Nailed it!....Not really, lol.

[Balloons]

Let me just start by saying that I am soooooo glad that I am one of those people that can laugh at themselves...flaws and all. Keep in mind I have only made 2 batches of cp to date. I was searching online at some cp soaping and came across end some leopard spots cp soaps. Of course I immediately wanted to try this yesterday, which I did, lol. OMG...by the time I got the oils, lye and colors all mixed together the soap started to get a little too firm to do anything with. I seriously had to use my hand to smash the soap in the mold because no way was I going to toss it. I definitely will have to figure out a recipe that will trace a lot slower. I also the temperature had something to do with it....but at least I tried. I thought for sure that there was going to be huge air pockets...actually empty tunnels throughout the soap but the tunnels ended up having some air pockets here and there. I will definitely try this again though.(I obviously didn't add enough black)

 

[maya]

I think that is a perfectly loverly soap.

 

[Soapacetic]

Doesnt look bad at all, pretty cool.
If there was thinner lines of black or if they had swirls lines coming out at all places it would look like marble.
Nice colors, the gray is nice.

 

[JuneP]

Don't agree

I think it's a very interesting soap; and I like the colors. Maybe the acceleration problem was caused by your fragrance????

June

 

[Balloons]

You're all so sweet. Thanks!
JuneP...I didn't even think about fo causing the acceleration. That's a huge possibility.

 

[snappyllama]

There's nothing wrong with your soap, although it might not have been what you intended. It reminds me of mountains.

For my first few batches, I was guilty of stickblending too much. Now I alternate hand-stirring and sticking blending until the batter is just emulsified. Then I divide into containers for different colors and hand stir those in - maybe turning on my stick blender for a few pulses. Other things you can do to slow down trace is: use a lot of lard and/or olive oil in your recipe, keep it at full water, soap cool, and pick a FO/EO that behaves.

 

[Balloons]

Definetely not what I intended but that's ok. I was considering rebatching it before I took it out of the mold. It's just for my hubby and me so it doesn't need to be perfect.

 

[Seawolfe]

I think it's lovely! What scent did you use?

Hitting that sweet spot just before trace begins in earnest is what I'm really trying to learn right now.

 

[navigator9]

Gee, for a soap that you had to smash into the mold, it looks really good! Never would have guessed. Have you tried soaping at room temp? That will help things move more slowly. And when you're trying to go for emulsion, I found that it really helps, like snappyllama said, to stick blend a bit, then stir, blend, then stir. When you only stick blend, you may think you've reached trace, but then you stir, and it loosens things up a bit. I think it gives you a truer idea of where the batter is on it's way to trace, if that makes sense. Plus it goes slower that if you just used the stick blender. Once I feel the batter has reached emulsion, then I take my spatula, and stir, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom well, and make sure every little bit is incorporated. This part just takes a few seconds, so the batter doesn't go farther while you doing it. It took me years to be comfortable enough to believe my batter was emulsified, but once it got it, I got it. It's one of those things that the more you do it, and the closer you pay attention, the easier it is to recognize. In the mean time, you've got some nice soap there!

 

[jules92207]

Wow, I wish my fast moving disasters looked half that good! You are already 100 steps ahead of most if you call that a failure. Nice job!

 

[Balloons]

Thanks everyone for the all the great comments and input! Seawolfe...I used Sandalwood FO. Navigator9....I wanted to wait for it to reach room temperature but hubby and my dogs wanted to eat so I rushed it. I am going to ease up on the stick blender the next time I try this technique or any other soaping technique that needs a slow trace.

 

[Seawolfe]

I wanted to wait for it to reach room temperature but hubby and my dogs wanted to eat so I rushed it. .

I read this as "wanted to eat IT"




What's your recipe? Is it friendly to slow trace?

 

[Balloons]

I think this is the recipe that I used. I'm so new at this...I thought this would work
Total oil weight (oz)31.0
Water as percent of oil weight38%
Super Fat/Discount5%
Water : Lye Ratio2.8 : 1

Sat : Unsat Ratio45 : 55
Iodine58.61
INS147.23
Fragrance Ratio1.00
Fragrance Weight (oz)1

IngredientPoundsOuncesGrams
Water0.7411.78333.96
Lye - NaOH0.274.27120.98

#Oil/Fat%PoundsOuncesGrams
1Avocado Oil...3 oz
2Castor Oil...5 oz
3Coconut Oil, 76 deg...5 oz
4Cottonseed Oil...3 oz
5Palm Oil...5 oz
6Walmart GV shortening...10 oz


Soap qualitySuggestedYour Recipe
Hardness29 - 5442.9
Cleansing12 - 2212.6
Conditioning44 - 6953.2
Bubbly14 - 4627.1
Creamy16 - 4844.8
Iodine41 - 7058.6
INS136 - 165147.2

Lauric8.1
Myristic4.5
Palmitic23.0
Stearic7.3
Ricinoleic14.5
Oleic27.5
Linoleic10.7
Linolenic0.4