Teach Soap

Is it spots? Is it a Volcano? NOooo, today it's... PlayDoh!! Doh! Doh! Doh! (like an echo... see what I did there?)

The gremlins were having a big part yesterday. After the first volcano, the second (same recipe) gelling IN the freezer, then the third batch for the day attempted to sieze on me. Little did it know I have an arm of mighty strength coupled with spatula of doooooom!



Looks like Playdoh!!

Wanting to use up the last of my Palm oil here, I went back to an old recipe and picked out a new scent (Tropical Blast by Nature's Garden). I divided the mixture into 3 molds for the 3 colours, only this time instead of a 4th container to mix the scent in - mix it back - then divide, I just added the scent in equal parts to the 3 coloured pots before putting in my mixture.

So pot + Colour + Scent waiting for batter. Bow Booooow! Big mistake. As soon as I tipped the batter in, it started to rice. I wielded my trusty stick blender (I have new containers so my stick blender can fit in) and wizzed the ricing away. *evil laugh here*

The gremlins, foiled in their attempt to create a sandpaper looking riced batch, cracked it big time and went straight for 'solid mass'. I had hoped for a spoon swirl, but it ended up being more like a jackhammer swirl. Getting the batter out of the pots was like trying to pull playdoh out. Not easy! Sometimes I would try and scoop up some batter only to have it hang on to the bottom for dear life!

When I say I 'thwaped' it in, that's exactly how you would imagine in. Thwwwaaaa-WAP! Little (ok big) flick of the wrist to get it off the spatula.

By the time I got to the top of the mold, it was like trying to spread half dried clag. Torn between letting go of the spatula or clinging to it, it was not pretty. Frustrating. But certainly not pretty.



The GOOD news however, is that not only did it practically fall out of it's mold (yay for not being tacky), it cut up beautifully!! I'm going to let it sit for a bit to see what happens. I'm too scared to lick it in case there's a gremlin hidden in there somewhere just waiting to bite my tongue off!!!

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

OMG..you are at it again..lol I had this happen a few times, in fact it happened to me the other day. I made a two pound batch but I wanted to divide it into two one pounders. I had a bigger quantity for the base color and added the titanium dioxide to it. I had two smaller containers for the swirl colors. I added pomegranate plum to one and it turned ugly. So, you are not alone. We laugh with you, not at you because we have all been there and continue to visit Gremlinland every once in awhile...lol

Just tell people you meant to make play doh soap for kids!

Maybe next time, use a whisk to get rid of the ricing rather than a stick blender? Maybe the stick just accelerated the issue.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

Yup, I've had it happen, too. I ended up using my gloved hands to smoosh (yes, that is a soaping term) the soap into the mold to try and get the air pockets out. I was really happy with the way the cut bars looked BTW. Much better than I hoped!

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

Coolah, my nieces and nephews would LOVE that soap! I bet your kids will too, assuming there are no tongue biting gremlins hiding in it! I rue the day I find one of those. At least this gremlin attack turned into something cool!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Dang girl! That's some interesting soap.

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

Hehe, the gremlins were well and truely at play this weekend! Hopefully today's efforts go a little smoother...

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I told my brother, an engineer, to make me some soaping gremlin traps! He told me I'm nuts!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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

Coolah you are so funny I can't believe it .You make my day!

Coolah, I am so glad you live as far away as you do... keep those gremlins intertained there... I am hoping to try a soap experiment tomorrow! Would love to see a photo of the cut bars. How is the scent? What did you use to get those deep of colors?

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

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Were they lye heavy? Did you not want to re-batch? I suppose to mix those colors would have given you p**p brown??

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

No zap, but they felt still 'moist' on the outside. Hard to describe, but didn't feel my other soaps. Couldn't be bothered rebatching and because I didn't know exactly what was wrong with them, felt better to bin. Plus, I have like 30 other batches of soap on the curing rack lol, wasn't going to miss one failed batch.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

That front bar on the right (img1763) looks like it has a heart shaped air pocket. Nice.

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I'm no soap-making expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night


John
Troo Soap