sudsy_kiwi
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- Joined
- Aug 1, 2014
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Had my first real problem batch tonight, and not too sure where the problem was. Up til now, I've kept things pretty simple, trying to get the basics right...about the flashest I'd done was a simple 2-layer soap. So tonight I wanted to try my first swirl.
I decided I wanted to do a coffee oatmeal soap... half the batter made with black coffee, the other half with oat-infused water. The coffee half was fine, I'd done it before. For the oat water, I left oats soaking for the day then strained the water through cloth before wringing it out to get every last drop. Towards the end it was coming out almost like milk. When I started stirring in the lye I noticed there was an almost gummy consistency in places. I kept stirring and eventually it all seemed to dissolve but the lye mix appeared kinda "textured".
After making up the coffee half of the batter, I came back to mix up the oat half, and that's where I really started getting tripped up. It took ages to come to trace. By the time it got close to looking kinda like thin trace, the coffee half had started to set. My original plan was to pour both into a slab mold and swirl together, but at this point I changed my mind and went for and in-the-pot type swirl, as I figured by the time I'd got a thicker trace, the coffee half would have set too far to pour properly. So I half-a$$ed an ITP swirl and poured the whole sloppy mess into the mold, and bunged it into the fridge. I didn't take the time to get a pic as I wanted to refrigerate it as fast as possible, but I'll get a pic tomorrow.
So what I'm wanting to find out is where I went wrong with the oat water. Should I have not gone for the almost milky water? Or is this normal for oat-infused water? Any other thoughts from the gurus?
I decided I wanted to do a coffee oatmeal soap... half the batter made with black coffee, the other half with oat-infused water. The coffee half was fine, I'd done it before. For the oat water, I left oats soaking for the day then strained the water through cloth before wringing it out to get every last drop. Towards the end it was coming out almost like milk. When I started stirring in the lye I noticed there was an almost gummy consistency in places. I kept stirring and eventually it all seemed to dissolve but the lye mix appeared kinda "textured".
After making up the coffee half of the batter, I came back to mix up the oat half, and that's where I really started getting tripped up. It took ages to come to trace. By the time it got close to looking kinda like thin trace, the coffee half had started to set. My original plan was to pour both into a slab mold and swirl together, but at this point I changed my mind and went for and in-the-pot type swirl, as I figured by the time I'd got a thicker trace, the coffee half would have set too far to pour properly. So I half-a$$ed an ITP swirl and poured the whole sloppy mess into the mold, and bunged it into the fridge. I didn't take the time to get a pic as I wanted to refrigerate it as fast as possible, but I'll get a pic tomorrow.
So what I'm wanting to find out is where I went wrong with the oat water. Should I have not gone for the almost milky water? Or is this normal for oat-infused water? Any other thoughts from the gurus?