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| China Rain |
When I started this project I chose a recipe that I knew, or thought I knew, would give me some time to mix and pour it all. My lye temp was about 100 degrees and my oils were about 96 degrees. I added my FO to my oils, as I have been doing for a while now. I set my water percent at 38 and 6% super fat and off I went...
As an afterthought I decided to add sodium lactate to my batch. I chose the low amount recommended and added it to my lye water. Then I added my lye solution to my oils and proceeded to stir. I gave the stick blender a couple of shots to mix and bam!! My soap started to get thick in a hurry!! OMG!! Throw some color in it and get it in the mold!!!
So I've got my mold half way full of the soap mix and it suddenly thins up to a nice workable pudding state. Hmmm.. now what? I already colored all of the soap. I still have the titanium dioxide ready to use. I guess we are gonna do it a bit differently. I split some of the batter off kept adding a little more titanium dioxide to each layer until I got to the top then poured the rest of the lightest into the rest of the darkest and did an in the pot swirl and piled it on top.
I scented it with China Rain from Natures Garden. They describe the fragrance as "refreshing, clean aroma with top notes of fresh rose petals, middle notes of wisteria and cyclamen, bottom notes of sandlewood and vanilla". Kim said it was a great scent and it behaved and did not discolor so I'm checking it out. It's been a few days and it still looks the same and smells strong.
My husband chose the fragrance and the color. Good job honey!! :)
So pretty!!! Sounds like maybe you had a false trace - especially since you were using a full water amount. (This rarely happens when you use a water discount.) So glad it worked out for you - I love your colors!
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy.. not sure what it was but it freaked me out. Even though it thinned out it was still kind of gel like. I just used my wisk and kept plugging along. If you look really close you can see the gel lines in the soap. Gives it character. I like it. I might post the recipe later. I have decided that I am going to share the recipes I experiment with. I posted my salt bar recipe already. Chat with ya later.. have a great week :)
DeleteThat looks great, Kim. You'ld never know to look at it that it was giving you problems. Gotta love a happy ending!
ReplyDeleteFor sure Eileen!! Love it when a bad thing turns out good. Send me some good soaping juju, I'm making hot process soap for the first time right now. Kind of scared... lol
DeleteTurned out great even though it gave you a real challenge! Maybe it was the china rain. When I used a sample of it from BB it definitely accelerated on me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Holly!
DeleteI could of been the FO. I don't recall using it before. I checked NG's website and Kim gave it a thumbs up with no issues. But I suppose we can't rely too much on what a FO did for another person when we use different oils and recipes. Not to mention the power of our blenders.. etc etc
I did a batch of hot process tonight. I'm not sure how it went. Sure didn't look like any of the cooking soaps on youtube. It's a really fugly color too cause I used green tea for the water.. smells good though.. lol ;)
Your soap turned out beautifully, Kim! I never would have guessed that the batch gave your problems. The colors are gorgeous, and the fragrance sounds fantastic. I hope to try the gradient layer technique soon, too.
ReplyDeleteoooh, pretty blue! I haven't used that fragrance but it does sound fantastic! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Kalla. It does smell nice :)
DeleteLovely soap! the colour is really nice!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Natalia :)
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