Teach Soap

So, I thought it would be an interesting experience trying my hand at soap making so I got everything together, purchased all my ingredients and tools and set about making a batch of soap. This took some time as the only close supplier of lye and FO's is a 4hr drive away or I go to Micheal's and pay out the a$$, for limited products and no selection (I think they started carrying M&P supplies, but, that didn't seem as involved to me).

First batch I accidentally forgot that 16 ounces = 1 pound, and inadvertently added a few too many ounces of water to the mix. Ok, not too bad, soap turned out a little spongy and shrunk a little but set up well in my handmade loaf vice , currently awaiting the critique from my friends on how it turned out.
>>Olive, Avocado, Beeswax, Canola, Coconut, and Sunflower oil with Yuzu FO from Creations from Eden (In Edmonton)

Second batch, well..., its been over 2 weeks now and it's stuck. Decided to add color to my soap, make it more appealing for the awesome ladybug and heart (cliche, I know) molds I picked up recently. Totally suck at adding liquid CP colorant (purchased at Micheal's, b/c I'm impatient) and had barely enough time to scoop the "pudding" into the molds before in started setting up. Didn't help that I was trying for purple (silly me) and having only red yellow and blue dye. Used the same recipe as the first batch, but a different fragrance and the correct amount of H2O, why change it more if it works, eh?

Well the Bugs came out of their silicone mold but the hearts have yet to shrink enough to pop out of their metal ones. Any thoughts? I'd rather not have to scoop them out forcefully if possible.

Thanks in advance,
A

I didn't realize that Michael's now carries CP liquid colorants. The ones I've seen there were only for MP.
Metal molds are not safe for CP soap. Regular metal react with lye and creates unsafe fumes and can turn the metal mold dark.
Stainless steel for melting your oils is fine though.

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

Take a step back and forget color for now - just focus on getting through a few simple recipes without mishap.

Also, you have a fairly complex recipe with 6 different oils/waxes. Nice soap can be made with 2 or 3 oils, for example:

Olive Oil 70%
Coconut Oil 30%
(This is one of my standbys)

Simplify your process a bit and it might go easier. Add color and complexity as you gain experience.

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

Hi and welcome to the addiction.

One thing you might want to consider doing: You want to measure mass (weight), not in volume. To give a much more accurate measure, weigh in grams instead of ounces. 1oz = 28.35 grams. The online soap calculator will figure out everything for you until you have enough under your belt to start experimenting.

And ljim1180 is correct.....skip the colorants for now and just concentrate on making a good batch, then try coloring. Throw the stuff you buy at Michael's in the garbage unless you want to do Melt & Pour as their ingredients aren't made for cold process soap.

Chin up, get back on the horse and try again. None of us here started making good soap until after we made a bunch of mistakes.

Now go gettum tiger

Thanks ladies I sure do appreciate the pointers.

I was actually able to unmold my soap this past week that was stuck in the metal molds, a local soap supplier on Facebook replied to my conundrum and suggested putting them in the freezer to chill, totally worked (it also helped to run a knife around the edges of some too, also my hubby's mitts to pop them out ). Also, good news, my metal molds didn't react to the lye either, probably helped that they were food grade aluminum

Trialed my first batch this week as well, gotta say, the fragrance stuck really well and the mixture of oils made a pretty awesome bar properties.

I'll probably try your suggested recipe, ljm1180, Of the 30/70 mixture, could be really sweet if I'm itching to make some soap and have limited time, ingredients.

Please don't use metal molds. Lye reacts with the metal producing fumes and the soap won't be usable.

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

It doesn't matter if your molds didn't turn dark, they should never be used for CP soap making. Soap Buddy is right, there are many reasons not to use metal with lye and you really need to be aware of that.

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~Dharlee

Back in my high school days we used to take a coke bottle with some water and Red-Devil-Lye mixed together,
drop small pieces of aluminum in it and put a balloon over the top, which the resulting gas produced
would fill up, we'd tie the balloon off and tie it to a stick, with another long stick burning, we'd put it to the balloon
and "BOOM" it'd explode.
The gas we'd produced from the reaction of the lye/water solution and aluminum was "HYDROGEN" .......
Highly explosive stuff (remember the Hindenburg) .......
I'd stay away from aluminum molds and lye solution (with fire close by, etc, etc, etc .........) ....
Actually, I recall the lye solution ate the aluminum up, thus producing the gas ........

alms5075 "Thanks ladies I sure do appreciate the pointers"

Please keep us posted on how subsequent batches turn out.

.....and we're not all ladies.

Before I started soaping I read and researched and watched videos. You really need to know a good amount of information before you start to soap. I know it can be addicting but also very dangerous. So, yes, take a step back and don't rush into anything your not familiar with. Putting soap in metals in definitely a no no. Research, research, research.