Why are there holes in my soap?

[federalist]

Earlier this month, I made a sample of castile soap to test a new lavender EO. The recipe was simply 100g olive oil, 12g lye, 28g water, 10 drops of EO added at trace. I beat all my soaps by hand (no immersion blender). To achieve trace faster with olive oil, I have been using a large water discount and beating over a flame (~140F).

Why are there holes in my soap, and why are they only in a patch on the bottom of the mold? If they were air bubbles, wouldn't they have floated to the top? The top was smooth. :?

 

[IrishLass]

Air bubbles can get trapped in any part of the soap depending on how things were stirred or beaten, and/or how thick the batter is. The best way to release them so that they rise to the top is by banging the mold on the counter, but just keep in mind that if your batter is really thick, banging the mold won't always provide a surefire guarantee that your soap will be 100% free of air-bubbles (ask me how I know! lol).

By the way, I love the little date stamp on you soap! Very clever!


IrishLass

 

[federalist]

Duh, I should've tapped the air out. Just like making French macarons...

I am seriously hoping that stamping soap (in my case, scrawling with some baling wire) with a "vintage" will catch on. Soapers who take the time to cure their soaps for six months or longer should advertise this and differentiate themselves from the pop-up-shop crowd!