Teach Soap

This may only be for people located in So Cal, Arizona and other hotter than heck locations.

It is 103 degress in my kitchen. I made a milk and honey soap tonight (half in a plastic drawer organizer and half in a wood mold). The plastic drawer organizer has gone to gell in weird spots in the middle. Soap was laying on my oven top as my counters are filled with soaping junk. Wood mold holding great. Put wood mold outside and keeping plastic mold inside to force gell throughout right now.

Question. If the gell only goes into these dead zones, is the soap worth saving? Wasn't anticpating gelling at all and now I think I will just get a partial gel.

Any wisdom for a newbie for soaping in a hot house without air conditioning?


Thoughts?

Lisa

Update. . .very bad idea to leave it kitchen. 20 minutes later I have huge crack in middle which I have tried to massage down. Now I have crust sticking to wax paper and a deep brown gell throughout (and of course, cracks throughout). Do I toss it?

Next time put it in the fridge. It sounds like it overheated. I presume you have no AC?

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

No AC! I really want AC!! I know, should have put in fridge. Going to post the photos now of the debacle. I do want to say that these unmolded within 12 hours and are surprisingly hard (harder than ones I have done for CPOP). Why is that?

File comment: This is soap in a wooden mold which actually turned out okay because it gelled evenly.

Honeycomb soap.jpeg [ 20.98 KiB | Viewed 7747 times ]
File comment: You can sort of see partial gel here

Bee Soap 2.jpeg [ 16.8 KiB | Viewed 7747 times ]

Partial gel is not so bad. In the end it will still be soap. If the soap that overheated didn't separate, it should be ok too.

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

Thanks Soapbuddy. No it didn't separate, but I am definitely putting this loaf on my "Soap of Shame" drying rack!

Lisa

I like the honey comb. How did you do that?

Bubble wrap!

Yes, I saw a tutorial somewhere. It works pretty well and makes it sooo easy to get out of the mold. However, since I am totally off milk and honey soaps for a while in any heat, I am not sure how it would release if you left in fridge.

There has to be a better way to do that!

I think your soap looks great , I love the honey comb effect .

Kitn

To keep from overheating in a hot kitchen -

Like every August, when I'm making Pumpkin Spice soap and tearing my hair out, lol -

I want my soap to gel, so I don't use the refrigerator. I always get partial gel when I do that, and I don't like the look. So I cover the mold as usual and watch it like a hawk, peeking frequently. When gel starts to reach the edges, I start cooling it down right away.

First step - elevate your mold, and get it somewhere where air will circulate. I take the lid off and put a thin piece of cardboard over the top, then take the soap mold outside onto the patio in a cool and shady spot, and use a couple of bricks as stands to lift the mold. I generally get a good breeze out there, so air is circulating over, under, and around the whole mold.

You can use any cool spot - turn a fan on the mold if you need air circulation. If you have fridge space, once the batch gels, shove it in there. I've been known to take the lid off completely and use the ice packs we keep in the freezer for injuries to wrap the bottom and sides of the mold. Whatever you can do to cool it off!

I had a bad overheater a couple of years ago, soaping at my mom's house near Lake Tahoe, and I ran outside and stuck my mold into a snowbank, lol.

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http://www.magichandsworkshop.com
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_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

That is great advice, Magic Hands! I actually did that, putting it outside with air around it, for my totally disaster CPOP. But I was too late. But I think you've saved all of us without air conditioning!

Thank you!

hmmm.....I live up here in cool country. I don't have air conditioning, no need. So I received my order from BB today with pumpkin spice in there. If what I'm comprehending from your instructions Magic, you don't CPOP pumpkin spice. Do you insulate it? In my case, would I insulate it? Or would I just leave it on the counter with a top on my mold?