Teach Soap

WELL..
Measured everything, lye, water , oils. Was going along all hunkey dorey, split the batter at a SUPER thin trace, and I mean BARELY there. Figuring the FO and colorant would bump it along just a tad. The Hollyberry FO did in fact change the color of the batter from a translucent cream color to a pretty orangy white.(I mixed it 1.5 tbsp of the HB with 1.5 tbsp of the cranberry fig) Kudos, I was hoping that would happen.Smells SUPER YUMMY!
Then WHAMO! it literally looked like curdled cream, well the beginnings of it. Yes I freaked out, as you all know, I am waiting for my stick blender to get here. ( yes I know I could go buy one at Target or Walmart but I don't want to have to reinvest again in several months because the lye has eaten the shaft) So there I was happily stiring away and then I see curdles. eeek! oh no oh no! Grabbed the Stand mixer and hammered that batter. seemed to firm it up. My other bit of batter I set aside for color, no scent, (didn't want the orangy color to mess with the pretty green I was aiming for) I used like a 1.5 TBSP of soybean oil as a carrier to mix the chrome green. Great perfect color. This little bit just didn't want to trace either so I again used the stand mixer. (Can't wait for that BOX!) got that little bit to a barely there trace as well and then sighed and went ahead and did a high pour into the uncolored batter. Yes I am hoping for a swirl. Well with it so thin I decided what the heck It might be a bomb anyway so lets try the CPOP thing. So I heated the oven to 170 and popped the mold into the oven. NOW I WAIT and I'M SCARED TO DEATH!

ANY and all comments are welcome. can I start pacing now?

I had the very same thing happen to me with the Holly Berry. It didnt seize on me though and I was able to glop most of it into a mold. They turned out beautiful, and OH MY they are the strongest smelling soaps I have made to date. I just rebatched my left overs (I over calculated the size of the mold) with some goats milk that didnt turn out they way I planned, and the rebatch smells divine and has great lather.

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Dawn

OH I am so glad ( sorry about your batch) to not be the ONLY one this has happened to. IM praying really hard this works out in SOME WAY, it never got overly funky. When I stuck the mixer on it , seemed to mix it a bit better. What's really messing with me is the small batch that I colored has no scent in it and that little bugger didnt go to trace fully either. My daughter was standing there taking pics for me and kept saying I don't see lines! I kind of glared at her and Snapped I DONT EITHER!. Because I am so darned stubborn and Soapbuddy and I talked a lot today about this recipe I was determined to make a go of it. Ah well, I posted all the pics on my fb page and will even post pics of the aftermath good, bad and/or ugly as they may be. I am currently praying to the Soap Gods though. (REALLY HARD)

I hope it still works out for you. Some fragrances do accelerate trace or can make the soap seize. I've had a Pumpkin FO turn my soap batter into curds and whey that never came back together.

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

Update: After the oven thing last night (I even taped my door shut so nosy housemates wouldn't open it) I pulled it out this morning, Hurray it was a solid piece of Soap? HOPING. WOW did it turn orange! I love the colors! How do I put in pics here and I will show them. NOT a pretty bar but a bar. I am still learning and someday HOPE to get to the level of beautiful soaps I see from all the talented people here. I haven't Zap tested it yet, needed my morning coffee first. praying my tongue forgives me for what I am about to do to it.

You need to post your pics online somewhere like Photobucket first. Then you copy the last code under the photo and post it here. You can resize the pic in Photobucket first if need be.

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

The color is pretty, but if it's seeping liquid, I would rebatch, just to be on the safe side.

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

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

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

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