Soap fairies and gremlins visit soap makers and make a nuisance of
themselves. They make things so wrong, they distract you and throw
monkey wrenches into the process. They don't do anything serious, but
they sure do make a nuisance!
Well, the soap fairies and gremlins were in full force at my house today. I made 4 one pound batches today. All the same recipe, but different fragrances. I was trying out 4 new fragrances from a different supplier.
1. Kai – a nice refreshing tropical floral
2. Toffee Sugar Crunch – a dupe of Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids – a light sweet honey floral
3. Invigorating – a refreshing Lemongrass, citrus floral
4. Kazi Kazi – a dupe of Lush's Karma – spicy patchouli citrus
Toffee Sugar Crush and Kazi Kazi worked out just fine. No weird discoloration to acceleration. Well, actually, a purple colorant that I used for Toffee Sugar Crush turned pink instead, but that was minor.
Kai and Invigorating had issues. As soon as I put Kai fragrance oil into the batch the batter SEIZED! Everything just hardened up and I had soap on a stick (it hardened around the spatula). No time to color, I had to grab the slow cooker and throw the batch in and do Hot Process (HP). Invigorating fo discolored to a honey color as soon as it hit the batter. I had added Titanium Dioxide a white colorant in my hopes of getting a whiter bar, I was going to use a snowflake mold. Anyway the batch turned a peachy tan color despite the white colorant. Then the batter started to seize. I debated, should I just try and push the seized batter into the molds? I did at first, then later once I had cleaned the slow cooker to just throw it in and HP it. I'm not the biggest fan of HP. You get really rustic looking soap, which is fine, but I like the smooth pour of Cold Process.
Then to make matters worse, the plastic handle to my spatula snapped apart, right in the middle of making the 2nd batch. So I had to make the remaining batches using a spatula with a short stubby broken handle. Then when I was cleaning the slow cooker (which is a really old one I got handed down from mom) one of the three feet on the bottom broke off!! So it's all wonkey. I guess I could glue it back on with silicone or something, but man, why does it all happen all at once?!
I guess it could have been worse. I didn't dump an entire batch onto the floor or onto myself. I didn't have any lye burns or anything like that. But still not what I expected to happen at all today. I still have Invigorating cooking in the slow cooker, and the other batches are put away, to be unmolded and cut tomorrow.
Well, the soap fairies and gremlins were in full force at my house today. I made 4 one pound batches today. All the same recipe, but different fragrances. I was trying out 4 new fragrances from a different supplier.
1. Kai – a nice refreshing tropical floral
2. Toffee Sugar Crunch – a dupe of Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids – a light sweet honey floral
3. Invigorating – a refreshing Lemongrass, citrus floral
4. Kazi Kazi – a dupe of Lush's Karma – spicy patchouli citrus
Toffee Sugar Crush and Kazi Kazi worked out just fine. No weird discoloration to acceleration. Well, actually, a purple colorant that I used for Toffee Sugar Crush turned pink instead, but that was minor.
Kai and Invigorating had issues. As soon as I put Kai fragrance oil into the batch the batter SEIZED! Everything just hardened up and I had soap on a stick (it hardened around the spatula). No time to color, I had to grab the slow cooker and throw the batch in and do Hot Process (HP). Invigorating fo discolored to a honey color as soon as it hit the batter. I had added Titanium Dioxide a white colorant in my hopes of getting a whiter bar, I was going to use a snowflake mold. Anyway the batch turned a peachy tan color despite the white colorant. Then the batter started to seize. I debated, should I just try and push the seized batter into the molds? I did at first, then later once I had cleaned the slow cooker to just throw it in and HP it. I'm not the biggest fan of HP. You get really rustic looking soap, which is fine, but I like the smooth pour of Cold Process.
Then to make matters worse, the plastic handle to my spatula snapped apart, right in the middle of making the 2nd batch. So I had to make the remaining batches using a spatula with a short stubby broken handle. Then when I was cleaning the slow cooker (which is a really old one I got handed down from mom) one of the three feet on the bottom broke off!! So it's all wonkey. I guess I could glue it back on with silicone or something, but man, why does it all happen all at once?!
I guess it could have been worse. I didn't dump an entire batch onto the floor or onto myself. I didn't have any lye burns or anything like that. But still not what I expected to happen at all today. I still have Invigorating cooking in the slow cooker, and the other batches are put away, to be unmolded and cut tomorrow.
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