Lessons learned outcome

[SoapDaddy70]

Pretty happy with the way this batch came out considering that I was trying to do a tiger swirl but everything traced on me so fast it became too thick to pour. I made a post about it in the beginners forum. Batter was so thick you can see I ended up with huge gaps in the soap. In the pic of the single bar there is a little spot that is slightly darker than the rest of the cream color. Almost like a ghost swirl/partial gel thing going on. Third batch under my belt. I now have 24 bars of soap curing in my kitchen and my wife is about to kill me!!

 

[Zing]

Hey! It looks great! And despite your frustrations, you still get homemade soap! I'll tell you my secret whenever I get an unexpected result, air pockets, etc. -- call it "rustic."

 

[Catscankim]

I like the glycerin rivers. Lately I have been studying up on how to force them. I think they look cool.

 

[SoapDaddy70]

I like the glycerin rivers. Lately I have been studying up on how to force them. I think they look cool.

I just read a great article on Auntie Clara‘s about glycerine rivers. Here is the link.
https://auntieclaras.com/2014/05/glycerine-rivers-secret-revealed/
This happened in my soap purely by accident but after I read the article it made sense. This batch was made with a 35% lye solution and I used water soluble TD and a FO that accelerated the batter like crazy. If i understand the concept correctly I think the only parts of the soap that entered gel phase were those little translucent areas. The weird thing is that the whole batch was made with the same lye solution so wondering why those tiny little areas gelled. Fascinating stuff.

 

[earlene]

Lovely.

 

[Loran]

What was your recipe? I think your soap looks awesome dude! Your wife is lucky! You’re home making her the finest soap instead of out at the bars nothing’s more aggravating then it thickening too much on ya. I’m still working on that part too

 

[SoapDaddy70]

What was your recipe? I think your soap looks awesome dude! Your wife is lucky! You’re home making her the finest soap instead of out at the bars nothing’s more aggravating then it thickening too much on ya. I’m still working on that part too

Thanks a lot. Here is the recipe. Only reason I used Crisco is because I was home alone for the day and just had to make soap and had very little Shea Butter left.

Olive Oil - 40% - 317.6g
Coconut Oil - 33% - 262.02g
Crisco - 16% - 127.04g (not sure why I added this but I did)
Shea Butter - 6% - 47.64g (this was the last of my shea butter)
Castor Oil - 5% - 39.7g

35% Lye Solution
7% Superfat

40g of Botanical Bliss FO from Nurture Soap
The purple was Jam Session Mica from Nurture - Pretty sure the soap did not gel so that is why the purple is a little pastel looking
Used some TD from Nurture for the white.

For all the issues I had with batter accelerating like crazy I was happy with the result just out of dumb luck.

 

[Loran]

So the 16% crisco you used would have normally gone towards the Shea butter?

 

[lsg]

I have found that it helps if you just blend to emulsion stage and then divide the soap for coloring. Stir colors with a spatula or hit quickly with stick blender. Don't wait to see trace before dividing.

 

[SoapDaddy70]

So the 16% crisco you used would have normally gone towards the Shea butter?

Yes. Most likely.

 

[lenarenee]

lsg is right - emulsion is your friend, so is a slow moving fragrance. Hopefully by the time you color and scent, you'll be at light trace (stir by hand). The first couple of passes in the mold will make you think the batter is too thin - but quickly you'll see it's not. (my first 2 passes always look like mistake - but always works out in the end).

I found it's best to stick to same amount of passes before you switch colors. For example; making red and white peppermint soap - one slow pass of red, then one slow pass of white, OR fast passes of red, and 2 fast passes of white. Helps to keep the stripes even. But I think the tiger stripe is pretty forgiving anyway.

Most importantly - that soap is gorgeous! I love glycerin rivers, AND air pockets and have no need to think that it's rustic. It's shows its handmade, not commercial.