Teach Soap

So I tried making my first larger batch of CPOP soap this morning, here is the recipe: 33.6oz Olive Oil, 14.4oz Coconut Oil, 18.24oz Water, 6.83oz Lye.
So I let the lye and water cool to 100 degrees and warmed the oil to 100 degrees then started stick mixing, the mixture took quite a while to start tracing, when it did I wanted to add some color and EO to half of it so I poured half into another bowl and added the colorant& EO and started mixing, seemed like the EO made the mixture thinner while the other half was starting to thicken so I poured the other half into the mold and then the colored part in and tried to do some swirls, etc.
Popped the mold into the 170 degree oven and waited and it doesn't seem like it wen to gel at all. It went from a darker green to now a lighter green and the mixture is getting thicker. See pictures.
Why didn't it go through gel in the oven?

Well 45 min later it now looks like its starting to gel. Why did it take so long?

Probably your large quantity of olive oil. Olive oil is a "slow" oil - slow to trace, slow to gel, slow to harden up. It makes GREAT soap, you just have to let it get there.

So now the soap has a tiny bubbly texture and turning white on the top. This is only the 2nd batch I've ever made and the first one did this too. I spray the tops with 91% alcohol before I put in the oven, is that what caused it?

Google pictures of soda ash. That's probably it.

I've had some recipes take 90 minutes to gel in the oven. Sometimes the bubbles can be caused by the soap getting too hot.

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

Looks like your superfat is between 5% and 10%. Didn't feel like doing the math to get it any closer, lol.

You didn't use too much water. Because olive oil is a slow oil, many people choose to use less water when making a soap high in OO. But not everyone. As long as your soap became soap, you didn't use too much water.

In the future, you may choose to use less water to speed things up. I, personally, do not discount water. I prefer that the soap take a longer time to get there than to risk seizing. In my experience, water discounting is just inviting the soap to misbehave.

Now, some people are hard-core water discounters, and that works for them.

Regarding the oily feeling - that's normal at this stage. New soap can feel greasy, drying and just not very nice. I know this is your first batch and you are excited, but you need to with hold judgement until the soap is at least 6 weeks old.

Yes, it will probably re-absorb. If not, just blot it off, no big deal.

CONGRATULATIONS on your first batch!!!! I made a soap recently that was oily when I cut it. It worried me at first, but after a week or so of curing, the oil reabsorbed back into the soap and it is now happily curing just fine.

_________________
Olivia :)

I love doing CPOP, the bars have a nice texture and the color really pops. But if you use a silicone mold or let it get too hot, those bubbles will happen. You can either trim them off (the sides) or leave them. On the top, I generally do a dusting of mica or glitter, or even jojoba beads. Sometimes when I do a textured top I do a paint or glaze with mica mixed into olive oil. It makes those rough bubbles work for you.

_________________
Logansama aka Belinda
Nor Cal