I hesitate to post this since I am new to the forum and am afraid that the expert soapers will jump on my case, but I had a very scary incident today. I've been a lurker here long enough to see that there always new soapers out there looking for information, and that the impending Christmas season can heighten that effect, so please take a lesson from my stupidity.
Today I got my shipment of FO's from Brambleberry (White tea & Ginger, Honeysuckle, Bay Rum, Almond, and Applejack Peel). I was EXTREMELY excited, especially since a few of these I have never worked with before. As soon as I smelled the Applejack, I could see in my mind the soap I wanted to make. I was really pressed for time, having only an hour before my husband got home, and we had evening appointments set up, but even so, I really was eager to soap this oil, so I began my little journey.
I wanted to infuse the annatto seed I've had for ages and never used, so I did that, measuring out the oil, grinding the seed, and setting the jar on the counter. I went on to do an orange peel infusion, a ground sage infusion, and mixed a small amount of marigold and jade Labcolors in their own oil. I measured out the base oil, and then realized I was going to have do lye calculations for every one of them. Major mistake! (The rushed manner was my first). I went about measuring out lye for each set of oil, and then measuring water for each of those. By now my kitchen is a mess, with many more containers about than I had ever planned to use!
I mixed the lye into each solution, working quickly as I really didn't want my husband (who just happens to work as a chemical technician in a lab!) to come home and see the mess I had made in the kitchen...
I mixed the solution for my base last- 6.11 oz of lye into 16 oz water for a pure 3 pound olive oil base, only, I didn't mix it while I poured- I just poured. Quickly. BIG, DANGEROUS mistake.
In my arrogance (I've made soap a hundred times, I don't need safety gear!), I had on neither gloves nor goggles. The once or twice I got a bit of raw soap on my hand, I run it under water and it's fine. This time, the lye was furious at being so rudely introduced to the water and began boiling violently. A good bit splashed onto my hand and bubbled over onto the floor. Before I realized what I had done, I stepped back, barefoot, into the puddle of lye. I froze for a second, ran (stupid!) with the boiling container of lye solution and stuck it outside my back door and booked to the shower so I could clean off both the sole of my foot and my hand, crying angrily at my stupidity, and really frightened, quite frankly.
I cleaned up the area and finished the soap (CPOP, still in the oven), but I've been going over it all evening now and want to share my conclusions and warnings:
1) Always wear safety gear, even when (especially when?) you believe you are experienced enough with lye to not need it. If the reaction had been strong enough, it could have reached my face, blinding me and disfiguring me for life. Lye is no joke. I knew that, but thought I knew what I was doing.
2) Have a clear path. I had a picture in my head, but before I began my procedure, I didn't see all the steps involved. It quickly became complicated because I had no plan and no idea how I was going to execute my vision. It's especially important when you are making something you've never done before. A five, six color soap is something new to me, and further, I used different colorant types that needed to be mixed in to the soap in different ways. You can very quickly have a nightmare on your hands like I did. Write it all down, the whole procedure, before you begin; it may not be enough to have your calculations written down.
3) DON'T RUSH. If you don't have ample time to soap safely, wait, no matter how much you want to try out all those nifty materials that just arrived on the front porch. Give yourself time, take deep breaths, and slow down.
4) Because it can't be stressed enough-WEAR GOGGLES AND GLOVES. Work safely. Like my husband told me when I told him what happened, one lab accident can change your life, even take your life.
I'm still very embarrassed, very angry with myself, but most of all humbled by my mistakes. Chastened. This is a wonderful hobby and it has added a lot of joy to my life, but I didn't give the lye the respect it deserved. I feel very lucky that it wasn't worse.
I hope this helps someone out there.
So here's the Applejack- I had to rebatch it :cry:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
And here's a shot of my lye burn:
Today I got my shipment of FO's from Brambleberry (White tea & Ginger, Honeysuckle, Bay Rum, Almond, and Applejack Peel). I was EXTREMELY excited, especially since a few of these I have never worked with before. As soon as I smelled the Applejack, I could see in my mind the soap I wanted to make. I was really pressed for time, having only an hour before my husband got home, and we had evening appointments set up, but even so, I really was eager to soap this oil, so I began my little journey.
I wanted to infuse the annatto seed I've had for ages and never used, so I did that, measuring out the oil, grinding the seed, and setting the jar on the counter. I went on to do an orange peel infusion, a ground sage infusion, and mixed a small amount of marigold and jade Labcolors in their own oil. I measured out the base oil, and then realized I was going to have do lye calculations for every one of them. Major mistake! (The rushed manner was my first). I went about measuring out lye for each set of oil, and then measuring water for each of those. By now my kitchen is a mess, with many more containers about than I had ever planned to use!
I mixed the lye into each solution, working quickly as I really didn't want my husband (who just happens to work as a chemical technician in a lab!) to come home and see the mess I had made in the kitchen...
I mixed the solution for my base last- 6.11 oz of lye into 16 oz water for a pure 3 pound olive oil base, only, I didn't mix it while I poured- I just poured. Quickly. BIG, DANGEROUS mistake.
In my arrogance (I've made soap a hundred times, I don't need safety gear!), I had on neither gloves nor goggles. The once or twice I got a bit of raw soap on my hand, I run it under water and it's fine. This time, the lye was furious at being so rudely introduced to the water and began boiling violently. A good bit splashed onto my hand and bubbled over onto the floor. Before I realized what I had done, I stepped back, barefoot, into the puddle of lye. I froze for a second, ran (stupid!) with the boiling container of lye solution and stuck it outside my back door and booked to the shower so I could clean off both the sole of my foot and my hand, crying angrily at my stupidity, and really frightened, quite frankly.
I cleaned up the area and finished the soap (CPOP, still in the oven), but I've been going over it all evening now and want to share my conclusions and warnings:
1) Always wear safety gear, even when (especially when?) you believe you are experienced enough with lye to not need it. If the reaction had been strong enough, it could have reached my face, blinding me and disfiguring me for life. Lye is no joke. I knew that, but thought I knew what I was doing.
2) Have a clear path. I had a picture in my head, but before I began my procedure, I didn't see all the steps involved. It quickly became complicated because I had no plan and no idea how I was going to execute my vision. It's especially important when you are making something you've never done before. A five, six color soap is something new to me, and further, I used different colorant types that needed to be mixed in to the soap in different ways. You can very quickly have a nightmare on your hands like I did. Write it all down, the whole procedure, before you begin; it may not be enough to have your calculations written down.
3) DON'T RUSH. If you don't have ample time to soap safely, wait, no matter how much you want to try out all those nifty materials that just arrived on the front porch. Give yourself time, take deep breaths, and slow down.
4) Because it can't be stressed enough-WEAR GOGGLES AND GLOVES. Work safely. Like my husband told me when I told him what happened, one lab accident can change your life, even take your life.
I'm still very embarrassed, very angry with myself, but most of all humbled by my mistakes. Chastened. This is a wonderful hobby and it has added a lot of joy to my life, but I didn't give the lye the respect it deserved. I feel very lucky that it wasn't worse.
I hope this helps someone out there.
So here's the Applejack- I had to rebatch it :cry:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
And here's a shot of my lye burn:
I'll put up pics when I can.
