Soap looked like it had glycerin rivers and some sticky, syrupy substance?

[BearandCat]

I, unfortunately, did not take a picture and have no access to the soaps right now to show you guys, but when I cut into soap with an accelerated FO, it had an almost syrupy liquid stuck to the side of it and what looked like glycerin rivers. I believe this soap also overheated because I had tapped the top of it yesterday and it felt like it was caving in. I used this fragrance oil from Candora Soap Fire & Blood Fragrance Oil Candora Soap. The name is definitely ironic in this situation.

It's too bad because the scent is great, but I was worried that it was about to volcano on me. Does anyone have any idea what might have happened? The recipe I used was:

20% CO
40% OO
20% PO
15% SAO
5% Castor oil

33% lye concentration

Maybe I didn't wait long enough for my lye to cool, as I remember my oils were around 80 F and my lye was around 95, and I know you should try to keep them within 5 degrees of each other.

The only picture I have is what the soap looked like when it was "finished" and I had (without avail) scrapped most of the top to try to salvage it. I was going for a fire and brimstone thing, and I think my soap took it too literally.

 

[Zing]

What were your colorants?

 

[BearandCat]

What were your colorants?

I used black, dark red and yellow oxides, as well as some TD.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

How much FO did you use & is it recomended for soap ? & did you do a water discount for your colorants / TD?
I'd half to run it through a soap calc' what is SAO?

 

[Zing]

@BearandCat, first of all, welcome to the forum! You'll find other Canadian neighbors here too.

I do not use fragrance oils so will let others weigh in on that. I do, however, use TD and I modify my recipe in order to avoid glycerin rivers. Some soapers actually like and want glycerin rivers and here's a good photograph of them: What soapy thing have you done today? .

When I use TD, I do two things. I soap at room temperature or at least below 100 degrees F. Also, I set my lye to lye solution ratio at 32.5%. Ever since I've done these two things, I have successfully avoided glycerin rivers. Also check out Glycerine Rivers: Secret Revealed

I don't know if you are new to soaping or not. When I first started, I was obsessed with temperatures of oil mixture and lye solution. Now I don't even pay attention and have tossed out my thermometers. Now I soap at room temperature or when both containers are warm to the touch.

Also, assuming your soap is safe to use, it is very common -- at least for me! -- to get soap that did not turn out as planned. Remember, though, that other people are not in your head and most people just admire homemade soap! I like to use the term "rustic" in those situations.

 

[BearandCat]

How much FO did you use & is it recomended for soap ? & did you do a water discount for your colorants / TD?
I'd half to run it through a soap calc' what is SAO?

I used 2 oz of the FO I linked in a 37 oz recipe. SAO is sweet almond oil. I did not do a water discount for my colorants, no. I wasn't aware that was a thing. They're oil soluble if that makes any difference?

 

[BearandCat]

@BearandCat, first of all, welcome to the forum! You'll find other Canadian neighbors here too.

I do not use fragrance oils so will let others weigh in on that. I do, however, use TD and I modify my recipe in order to avoid glycerin rivers. Some soapers actually like and want glycerin rivers and here's a good photograph of them: What soapy thing have you done today? .

When I use TD, I do two things. I soap at room temperature or at least below 100 degrees F. Also, I set my lye to lye solution ratio at 32.5%. Ever since I've done these two things, I have successfully avoided glycerin rivers. Also check out Glycerine Rivers: Secret Revealed

I don't know if you are new to soaping or not. When I first started, I was obsessed with temperatures of oil mixture and lye solution. Now I don't even pay attention and have tossed out my thermometers. Now I soap at room temperature or when both containers are warm to the touch.

Also, assuming your soap is safe to use, it is very common -- at least for me! -- to get soap that did not turn out as planned. Remember, though, that other people are not in your head and most people just admire homemade soap! I like to use the term "rustic" in those situations.

Yeah, I'm super new to soaping. I've had maybe 5 attempts so far, only 2 of which that actually worked out lol. I'm not sure how safe this soap is to use because beyond the (what I think is) glycerin rivers, it also had a sticky liquid on the side of it that I'm not sure of. I don't think it's anything like unincorporated lye, though. It might be the fragrance oil misbehaving.

 

[Zing]

This is just a suggestion. Try making soap with no fragrance and no colorants. There is a lot to get used to, steps in the process, reaching trace, to gel or not to gel, etc. I suggest this because I've heard some fragrance oils misbehave and prepping and mixing colorants also add to the complexity. I get it, I love the creativity of colors, fragrance, swirls, etc. But get the "science" down and then later you can include the "art" part. Good luck!