Teach Soap

The log mold is my friend. Individual molds = NOT!

When we last left our story, VLQ was spreading CP peanut-butter into a mold. Not fun, but was doable. Oh, and DUH...things with additives like OATMEAL, which have turned into the consistency of peanut butter, do NOT make for awesome-clear designs. Go figure.

Oh, and did we mention VLQ forgot to use spray-release or some other form of lubricant?

So, yesterday *should* have been better. Should. And maybe it was. We don't know yet.

The players in our story are a wee tiny silicon mold for a massage bar. Two 9-square tray molds. A 4-bar massage bar mold I bought on a whim from JoAnne's for $2.50. I figured what the heck, for two bucks...right?

And oh, what's this? Let's make a chocolate chunk cookie recipe and use a PVC pipe! Then slice it like COOKIES!!! How original! Ok, not so original, but let's do NOTHING IN LOG MOLDS TODAY. Well, almost nothing. I lined 2 of 4 that I own, in case there was extra. I knew there would be extra of a couple, because I was going to do one tray, then just dump the rest in the log mold.

I am obviously not a math wizard.

Batch #1 no problem. Filled the wee little silicon mold by using a spoon. Kinda a pain, but it was little, and it was only one cavity.
Batch #2, really really no problem. White Tea and Ginger Loofah. Poured before peanut butter consistency, tapped for no-bubbles. Awesome. Too bad when I look today I notice a couple spots in the design that had PAM pools in them, hence no soap. GRRR!
Batch #3, Juniper Sage. Since the weather is in the teens by this time, my lye is uber cold, and creates false trace IMMEDIATELY. Turn on the stove to low, and things get cookin' again. Back on track. Figured this would *just* be in the 9-square, plus the 4-bar massage tray. This is where the bad math happens. I probably have at least 1-1.5lbs left over after filling those two (out of 3#). GAAAAH! Quick! What do I do? I make a dumb panicked move and use a mini-ice cube tray, forget to spray it, and WTH am I going to do with a bunch of soap mini-cubes???

AND I still have some left over!

So, I sacrifice a little gladware bowl, and tell Dh that this will be HIS very special soap.

Batch #4....the cookie soap. I've got ONLY a 1.5ft pipe prepared, and I dumbly rest it IN a log mold to measure if it will be big enough. If it fits in the log mold, the soap should fit in the pipe, right?

(no, I wasn't drinking....yet....)

I enlist DH's help to hold the pipe...I'm so smart. Crisis Averted. Except now DH is sure his hand will fall off because he got a blob of raw soap on him. The pipe is about 3 inches too short for a 2# batch with some "chocolate" chunks added. Quick...get another smaller length of pipe. Forget to spray it.

It goes without saying that some of this stuff went into hard trace while all the shenanigans were going on. So that was even MORE fun.

AND I had a couple new recipes.

And I wonder why things are still soft this morning.

AND I tried not insulating a few to see what would happen. I'm TRYING to make my life difficult.

But still, had a good time!

LOL! Glad you had a good time.

Instead of PAM which saponifies, try brushing just a wee bit of mineral oil on the inside of the mold.

If your recipe is soft, you might have too many soft oils in there. Can you add some mango/shea butter or beeswax?

I use sodium lactate in my batches and they come out easy within 24 hours. I prefer not to gel.

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

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

If you keep a soap diary, you should add this to it. It will make for some great laughs later on. ROFLMAO!! What an exciting time you had!!