Teach Soap

Once upon a time I made a batch of soap and didn't stir the lye water enough. As a result there was a crust of lye in the bottom of the container that never got in to the soap. There wasn't enough lye to completly saponify the oils so the soap wept oil.

Well..........it has happened to a lesser degree again. I am reasonably sure I measured my lye correct. I stir lye and water for about 2 minutes like soapbuddy told me. It did seem slow to trace. It gelled. When I removed the freezer paper liner it felt greasy. I have sliced one bar of soap and it feels slightly greasy. I am going to let the block set a couple days before I slice it. I sure hope it will be okay because it is one of the rare occasions where my trying to be artsy kind of came out. Thoughts???

How old is the lye? Were there any clumps in it? Did you use a stick blender and reached true trace? I would leave it be for now and see if the oil will absorb back in. Sometimes it does.

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

I've had that happen a couple of times and the oil has absorbed back into the soap. No zap when checked after a week.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

It is new lye. It had no clumps. It did seem to have too many floaties in it even after I had stirred it. I am pretty sure it reached trace. I wanted thin trace because I was mixing some new colors. The one bar I cut does seem to drying out to a degree. I always age for 8 weeks.

The floaties could be from the container you mix the lye in - do you wash it with soap or just rinse it with lots of water?

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

My intent is to just rinse but I can't be sure it didn't get tossed into soapy water. I will rinse it well with water before I use it again.

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

Scrubbed out my lye pitcher with water and dried it good. Washed off my stir spoon with water only. Beautiful clear lye water. No floaties.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

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