Teach Soap

I am posting these for Spotted Cat who is asking what might have caused this pattern in the soap. Any ideas? She used a tried and true recipe and soaped at 106 degrees and did CP. She used black orchid FO that did not seem to be any problem, and took to a light/medium trace. She used 2 tsp of antique blue mica mixed in really well into the castor oil (and then to the warmed oils) before adding lye water.

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

I have that FO, haven't soaped it yet. I have had problems before with mica causing oil separation and also really not coloring CP well. I only use it now it to color, stripe, swirl the tops of logs and I mix it in a *very* small amount of oil first. That's all I got.

I'll wait for Soapbuddy or magic_hands to weigh in.

Hello Lisa. I have the black orchid and have made goat's milk CP without colorant and it turned out a very dark chocolaty brown and soaped at 110. Didn't have any separation. Mixed it in at light trace with a wire whisk. It's kinda hard to tell by the photo but it looks like marbling. I'm wondering if the mixing with castor affected it somehow? Looks like something for the experts.

I've used that FO as well. The only time I got a little marbling was when I added titanium dioxide. Is it possible that the mica has some TD in it? Some blue micas are not CP safe. Is this the one from BB?

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

yes, soapbuddy, it is from BB and i have had no problems using it in cp soap before. I realize it turns grey - but that is the color I was aiming for with this particular FO.

Thank you Lisa for posting this for me, I just got home a couple of minutes ago. My tech guy is out of town.

I think your DH will love that you referred to him as your "tech guy." Ha ha!

I could say he's good with his hands, but I'm afraid I'd get kicked off the forum, lol

hm. i never use micas as my primary colorant - just dyes or oxides - but i agree with soapbuddy's suggestion that it looks like the overheating "veins" that appear sometimes with TD. i've gotten similar mottled patterns using beer, which gets extra-hot in my formula.

did it heat up a lot in the mold? fast gel, perhaps?

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Whoa, just caught something on behalf of Spotted Cat and myself..

Well, both she and I have been using the Pop Micas a lot lately. Like we bought a truck load and have used in everything.

Just kate, you said you had oil separation. Could that be the problem with this antique blue/black orchid as well as my fragrance oil clumping? Has anyone else gotten something similar to this or the fragrance oil clumping thread photos when using micas?

I can't answer the overheating part but I am sure Spotted Cat will log on very soon in regards to the black orchid.

Lisa

Hi - I'm back from raising hell at the City Council meeting tonight. I didn't use TD in this batch. I used 2 teas of antique blue mica from BB. There wasn't anything unusual going on that I could tell. The mica was well blended before I added the lye to the oils, I soaped at a fairly low temp so that wasn't a problem. I didn't have any acceleration with the FO, it blended in nicely and I cp'd it & didn't notice any overheating.

My next question is: Even tho it looks marbled and really isn't esthetically appealing, is it okay to use?

it should be okay to use. marbling is really only a cosmetic problem.

i'm nearly tempted to mess up a batch with mica, just to see if that's what it is.

_________________
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http://www.magichands.etsy.com
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I think it looks like of cool! I wonder if you could duplicate it?

Here is another thought.....since it was soaped at around 106 degrees, could it be the stearic acid from one of your soapmaking oils?

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

I thought about the stearic acid, but that's a hell of alot of stearic acid floating around, but I guess it could be?????

Hmmm.. .. Magic gets to TRY to mess up a batch. Some of us don't need to even try. It just happens! Guess we are just lucky that way.

Lisa