Teach Soap

I made 2 batches of soap this week and they are ugly. Sometimes I gel and sometimes I don't. These 2 batches were discoloring fragrances so I used titanium dioxide and I gelled them. They discolored anyway and when I cut them they had glycerin rivers in them. This happened the last time I gelled too. After some research I learned that if you gel when using the titanium dioxide for water you will get glycerin rivers and that's what my new t.d. is. Have you experienced this problem? I won't be gelling until I get the other t.d. What to do with this ugly soap since I can't give it as Christmas gifts? It will take me a year to use it all myself.

MaryLou

Does it smell nice? You say it's ugly, what does it look like? I'm guessing brown with glycerin rivers?

Rebatching is an option.

I hate throwing good (but ugly) soap away, and I hate rebatching. So when I make Christmas gift bags for my co-workers, everybody gets 2-3 bars of nice looking soap and one ugly bar.

What scent did you use? You could shred it or cut it into chunks and mix it into a new batch. For example, if the soap is brown, make a new batch, color that batch blue or green, and mix the chunks or shreds in there.

It does smell very nice. One batch was Sleigh Ride and the other was Oak Moss and Amber. The Sleigh Ride is a muddy tan with three blue colors swirled into it. The Oak Moss and Amber has turned a weird dark pinkish tan. It has dark sienna ,gold mica and green swirls. Both soaps have darker centers with gullies where the glycerin was absorbed back into the soap. I hate to rebatch. I think it would be even uglier if possible. I might consider shredding or chopping some up for another batch. The third batch I made with these two was not gelled. I did use the t.d. in it also. I poured it into individual molds. Lovely pink and white bars with no glycerin rivers. So not all is bad in my soaping world.

Mary Lou

You said this batch is ugly and I believe you but I have seen some beautiful examples online of soap where the rivers were a planned for part of the design. Just a thought to play with.