#$%@ you, BB Lilac Fragrance Oil!

I *love* the smell of lilac.  I have a bush outside that flowers for a sparse couple of weeks in the spring, and I bring in fresh bouquets of lilacs every day until they are gone.  When I received a sample of Bramble Berry’s lilac fragrance oil, I loved it enough to buy the 4oz. size.

On Wednesday, we tried making a batch of it.  I set out bowls for green oxide and purple mica.  We soaped at 90-95 degrees.  I mixed the fragrance oil into the oils just before I added the lye.  I let Jessica do the mixing, and gave her the instructions to run the immersion blender in pulses of 5 seconds, and then manually stir the mixture in between.

After running the immersion blender 2 times, she says, “It’s really getting hard!”  I peer over her shoulder into the pot, and it was ALREADY approaching clay-consistency.  Pudding was long gone.  I curse and have her quickly hand over the gloves and the goggles.  We had to move FAST.  I spooned the soap into the 2 color bowls, but mixing would have to be done by hand.  The green mixed rather well, but not the purple.  I am starting to understand that micas only work if you can blend them in with the immersion blender.  And even then…. oxides still look brighter and nicer.

Happy with the green!

Jessica started smoothing a layer of green into the mold… I topped it with the “purple” AKA brown and then she topped that with the rest of the green.  I think we did the best we could.

It was pretty much like sculpting at this point.

Beware of the purple mica bombs!

Encouraged gel. Not like it wouldn't have anyway.

This was such a hot soap.  The whole next day, the mold was warm to the touch.  I just left it in the oven until today.  Here are the unmolding pics:

Caught some air.

More air.

The cut pics:

Here’s a closeup, lest you be seduced by the clever attention-diverting crinkle cut:

Probably not a facial soap.

So anyway, my vision of a purple and green soap did not exactly come to fruition.  Oh I’ll still use it.  And if I get purple mica smears, what the shower does not rinse off, my tattoos will camouflage.

Note to self for future BB Lilac FO usage: stick with one color, and blend it into the soap before adding the fragrance.  Then add it in, and work quickly to get it in the mold!

(I still love you, Bramble Berry.  I wish I knew how to quit you!)  Sorry.  I didn’t even see that movie.

Jessica picks some soap colors

SO my sister Jessica is staying with me for a few days, and I have been wanting to use a couple new FO’s, so we made some soap.  She picked the colors.  She went with a perfectly respectable Emerald Mica and a Yellow Oxide.

So shiny

I sort of hogged the mixing…. but I guess I didn’t want to be blamed her for lying a toe off or something.  And by lying I mean “lye” not “lie.”  Yes, I know how awesome I am.

Here’s a 3 second video of me mixing lye and water!!!  Okay, 23 seconds.

But she DID add the French Pink Clay at trace.  GOOD JOB, JESS.  The yellow looked fine, but the emerald mica….turned olive.  It was a little scary at first, but it grew on me.

Interesting.

OH and I used 1 ounce of BB’s Energy FO.  Boy, do I love that smell.  It doesn’t exactly go with the soap colors, but that’s okay.  In my mind, Energy FO is more girly, and these colors would suit a more masculine smell.  I encouraged this soap to gel.  I put it in the oven preheated to 170 (then turned off).  I reheated it right before bed, and again the next morning.  I used a 20% water discount.  I like water discounts.

Here’s a bunch of pictures of the soap’s remaining journey.  A bunch because I don’t feel like scrutinizing them to pick the 3 that look the best.  And really, who am I to rob you of picking your own favorites?

I can see the mica!

This is what I endured the entire time I cut and photo'd the soap.

I hope that’s my boobs and not my stomach.

Berrywine Scented Soap

This soap was….interesting.  First of all, I forgot to add a tablespoon of sugar to the water before adding the lye.  I didn’t REALLY think this would work, but I went ahead and added the sugar to the warm oils.  No, it didn’t dissolve.  But I tried to keep the batch well-mixed so that if nothing else, the sugar would be evenly distributed and act as an exfoliant.  I’ll update with a review when I get to try the soap.

Just pretend you see the sugar.

For colors… I don’t really know what possessed me to do this, but I decided to use 2 very similar colors.  I used a Red Oxide and a …dark red mica….I think.  I don’t have my notebook here.  I guess I couldn’t decide which to try, so said fuck it and used them both.  That’s how I roll.

Red and.....red.

I used 1.5 ounces of BB’s Berrywine FO.  Yes, it was a little much.  I should have used 1 ounce.  I LOVED the scent out of the bottle- mostly red wine scented with a bit of berry.  UNFORTUNATELY, as it is curing…. it smells more berry with a hint of wine.  I’ll have to let you know what happens with that.

So anyway, here are the swirls.  You can definitely see the 2 different colors, and I sort of like the subtle difference.  Well, *I* can see the 2 colors.

You had to be there.

I want to say I left it in the freezer for a few days.  When I took it out, it got some nasty ash and then proceeded to sweat all over the place as it warmed to room temperature.  And then, when I tried to blot the top with a paper towel, it smooshed some of the peaks and left a paper towel imprint on them.  @#$^%

You know… I like the IDEA of ungelled soap.  I’m not sure why I latched onto it…maybe because people said it made for brighter colors.  But freezing it for a couple days and then having to wait almost a week to cut the still soft soap is sort of annoying.  Maybe I’ll reserve “no gels” for things like coconut milk.  Which I’ve never done.  Nor plan to do anytime soon.

So here is the batch out of the freezer and then out of the mold.  I don’t know why I do not have cut pics, but I will post a pic of them on the drying rack.

It was interesting to see if the soap smell would win over the freezer smell.

NOW you can see the 2 colors. RIGHT????

Pretty. I just hope the wine smell crushes the berry smell.

OH.  And this is the first batch where I did NOT apply a water discount.  The previous batches were a 2:1 water:lye ratio….which in my calculator ends up something like 20-25%.  This was a 5% water discount.  It was mushy.  It’s still soft a week or 2 later.  Uhg.

Sunset Plumeria

This one was kind of fun in a crazy sort of way…which is typically the way I have fun.  I actually picked the colors because I was thinking of a peach color and a pink, although that is not what happened.  I used less of the colorant than I did before…mainly because I wanted to see how low I can go.  I think this was a bit too low.  Back to 2 scoops.

And no, I didn’t really name the soap.  I am just running out of blog titles.  Also, the soap ended up looking sunset-y, and I am not above lying and saying I meant for that to happen.

BRB- husband has a bee sting on his ass.  Okay, back.

So anyway, I used BrambleBerry’s “Plumeria” sample scent…not because I liked it, but because I broke the lid and couldn’t close it anymore.  So I just used it.  It’s sort of a peachy fruity smell.  I guess it’s okay.  It’s not really for me, though.

I stirred the soap too long, and it started getting solid F A S T.  I ended up having to spoon it out of the bowls and into the mold.  It allowed me to create some dramatic top swirls, but there are also holes here and there because the soap was that solid going in the mold.

This time, I put the soap in the oven to encourage a full gel.

After leaving it in the oven overnight and most of the morning, I couldn’t wait any longer and got it out.  It was a little soft.  But no softer than others.  Other than the holes, I don’t mind how the colors came out.  The *PLAN* was to fill the bottom with pink & peach….swirl it, add a middle layer of uncolored soap…then fill the mold the rest of the way with pink and peach and to swirl THAT layer without hitting the middle border layer.  You can KIND of see that going on…but I didn’t think that the uncolored soap would so closely match the peach color.  Ah well.  Live and learn.

By the way…the weird bits of green and black stuck to it are because I reused the old mold liner.  Boy do I hate folding that thing.  Here are the cut pics:

OH here are a couple of pictures of my soap curing rack.  I think I need to take a soap break for a week or so… or at least until one or more batches are ready to move out and give away!!

This one got hot!

This recipe is the same as the previous, but with the incorporation of a bit of salt and sugar.  The soap was pretty thin when I poured it, so layering colors was not too successful.  I eventually just tried puring each color into opposite ends of the mold and then doing a tiny bit of swirling to see the effect.  I like it!  Lots of variety.  This one smells pretty intense- Lavender, Eucalyptus, and Lemon essential oils.

The white stuff on the top scared me at first, but the forum people assured me it was just “soda ash” and it wiped right off with a wet paper towel.

Scary ash!

So crooked! haha

Subtle swirls

I’m a little concerned about the color bleeding when using it… but I have to wait almost a month to see if that happens.  Also, I left it in the freezer overnight and it STILL partially gelled.  That’s some hot soap.

No Gelling!

It worked!  No gel.  I left the soap in the freezer for 4-5 hours (not overnight…I lied to you earlier) …and in the mold for over 48 hours.  When I pulled it out, it was still a bit soft and had almost a PlayDoh texture.  I chopped them up, and here they are!!  They smell great- this is my best batch yet!!  I left them sitting on the counter over night, and they already hardened up considerably.  Up to the drying rack they go!

It sucks that I have to wait 3-4 more weeks before trying them.

Deep into soap details

Prepare to be bored to tears.  You have been warned.

SO I posted pictures of the rose soap on a soap forum and asked what was up with the “halo” I saw in the middle.  They said it was done- it’s just a cosmetic issue, but the halo was due to a “partial gel.”  Basically, saphonification generates a lot of heat.  But because my house is so cold, it could not quite get hot enough to “gel” the entire soap.  They suggested soaping at hotter temperatures, putting the poured soap in the oven on 170 for an hour…or wrapping the soap in towels to insulate it.

The OTHER solution is to try to completely avoid gel.  I tried to do this tonight.  I soaped at 95 degrees….and then popped the soap mold into the freezer.  I think I will leave it in there overnight, then transfer it to the cool closet to harden for a few days.   Below is a comparison photo- these soaps were made using the same recipe….but the left soap was gelled, and the right soap was not.  I like the right one better!

Left gelled, right did not gel.

Some additional pics for funz.

Altered set up...I'm getting pro.

Laser thermometers are fierce.

OMG these traced fast once mixed.

I hope this works!

Greatness.

I USED to like Roses.

Boy, is this soap stinky.  Not like fish stinky… like a lot of rose perfume stinky.  I think I went a bit overboard.  Fortunately, fragrances are supposed to fade over the weeks as the soap cures.

The sprinkles will fade, but it's all about the first impression.

This one was pretty soft when I cut it. I am very rough with my soap.

OH and I got my pH strips, so I tested my first batch.  Anything under 11 is golden….so my soap did not fail!

I DID NOT FAIL.

Soap Update

Okay, so I unmolded the soap and cut it up.  While the top of the soap looks cool (with the exception of my noob air bubbles), the inside didn’t end up nearly as fancy.

Bubbles mark me as a noob.

It was harder than I was expecting!

I'm a little let down by the inside. *heavy sigh*

But they smell nice….a woodsy scent.  It’s not super strong….because I have no patience, if you remember.  I placed the bars on a drying rack where they will sit for a couple of weeks to dry out.

I am the champion of the universe!

I made my first batch of cold-process soap!!!!!  It wasn’t too bad at all.  The worst part was trying to get the SOLID palm kernel oil out of a 2 inch opening.  I ended up sitting the 7 gallon jug in a pot of hot water….and also shoving a knife in there trying to get it out.  I am going to have to look for a giant tupperware container….because that was possibly the most annoying thing I’ve done in the past year.  That way, I can melt it all at once, and then just scoop it out.

Working with lye was a little scary… I was scared to death that some of it would fall out and I wouldn’t see it.  I pretty much sprayed the whole area in vinegar to neutralize it.  I mixed the lye into the water outside….and totally wore this:

Just in case there was any question, I look fantastic in a lab coat.

This will look so much cooler when I get my beakers. YOU HEARD ME.

I totally forgot to add the fragrance when the soap was still in the pot.  I tossed it in once the soap was in the mold and whisked it through.  I added only half the recommended fragrance….not because I was afraid the scent would be too strong, but because watching the fragrance oil come out drop by drop was excruciating.  It will be interesting to see if the fragrance holds.

I didn’t get my color pigments yet….but I didn’t want to wait any longer.  I pulled out the Hershey’s baking powder, and used that to make some of the soap brown.  All of the books recommend not trying to use color in your first batch…but why would I listen to that?  My swirl was far from perfect…there is definitely an art to it.  Unfortunately, I tried to move the mold immediately, and the soap shook a little and messed up the twirls a bit.  Blah.  Whatevs.  OMG PICTURES.

Before I twirled the swirls.

After swirling the twirls, but before moving it.

After moving it to the stove.

There were two options for cleanup: either do it immediately wearing gloves…or pile it all somewhere out of the way for 24 hours so it can turn into….soap!  Guess which option I picked?  Yep, the one that leaves the soap pot outside until tomorrow night.

The soap sits in the mold for 24 hours…then I take it out and cut it into bars.  After that, the soap has to “cure” for 2-3 weeks before it is ready to use.  It’s pretty much soap after 48 hours…the cure time is just so the water evaporates out and makes the bar harder.  JUST IN CASE, I did buy pH strips so that I can test the soap before using it.  =)

YAY NEW HOBBY!