Soap Makers Help!

[chiknwhisperer]

Liquids
chamomile lemon tea
For the size of fat batch that you are using, we recommend that you use approximately 4 to 6 fluid ounces of liquid.

Fats & Oils Fat Amount

(oz wt) % in recipe
Coconut Oil 6 37.50
Olive Oil 2 12.50
Soybean Oil 8 50.00
Total Weight 16

Does this look okay? I'm trying to get a feel for the lye calc but not sure if I'm understanding it right. Please help me understand. Sometimes I make myself confused when it might be something that is very simple.

Anyway, I figured out what I did wrong with my snowflake mold. I added everything together while it was still to hot and then it got even hotter. My bad. But when I did my chocolate soap last night it turned out great! Snowflake molds would be great if you can find them NP

but no worries if you can't. I can't find much around here when it gets put away lol.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Are you using tea as your liquid? I've done that a few times, and I like it. You just have to realize that your color is probably going to go brownish (but not dark brown like if you're using a vanilla FO) when you mix ingredients. I used to have one recipe in particular that I liked that used red rooibos tea.

One easy way to do the tea thing is just to drop a teabag (or two, or ten, or however many) into the lye/water after mixing it. You just can't leave it in there too long, and you have to use extreme caution in extracting and disposing of the tea bags afterward.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I like the tea bag idea. Very cool!

Do any of them impart a yellowish color? I'd love to find a slight yellow tint for my lemon verbena soap tomorrow.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I was wanting to use tea. The color thing I don't mind. What I am concernd about is the rest of the measurements. Do you see any problem with the other ingredients and amounts? I don't understand the lye calc very well yet so I was wanting an educated answer. Thanks

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
OK, I'm not an educated person to give you an answer, so perhaps others will correct me if I'm wrong. I've been using the lye calculator over at http://www.soaperschoice.com/cgi-so...eb_store.cgi?query_price_low_range=0&cart_id=

The first things they want to know is the percentage of superfatting and the percentage of water. Then you plug in the rest of your ingredients and it'll tell you how much water and lye in ounces or grams. Referencing a good chart on what each oil provides is a good place to start. Most of the recipes I've been using have a lower percentage of Coconut Oil and a higher percentage of OO than your recipe contains. But, none of mine have contained soybean yet, so that may allow for the percentages you have.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Nope--that's what I was hoping the first time I tried it, too, but the reaction with the lye just gives your liquid kind of a mud color.

I made an all-natural chamomile batch that had a nice pale yellow color once; I'm thinking maybe I had infused the olive oil with chamomile flowers ahead of time.

I think your recipe will make a nice light bar, so it would be a good candidate for swirling with a yellow colorant. Mineral colorants are "natural," but not as vivid as some of the liquid colorants you can get specifically for soaping.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Hmmm. May have to wait on color then. I didn't order any of those when I was gettin' everything else. I thought I recalled reading that one of the oils gave a yellowish tint.

I have a backyard full of chamomile. I wonder if it could do the quick infuse idea of heating the oil slightly then adding the flowers.

So, a rooibos tea won't provide a red tint to the soap? Too bad. That would have been fun.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

okay. I guess I'm just confused by the color coded chart on the lye calc. Could you please explain how to use this.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
It looks like you're using the MMS calculator, which is the one I prefer myself. Which part are you unsure about? The graph over to the right shows how, as you decrease the amount of lye you use, you increase the superfatting.

The range ("4 to 6 ounces") of liquid that they give reflects the variable range of water discount that is up to your discretion. I recommend starting out using the full amount (6 ounces, in this case). The only reason to discount the liquid is for shorter curing times. Some people do extreme water discounts so that they can have their soap packaged and ready to go sooner.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Somewhere there is a chart that tells which oils tend toward white, yellow, etc. I honestly can't recall! Maybe sunflower? It seems like the chamomile petals themselves will impart a tiny bit of color, just due to the heat of processing, if I'm remembering right.