Teach Soap

How long should I leave an ungelled batch in the mold? This one went right into the fridge when I was done whisking in my colour, and it needed it! The bottom of the mold was getting super hot. It is in a crafter's choice silicone mold, I don't want to lose corners or anything by unmolding too soon!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Leave it until all the sides feel firm and you can't make an indentation with your finger. I've had several crumble when the edges didn't gel & I unmolded too soon. I was too impatient to let it sit an extra day...Learned the hard way!

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

Sounds like it's gelling anyway. Let it be til it gels all the way, then let it completely cool off. Then you should be able to unmold.

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

It was in the fridge for 24 hours, and has now been on the counter for an additional 24 hours. Thinking I'll wait until tomorrow to pull it out of the mold.

Thanks ladies! Was teaching Mom how to soap, we used tuberose FO and wow acceleration! I was expecting it, so I only used one colour... which I had to whisk into the heavy trace LOL Was a good way to teach her about acceleration though!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Tuberose always accelerates trace. Next time you want to show your mom, try something like a citrus.

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

All of her FOs are floral. She will have good experience with acceleration! I do have some banana bark and bamboo that I am going to do a 2 or 3 colour swirl with, I will use that batch to show her "normal" tracing.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

So does mom like soaping as much as you do?

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

She is getting there! She still finds it a little scary to use lye, but we all do at first, right? I was scared of it when I first soaped and I'd been using it and worse (more corrosive) in the lab for years.

I unmolded it today. Was a partial gel evident from the bottom of the log but the edges were still soft even after 3 days in the mold. Really preferring gelled soap! My non-gelled soap (or parts of soap in this case!) always seem to be soft for ages! I will probably cut the loaf tomorrow, as long as those edges firm up some overnight.

Would using a little mineral oil help unmolding without damaging the edges? Sometimes they stick a little. This time though they were just soft and the edges of the mold displaced them as it was sliding out.

Irena! How do you unmold your ungelled soap without having the edges messed up?

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I freeze my ungelled soaps and unmold then while they're still frozen.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

I don't cut mine until at least another 24 hours after they're out of the freezer.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

The OMH bars I made two weeks ago just NOW seem to be hardening up. That was the first time I put the soap in the refrigerator to prevent gel. Also, it looks like there was a little partial gel going anyway, because there's an oval in the middle of a few of the bars that's really hard to make out unless you're looking for it.

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www.facebook.com/Semplice-Naturals

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist