Teach Soap

I posted this in the Lye Safety section, but thought I would do a thread as well...

This weekend, my daughter and I made our 3rd ever batch of soap. We always measure our lye into a disposable plastic cup on the scale so that we can throw away the cup and not have to worry about a contaminated vessel. Thank god we had our protective gear on, as when we started pouring the lye into the cup, it started popping out of the cup onto the counter and my arms--like it was statically charged or something! A couple of grains got on my wrist and I was able to wash them off with vinegar, and we cleaned up the whole area thoroughly, but what a scary thing! Especially since we were aftraid to use water to clean up, we finally soaked papertowels in vinegar to clean up the counters and the floor--this stuff was really popping!!!

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? It was terrifying!

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Laura
4-H Rules!

Wipe everything down, including your cup with a fabric softener sheet.

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

Lye can become static charged. When using plastic, the charges repel each other. Like with magnets when your point North and North together. It's the same idea.

But like soapbuddy said, use a bounce sheet (Or a different brand) Because that will remove the static charge. What I do with my lye container, I wipe the rim, because the static charges of the container its self make it very difficult to pour.

I thought it was what was supposed to happen at first. I mean I didn't really think anything of it. But when I found out I could minimize the charges like how soapbuddy described, it certainly helped me a lot.

Thank you so much! It really freaked me out when it happened--it was popping everywhere!

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Laura
4-H Rules!

I set my scale in the sink, use the same glass cup, and slowly pour the lye into the cup, then I set the cup in the other sink which has water and vinegar. Long protective gloves are a must for the entire process of soap making.When done, I wipe the scale with a damp paper towel and rinse the sink. Good luck.