Teach Soap

I use their neon yellow & neon orange regularly. They don't seem to be thicker than any of the other Fun Soap colorants I have. Although, I do shake all of my colorants up whenever I use them. I don't know if you're supposed to, but I do it out of habit. I shake almost everything before opening, except soda LOL

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Genny

I shook mine up a bit too, just in case. I just emailed NG, so I'm interested to see what they say. I've only ever dealt with them via FB, but so far their customer service has been really good!!

Thanks for all of your help Genny, I appreciate it!!!!!

When I first started making MP I found it very helpful to use a candy thermometer to check temps and learn where the soap needed to be in order to work with it the way I wanted to. I found it easier to use the double boiler rather than the microwave - it helped me figure out exactly how hot the base needed to be in order to completely melt, and once everything is melted in a double boiler check the temp, and then you'll know how hot it needs to be in order to get the right consistency. I have a feeling that you'll find it needs to be quite a bit hotter than you think it does.

I would always under heat in the microwave, and then wonder why it wouldn't pour or why I couldn't work with it before it would set up. Duh, it wasn't warm enough!

This might not be your problem, but I thought I'd throw it out there because it certainly was a problem for me.

Thanks for your suggestions Aria. When I checked the batch it got up to about 180 degrees F...what temp do you let your soap get up to? I always nuke it on 30 second bursts unless of course I'm doing a really small batch or if the soap just needs a little more time because it didn't all melt when I stirred the base.

How long does the soap take to melt on the DB method? I'm thinking of trying the crock pot method...I purchased two crock pots from CVS a while back when there was a good sale on them and have yet to use the extra one for soap.

It looks like your soap overheated. This tends to make it seize and end up with a foamy, sort of old marshmallow, consistency. Are you heating only until most of it is melted? Then mixing the rest of the way? Sorry you didn't get to use these for your shower

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

What's a good temp to let it get up to? For larger batches I melt my soap for about 1-1.5mins. I do it in 30secs bursts and cover the bowl with saran wrap. I also stir in between to try and get the cubes to melt that way, but if there's still a lot of chunks that haven't melted I'll zap them again til I can get them to melt. Whenever I use the BB bases the highest temp is usually between 160-180 and I've never had an issue with their base until I used the neon pink colorant.
I will definitely take note and adjust my temps to see if this helps, I've just been afraid that if the temp is too low it will set up too fast.

It's the NG base. I melted down my first batch today and as I was mixing color and scent in, it set up. So after i pulled it off the heat, within 3 minutes it set up and i had to zap each measuring cup in the microwave for 30 seconds so i could pour it into the mold.

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"suffering in any form can make you stronger or weaker. I chose stronger"

Yes it is the NG base. I just did another batch and it set up on me again.

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~Michelle~

Butt's my big dog:)

Yup, I wont be buying M&P base from there anymore. Base should not lose temp and set up 2 mins after melting

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"suffering in any form can make you stronger or weaker. I chose stronger"

I think MrsPine actually figured out that it was most likely the colorant because the same thing happened in the one Brambleberry base she used.

I've never had any issues with NG's bases setting up too quickly for me and I've been using them for 2 yrs now. I usually heat mine, covered, in the microwave until there's only a few bits of unmelted cubes in it, then stir it until those are melted. Then I add the color, let it cool down more. Then I add the fo, stir & pour into mold.

Our house is pretty warm though, so I wonder if that could be part of the reason it takes longer for mine to start to set up.

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Genny

For me it was for sure the base, this is the 3rd batch in a row and it sets up before I put anything in it and for me it took forever to melt in the first place. I took pics and noted temps earlier, will post after I get done feeding the birds.

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~Michelle~

Butt's my big dog:)

Wow, 180 degrees seems pretty hot. I usually only have to get it up to 150-160 or so before mine is fully melted and ready to work with. I usually pour somewhere between 120-100 degrees.

I use base from a local distributor, and I'm pretty sure it comes from Essentials by Catalina. I love BB base, but it just costs too much for me once you figure in shipping and WA sales tax.