Soap Makers Help!

[Backyard Buddies]

My water as a percent of oils was set at 38.

I just took a picture of the more normal ones. As you can see, there is slight streaking there as well.

I also got brave and did a lick test on one of the failed soaps. Yep, it zapped. Now what? The ones with less streaking have no zap.

Edited to add: The color isn't showing quite true in the photos. The sun is still coming up here.

 

[Morgaine]

It could be that every thing didn't get mixed all the way because of the stick blender. I would rebatch the whole thing now no question since some bars are lye heavy. What superfat % did you use? If it's only 5 I would also add a little bit of extra oil just to make sure. 2-3% extra would only make it 7-8% superfatted.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Superfatted at 7.5%, with no additional oils added at trace.

As far as adding liquid when rebatching, which is best - water or milk? Or does it make a difference?

I'm going to be sorry to lose that nice white ridge on the top. It's growing on me.

Edited to add: fragrance was added at .7%. Will I need to add more on rebatching?

 

[Morgaine]

I don't think it matters what liquid you use. I used water for one and butter milk for another. No difference that I can tell.

I personally would add a little oil to the batch, but that's just me because I would rater have a high superfatted soap than a lye heavy one. I don't think a few tablespoons would hurt.

I agree that the white top really looks nice too.

I'm not sure with the heat and extra cooking that some of the fragrance won't cook off. I added extra lavender and rosemary when I rebatched because I wasn't sure. I added 1 ounce of the combined EO to a 4 pound rebatch and it has a good strength scent. It had 2 ounces combined EO's before.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

OK Thanks! I'll give that a try. Wish me luck!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

OK, and now we wait. . . . . .

I followed the instructions that I linked to in a previous message.

First, I cut up all the soap into small half inch pieces. At this point, my husband came into the room and noted that it looked like I was making potato salad.

Notice that the soap didn't completely fit into the pan:

Reading on the net, I found a suggestion that if you used a water based original recipe, add milk to the rebatch and vice versa if you had a milk batch originally. I have no idea whether this is needed or not but, well, what the heck.

I stuck it in a 250 degree oven. After about 20 minutes, I was able to add more of the soap. Another 10 minutes later and I fit the rest of it in there. Periodically, I opened the oven, removed the lid and stirred it gently, adding a little more liquid if it appeared to be too dry. At this point, I added a little more oil per Morgaine's suggestion.

After a long while of checking, it got to the point where nearly all of the pieces were melted, so I broke out my stick blender, not the soaping one that went to soaping heaven the other day, but my personal blender. I didn't want to take any further chances of losing the shaft into the soap. I used the stick blender to find unmelted pieces and blended them to break them up further.

It went back into the oven for another 10 minutes, then I pulled it out and looked for any stray unmelted pieces, blended some more, then added a bit more fragrance, then stirred and blended and stirred and blended to be sure that everything was mixed properly this time. Back into the oven for another 20 - 30 minutes.

Then I pulled it out. It was nice and melted, dark brown, and ready to POUR into the mold.

It poured fairly easily. I pounded the mold on the counter several times in case I got any air bubbles. Nothing came to the surface. To be sure, I took a piece of plastic wrap and tried pressing down with my hands. Pretty much all that did was to make the surface bumpy. You can see that in the picture above.

Now it sits. It's sitting in its mold on top of a towel but is not insulated. The instructions I followed suggested that it be left for 24 - 48 hours before being turned out and cut. I plan to keep my eye on it and cut before it gets too difficult to do so.

Stay tuned for news on the failure (hope not!) or success (hoping and praying!) of this little experiment!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Yay! I bet that's gonna turn out awesome!

 

[cheeptrick]

That melted very nicely....
Did you end up using milk or water?? You might have said...but I missed it. I've noticed when I rebatch with milk...my lather is less...I wonder if anyone else has noticed this??

VERY NICE BB!!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
Thanks guys. I hope it turns out OK. It's still kinda soft when I touch it, like it has a hard skin but hasn't solidified underneath. I used less liquid than the directions I followed, but it still seemed like quite a bit.

I used both milk and water. What I did was to fill up a cup measure with mostly water, then I added some leftover half & half and a little leftover cream from Easter dinner. Might as well use up the leftovers!

 

[Morgaine]

BB- That looks like a very smooth rebatch! Love the color. Did it firm up?

I'm going to post pictures of my green Irish tweed guest bars that I made using OO infused with comfrey, nettle, calendula, chamomile and rose hips. The scent is nice but I could not imagine 1 oz/ppo. It is a really powerful scent. I used 1 oz for 2 1/2 pounds of oils and the scent is strong without being over bearing.

I'll get some pictures up in a minute.

Is it against the boards rules if I ask everyone for their websites where they are selling soap to add to the reference thread? I wanted to ask first just in case. I know several have etsy or artfire accounts.