Promoting fluidity in HP soaps

[CTAnton]

OK...here I am with a bunch of botanical infusions that I'm feeling the lye monster will make short work of...the fact that some of them are in fractionated coconut oil adds to the push to try HP for the first time....
Just finished watching the Sharon Johnson video where she did her version on SBHP. Is that possibility dead in the water or did someone here have success with it...of course what attracted me to it was not the 10 minute aspect but more the fluidity of her batter...plopping soap into a mold just doesn't have much of an appeal to me while saving on costly EO's or FO's IS attractive....to say nothing of all these botanical infusions of mine....
So with that all said, is there some way to approach HP where you POUR the soap into a mold as opposed to plopping,ramming,stuffing...you get the idea I hope...!
Thank you all for all the help you've provided to me over the last several months...may I one day be as valued a contributor as some of you!

 

[miheypete]

This is my first post; I'm a long-time lurker. I do both HP and CP, and today I had an interesting experience. I HPed a 3 lb. batch of olive, lard, coconut, PKO, sunflower and castor (in descending order). This time I used an infusion of marshmallow root and calendula in my olive oil. I also added 1 tsp. sodium lactate PPO into my oils before heating. The soap finished to no-zap stage in about 45 minutes on low in my crockpot. I couldn't believe how fluid it was. I was actually able to pour, instead of glop, it into my mold. Since I've made this soap before and HPed to glop stage, I'm thinking it was the marshmallow root which added to the fluidity (since it's known for a slippery feel). I'm curious to see what happens when I unmold tomorrow. So, CTAnton, give HP a try. What were your botanical infusions? It just might work out.

 

[CTAnton]

Ok...here's the growing list of infusions:
mugwort or artemisia vulgaris
red petals from a geranium
dyer's chamomile
comfrey leaf
calendula home grown
dried out to the bone calendula I bought last year
purple basil
perilla or shiso...the purple strain
red amaranth leaf
plantain
Polygonum orientale...love lies over the garden gate(I didn't make that up!)LOL
I think thats it...did a search and marsh mallow looks like a piece of cake to grow...of course supposedly one should wait 4 years to harvest the roots....sometimes I feel like quoting Roseanne Rosannadanna...;"It's always something!"

 

[Obsidian]

warning, mugwort turns a unattractive olive green/brownish color, at least when the powder is added to the oils it does. I should check my bars and see what the color has settled on, its been a few months.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

You'll be adding these after the cook I take it? In which case, you'll have to make a 0% sf batch, cook it and then add your sf of only this infused oil. Not sure if such a low % will make that much of a difference.

Sodium lactate (SL) IS wonderful stuff. Try to watch a video of someone using it as the finished batter looks different compared to 'normal' hp batter. But it should even be pourable if you go with a high water amount (full water as a minimum) and use some SL

 

[CTAnton]

Thanks all...
TEG you're correct....adding these after the cook as my SF....more as a colorant than any particular botanical attribute...
Obsidian...thanks for the heads up...perhaps as an infusion the mugwort will be a nicer shade of green.

 

[JayJay]

I don't have the answer to how to make soap more fluid in HP, but I can share a mistake.

In my attempt to make a HP batch more fluid, I added extra liquid at the end, but I added too much because the bars shriveled and warped during cure. So you can mark that off the list of things to try.

 

[galaxyMLP]

On a Facebook group for micas I'm on there are quite a few people who make fluid HP batter. They add:

6% SL
38-40% water as percent of oils.

I have not tried it get but, even at 3% SL, it really does make a difference.