Teach Soap

Ok. So I made some soap over the weekend for the first time in a long time. I used all new oils and this seemed to help. The batter was much more liquidy and easier to work with. Unfortunately I mixed them at too high a temp (130*), so they gelled terribly. But I will try again this weekend with lower temps (110*).

Colorants- I used the mini mixer this time. I tried using the warmed temp oils that were mixed, but I found that the oxides and lab colors didn't mix well at all! So I used the oxides and colorants with water and it worked WAY BETTER! I noticed that the soap queen suggests only olive oil or Almond oil as a carrier to mixing. Should I have only used one oil, rather than my mixed oils?

Why did my soap gel terribly? Was it the high temps or the added water from mixing my colors? (it was about 4 tbsp of added water)

I wish I had more time to make soap and figure this stuff out. Thanks for everyones help!

The higher the temp, the faster the gelling occurs. You can mix your colors with a little bit of glycerin. 4 tbsp of added water won't make a whole lot of difference.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Mixing color is where I always end up screwing up so, yeah, what others have said. Be gentle as you can mixing color in and no stick blenders!

I have a ridiculous stockpile of colorants, and lately I'm only using micas, plus TD for white and activated charcoal for black. The micas can mix right into the batter with a tiny whisk. I dissolve my TD in water and keep it in a bottle. Also, I don't even mix to trace anymore, I get everthing mixed, divided out then bring it to trace after adding the colorants.

And as mentioned, the higher the amount of olive oil, the slower it'll come to trace. Sometimes you just know the soap is going to trace really fast, just have a "plan b" with your soap design, instead of an ITP swirl, do a layering "plop" method, and so forth.

_________________
Logansama aka Belinda
Nor Cal

Logansmama- Interesting! You don't mix to trace until after you've added color! Never thought of that!

I have done a lot of research this week on which oils are quick to trace and slow, so hopefully that will help.

Aprilprey 2- usually that's what I have to do is go to plan 2 last minute or just try to swirl with what I've created.

If only I knew more people who use bar soap, then I wouldn't feel bad, but when you have a book shelf full of soap, it makes it hard to continue making and experimenting. lol!