I’ve been soaping for over a year and a half now. I’ve come up with what I think is a good recipe. I haven’t had any trouble with DOS, it has a rich lather that is moisturizing and is a nice solid bar. HOWEVER! I can not make a decent swirl with it to save my soul. Multiple tries with different FO’s. I simply cannot do it. I get a gloppy mess.
Now I understand some people are fanatics about temps and some people are dumpers. I’ve been a dumper. Is THAT my problem? How important is temp to swirling?
Is it my beeswax? I read that some people add about 1% to help against ash and to ensure a hard bar. I’m now using the spray alcohol for the ash and could eliminate beeswax. My DH is a beekeeper and I’d like to keep the beeswax. Even if it is just for label appeal. But I could/would eliminate it if that’s causing the problem.
Here’s the facts of what we’re dealing with…I'm laying out my recipe and my process in order to give you the straight scoop on what I'm doing.
I call it my Best Basic Soap at 5% Superfat
Water 19.4
Lye 8.3
5.95 Shea butter (refined)
.65 Beeswax
14.40 Coconut Oil (76 degree)
7.15 Palm Oil
3.0 Castor Oil
28.7 Olive Oil
3.66 Fragrance Oil (sometimes I add a little more)
I’ve calculated it using Summer Bee Meadow’s Soap calculator because of the recipe resizer they have on there.
I mix up my lye/water first and let it sit in the sink while I’m working on everything else. My molds are always lined before I start anything. I start with melting the beeswax and the shea in the microwave at 30% power. Checking it about every minute until it’s about half melted. Then I add the coconut and the palm until everything is completely melted.
Then I add the castor and olive…I read that you shouldn’t heat olive oil. Why exactly, I don’t remember but I still don’t do it.
Slowly pour in the lye/water and mix with a stick blender until emulsified. I usually whisk in the FO’s. I don’t stick blend them in. I am aware that some FO’s can cause acceleration so I am cautious about when exactly to add them.
Usually I put my mica in a cup and mix it with a little bit of the warmed oils to get it started. Then I add a little more soap batter to it to mix up. If I’m doing a solid color bar, I’ll mix the FO after the mica. If I’m doing a two color bar, I’ll mix the color part up first and divide the FO into both colors and mix.
But pretty soon I’m getting a gloppy mess. Even if I just try to only color a small amount of soap batter for drizzling on the top. It's happened to me with various FO's. Even some FO's that everyone claims to be a dream to soap with.
It’s so frustrating. I can a make solid colored soap. Sometimes I can make an ok two colored sorta swirl. But mostly if I get beyond two colors I’m in deep gloppy doo-doo before I can start think about swirling.
I watch KB Shimmer’s Youtube tutorial on the 15 color swirl with complete envy. How in the world does she do that?
Is it my lack of temperature readings? Is it my recipe? Is it just me?
If it’s lack of temperature readings..then what temp should I be at?
Is there something I can add or take away from my recipe?
I understand palm oil and lard have similar properties in the soap outcome and that lard is a dream to soap with. Should I switch out the lard for the palm when swirling? (After running it through the calculator first, of course.) It won't bother me to use lard in the soaps at all.
Sorry for the long post but I think the more info I can give up front will help some of the more experienced soapers answer my questions.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Now I understand some people are fanatics about temps and some people are dumpers. I’ve been a dumper. Is THAT my problem? How important is temp to swirling?
Is it my beeswax? I read that some people add about 1% to help against ash and to ensure a hard bar. I’m now using the spray alcohol for the ash and could eliminate beeswax. My DH is a beekeeper and I’d like to keep the beeswax. Even if it is just for label appeal. But I could/would eliminate it if that’s causing the problem.
Here’s the facts of what we’re dealing with…I'm laying out my recipe and my process in order to give you the straight scoop on what I'm doing.
I call it my Best Basic Soap at 5% Superfat
Water 19.4
Lye 8.3
5.95 Shea butter (refined)
.65 Beeswax
14.40 Coconut Oil (76 degree)
7.15 Palm Oil
3.0 Castor Oil
28.7 Olive Oil
3.66 Fragrance Oil (sometimes I add a little more)
I’ve calculated it using Summer Bee Meadow’s Soap calculator because of the recipe resizer they have on there.
I mix up my lye/water first and let it sit in the sink while I’m working on everything else. My molds are always lined before I start anything. I start with melting the beeswax and the shea in the microwave at 30% power. Checking it about every minute until it’s about half melted. Then I add the coconut and the palm until everything is completely melted.
Then I add the castor and olive…I read that you shouldn’t heat olive oil. Why exactly, I don’t remember but I still don’t do it.
Slowly pour in the lye/water and mix with a stick blender until emulsified. I usually whisk in the FO’s. I don’t stick blend them in. I am aware that some FO’s can cause acceleration so I am cautious about when exactly to add them.
Usually I put my mica in a cup and mix it with a little bit of the warmed oils to get it started. Then I add a little more soap batter to it to mix up. If I’m doing a solid color bar, I’ll mix the FO after the mica. If I’m doing a two color bar, I’ll mix the color part up first and divide the FO into both colors and mix.
But pretty soon I’m getting a gloppy mess. Even if I just try to only color a small amount of soap batter for drizzling on the top. It's happened to me with various FO's. Even some FO's that everyone claims to be a dream to soap with.
It’s so frustrating. I can a make solid colored soap. Sometimes I can make an ok two colored sorta swirl. But mostly if I get beyond two colors I’m in deep gloppy doo-doo before I can start think about swirling.
I watch KB Shimmer’s Youtube tutorial on the 15 color swirl with complete envy. How in the world does she do that?
Is it my lack of temperature readings? Is it my recipe? Is it just me?
If it’s lack of temperature readings..then what temp should I be at?
Is there something I can add or take away from my recipe?
I understand palm oil and lard have similar properties in the soap outcome and that lard is a dream to soap with. Should I switch out the lard for the palm when swirling? (After running it through the calculator first, of course.) It won't bother me to use lard in the soaps at all.
Sorry for the long post but I think the more info I can give up front will help some of the more experienced soapers answer my questions.
Thanks in advance for any advice!