OMG salt soap! And a gradient!

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Seawolfe

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So again copious notes because I am a nubcake. And lousy pics because I insist on doing cell phone pics in-situ. Apologies if I'm not loading the pictures right.

I had been reading all about salt bars and settled on making one last night. I'm supposed to be waiting for my shipment from SMR to come in, but who has patience like that?

The recipe I decided to use was CP:
Coconut oil 80%
Shea butter 15%
Castor 5%
20% superfat

I whizzed it with the stick blender to a light trace, and then mixed in 80% of the oil weight in salt. I had a tiny bit of Orange and Lemongrass EO left that I tossed in, but it might have been too little.

And then, because every batch right now is a learning experience, I wanted to try a gradient pattern as well, like the one from this tutorial: http://thesoapbar.blogspot.ca/2012/07/gradient-soap-tutorial-emily-shieh.html?m=1

Having no colorant but turmeric in my house I bravely soldiered on! I put 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric in the "color" bucket and some of the soap, and mixed it well with hubbys little whisk (shhhhh dont tell him). Then vaguely followed the directions on that gradient tutorial (without looking and with a cocktail for courage!)

I got it all in the mold, with the overage in a standby round thing because I wasn't sure how much space the salt would take. I was told to cut early because they can get so hard to cut, but they weren't ready after 2 hours so I wrapped it up in saran and towels and left it on top of the floor heater that has the pilot light on. And wandered off to bed.

Heres what it looked like in the morning with my highly professional drawer divider mold lined with saran wrap:
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And then unmolded:
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As predicted it was quite hard, and I learned that the thick cleaver is a bad choice because it is too thick - my first cuts were crazy split crumbles. Hubby elbowed in and and proved it was better to use the thin large sharp knife, which worked a treat.
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Im really pleased with how the turmeric colored the soap, and have a better idea how to make the gradient now.
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in mold.JPG


unmolden.JPG


cut 2 use.JPG


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Looks awesome!!! I, too, used tumeric, but mine turned really dark orange as opposed to the nice yellow you have (I'm jealous of your yellow!). You did great!!
 
They look fantastic. Congratulations on your first salt bars and thank goodness hubby had a sharp knife :smile: As a side note to tumeric powder, tumeric eo is a great colorant with a bit of earthy fragrance but has to be used such such percentage it will not lend fragrance to your soap
 
Wow, I love the coloring from the tumeric! Well done, Seawolfe.

My next bar is going to be a salt bar as well. I'll come back (cocktail in hand, of course) and read your post again before this newbie gives it a whirl...

So you didn't have any issues with it wanting to harden before getting it in your mold? I think I read that can sometimes be tricky.
 
Looking very good. How do they smell?
Theres a faint orange and lemon grass scent, along with the nutty smell from the shea butter.
Wow, I love the coloring from the tumeric! Well done, Seawolfe.

My next bar is going to be a salt bar as well. I'll come back (cocktail in hand, of course) and read your post again before this newbie gives it a whirl...

So you didn't have any issues with it wanting to harden before getting it in your mold? I think I read that can sometimes be tricky.

No - in fact it was still quite soft even after 2 hours in the mold when I went to bed. Which was surprising, I thought it wouldn't even stay thin enough to pour the layers, but it cooperated nicer than expected. I think the cocktail helped :p

Now, getting it out of that acrylic mold was a bit tricky - even the saran wrap started to tear, but hubby flexed the sides of the mold a bit outward and then it popped right out.
 
Congratulations on your first salt soap bars, they look great and i bet they will sooth the mind body and spirit. =D
I am going to make some salt soap bars most likely today and im a bit confused and wanted to understanding it right.
If say that is a 5lb mold then to get 80% salt you would do what 4lb salt to 1lb oil ?
 
Apparently there are a few ways to do salt bars.
Some say up to 100% of the entire mold weight (that sounds like crazy talk to me!)
Some say up to 100% of the weight of the combined oils. Thats what I did - 80% of the weight of my oils. My total oils were 20 ounces and I added 16 ounces of salt after light trace. This was very grainy, but easier to work with than I expected. I didn't know how much would be left over with the salt addition so I had a small mold to hold the overage.
There is also a post running around here referencing a trial someone did who said that salt as low as 25% of the weight of the oils was sufficient to make a spa style bar.
Congratulations on your first salt soap bars, they look great and i bet they will sooth the mind body and spirit. =D
I am going to make some salt soap bars most likely today and im a bit confused and wanted to understanding it right.
If say that is a 5lb mold then to get 80% salt you would do what 4lb salt to 1lb oil ?
 
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Very nice! Glad you were resourceful and soldiered on. I, too, get impatient waiting for my supplies. I've been holding onto some Himalayan pink salt and am looking for just the right recipe (and the nerve). Hope I'm as successful as you.
 
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