Teach Soap

So I started cutting my bastile soap this morning (made last night). It appears to be perfect in every way (including nice soapy taste/no zap ANYWHERE). However, at the very ends of the loaf there are some white bits on the edges. It reminds me of when I used titanium dioxide once ... almost the same type of thing except I didn't use any TD in this. Just some sea clay for the green swirl. The rest of the soap is natural/no color/no additives except EOs (cedar/lav/patch).

I cut the loaf in the middle and it looks wonderful. Again, just on the very ends of the loaf there is this issue. It's not lye (yep, licked the white bits too ...). Here are some pics:

http://twitpic.com/6d54fh (part way through the loaf. Those white spots don't seem to be lye. Either air bubbles or just the soap's texture. )

http://twitpic.com/6d541w (an end piece showing white on the edges)

It soaped quite nicely. No seizing or anything like that. It didn't get super thick of course b/c of the high OO content (70+ %). This recipe also contains coconut oil (20+%) and castor (5%).

Lye solution was 2:1 water/lye. Soaped at about 110-115. Am pretty sure it gelled but the mold didn't get as hot as some batches I've made either.

Thoughts?

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

That looks like ash to me. I would rinse it off or spritz with alcohol and wipe off.

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

The top of this loaf was definitely more ashy more quickly than I'm used to seeing. The white bits are right in the soap though ... Like inside just past the edge it as opposed to just the surface only. However it's only the very ends of the loaf ... Can ash behave this way?

It's really weird cuz like I said you can literally lick the stuff so it can't be lye.

I do think the quality of this recent container of lye I bought isn't as good though and maybe thus the major ashing. It had a couple small dark bits in it (dirt or other trace minerals?) and those annoying couple white specs too in the water. So I've been pouring my solution through cheese cloth and a strainer. PIA!

Karri

_________________
I soap therefore I am.

My lye is all white with no darker bits in it. I found out the hard way if I rinse off my pitcher with soapy water, I get little floaties on top of the water. I only rinse my lye pitcher with water now. I would try a different lye.

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

I think it's a quality control thing as this brand of lye has always made me lovely soap ... there were only like 2 dark bits that came to my attention when pouring it out of the container and I picked them out. And yes re the white bits precipitating out in the pitcher - I've started to rinse with water only and it seems to be helping!

In Canada lye is not easy to come by and so far I've only found one place in a city of almost 90,000 that has lye (Home Hardware). It's actually nicer to work with than some lye I got from a soap supplier in Edmonton. So those dark bits were a surprise to me last night.

I don't think the dark bits I found necessarily indicate the reason I had ash but hard to say.... I hope the soap is okay. It looks fine except those few spots (which I cut off) and the ash on top. Tastes like soap. Feels like soap...

Karri

_________________
I soap therefore I am.

Could the bits in the soap be from your knife when you made the cut? Maybe it was transferred from the outside of the soap to the cut side?

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

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

I'll see if I can take a better picture.

_________________
I soap therefore I am.

Shoot. This picture really isn't much better but ...

http://twitpic.com/6da77k

I re-inspected the rest of the bars and most of them are fine or just have those teeny white dots, like air bubbles and maybe a teeny little line or two on one of the other bars.

The more I look at this soap the more I think it didn't gel either. Just a thought.

I also superfatted at 7% which I've not done before with a high OO soap like this.

I've seen those dots before on soap, both mine and online and it wasn't a concern beyond aesthetics but these bigger blotchy bits are weird to me. Again, no zap and tastes like soap but still ... it worries me because I can't figure out the cause.

Karri

_________________
I soap therefore I am.

I have nothing to offer about the white dots mystery..but I do REALLY enjoy the mental image of you licking all the soap...

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

Hmm, except I used only olive oil (regular, not EVO), coconut oil (76) and castor for this (like a bastile) ... none of those are high in stearic.

Karri

_________________
I soap therefore I am.

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

Waaaaah! I hate the Soap Gremlins! Because I don't know how to prevent the mistake from happening again.

Damn you Gremlins!

*sigh*

_________________
I soap therefore I am.

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