Teach Soap

I make a degreaser soap that has Fullers earth as an ingredient.

Fullers earth has grease absorbing properties, so I'm not using it as a colorant.

The first time I made it, I got a bar with a consistent appearance throughout. Recent batches, alas are not. I end up with blobs of the Fullers earth, instead of it being mixed throughout the soap.

I've been using an ounce per pound of oils, and mixing it, via stick blender, with my base oils before I add the lye solution.

Am I using too much? Is there a better mixing technique?

I know it's a case of, "gee, I wish my degreaser soap were prettier", said no mechanic ever, but I would like it to look a bit better.

Thanks for the help.

Anita

Hold back some of your water that you would use to mix the lye and make a slurry with the clay and water. Add the slurry to either your cooled off oils and stick blend, or add the slurry as soon as the oils and lye are mixed (but before trace).

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

Thanks for the tip.

Glad you didn't tell me I was using too much, as I love the way the soap works. I'm nobody's idea of a mechanic, but I use it in the kitchen to clean greasy stuff off my hands.

Anita

Hey, Irena, wanted to let you know your suggestion worked great.

It was pretty funny to watch. I use locally brewed ale as my lye dissolving liquid in this soap, and I always freeze it solid before I add the lye. So I set the frozen ale out of the freezer to thaw a bit so I could pour off a bit to dissolve the clay in.

Come time to make the soap, and the poured off but looked a bit skimpy next to the amount of clay I used. Okay, let's add some water.

And by the time I got the clay and liquid made into a slurry, I thought my arm was going to fall off. My little stick blender just kept whirring, and I made sure it was nice and smooth.

Soap looks great, so thanks again for the suggestion.

Anita

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