Steric spots but look ok?

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Oregon Groves

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So this is cocoa cashmere fragrance. I hated working with this fragrance. It seized on me the first time and it was like concrete instantly. I think it's the sandlewood in it but I honestly don't know what happened. The next time I worked extra fast but it came out like this.
The steric spots bother me. The gold mica on top doesn't look the best after curing.

I do like the swirls.


Basic recipe

15oz olive oil
12 oz coconut oil
13 oz lard

I think I did 5.9 or 6 oz of lye
13 oz of Frozen goat's milk

And whatever was left of the cocoa cashmere. It was probably 1 oz

I didn't use any sodium lactate.
I used titanium dioxide but I guess it really wouldn't have mattered.

I had a very thin trace due to it seizing on me last time.

Overall I think it turned out well minus the dots 😒
 

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Congratulations on making good soap!

I think that at least some of the spots you have are air bubbles. A few of them look like tiny cavities that have been bisected. You can reduce bubbles by making sure that you “burb” your stick blender and also keep the bell fully submerged. If they’re stearic spots, you may want to double check that you’re getting your oils fully clear. What temperature were the oils when you added the lye? With that much lard and OO you should be able to work at 85-90F without getting stearic spots as long as you start with clear oils. A lower working temp would also help to slow down FO acceleration. One last variable I can think of right now is the OO. If it was pomace or a bit older, that might account for some of the speed of trace. I don’t use pomace, but others have said it traces fairly quickly. Older OO can develop free fatty acids that serve to accelerate trace because they react with the lye more quickly than triglycerides.

Did you hold back a portion of the FO to get the lighter swirl? I have that FO, but haven’t tried it yet, in part because it gets so dark.
 
Congratulations on making good soap!

I think that at least some of the spots you have are air bubbles. A few of them look like tiny cavities that have been bisected. You can reduce bubbles by making sure that you “burb” your stick blender and also keep the bell fully submerged. If they’re stearic spots, you may want to double check that you’re getting your oils fully clear. What temperature were the oils when you added the lye? With that much lard and OO you should be able to work at 85-90F without getting stearic spots as long as you start with clear oils. A lower working temp would also help to slow down FO acceleration. One last variable I can think of right now is the OO. If it was pomace or a bit older, that might account for some of the speed of trace. I don’t use pomace, but others have said it traces fairly quickly. Older OO can develop free fatty acids that serve to accelerate trace because they react with the lye more quickly than triglycerides.

Did you hold back a portion of the FO to get the lighter swirl? I have that FO, but haven’t tried it yet, in part because it gets so dark.

I actually had a terrible time. I only bought a 2oz bottle to just try it out and I barely had enough for a second batch but I figured it'll be what it'll be and while it was curing it had no fragrance and I was SO sad! I had a giant concrete block of soap in a bowl that I couldn't even rebatch( tried). I honestly just don't know what went wrong. I use pure olive oil. I even watched a video on this fragrance prior and she said it accelerates and mine sure did ...it was like pudding than concrete. So I made mine a very thin trace and I typically don't make it so liquidy but I was nervous lol.
 

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