Transparency in soap

[Mobjack Bay]

I came across this interesting thread/post. https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/the-lye-concentration-experiment.61769/#post-622744

Have there been any great SMF experiments comparing transparency for the same recipe using low versus high lye concentration?

ETA a better term would be “translucency”. I realize that there are ways to make transparent soaps based on different methods/ingredients from those normally used to make cp soap. I had been assuming that soaps looked more translucent when the CO was high, but in the linked thread, the OP seems to be suggesting that crystallization of high water soaps may be more complete or more ordered compared with low water soaps.

 

[Megan]

This would be an interesting experiment to do without any pigments. From my experience, coconut oil soap is very opaque, and my recipe is less opaque. I do use a majority of liquid oils and do gel. This really might be a fun thing to try! From what the second to last person said, it seems as if the soap with higher water seems more translucent because of the aggregation of pigments around the glycerin rivers. I haven't seen any tests without pigment.

 

[Dawni]

I haven't tried shining a light through mine but some ghost swirled soaps I've seen have a seemingly more opaque part and a more translucent part in one soap - due to difference in water content. For example, my Castile with no colorants added.

 

[Megan]

I haven't tried shining a light through mine but some ghost swirled soaps I've seen have a seemingly more opaque part and a more translucent part in one soap - due to difference in water content. For example, my Castile with no colorants added.

Interesting! I haven't seen a ghost swirl done without colorant yet.

 

[Lin19687]

I think you would have to use NO COLORANT to truly know the difference. Putting a color in there (2 different ones) skews the results

 

[Dawni]

Interesting! I haven't seen a ghost swirl done without colorant yet.

Check this out

I think you would have to use NO COLORANT to truly know the difference. Putting a color in there (2 different ones) skews the results

Or one colorant for everything, with only the water changing.

 

[dibbles]

Interesting! I haven't seen a ghost swirl done without colorant yet.

Clara Lindberg developed the Ghost Swirl. Here is her blog post about it. She refers to soap made without a colorant added and using only differing water discounts as a ghost swirl.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I think the Castile soap @Dawni linked to above, which is a soap she made, is a good example of how high water increased translucency. Clara’s soaps are beautiful but the design element makes it difficult to tell what the high water soap would look like on it’s own. I’m not interested in making uncolored translucent soap right now, but at some point will try the same recipe at high and low lye concentrations. I will have to think more about the temperature factor, because I don’t want to end up with rivers in the translucent soap.

 

[Megan]

Clara Lindberg developed the Ghost Swirl. Here is her blog post about it. She refers to soap made without a colorant added and using only differing water discounts as a ghost swirl.

I've read Clara's blog on the ghost swirl but only recall seeing a soap with TD as the colorant as her example. It seems to be a different post than the one you've linked so thanks!