My first “Rain” soap

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DWinMadison said:
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This might seem like a strange question, but i do have a reason: How many pounds or ounces of oils was this batch? And you got 6 bars, or were there more?

KiwiMoose said:
I

I’ve covered a lot of ground in a short time. Been soaping for four months, but have made what a normal person would make in 8 months.
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LOL, or maybe a year. :D I just made my 10th batch today.

(If you are a fellow nerd, that cranks out to 1.428 batches per week, average.)
 
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Meena said:
This might seem like a strange question, but i do have a reason: How many pounds or ounces of oils was this batch? And you got 6 bars, or were there more?
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It’s a great question. My new mold is 13.5” x 3.5”. It takes 48 oz to make 12 1” bars @2.5” tall. You probably saw that I also made an insert which reduces the volume by half (best decision ever) or 24 oz oils and yields 6 bars. I used the insert, since this was a trial run, so these are all 6 bars with only 1/4” trim on each end sacrificed to the “soap gods.” Why do you ask?
 
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Super awesome soap! How did you learn to do this? Is there a tutorial you watched on Youtube? I have always wondered how it is done. Looking forward to one day being able to produce a bar this pretty.
 
DWinMadison said:
It’s a great question. My new mold is 13.5” x 3.5”. It takes 48 oz to make 12 1” bars bars @2.5” tall. You probably saw that I also made an insert which reduces the volume by half (best decision ever) or 24 oz oils and yields 6 bars. Why do you ask?
Click to expand...

A bit of a long story, and I'll probably ramble some ... but I'll try to be cogent. My SO made me a nice wood mold of what I judged to be a fairly standard size. I think it's 17.5" long x 3.5 wide x 3.25 high or deep. I've put foam on the ends so I don't have to make such a big batch yet. For some reason, maybe having to do with my most recent concussion, I have either been 'forgetting' or resisting doing the calculation for the mold volume, as I've re-injured the administrative center of the brain (the site of a previous TBI), and have had more difficulty than usual 'taking myself in hand', so to speak. I have been under the belief or just feel like I should be able to just 'judge' how much soap will fit. I would love to get 6 uniform and regular-sized bars from a batch, Just Once!! "Well, numb-skull, why don't you calculate your volume, then??"

For just a bit of further background, two batches ago I used 25 oz of oils plus 10.5 oz water and only filled the mold about halfway when it was sectioned to 12" long. Of course, I forgot about this. o_O

Last night, I made a 21 oz batch after placing a jar behind one of the foam blocks to make the mold just 9" long. 21 oz oils + 6.65 oz water is almost 28 ounces of fluids. Tonight I calculated the mold (finally) at 9" and that section will hold 38.9 ounces of fluids. I should have been just 10 ounces short last night, but when I started pouring in my batter, it seemed that it was maybe going to be half full again, or less.
I said, "Oh No, We Are Not Doing This," and poured/scraped the batter back into the bowl, which if you've never done it from a freezer paper-lined wood mold, is VERY MUCH UN-FUN.

My first mold was a slab mold, which I DID calculate volume on, but still never filled. I kept adding, adding to recipes but never did manage to fill it before I stopped using it. I'm using the LxWxH x .38 that I'm 'supposed to', but for some reason this has come up short for me, from day one. Sometimes I feel like I live in an Alternate Reality and only appear to be on this planet with ya'all. I worry sometimes... and now you all know how insane i actually am!! :eek: :p

Anyway, now that your eyes have glazed over and your brain feels like you stuck your head in a vat of some jelly substance, your answer DID help me... so thanks! :D

20190304_sectioned mold 192641-1.jpg
 
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KristaY said:
Seriously gorgeous soap! I've drooled over that design for a while but haven't gotten up the courage to give it a go. Well done you!
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If I can do it, anyone can. I recommend using wide-mouth squeeze bottles. I bought some specifically for this project but will never make soap with a regular bottle again.

Meena said:
A bit of a long story, and I'll probably ramble some ... but I'll try to be cogent. My SO made me a nice wood mold of what I judged to be a fairly standard size. I think it's 17.5" long x 3.5 wide x 3.25 high or deep. I've put foam on the ends so I don't have to make such a big batch yet. For some reason, maybe having to do with my most recent concussion, I have either been 'forgetting' or resisting doing the calculation for the mold volume, as I've re-injured the administrative center of the brain (the site of a previous TBI), and have had more difficulty than usual 'taking myself in hand', so to speak. I have been under the belief or just feel like I should be able to just 'judge' how much soap will fit. I would love to get 6 uniform and regular-sized bars from a batch, Just Once!! "Well, numb-skull, why don't you calculate your volume, then??"

For just a bit of further background, two batches ago I used 25 oz of oils plus 10.5 oz water and only filled the mold about halfway when it was sectioned to 12" long. Of course, I forgot about this. o_O

Last night, I made a 21 oz batch after placing a jar behind one of the foam blocks to make the mold just 9" long. 21 oz oils + 6.65 oz water is almost 28 ounces of fluids. Tonight I calculated the mold (finally) at 9" and that section will hold 38.9 ounces of fluids. I should have been just 10 ounces short last night, but when I started pouring in my batter, it seemed that it was maybe going to be half full again, or less.
I said, "Oh No, We Are Not Doing This," and poured/scraped the batter back into the bowl, which if you've never done it from a freezer paper-lined wood mold, is VERY MUCH UN-FUN.

My first mold was a slab mold, which I DID calculate volume on, but still never filled. I kept adding, adding to recipes but never did manage to fill it before I stopped using it. I'm using the LxWxH x .38 that I'm 'supposed to', but for some reason this has come up short for me, from day one. Sometimes I feel like I live in an Alternate Reality and only appear to be on this planet with ya'all. I worry sometimes... and now you all know how insane i actually am!! :eek: :p

Anyway, now that your eyes have glazed over and your brain feels like you stuck your head in a vat of some jelly substance, your answer DID help me... so thanks! :D

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So, as I understand it, your mold is 9" long x 3.5" wide. The next question isn't how tall is the mold, but how tall do you want your BARS to be? (Ovbiously, something <= the height of your mold walls.) Let's assume, you want 2.5" tall bars. The calculation for the oils is always volume x 40%. So, 9 x 3.5 x 2.5 = 78.75 (total volume of your loaf) then that number x .40 = or 31.5 ounces of base OILS. That's where you start the lye and water calculations. You are probably thinking, "Duh! Thanks for nothing." but this conversation might be a help to a newbie other who has a similar question. Hope it helps at least a little.
 
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You're fine, no worries. I'm still confused. If 78.75 oz. is the calculated volume, and the Oils are 31.5 oz. in your example, the the lye water will have to be 47.25 ounces. Something seems very backwards. That would be 66.67% water instead of 29%.
 
Meena said:
You're fine, no worries. I'm still confused. If 78.75 oz. is the calculated volume, and the Oils are 31.5 oz. in your example, the the lye water will have to be 47.25 ounces. Something seems very backwards. That would be 66.67% water instead of 29%.
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You’re overthinking it—conflating volume with weight. The volume calculation only gets you to the oil weight as a starting point. Don’t try to extend the math to tie back to the oils and lye back to volume. Just trust the volume x 40% calculation and plug that into your calculator. It will calculate the water weight as a percent of the oils (38% as a default, but you adjust +/-). Your lye concentration is determined by the mix of oils you are using.
 
DWinMadison said:
You’re overthinking it—conflating volume with weight. The volume calculation only gets you to the oil weight as a starting point. Don’t try to extend the math to tie back to the oils and lye back to volume. Just trust the volume x 40% calculation and plug that into your calculator.
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I'm not surprised if I'm overthinking lol, and tying back numbers is what accountants do!! It's a miracle that I can make any soaps. ;)

It's bedtime and so I can't play with this right now, but I will plug this into a lye calculator the next chance I get.

Thanks for helping straighten me out. Not an easy task. ;) Have yourself a great night, my friend. <3
 

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