint, but now, hours later, I start liking the top too
Moreover, I don't think it affects the soap, because if I cut the sides, the rest of the soap is fine, with it's nice beige color, but nevertheless it worries me.

carebear, I don't imagine it's toxic too, but it still worries me since that batch was for a toddler. I' m gonna make a new one and keep this for me.

LauraHoosier, thanks for the tip, yes, it makes sense, although next time, I'm gonna use a box as cover, I'm pretty sure it will work just as fine, and it's gonna be a little easier too :wink:

BlueValkyrie, I agree. It is there, and it is annoying. I know most people would not even notice, actually my best friend said she liked it a lot like this, but as I said before, since it's for a little child, I will not risk it.

 

[jsanders]

Just make a few batches of pink soap. It is a pretty normal color for soap.

 

[LauraHoosier]

Glad to help. I can't use boxes because my cats like to climb into them lol I thought of the filing boxes with lids and passed on that too since the cats just sit on those too. Our one cat weights enough to cave in the lid.

 

[Ifiyenia]

Glad to help. I can't use boxes because my cats like to climb into them lol I thought of the filing boxes with lids and passed on that too since the cats just sit on those too. Our one cat weights enough to cave in the lid.

Lol, dear, being a cat person all my life, I know exactly what you mean

Thank God my oldest cat, Luna, is not interested anymore in exploring new places, and the youngest one, Tsiko, is very well behaved.

The middle one though, Nellos -the one in my avatar pic- I'm sure if he was here, he would have done anything to sit in all the wrong places, climb into the kitchen bench just when my soap was ready for molding and doing everything he could to assist my soapmaking efforts... Unfortunately, he is missing for 20 days now, he run away and did not come back yet. We still hope and we still search for him.
I miss him like crazy... wish he was back and I would not mind at all if he opened the fridge to grab his snack as he used to do..

 

[frieda]

ifiyenia, if it is a male cat... don't worry too much yet, maybe he is just out to have some fun.... hope for you he will be sitting on your doormat one of these days!

 

[Ifiyenia]

ifiyenia, if it is a male cat... don't worry too much yet, maybe he is just out to have some fun.... hope for you he will be sitting on your doormat one of these days!

Wish this was the case, Frieda, but he is one and a half years old and neutered a long time ago. He was out in our balcony (we're on the 4th floor) and jumped to the next building's terrace to play with some stray cats that come there because we feed them regularly. He used to do that often, so I was not so worried at first, but when it was time to feed him and he didn't came back, we knew he was missing...
We still look for him around at nights and early in the morning and we've put like 70 posters around the neighborhood, talked to people, store owners, our vet.. no luck so far.
I just pray for a miracle, but most of all I pray he's still alive and hope that someone took him in and takes care of him.

Thanks for the positive vibrations

 

[Bubbles Galore]

That's still gonna be great soap. Just make more. :wink: