Teach Soap

I just made my 5th and 6th batches of soap. One a 1lb batch from a BB kit using their oil mix, one a 3lb-ish batch from a slow trace recipe I found and ran through several lye calculators. Both went in silicone molds four days ago. Both are super soft. The smaller batch was so soft it left a ball in the bottom of the mold I impatiently pushed it out of. It sudzes like soap, but is malleable like play doh! The bigger batch is better, but still super soft. I am hoping having them out for a few days will help. But, is it possible that my lye was off? It was the very last of my bottle. I can post my recipe if you think it would help, but the one was from a kit.

Here's a handy link with shelf life info on various chemicals. It lists the shelf life of sodium hydroxide at 5 years unopened. 1 year after opening.

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"I refuse to belong to any organization that would have me as a member." Groucho Marx, with some poetic license.

Can you post your recipe?

Anita

A couple days later, I think this might be just a weird coincidence that I had two batches not turn out as expected from the same day.

The worst one is the one where I used the BB Swirl quick mix. Following the directions that came with the kit.
Mix 11.0 oz
Lye 1.5 oz
water 3.6 oz
Lavender EO .75 oz
Activated charcoal (which I mixed with ~1Tb of Sunflower oil - this may be the culprit?)
Note: This was enough to make the 1lb batch from the kit, plus the embeds from another recipe in the kit. I poured the round mold with uncolored, unscented soap batter, then added the AC and LEO to the remainder, and poured into the mold. The small round embeds came out just fine. So something either about the mold itself, or the addition of AC and Lavender EO must be the reason for the problem?

This soap is still soft, even days after unmolding it from the 1lb silicone mold that came in the kit. I am afraid to cut it, I think it will just smoosh, rather than cut.

The second recipe was:
10.8 oz *each* Canola oil, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, and Palm Oil
16.5 oz water
6.0 oz lye
I wanted a 3 lb batch with equal parts of the oils and a 5%SF so this is what I got when run through soapcalc.
This one I unmolded, and after a couple days out of the mold, has been solidifying a bit more. I cut it this morning, and am hoping the additional surface area will help it cure. It took a long time to trace (which was the point, I guess, of trying a slow trace recipe), but by the time I got it all in the mold, it was definitely the consistency of pudding. The swirl worked great, at least Perhaps the slow trace is also just slow to harden?