Teach Soap

My ungelled soaps aren't crumbly at all. It must be my recipe.

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

I think that as you get to know your soap recipe, fragrance you will know what to do. I have some fragrances that I have to gel or I will get a partial gel, and I really dislike that!

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

Oh my! After all this time I'm realizing that gelling involves putting your soap in the oven. I have never done that. I pour mine into molds, put wax paper on top, then insulate with a blanket. After that I just wait and then unmold a day or so later. I never read anything in the books about putting it in the oven. Now I'm reading people put them in the fridge or freezer. I've only done that when it won't come out of the mold. I'm so confused now I want to scream. Have I been making soap the wrong way this whole time?

no you havent been doing it wrong. i sometimes just wrap mine with towels and sometimes i put it in the oven. sometimes its cooler in my house and i want to make sure i gel so i just pop it in a warm oven. when it starts to gel i turn it off. soapbuddy always says soap doesnt have to gel to become soap. it just a matter of prefrence.

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ASH

There are many ways to make soap. It's a matter of personal preference and what works for you.

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

Hmmmm...sounds like there's room for some brilliant person to write another soapmaking how-to book with a little more info. It seems there are some super intelligent soapers on here (totally excluding myself lol!)
Thanks everyone!

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Hi everyone,
I found this topic by the search engine, and thought this is what i was looking for, but after reading i'm still not sure what gelling is ... (sorry, very new to soapmaking). Do i understand correctly that gelling means 'heating up' the soap (if you put it in the oven)?
I understand that also HP means heating the soap ... maybe the difference is that gelling means heating on a low heat and for a longer period, and HP is heating on a high heat and for a shorter period?

I just made my first batch of soap: sweet almond oil, olive oil, red palm oil and ... mothers milk. I couldn't use my stick blender because it made the soap splash all over, so i used something to whip cream with. After twenty five minutes of whipping the soap still wasn't tracing, so i tryed heating it up a little, and after a few minutes it looked like a thick mayonaise (so i hurried it in the mold ). I guess this wasn't either gelling or HP-ing?

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Thanks Lavenderlady!
I will check the soap. How do you recognize lye pockets? Do they have a certain colour?

It's now two weeks since i made that soap. Should i allready do a zap-test? I also bought some Hp-sticks, but i'm not certain how to use them. In the forum i saw some people either don't find them reliable enough, and some people just stick with the zap test.
Also, if a zap-test or Hp-stick says it's ok, those lye pockets may still be there without being noticed by these tests ...?

Here's one way to do the zap test. Dampen your finger. Put that finger on a spot that you think might have lye on it. Lightly touch that finger to your tongue. If it zaps, the soap has free floating lye. Have some juice handy to rinse your mouth out with, just in case.

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