Teach Soap

Hello, my name is Ardy, I'm new to soapmaking. A few days ago I tried my first batch of Melt & pour. I just want to ask a few question.

-My base soap was rather quick to harden (not last for 1 minute) after I move the melted soap to another container to add colorants. Did the soap just burned? I search internet but I'm sure that my soap had been burned but I didn't have proof.

-If my soap did get burned, how long did the melt & pour base soap usually harden/stick to the mold when melted in appropriate way?

-What is the ideal time to add fragrances or what is the ideal temperature to add fragrances? Since fragrances were very easy to evaporate.

-I'm curious, can I make the melting result to resembling medium/thick trace? I want to do it since when I pour the soap, the soap leaked from the hole in my mold.

Thank you kindly for your responses. Can't wait for your answers

Oh, sorry if my English was bad.

Best regards
Ardy

Where did your MP base come from? I use BrambleBerry base and it stays fluid for me. I add the fragrance just before I pour into the mold and stir well. You won't get a medium trace with MP soap.

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

Thank you very much for your answer Soapbuddy.
So if the base is normal or my melting method was normal, the soap still fluid as long as I stir it, right? I don't have any double boiler or slow cooker so I directly melting it with stove fire (very small thought), using stainless steel pan and I heated it for +- 20 seconds.

I'm sorry that I don't mention it before, but I live in Indonesia and I don't know any BrambleBerry channel. I got my soap from local supplier. By the information from the supplier, he use coconut oil and olive oil with stearic acid and sorbitol but I don't know for sure whether he was using SLS or not.

BrambleBerry is the owner of this forum and they sell MP bases online at www.brambleberry.com
Their MP soap base contains: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerin (kosher, of vegetable origin), Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Oat Protein (conditioner)

I'm not sure why a MP base would have stearic acid. SLS could be either sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate. Either one is a surfactant. This means it adds bubbles, but it's not natural.
It could be the SLS that is hardening up your base too fast.

The soap should still be fluid a couple of minutes after it's been melted.

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

We have lots of helpful info that I will post below, but the quality of your base can make a big difference! If you have a good base it will behave much better!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... EF0838281A

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... melt-pour/

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... pour-soap/

http://www.soapqueen.com/bramble-berry- ... e-roundup/

Whoa, so the ingredients are doing much role in M&P process

Thank you so much guys for your help. Guess I will be more careful when heating my melt & pour soap. Can't wait to do the next batch to see when I use a gentle heating to my soap base. Hopefully, it is just my heating method that account for the soap hardening, hence this was my first experience in melt & pour.

Hello again, I had tried my new batch last saturday, and it seems that both my method and my soap base were bad.

In the second batch, I tried to use boiling water to heat my soap like the picture.
20150711_095507.jpg [ 4.33 KiB | Viewed 13074 times ]

Still, this large batch was generating fumes, although in a little quantity, did it indicate that my soap was burn?

This time it is easier to work with because with large batch the heat remained trap in the soap thus the soap didn't harden quickly.


And then, I try to cook white opaque base with colorants and here is the result.
Rose.jpg [ 11.1 KiB | Viewed 13074 times ]

Sunflower.jpg [ 10.07 KiB | Viewed 13074 times ]


But because this batch was small, when I pour the soap into the mold, the remaining soap quickly harden in the container and it is much wasted.

It is the opposite from what I saw in soapqueen tv episode 1 about melt & pour. When she microwave the soap and place the soap outside, she casually talk and without hesitation she pour the melted soap into mold without so much waste in the container. I think this was the difference of my soap and her soap.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help , I really enjoyed the process of soapmaking, the art in the process and seeing the beautiful soap in the internet really can make you happy

It looks like you need to get yourself a different base. Once melted, you should have time to add any color or scent, then pour.

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

Yes, it seems that I have to try another supplier, and see the difference.