Teach Soap

Greetings assembled soap whizzs,
I wonder if you could cast your eyes over a couple of recipes I tried over the weekend, neither of which have really worked out as planned.
Basically, the problem is that they are both rather soft and crumbly 24-48 hours post mixing. Both were mixed at 38-40 centigrade for oil/NaOH, and mixed to (what I thought was) a light trace to enable some swirly pattern experimenting.... Neither gelled, as I didnt insulate them this time (ooops?)... But on the plus side, the colours/swirls Im really happy with (I'll post up some pictures perhaps tomorrow).
I did run the first one through a calc, but the second was done manually as I couldnt find one that had apricot butter as an ingredient.

batch 1:
olive (40%) 300g
palm (20%) 145g
coconut (20%) 145g
Illipe butter (10%) 75g
Castor (5%) 37g
Hemp (5%) 37g

batch 2:
olive (20%) 147g
coconut (25%) 184g
palm (25%) 184g
Sweet Almond (17%) 125g
Apricot butter (13%) 96g

Both had 100g NaoOH

I suspect two causes - inadequate mixing and inadequate insulation.

Thoughts/advice very welcome

Cheers,
Adam

Ungelled soap will take longer to harden. Castor, hemp, sweet almong and apricot butter are what's called soft oils. I would give it some time.

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

Thanks for that - I shall not dump those batches just yet then
Cheers,
Adam

Hi, Adam. Ungelled soaps can be soft and crumbly initally. I'd wait a few more days before cutting. Ungelled soaps can also zap for several days longer, too, since the saponification process is slowed. Sounds like your soap just needs a little more time.

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- Jenny -
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Thanks for the replies - here's a few images of the soaps in question..... Im reasonably happy with the swirling, but perhaps you can just make out the crumbly texture of (especially) the blue n red one? The lilac-y swirly one is a different, olive oil heavy, recipe with peppermint and bergamot EO's....

















Ok, so the last two arent soap , but I like them (a sandy beach off Harris, a western isle of Scotland, and my boy!)

Cheers,
Adam

Ok, nothing to do with the soap (which looks great by the way!) but is that Luskentyre beach?

If it is, Ive been there! Its awesome!

Cute wee fella too

Rochy - quite possibly, I cant for the life of me remember the name of the beach!

Yes, it is quite a stunning location, the waters are so clear, and when the sun does actually shine, they warm up quickly as they are so shallow

Cheers,
Adam

Your soaps look very nice, Adam - love the swirls! I'd say that as long as your soaps don't zap, they should be fine. Your little boy is a cutie!

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- Jenny -
My soapy blog:
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Thank you - he's not too bad Got a wee brother or sister on the way in June too..... Eeeeeeek!

Im gettng there with the swirls. I think using an olive oil heavy recipe helped, as it took a lot longer to reach a degree of trace. More time to go 'ahhhhhh, so thats what Im looking for!'
All I now need to work on is repeatability!

Cheers,
Adam

Soaps look great Adam. Your son is a cutie.

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Debbie

Soap looks super nice! And your son is SO adorable!! You'll have to post some pics when the baby arrives! I bet a whole lot of us just LOVE babies!

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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!

The soap looks great, and the son is looks even better! My daughter is 3 now, so just a wee bit older than him, I suspect.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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Many thanks indeed for your kind comments

And Linda - he is both precious, and most certainly mischievous.

I have many, many more photo's of him in various stages of adorability, through to 'get that camera away from me now, or you really wont like the consequences' black looks.
Perhaps in another thread?????
I shall certainly post up some of the new baby when they arrive, as of now all we have are a couple of grey blurry blobs from scans

Cheers,
Adam