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GVKW

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Hi all! Trying to formulate a recipe for a client's special request custom batch - he wants a soap that looks like sushi rolls, with as-authentic-as-possible ingredients.

I've always got avocado and rice bran oils and I've already sourced salmon oil, but I still need hard oils, even though it's a soleseife soap... don't I?? I found a Soy Butter Blend on WSP, but I have qualms... A.) It's a blend, so I'm not completely sure what's in it, and B.) Soy is still a soft oil, even if blended into a "butter", isn't it? I could use veg shortening I suppose, but trying to keep it as real as I can...

If I use 20% or so sea salt into Cucumber water, will that be enough to harden up an all-soft-oil recipe? I've heard all the horror stories of salt water soaps crumbling apart and I certainly want to avoid THAT!

All help is greatly appreciated!!
 
Welcome to the forum GVKW
Use Palm, tallow or lard...:DMost butter blends are blended with vegetable shortening. You could add in some hard brittle butter such as coco butter, illipe butter, tucuma, etc. It does raise the cost of making the soap but will act to harden it up.
 
There is such a thing as Rice Bran wax, but I'm not sure what the properties will be in soap, or even if it will harden it. Maybe it would?

I heard vinegar also helps with hardening but I don't know so much about it either. I know there are several threads here so maybe you can do a search.

Just thought I'd mention it coz you wanted authenticity :)
 
There is such a thing as Rice Bran wax, but I'm not sure what the properties will be in soap, or even if it will harden it. Maybe it would?

I heard vinegar also helps with hardening but I don't know so much about it either. I know there are several threads here so maybe you can do a search.

Just thought I'd mention it coz you wanted authenticity :)

THANKS!! I'll look into those!!
 
A quick search gave this this link which says 0.5-3% in soap, SAP value 77: https://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/rice-bran-wax.html

I have it and planned to use in balms but I'm curious to know what it would be like if you do use it in your soap hehe

Are you making round soaps? You can use activated charcoal to make a black rim, and orange and green embeds in the center of the white part ^^
 
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A quick search gave this this link which says 0.5-3% in soap, SAP value 77: https://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/rice-bran-wax.html

I have it and planned to use in balms but I'm curious to know what it would be like if you do use it in your soap hehe

Are you making round soaps? You can use activated charcoal to make a black rim, and orange and green embeds in the center of the white part ^^
Yes, the plan is to make round soaps. I'll make the embeds and white base first, shred the base (so it looks like rice texture) and add to a less-white-tinted run for the main batch. Planning to hand paint on the "nori" with with m&p or a microbatch of tinted cp (I saw a tutorial but can't recall how it was done - I'll dig it out of my bookmarks before starting)...

Still undecided about scent though; was thinking BB Avocado, but I might go for a ginger EO instead.
 
Might be Soap Queen? I seem to recall a painted sushi soap on that site..

Sounds great! Show us when you're done :D
 
Be careful with saponification values -- you have to also know the alkali on which the sap value is based. The soap making industry and scientific sources all cite sap values based on KOH. Many soap makers provide sap values based on NaOH.

If the source doesn't outright say the alkali on which a sap value is based, you can sometimes puzzle it out from the context. But if you can't, then be cautious about using the sap value blindly.

NaOH sap value = KOH sap value / 1.403

KOH sap value = NaOH sap value X 1.403
 
I think you'll want some coconut oil in your soleseife as the salt water will deaden some of the lather. Coconut oil is one of the few oils that will lather in salt water. It will contribute some hardness to your recipe as well. I use my regular recipe for soleseife but increase the coconut from 18-20% to 28%.
 
Do up your coconut oil, I actually go with 40% CO in my Soleseif with a superfat of 10-15% depending if I am loading it with Activated Charcoal

The Sap listed at 77 appears to be for KOH
 
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