Teach Soap

I was making a batch of soap that I've made before and had no problems. This time it seized up so fast I barely had time to get it in the mold. By the end I was sort of mashing it in the mold! The only difference to the recipe is the Arabian Spice fragrance oil I added. Would that cause seizing? I added it to my oils before I mixed it with the lye not even thinking. Do you think this batch will be ok?

Spices are more prone to seizing. Next time your soap seizes, leave it in the pot and let it go to gel by itself, or from a little help of your low temp oven. Give it a day or two and if it zaps, I would rebatch it.

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

So I rebatched the whole mess last night. After letting it sit for 2 days, it still looked suspicious. I chopped it up (too soft to shread which was odd for this recipe too) and put it in the crock pot for a couple hours. Unfortunately it looks like hot process soap with the less than perfect top. I trimmed it up and it looks better and is much harder than the original bar already. Grrrr.....
Rena

Hot process will not be as smooth as CP. It's more like "glopping" into your mold.

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

I have also found that I can "fix" every seize I get with the following;
turn on a kettle of water when you are soaping
if you have a seize, add a little boiling water... stir... if needed add a little more..
the water has to be boiling..

this has worked for me every time.. Hope it works as well for you.

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Where Handmade is ALWAYS Better!

Thanks for that tip! I'll have to remember to heat some water when I'm going to be working with spicey scents.

On the plus side, I made a 6 lbs batch of olive oil soap today and it looked beautiful! I poured half just plain into my wood mold and then added rosehip powder and Celestial Waters to the rest and poured into my PVC pipes. Hopefully it will be as nice as it smelled!

Welcome to my world! I just had my first rice... and then batch #2- seize...Ughhh, I feel like a noob, wish I could say I was at this point. But I just cried- LOL.
On the upside, I had an HP Castile, come out beautifully!

Don't you just love that panicky feeling when it happens? LOL

Gotta love the soap addiction sometimes.

Well I've been at this for the better part of a year. I haven't had a rice yet...what causes that?! Just when you get comfortable with the process and think nothing can go wrong...SURPRISE:-)

Best thing I have found too- is to make a scent journal and record the recipe and the scent, where it was from and how it acted. That way you can "hopefully" figure out a better way to soap the scent.

I also just joined the scent review board and that is like an oasis to me at this point.

Question for stinky dancer -- what \ where is the 'scent review board' ???? I am trying to gather as much information as I can.

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

Try here. http://soapscentreview.obisoap.ca/viewt ... 367&t=4778
Be aware that you can't register with a free email account.

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

Yep that one is it!