chibilightangel
Well-Known Member
I thought I'd share my second soap and update it again once the soap has cured. My first soap I used the following tutorial with the recipe involving coconut oil, olive oil and lard http://www.smftutorials.com/beginners-guide-tutorial.html
This second recipe, I wanted to add in Sunflower oil and a bit of shea butter, as well as nearly halving the recipe to fit into my brand new homemade mold (made a 20-25 oz mold and a 40 oz mold)
4 oz coconut
2 oz lard
12 oz olive oil
4 oz sunflower oil
1 oz shea
3.14 oz lye (ended up using 3.10 oz because my scale only gives me .05 oz and I decided it was safer to get extra superfatting than less)
7.36 oz water (used 4 ice cubes and put in a tiny bit extra water so ended up with 7.5 oz I seem to remember - used a 5% water discount in soapcalc)
The whole thing should be 5% superfat (plus whatever comes up for the .04 oz of lye that I removed because of my scale).
I was pleased with the use of a few ice cubes as it reduced the time required to bring the lye solution back down to a reasonable temperature. I melted my oils over a double boiler (I put them into a stainless steel mixing bowl) which I then had to put on ice because the lye water was cooling down faster than the oils and I was impatient to get to the fun mixing stage.
Once all mixed, I got it to light trace and shortly after poured it into my mold, banged it on the counter a few times, carefully pressed seran wrap on top and sent it into the oven at thereabouts of 190 for just over 2 hours. My mother ever so kindly turned the oven off for me while I was playing my first ever ice hockey game in an arena (I was lucky and a friend had just bought new equipment so she was able to dress me for the occasion). For all those interested, I had a great time at the game, 2 passes for goal but I am still completely incapable of stopping on demand... more practice required.
I think my father must have been pretty excited to see the soap since he'd already taken it out of the oven to peek at it the next morning before I could get to it. The plastic wrap did a great job of preventing soda ash everywhere I had pressed it in (though I do agree it leaves a semi-weird texture to the top).
I even go to try out my new removable ends on the mold to just slide out the soap log. Following are pics of the log, cut log and cut piece.
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Overall very happy with the outcome. No zapping so good sign that things worked out in the oven. There are some fine bubbles in the soap, but I was expecting it as I think I once got some air in with my stick blender... as soon as I hit the start button, I knew I'd gotten air into the mixture. Live and learn. I am really happy with my mold lining skills however. Only places showing creasing were right on the end pieces where you get the overlap, and about an inch or so in where something weird must have happened and there was a bump (can be seen in the log picture before cutting).
I think that this batch is a bit softer at unmolding than my first batch. My guess it's mostly due to the fact that I overheated the first batch (I forgot the oven runs 40F warm and just set it to 200, so had the soap in at 240 for over 30 minutes before I turned it down) and this one I gelled at only 190 and for about 45 minutes less than the first batch. It also had plastic wrap on top.
I'm really excited to try out this new soap to compare it to the first batch. I've been my very own guinea pig and using my first soap in the shower. I have fairly sensitive skin and prone to dry skin in the winter and so far it works great. I am exclusively using my first soap and not moisturizing (going on day 5 now) and so far I'm loving the switch. I also think I'll be using my small 20-25oz mold a fair amount in the coming weeks to try out some FO's that should be coming in this week and even dare try to swirl some color and new recipe combinations.
Can anyone tell me if they've noticed that putting plastic wrap slows down initial curing before cutting?[/img]
This second recipe, I wanted to add in Sunflower oil and a bit of shea butter, as well as nearly halving the recipe to fit into my brand new homemade mold (made a 20-25 oz mold and a 40 oz mold)
4 oz coconut
2 oz lard
12 oz olive oil
4 oz sunflower oil
1 oz shea
3.14 oz lye (ended up using 3.10 oz because my scale only gives me .05 oz and I decided it was safer to get extra superfatting than less)
7.36 oz water (used 4 ice cubes and put in a tiny bit extra water so ended up with 7.5 oz I seem to remember - used a 5% water discount in soapcalc)
The whole thing should be 5% superfat (plus whatever comes up for the .04 oz of lye that I removed because of my scale).
I was pleased with the use of a few ice cubes as it reduced the time required to bring the lye solution back down to a reasonable temperature. I melted my oils over a double boiler (I put them into a stainless steel mixing bowl) which I then had to put on ice because the lye water was cooling down faster than the oils and I was impatient to get to the fun mixing stage.
Once all mixed, I got it to light trace and shortly after poured it into my mold, banged it on the counter a few times, carefully pressed seran wrap on top and sent it into the oven at thereabouts of 190 for just over 2 hours. My mother ever so kindly turned the oven off for me while I was playing my first ever ice hockey game in an arena (I was lucky and a friend had just bought new equipment so she was able to dress me for the occasion). For all those interested, I had a great time at the game, 2 passes for goal but I am still completely incapable of stopping on demand... more practice required.
I think my father must have been pretty excited to see the soap since he'd already taken it out of the oven to peek at it the next morning before I could get to it. The plastic wrap did a great job of preventing soda ash everywhere I had pressed it in (though I do agree it leaves a semi-weird texture to the top).
I even go to try out my new removable ends on the mold to just slide out the soap log. Following are pics of the log, cut log and cut piece.
Overall very happy with the outcome. No zapping so good sign that things worked out in the oven. There are some fine bubbles in the soap, but I was expecting it as I think I once got some air in with my stick blender... as soon as I hit the start button, I knew I'd gotten air into the mixture. Live and learn. I am really happy with my mold lining skills however. Only places showing creasing were right on the end pieces where you get the overlap, and about an inch or so in where something weird must have happened and there was a bump (can be seen in the log picture before cutting).
I think that this batch is a bit softer at unmolding than my first batch. My guess it's mostly due to the fact that I overheated the first batch (I forgot the oven runs 40F warm and just set it to 200, so had the soap in at 240 for over 30 minutes before I turned it down) and this one I gelled at only 190 and for about 45 minutes less than the first batch. It also had plastic wrap on top.
I'm really excited to try out this new soap to compare it to the first batch. I've been my very own guinea pig and using my first soap in the shower. I have fairly sensitive skin and prone to dry skin in the winter and so far it works great. I am exclusively using my first soap and not moisturizing (going on day 5 now) and so far I'm loving the switch. I also think I'll be using my small 20-25oz mold a fair amount in the coming weeks to try out some FO's that should be coming in this week and even dare try to swirl some color and new recipe combinations.
Can anyone tell me if they've noticed that putting plastic wrap slows down initial curing before cutting?[/img]
I was saved by the wonderful folks here who got together and taught me what to do. Slow learner. 
