Super soft loaf, bubble wrap, and eating brown ice cubes

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gigisiguenza

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So the batches I made late Fri night should have been ready to cut by the time I got home from work last night, but I was way too tired to do anything, so I left them til this afternoon. At 36 hours, they should have been ready for cut.

Well.... one of them, while a tad soft, was okay for cut (the BB Milk n Honey loaf). I had to be careful not to crush the very cool looking imprints from the bubble wrap, but it cut well. The brown swirly created by just pouring in the mold and swishing once looks very pretty, and when the DFO morphs, it will be a very nice tan and cocoa looking bar.

The other loaf is a curiosity. It's 36+ hours old and it's still too soft to cut. I pulled the whole thing out of the mold, still in its paper liner, sat it on a cooling rack and peeled the paper back from the sides, in the hopes that exposure to air will help it along the way. And there is an oily presence on the outer surface. It's the exact same recipe as the MnH loaf, but it has a small amount of shea butter in it. Would that make it softer? Same size batch, same water and lye amounts, everything. Only differences are the addition of Shea butter and different FOs.

Oh, and I used aloe juice for my liquid in the lye solution on both, if that makes a difference. I had frozen some aloe juice in ice trays, thinking I would need to use it frozen, but it worked fine just refrigerated. It got a little hot, but it cooled down no problem.

Btw... when you're exhausted from work and need something icy to drink, be sure to turn the kitchen light on before opening the freezer. Apparently I grabbed the aloe juice ice cubes and tossed em in my glass before adding my iced tea. I didn't realize this until this morning when I notice the missing cubes from the tray. I have to say, it didn't taste bad, didn't even notice actually. So I can officially say brown ice cubes are good to go LOL

Pics of the Milk n Honey bars :)
uploadfromtaptalk1444599891224.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1444599920099.jpg
And pics of my silly kitten sleeping on me just because she's cute :) Apparently the light was bothering her LOL
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Full water + no gel= very soft soap (at least at first).

I've made full-water, un-gelled batches that I couldn't unmold for upwards of 3 or 4 days because they were so soft.


IrishLass :)
 
Full water + no gel= very soft soap (at least at first).

I've made full-water, un-gelled batches that I couldn't unmold for upwards of 3 or 4 days because they were so soft.


IrishLass :)

Ahhh ok then I will not stress and just let it sit :) TY :)
 
Well I just cut the second loaf. It was still a little softer than it should have been for cutting, but it cut fine. I like the swirl but I think next time I'm going to use less of the colors and more of the background. It will come out less muddy that way I think. I want fine feathery swirlies and I'm gonna keep trying until I get them dang it! :)
 
Please pardon the blurry smudgy surface of the soaps, they had to be twisted off the blade and my kitten was attacking my feet while I was taking the pics LOL. Now that I have a planer, they'll get prettied up when they are harder :)
uploadfromtaptalk1444616659663.jpguploadfromtaptalk1444616669794.jpguploadfromtaptalk1444616679428.jpg
 
Both bars look very nice. I can't wait to experiment with colors & swirls more!!
 
Nice colors in the second bar. I like wispy swirls too, took me quite awhile to learn that only a little colored batter is needed.

This is the kind of swirls I like, colored roughly 1/4 of the batter
10fq6j7.jpg


my first colored soap, wayyy too much of everything
9htldt.jpg


Colored about 1/3 of the batter for this
154k2o9.jpg


Can't remember for sure but probably about 1/4 batter for each color, this was a bit more then I wanted
2dmgqs4.jpg
 
Nice colors in the second bar. I like wispy swirls too, took me quite awhile to learn that only a little colored batter is needed.

This is the kind of swirls I like, colored roughly 1/4 of the batter
10fq6j7.jpg


my first colored soap, wayyy too much of everything
9htldt.jpg


Colored about 1/3 of the batter for this
154k2o9.jpg


Can't remember for sure but probably about 1/4 batter for each color, this was a bit more then I wanted
2dmgqs4.jpg

I'm learning this Obsidian, that I don't need much. I've been separating out lots thinking I needed a lot, only to realize I didn't need but half that. I'm gonna master these dang swirl techniques if it kills me LOL
 
Yes, I did use some TD. I used FD & C powdered food colors for this, the pink is red #33, orange is red #40. You need just a teeny, tiny bit of powder dissolved in water.
The really pink soaps with the black swirls also was colored using red #33.
 
Yes, I did use some TD. I used FD & C powdered food colors for this, the pink is red #33, orange is red #40. You need just a teeny, tiny bit of powder dissolved in water.
The really pink soaps with the black swirls also was colored using red #33.


Thank you for the details. You have a great technique that is coming to light more and more.
 
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