Teach Soap

I just made a batch of lilac and used the Brazilian clay for the first time. It is a recipe I have done lots of time, but never with clay for color. When i cut my soap, I noticed that it has several oily spots on it. I mixed about 1 and a half teaspoons of the clay with 3 tablespoons water a while before adding it at light trace. What went wrong? How do I use the Brazilian clays? Thanks!

I add mine to my oils before I add the lye. No water or anything, just dump 'em in and stick blend until mixed.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

How much clay do you use? I made 1.25 pound of soap with the 1.5 tsp clay.

I would start with 1 teaspoon per lb. of soap.

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

Billy, what was your recipe for the soap? And could you post a picture of it? That would help with troubleshooting.

Were the oily spots on the top of the soap or on the sides after cutting? Or both? Do the oily spots zap/test as high pH? When you say oily spots, how much oil? With some fragrance oils, I sometimes see a little oil on top that absorbs back into the soap over a day or two, but if I see oil on the sides of the soap, it worries me. I would zap test the oily spots for sure.

The oil spots were throughout the soap. I noticed them on the sides, but then they were also there as I was cutting. I did not yet test for pH, but I will and send a picture this weekend when I can get back to the soap. It was not a lot of oil, but there were several small spots (the biggest one was about an inch long and 1/8 inch wide). They just felt like unsaponified oil when I touched them.

My recipe was a mix of coconut, palm kernel, olive, castor, and shae butter with Brambleberry Lilac FO and purple brazilian clay. I made a 1.25 pound batch and used 0.7 ounces of Lilac and 1.25 teaspoons clay. I also do about 6% superfatting.

Thank you so much for your help!

Sounds like oil spots from an overheat, especially when you mention a floral fragrance. If they don't zap I would re-batch the soap

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I had a chance to use red clay with an apple scent this weekend and the soap turned out great. I had another uncolored batch give me a few oil spots. I think it is overheating. I will wait longer and mix the oils and water at a lower temperature. Based on the comments and my weekend experiments, it may not have been the clay at all. Thanks!

I used Brazilian purple for the first time yesterday, at just over 1t per pound of soap. Not so much liking the results--more brown than purple. It's been about 18 hours, and while the color is more purple now, as it gels, it was really brown when I poured. I'm hoping the color will continue to "purple up," so to speak.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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