SMF August 2023 Challenge: SHAPES!

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OH. MY GOSH. You guys!! What a night!! Since my husband normally goes out to a group thing on Thursday nights, that's when I usually plan to make soaps, bath bombs, lotions, etc. On tonight's list was a sample soap for this Challenge. Had some embeds to use up, and got an idea for something "simple and quick." I wanted to show that you don't need column molds to make the shape go through the soap. Easy-peasy. HAHAHAHA. Riiiiiight.

Batch #1: Using heart-shaped M&P mini-soaps, I stacked them 4 high in my slab mold. Went to make soap. All went well till I added the lye solution to the oils. It turned light orange but seemed pourable. As I started pouring it over the embeds, it went thick. Still smashable, but definitely thick, and still quite orange. CC's Tonka & Vetiver was supposed to be a very well-behaved fragrance, but what else could have caused this, right? Oils and lye were room temp, and I had barely given it 2 seconds of stick-blending. Since I'd already covered some of the embeds, I smashed the rest of the batter over the top of the rest of them, and decided to try again with my T&S mold, this time without the fragrance.

Batch #2: Stacked the remaining embeds into the T&S mold. I think it's going to be cute! Because I had used the last of my previous oil MB (cue the tense music here), I made another batch with just lard, coconut oil, and OO; I left out the castor and the fragrance. Room temp lye, oils at 100F. Poured the lye into the oils, and BAM! Dark orange concrete. WHAT??? At least this time I hadn't started pouring it over the embeds. Whew! I got out another mold and plopped it in. Within minutes, it had cracked and looked like it was going to volcano. Half was concrete, half was lava. Sigh. Dumped everything into a bowl and popped it in the microwave for 30 secs to hot process it. THEN MY HUSBAND WALKED IN TO TALK TO ME. He knows better, I know better, but I turned around for seconds to listen to him. When I turned back, the batch was overflowing into the microwave. Yanked it out, got it all cleaned up, stirred up, and into the mold. Looks like a newbie hot process loaf with overcooked pieces everywhere. And it is ORANGE.

OK, time to really think. What was going on here? The only common denominator between batches 1 and 2 besides the lye solution was... drum roll ... the store-bought lard. You know, the one with preservatives that is supposed to last longer than my home-rendered lard? Yeah, that stuff. Well, the coconut oil, the sorbitol, and the citrate were also the same, but I was pretty sure they weren't the culprits. It had to be that the lard was rancid. Soooooo.....

Batch #3: 80% OO, 20% CO, AVJ for my extra water, and no sorbitol or citrate. The lye solution did turn a bit yellow when I added the AVJ, but the batch stayed nice and fluid when I poured in the lye solution. It quickly reached emulsion and... stayed there. I cautiously split some off, blended in some dry TD with the SB, and then poured the white cup of batter back into the batch. As I hand-stirred, it was still at emulsion, not yet at a light trace. Took a chance and hit it just a bit with the SB to hopefully blitz out any TD lumps. STILL FLUID. AND NOT ORANGE!

Let me tell you, when I finally poured that fluid white batter into my T&S mold, and none of the embeds fell over or misbehaved in any way, I wanted to cry with relief.

Now that the dust has settled, I can look back and see that my last ten batches or so have all accelerated. Every time, I have blamed the FO, never imagining that it could be RANCID LARD. 🤮 But you guys, it doesn't smell, and none of those soaps have gone bad, either. WTH?? Still, I'm tossing it because I'm sure that's the issue.

Oh well. Batch #3 is on the heating pad and will hopefully be able to cut it in the next day or two. But it is 80% OO and was barely at light trace when I poured, so even with 40% lye concentration, it may take a bit to firm up. I'll post pics of the cut when done, but for now, here are some of the mold set ups.

Just remember, all this was done to show you guys how EASY it is to make a soap with SHAPES. 😆😅😂🤣

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The embeds were all made awhile back. ;) I'm on a kick of trying to use up things that I have around, whether that is ingredients in my soaping room, food in my freezer, office supplies in the cabinet, etc.

The lard was Armour brand. It's been absolutely fine until the last two months or so. The issue with old fats is that they oxidize and kind of separate into more free fatty acids. So, think about how quickly stearic acid saponifies in soap. Instant, right?

Now translate that to old lard which has degenerated into a bunch of free stearic acid and palmitic acid. Those FFAs are going to saponify so quickly! And that's true of other old oils, as well - not just lard. They can definitely accelerate your soap batter. :)
 
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The embeds were all made awhile back. ;) I'm on a kick of trying to use things that I have around, whether that is ingredients in my soaping room, food in my freezer, office supplies in the cabinet, etc.

The lard was Armour brand. It's been absolutely fine until the last two months or so. The issue with old fats is that they oxidize and kind of separate into more free fatty acids. So, think about how quickly stearic acid saponifies in soap. Instant, right?

Now translate that to old lard which has degenerated into a bunch of free stearic acid and palmitic acid. Those FFAs are going to saponify so quickly! And that's true of other old oils, as well - not just lard. They can definitely accelerate your soap batter. :)
Lesson: store bought lard, good, but it most definitely does have a shelf life especially when it comes to using it in soap. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
 
The lard was Armour brand. It's been absolutely fine until the last two months or so. The issue with old fats is that they oxidize and kind of separate into more free fatty acids. So, think about how quickly stearic acid saponifies in soap. Instant, right?

Now translate that to old lard which has degenerated into a bunch of free stearic acid and palmitic acid. Those FFAs are going to saponify so quickly! And that's true of other old oils, as well - not just lard. They can definitely accelerate your soap batter. :)
You can “wash” degraded lard, something I did with about 10 pounds of tallow that had aged too long. It’s basically the same thing as rendering fat, but easier. There are instructions on how to wash fats at the end of @DeeAnna’s DOS page.

Perhaps washing the lard was already on your to do list? 😉
 
Wow your daughter is amazing she is beautiful and I love her music I subscribed to your channel and I'm just dancing to her songs while I make brunch for my son.😄
I’m so glad you enjoy her singing @CLMP. She got kicked out of music class over six years ago for having an all out autism tantrum in the school when one of her toys got wet in the rain and I couldn’t “fix” it. I haven’t found anyone to play piano and work with her since then. 😔 I would like to try and get her out to perform for people again because she loves singing/performing so much.
 
You can “wash” degraded lard, something I did with about 10 pounds of tallow that had aged too long. It’s basically the same thing as rendering fat, but easier. There are instructions on how to wash fats at the end of @DeeAnna’s DOS page.

Perhaps washing the lard was already on your to do list? 😉
I thought about it, but to my understanding, the washing only fixes part of the problem, which is the smell - and mine doesn't actually smell bad. Based on this quote from that page of @DeeAnna's site (emphasis added by me), I do not think the washing would fix the extra FFA's that cause acceleration:

Fats high in free fatty acids (FFAs). Fats gradually and naturally are prone to break down in a process called oxidation. Fats that are older or fats stored under less-than-idea conditions will oxidize more quickly than fats stored in cool, dark conditions. As fats break down, they release free fatty acids which react very quickly with alkali.
 
Sign-up List for SMF August 2023 Challenge: SHAPES. To sign up, please copy and paste these instructions and the list below into a new message. Then add your name and the next number for the next sign-up:
1. Ford....
2. glendam
3. Georgeandstella I'm in :)
4. 2lilboots
5. ScentimentallyYours
6. McKherring Farm
7. klaw2
8. CLMP-this will be interesting 🥰.
9. Tammyfarms - looking forward to the fun.
10. dmcgee5034 - I am finally feeling shapely for this challenge 🌸
11. The_Emerald_Chicken
12. Cindy D. all my good molds & color samples are at the other house...challenge 🤣
13.
 
That DOES sounds like a challenge, @Cindy D. I'm sure you will make something amazing!

Just for fun, here are pics of my soaps from last night. None of them are amazing, but

a) you can see that my shapes go all the way through the soap! 🤣 and

b) I am very happy that the last one was a "normal" batch of soap. 😅

Batch 1. Check out those air pockets, baby! 😁 At least the orange color toned way down!
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Below you can see Batch 2 on the left, Batch 3 on the right. Batch 2 actually turned out reasonably well considering all that it went through. It just doesn't have any shapes in it!

As for Batch 3, clearly I am spatially challenged as I didn't think that the sides of the T&S soap would look like they do. I may or may not make another batch tonight, stacking the last of the embeds in a different way so they show as hearts when cut. I'm also considering whether to cut Batch 3 horizontally into guest-sized soaps, so all the hearts show.

IMG_2493.jpg
 
That DOES sounds like a challenge, @Cindy D. I'm sure you will make something amazing!

Just for fun, here are pics of my soaps from last night. None of them are amazing, but

a) you can see that my shapes go all the way through the soap! 🤣 and

b) I am very happy that the last one was a "normal" batch of soap. 😅

Batch 1. Check out those air pockets, baby! 😁 At least the orange color toned way down!
View attachment 74176 View attachment 74174View attachment 74175

Below you can see Batch 2 on the left, Batch 3 on the right. Batch 2 actually turned out reasonably well considering all that it went through. It just doesn't have any shapes in it!

As for Batch 3, clearly I am spatially challenged as I didn't think that the sides of the T&S soap would look like they do. I may or may not make another batch tonight, stacking the last of the embeds in a different way so they show as hearts when cut. I'm also considering whether to cut Batch 3 horizontally into guest-sized soaps, so all the hearts show.

View attachment 74177
Ally your perseverance is commendable! Given that you believe the lard was the culprit, do you think those soaps will be likely to develop DOS?

I made my challenge soap yesterday…. Well it may be my first attempt at a challenge soap, there may need to be another. I am attempting a new to me technique and am not confident it’s going to be acceptable for entry. I will unmold it tonight or tomorrow and we shall see. If nothing else, I learned some stuff. 😉
 
@Tammyfarms I don't know about the DOS. None of the other accelerated batches have developed DOS, and it's been at least 60-90 days, maybe longer, since the strong acceleration started happening with each batch of soap. I will be keeping a close eye on them!

Looking forward to seeing your challenge attempt. If your past soaps are any indication, it is sure to be lovely. :)
 
I unmolded and cut my challenge soap today. Not super happy but it’s not awful.

My plans today were scrapped. I was supposed to do a trail clinic with my horse and we are socked in with wildfire smoke. He would have been fine as it was just walking around but I decided I would be better off staying home in the air conditioning. Our air is in the hazardous category. 🤮

Since I had extra time on my hands I made a second batch of challenge soap. It is sitting n the heating pad. Will know tomorrow which one will be entered in the challenge. 🤞🏻
 
@Tammyfarms we are south of you in the Treasure Valley, and our air has been pretty awful, too. We got a bit of rain today and are hoping for more tomorrow.

I had hopes of making another challenge soap myself, but I got sidetracked making soap for some friends. Maybe tomorrow. :)
We are neighbors (sort of)! Glad you got some rain, we are hoping for some Monday and Tuesday.
 
I’m so glad you enjoy her singing @CLMP. She got kicked out of music class over six years ago for having an all out autism tantrum in the school when one of her toys got wet in the rain and I couldn’t “fix” it. I haven’t found anyone to play piano and work with her since then. 😔 I would like to try and get her out to perform for people again because she loves singing/performing so much.
Oh my goodness I'm so sorry to here that, that's awful I can't believe they would do that to her some times this world can be so cruel and that's pretty bad. She is so talented and she looks like shes enjoying that so much and that's just so awful they would take that away from her. That school should be closed down for something like that. Sorry I only just got your message now cause I was gone to my Son's place and I just got home. @ScentimentallyYours I hope you find her another piano player. Maybe you could find her some records or CDs with the music she likes, the kind with back ground music. Wow I just can't believe they did that to her I definitely hope you find someone to work with her.
 
I thought about it, but to my understanding, the washing only fixes part of the problem, which is the smell - and mine doesn't actually smell bad. Based on this quote from that page of @DeeAnna's site (emphasis added by me), I do not think the washing would fix the extra FFA's that cause acceleration:

Fats high in free fatty acids (FFAs). Fats gradually and naturally are prone to break down in a process called oxidation. Fats that are older or fats stored under less-than-idea conditions will oxidize more quickly than fats stored in cool, dark conditions. As fats break down, they release free fatty acids which react very quickly with alkali.
I did not know this would happen with lard! I usually buy lard 6-8 1-lb packages at a time, since my regular grocery store doesn’t carry it. I store it in the freezer and take it out as needed. After reading this, I’ll be buying it in smaller quantities. I’m sorry you had such a mess on your hands! But thanks for the teaching moment. ☺️
 
I unmolded and cut my (second attempt) challenge soap. It got a bit thick on me at the end and I was concerned but it worked out. I know what happened, my oils were around 90 and lye was 105. I should have let the lye cool down more. 🤷‍♀️ It’s not perfect but I am happy. These challenges have really helped me increase my skills. 😊
 

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